Court Opinion

ID: 9669655
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:02:53.828435+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:59.032452
License: Public Domain

MYSE, J.
(dissenting). I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion holding that the dismissal for failing to prosecute was violative of Rupert’s due process rights. Section 805.03 provides sanctions for failing to prosecute a claim. Among the sanctions is dismissal of the action. The question in this case is whether the court abused its discretion by ordering dismissal based upon its finding that Rupert had failed to prosecute his claim during the sixteen *16months that elapsed from the filing of the action to the date the court ordered the action dismissed.
The majority opinion does not discuss the court’s exercise of its discretion in determining whether dismissal was appropriate under the facts of this case. Rather, the majority concludes that the order of dismissal violated Rupert’s due process rights because he was not warned in advance that failure to prosecute his claim could result in dismissal. This holding is made in the face of sec. 805.03, which specifically provides for dismissal for failing to prosecute, and sec. 802.10, Stats., which states that all proceedings are deemed ready for trial one year after a summons and complaint are filed.
The majority acknowledges that a dismissal for lack of diligent prosecution is recognized in both statutory and case law. The majority requires, however, that lack of diligence be defined in advance to conform with due process requirements. There is no objective measure as to what constitutes a basis for dismissing a claim for failing to diligently prosecute any more than there is an objective measure as to what showing is sufficient to avoid a sanction for the failure of diligence. Each must be determined on an individual case basis and cannot be reduced to mechanical formulas that are applicable to all cases that can be published in advance.
It is well recognized that a trial court has inherent power to dismiss a case for failing to prosecute. In the case cited by the majority, Neylan, 124 Wis. 2d at 94, 368 N.W.2d at 653 (quoting Latham, 23 Wis. 2d at 314, 127 N.W.2d at 226), the court noted:
It is considered well established that a court has the inherent power to resort to a dismissal of an *17action in the interest of orderly administration of justice. The general control of the judicial business before it is essential to the court if it is to function. "Every court has inherent power, exercisable in its sound discretion, consistent within the Constitution and statutes, to control disposition of causes on its docket with economy of time and effort.”
The majority relies upon Latham and Neylan in support of its holding. Such reliance is misplaced. These cases deal with notice as a requirement of due process and mandate that an affected party be given notice and an opportunity to show cause as to why the court should not dismiss a case. The majority’s conclusion that notice of possible consequences must be given in advance is nowhere to be found in the cases cited nor anywhere else in the laws of Wisconsin.
Indeed, the majority’s decision appears to hold that, in the absence of a scheduling order, every litigant is entitled to do nothing for one year and sixty days under sec. 802.10(2). The court is then to schedule a pretrial conference at which time the court must deal with a litigant’s failure to diligently prosecute his claim. I point out that the pretrial conference is designed to review the issues in controversy, reach stipulations so as to narrow the issues, review the legal questions that will be raised during trial, and attempt conciliation between the parties. Such efforts are impossible if, at the time the pretrial conference is held, the litigants have done nothing to prepare for trial.
Trial courts have been charged with the duty to expedite the trial of cases. See Trispel, 89 Wis. 2d at 733-34, 279 N.W.2d at 245-46. The majority has wrested from the hands of the trial bench an important tool in the discharge of its obligation to supervise *18its calendars so as to ensure prompt disposition of pending litigation.
The record discloses that Rupert did essentially nothing to advance his claim during a sixteen-month period. At the hearing held by the court as to why the matter should not be dismissed, Rupert offered no explanation for his failure to prosecute. In light of these facts, the trial court cannot be said to have abused its discretion by ordering dismissal.
For the above reasons, I conclude that a trial court has the power to dismiss for failure to diligently prosecute a claim and that in so determining, the. matter is left to the trial court’s sound discretion and judgment. Here, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by directing dismissal.