Lieb v. Lager’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 22 state decisions

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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Section 581a of the Code of Civil Procedure makes provision for mandatory dismissal of an action where summons is not served' within three years. It is conceded, however, as indeed it must be, that courts may, in the exercise of a wise discretion, dismiss a case when the delay in service is for a period shorter than that named in the statute. (9 Cal.Jur., p. 536.) It is appellant’s contention, however, that where nothing more than the mere lapse of time is brought to the attention of the court—where no facts are established to show any prejudice resulting from the delay in serving summons— and the delay is less than three years, it is an abuse of power to dismiss an action; that in order to exercise discretion some facts other than the mere lapse of time must be addressed and presented to the court in order to enable it to exercise discretion, otherwise the arbitrary policy of the law as expressed by section 581a must govern, and only in cases where the delay is for three years or more can an order of dismissal be made. As above indicated, it is an inherent right, and therefore one existing independent of any statute, to dismiss a suit for a failure to prosecute it with due diligence. (Grigsby v. Napa County, 36 Cal. 585 [95 Am.Dec. 213] ; Raggio v. Southern Pacific Co., 181 Cal. 472 [ 185 P. 171 ].) As has frequently been said, the duty rests upon a plaintiff at every stage of the proceedings to use diligence to expedite his ease to a final determination that there may be a”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 150 Cal. App. 2d 71 - Ordway v. Arata