187 W. Va. 194 - Davis v. Sheppe’s Empirical Analysis
1992
Citation profile
10 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Link v. Wabash Railroad · Durham v. Florida East Coast Railway Co. · Gonzalez v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. · 157 W. Va. 778 - Toler v. Shelton · 154 W. Va. 369 - Intercity Realty Company v. Gibson
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“‘A district court unquestionably has authority to grant a motion to dismiss for want of prosecution. Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b). Indeed, as the Supreme Court held in Link v. Wabash R. R., 370 U.S. 626 , 82 S.Ct. 1386 , 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962), the trial court can take such action on its own motion. But courts interpreting the rule uniformly hold that it cannot be automatically or mechanically applied. Against the power to prevent delays must be weighed the sound public policy of deciding cases on their merits.... While the propriety of dismissal ultimately turns on the facts of each case, criteria for judging whether the discretion of the trial court has been soundly exercised have been stated frequently. Rightfully, courts are reluctant to punish a client for the behavior of his law-yer_ Therefore, in situations where a party is not responsible for the fault of his attorney, dismissal may be invoked only in extreme circumstances_ Indeed, it has been observed that “[t]he decided cases, while noting that dismissal is a discretionary matter, have generally permitted it only in the face of a clear record of delay or contumacious conduct by the plaintiff.” Durham v. Florida East Coast Ry. Co., 385 F.2d 366, 368 (5th Cir.1967). Appellate courts frequently have found abuse of discretion when trial courts failed to apply sanctions less severe than dismissal.... And generally lack of prejudice to the defendant, though not a bar to dismissal, is a factor that must be considered in determining wh”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“[m]istake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, or unavoidable cause[,]”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.