754 F.2d 298 - Edwards v. Edwards — 754 F.2d 298

How this case has been cited

Cited by 43 later decisions — most recently October 2014 · most notably Lovelace v. Acme Markets, Inc. (1987), Friedman

31 federal appellate · 1 state decisions

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.

¶1Herman K. Edwards, appellant, filed a brief pro se.

¶2No brief for appellee.

¶3 *299Before HEANEY, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

¶4PER CURIAM.

¶5Herman Edwards appeals from the district court’s order dismissing his complaint for failure to prosecute. On May 29, 1984, Edwards filed his complaint; and on November 15, 1984, the district court dismissed the complaint because Edwards failed to serve a summons and complaint upon any of the defendants. We affirm the dismissal.

¶6Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(j) provides:

If a service of the summons and complaint is not made upon a defendant within 120 days after the filing of the complaint and the party on whose behalf such service was required cannot show good cause why such service was not made within that period, the action shall be dismissed as to that defendant without prejudice upon the court’s own initiative[.]

¶7In the present case, 170 days passed between the filing of the complaint and the district court’s dismissal. Moreover, the district court had warned Edwards on July 16, 1984, that his complaint would be dismissed if he did not begin serving the defendants. In these circumstances, the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Edwards’ complaint. See Moore v. St. Louis Music Supply Co., 539 F.2d 1191, 1193 (8th Cir.1976).

¶8Accordingly, the district court’s order dismissing Edwards’ complaint without prejudice is affirmed.