NELLIE HARRISON, APPELLANT,
v.
LAWRENCE GRIFFIN AND ELIZABETH GRIFFIN, HUSBAND AND WIFE, AND CONNIE H. WAITES, APPELLEES
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A dismissal for failure to prosecute under Rule 1.420(e) is always without prejudice.
Appellant sought relief from an order dismissing her cause of action with prejudice for failure to prosecute. The trial court dismissed the case with …
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WIGGINTON, Judge.
Appellant seeks our relief from a lower court’s order dismissing this cause of action with prejudice, for her failure to prosecute the case as minimally required by rule 1.420(e) of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure.
There is no contest as to the propriety of granting the dismissal but only as to it being “with prejudice.” Appellant’s concern, according to this record, may be of little practical significance but her position is legally indisputable. However, this appellate review may well have been avoided had appellant not failed to appear at the hearing wherein the trial court disposed of this and her motion for continuance.
As our learned brethren stated in Gibbs v. Trudeau, 283 So. 2d 889 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973):
An involuntary dismissal of a cause of action by order of court under Rule 1.420(b), 30 F.S.A., Rules of Civil Procedure, for failure of a plaintiff to comply with a mandatory order of the court operates as an adjudication on the merits of the action and is a bar to any subsequent suit brought on the same cause of action. It has been repeatedly held, however, that this principle of law is not applicable in instances where a cause of action is dismissed pursuant to Rule 1.420(e), Rules of Civil Procedure for failure to prosecute the action within the time required.
At 890. This not-so-novel conclusion of law stems from a long line of eases and has been consistently followed and recently affirmed as in Bair v. Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc., 387 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980) wherein Judge Hersey emphatically pointed out “that such a dismissal (of a complaint for failure to prosecute), under rule 1.420(e), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, is to be without prejudice.” We agree, and, while approving the dismissal of the complaint for lack of prosecution, strike from paragraph 3 of the order the final two words, “with prejudice.”
LARRY G. SMITH and NIMMONS, JJ., concur.
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Ferguson v. Ferguson, 504 So. 2d 541 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)….See The Florida Bar; In re W. Paul Thompson, 328 So. 2d 196 (Fla.1976). See also Hightower v. Berry, 490 So. 2d 1029 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Ward v. State, 470 So. 2d 100 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 480 So. 2d 1296 (Fla.1985); Harrison v. Griffin, 443 So. 2d 499 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Taylor v. Taylor, 325 So. 2d 63 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Burrell Drilling Co. v. Meredith Corp., 306 So. 2d 139 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 315 So. 2d 472 (Fla.1975); Neal v. Neal, 276 So. 2d 82 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973); Nethery v. Neth…
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Cummings v. Dawson, 444 So. 2d 565 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)…roper on the additional ground that “actionable harassment” is a nonexistent cause of action. We recognize that dismissal with prejudice would have been improper if lack of prosecution had been the only basis for dismissal. See Harrison v. Griffin, 443 So. 2d 499 (Fla. 1st DCA, 1984). However, since the alternative grounds stated above support dismissal with prejudice, the order of dismissal is affirmed. LARRY G. SMITH and NIMMONS, JJ., concur.…
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Ferenc v. Wade, 638 So. 2d 621 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…PER CURIAM. We have for review an order dismissing John M. Ferenc’s action, for failure to prosecute. The trial court erroneously dismissed Ferenc’s action “with prejudice.” Harrison v. Griffin, 443 So. 2d 499 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). We therefore strike these words from the order of the trial court. The order of the trial court is affirmed in all other respects. It is so ordered. ALLEN, WEBSTER and LAWRENCE, JJ., concur.…
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- Bair v. Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc., 387 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)
- Gibbs v. Trudeau, 283 So. 2d 889 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973)