Opinion ID: 146834
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Effectiveness of Alternative Sanctions

Text: In this case, the only appropriate sanction was dismissal. “The authority of a court to dismiss for lack of prosecution” is governed by the need for “courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases.” Link v. Wabash R.R., 370 U.S. 626, 631 (1962). There was no reason for the District Court to believe that keeping the case open while applying alternative sanctions would have enabled Parks’ counsel to cure the case’s many defects or reform his pattern of footdragging delay. Parks’ counsel had already failed to respond to a court order threatening sanctions. In this case, there existed no effective alternatives to dismissal that would have allowed the District Court to manage this case and its docket.