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266 Md. 512

295 A.2d 221

Pappalardo v. Lloyd

Court of Appeals of Maryland

Decided October 13, 1972

Court of Appeals of Maryland · decided 1972-10-13

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““This case was ripe for dismissal and the notice required by the Rule was given April 26, 1971. The Order which suspended the operation of the Rule set forth that the suspension was conditioned upon a specific act to be performed by plaintiffs’ counsel. When they failed to comply within the time allowed, the case was in effect dismissed upon the expiration of the time fixed in the Order. The formal Order of Dismissal entered by the court on January 7, 1972 required no further notice and simply reduced to writing what was an accomplished fact.””

quoted by 3 later decisions, including Owen v. Freeman, 34 Md. App. 389 - Armes v. Cook

“Rule 2-507. Dismissal for lack of jurisdiction or prosecution. (c) For lack of prosecution. An action is subject to dismissal for lack of prosecution at the expiration of one year from the last docket entry____ (d) Notification of contemplated dismissal. When an action is subject to dismissal pursuant to this Rule, the clerk, upon written request of a party or upon the clerk’s own initiative, shall serve a notice on all parties pursuant to Rule 1-321 that an order of dismissal for lack of ... prosecution will be entered after the expiration of 30 days unless a motion is filed under section (e) of this Rule. (e) Deferral of dismissal. On motion filed at any time before 30 days after service of the notice, the court for good cause shown may defer entry of the order of dismissal for the period and on the terms it deems proper. (f) Entry of dismissal. If a motion has not been filed under section (e) of this Rule, the clerk shall enter on the docket “Dismissed for lack of ... prosecution without prejudice” 30 days after service of the notice. If a motion is filed and denied, the clerk shall make the entry promptly after the denial.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 125 Md. App. 275 - Union Memorial Hospital v. Dorsey

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1972-10-13

How this case has been cited

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently February 1999

10 state decisions

60197219801990decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam :

¶1 This is an appeal from an Order of the Circuit Court for Garrett County, Hamill, J., dismissing the case for want of prosecution pursuant to Maryland Rule 530. The significant docket entries show that notice to counsel of record of its contemplated dismissal under Rule 530 was filed April 26, 1971. Counsel for the plaintiff raised no contention at that time that this notice was not properly sent nor that the period required to bring into play *514 Rule 530 had not expired. On May 25, 1971 the plaintiffs moved the court to suspend the operation of Maryland Rule 530, and the court on that day entered an Order directing “that the operation of Rule 530 of the Maryland Rules of Procedure be and the same is hereby suspended in this cause. It is further ordered that the operation of said Rule 530 will be enforced unless this cause is set for trial on or before January 1, 1972”. Thereafter on September 14, 1971 the case was continued by the court at its call of the docket. Thereafter on January 7, 1972 the defendants presented to the court without notice to the plaintiffs’ counsel a Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Maryland Rule 530 upon which the court signed ex parte the following Order on that date: “Ordered that the Clerk shall enter on the docket dismissed for want of prosecution”. Thereafter the plaintiffs moved to reinstate the case on January 28, 1972. This Motion was denied. From these latter two actions the present appeal is taken.

¶2 The plaintiffs contend that the docket entry of September 14, 1971 showing the case continued is a proceeding of record and that they were denied due process of law when the final Order of January 7, 1972 was signed without notice to them and an opportunity to be heard. We are unable to agree with either of these contentions.

¶3 The continuance of a case at a time when the same has not been set for trial as a result of a formal call of the docket is not such a proceeding of record as is contemplated by Maryland Rule 530. This disposes of the first of appellants’ contentions.

¶4 This case was ripe for dismissal and the notice required by the Rule was given April 26, 1971. The Order which suspended the operation of the Rule set forth that the suspension was conditioned upon a specific act to be performed by plaintiffs’ counsel. When they failed to comply within the time allowed, the case was in effect dismissed upon the expiration of the time fixed in the Order. The formal Order of Dismissal entered by the *515 court on January 7, 1972 required no further notice and simply reduced to writing what was an accomplished fact. The action of the lower court, therefore, will be affirmed.

¶5 Order affirmed.

¶6 Costs to be paid by appellants.

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