Court Opinion

ID: 9482689
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:57:40.786693+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:08.559998
License: Public Domain

SNEED, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I do not agree that the district court abused its discretion in dismissing this case for lack of prosecution. The court, in holding to the contrary, rested its decision exclusively on two factors.
These two are the requirement that the district court explicitly place on the record the fact that it did consider less drastic alternatives and did warn the plaintiff’s counsel that dismissal was imminent. These two requirements are not in all in*275stances treated as requirements but in some cases are treated as factors in a five factor balancing test. Each factor does not have to be present before a district court may dismiss a case for failure to prosecute. For example, in Henderson v. Duncan, 779 F.2d 1421, 1425 (9th Cir.1986), the court applied the balancing test but refused to require one of the factors. The court held: “We cannot find that a lack of prejudice to defendants is determinative.”
Similarly, in Malone v. United States Postal Serv., 833 F.2d 128, 132 (9th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 819, 109 S.Ct. 59, 102 L.Ed.2d 37 (1988), the court affirmed dismissal although the district court failed to consider less drastic sanctions. The court stated: “We have never held that explicit discussion of alternatives is necessary for an order of dismissal to be upheld.” Therefore, according to Malone, a district court is never required to discuss alternatives to dismissal.
To transform the balancing test into a set of rigid requirements diminishes a district court’s discretion. The district courts are in a superior position to supervise litigants’ conduct and to issue appropriate sanctions. See Chism v. National Heritage Life Ins. Co., 637 F.2d 1328, 1332 (9th Cir.1981). For this reason, the court has repeatedly given deference to district courts, which are best suited to determine when delay in a particular case interferes with docket management and the public interest. Henderson, 779 F.2d at 1423; Ash v. Cvetkov, 739 F.2d 493, 496 (9th Cir.1984), cert. denied 470 U.S. 1007, 105 S.Ct. 1368, 84 L.Ed.2d 387 (1985).
By elevating two “factors” to “requirements,” the court is placing on the shoulders of the district courts an obligation to police the performance of the attorney of the party whose claim is subject to dismissal. That attorney, not the court, should bear the burden of properly performing his duty to his client. The district court should not be compelled to serve as a safety net to protect the client from his attorney. It is true that lawyers are busy and sometimes lose track of the time at which they should act on behalf of a client. District courts are, also, very busy and, even under the view of the majority, are only “secondarily liable” to the party-client. There is little reason to make them nursemaids of lawyers who, as in this case, neglect a client’s case from July 6, 1987 to February 27, 1989. Even then the attorney in this case was only aroused from his slumber by the court’s dismissal of his client’s cause of action. Was the court precipitous? Must the court have gently touched the nodding lawyer and whispered that he should wake up or his case might be gone before making it vanish from the court’s backlog? I think not.
The two factors, now “requirements,” appropriately could function as such had the dismissal been attempted between September 1, 1987, and January 1, 1988, or even March 1, 1988. However, as the neglect approaches a year in duration, they should be deemed “factors” only. This would serve to prevent peremptory and arbitrary dismissal without forcing the district court to assume responsibilities of the attorney.
Judges understandably sympathize with both lawyers, for they are of that profession, and clients, for they have served them. However, their primary responsibility is to the court and the people. An inescapable part of that responsibility is to secure justice expeditiously. That duty should not be sacrificed, neglected, or impaired by inordinate tolerance of sloppy legal practices or by sympathy for clients abandoned by attorneys who so practice. Those attorneys should be made accountable for their wrongs. Loose rules induce loose practices which, in turn, cause delays and increase the costs of justice.
I would hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the appellant’s claim.