TEXAS (US) – Judge Roy Ferguson of the 394th Judicial District Court in Texas got a surprise on Zoom on Tuesday. He did not expect to see two lawyers and a kitten as well on the screen.
It was actually county attorney Rod Ponton covered by a filter who appeared as a cat in the bottom right corner of the screen.
“Mr Ponton, I believe you have filter turned on in the video settings,” said Ferguson.
The attorney said his attorney was trying to sort out the glitch.
“I’m here live, I’m not a cat,” he said.
“I can see that,” Ferguson replied.
In no time the video went viral on social media, prompting the judge to tweet: “IMPORTANT ZOOM TIP: If a child used your computer, before you join a virtual hearing check the Zoom Video Options to be sure filters are off.”
Ponton said he had no idea how the filters appeared.
“I logged into my secretary’s computer to appear at this hearing via Zoom, and when everybody’s ready the judge calls the case and everybody’s face is supposed to pop up on Zoom.
“And everybody’s face popped up except mine. Mine was a cat,” he said.
He said the judge helped remove the filter and the hearing went on as scheduled.
For Ferguson, it was nothing but a fun moment.
“Everyone involved handled it with dignity, and the filtered lawyer showed incredible grace,” he said.