Opinion ID: 1665348
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to receive the Order Dismissing Case for Want of Prosecution

Text: ¶ 39. In her order, the Circuit Judge found that the McDaniels did not receive the order of dismissal. The Circuit Judge then stated, [a]s a result, the Court finds that Plaintiffs were not given the opportunity to provide the Court with good cause why the case should remain on the docket. I believe this finding is manifestly in error. As the majority acknowledges, whether the McDaniels received the order had nothing whatsoever to do with their opportunity to show good cause why the case should not be dismissed. The relevant question is whether the McDaniels received the motion to dismiss, which they did. Having received the motion, they had thirty days to take an action of record or provide the Circuit Judge with good cause, and they did neither. ¶ 40. Stated another way, even if the McDaniels had received the order of dismissal, it would have had no bearing on the disposition of the Clerk's motion to dismiss, because by the time the order was entered, the McDaniels were already in violation of the rule. They failed to take an action of record and failed to provide, in writing, good cause as to why their case should not be dismissed. The entry of the order of dismissal was completely unrelated to the McDaniels' failure to comply with Rule 41(d). ¶ 41. The Circuit Judge relied on Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. v. Anderson, 873 So.2d 1008 (Miss.2004), in holding that because the McDaniels were not sent notice of the order of dismissal, they were denied the opportunity to provide the court with good cause as to why the case should remain on the docket. In Anderson, the defendants were not sent notice of the entry of judgment and, as a result, the defendants failed to timely file their notice of appeal. Id. at 1009. Because the defendants rebutted the presumption that they had received the notice, this Court remanded the case to allow the defendants to file their appeal. Id. at 1010. The Circuit Court's reliance on Anderson is misplaced. ¶ 42. While it is true that both the McDaniels and the defendants in Anderson failed to receive notice of entry of the court's judgment, that is where the similarity ends. The issue here is not whether failure to receive notice of the judgment deprived a defendant of his right to appeal, as was the case in Anderson. The issue here is whether failure to receive notice of entry of the dismissal deprived the McDaniels of their right to comply with the requirements of Rule 41(d). As stated earlier, by the time the trial court entered the order of dismissal, the McDaniels should have already fully complied with the requirements of Rule 41(d) and, in fact, their time to do so had expired. Thus, they cannot blame their failure to comply with the rule on their failure to receive the order. ¶ 43. Notice of the entry of judgment alerts the opposing party of the need to take action within a prescribed time period following the entry. Anderson, 873 So.2d at 1010. Notice of an order of dismissal for want of prosecution does not serve a similar purpose. Rather, notice of the Clerk's Motion to Dismiss for Want of Prosecution is the comparable action, because that notice starts the clock for the opposing party to respond as to why the case should remain on the active docket. The McDaniels received this notice, so the clock began to run. A dismissal is entered when a party fails to timely respond or to take sufficient action of record, neither of which the McDaniels did in this case. The McDaniels' failure to receive notice of the order of dismissal does not erase or excuse their failure to appropriately respond to the notice of the Clerk's Motion to Dismiss, which they did receive. Accordingly, the circuit court erred in finding that the McDaniels' failure to receive the order of dismissal denied them the opportunity to show good cause. The McDaniels failed to satisfy the requirements of Rule 41(d), so the circuit court erred in setting aside the final judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b).