holding that, without a record of willful refusal to comply with court orders, a record of *440 failure to answer interrogatories did not justify a dismissal with prejudice
How later courts described this case
- holding that, without a record of willful refusal to comply with court orders, a record of *440 failure to answer interrogatories did not justify a dismissal with prejudice
- reversing a dismissal with prejudice under Rule 37, Ala. R. Civ. P., when the evidence did not support a determination that the plaintiff had willfully failed to respond to interrogatories
- "[T]he 'willfulness' of plaintiff's refusal to answer interrogatories in this case is a key criterion to the imposition of the drastic sanction of dismissal."
- "we do not find that element of `willfulness' in plaintiff's conduct to justify the drastic sanction of dismissal"
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Respectfully, I am compelled to dissent. From the record, I am not able to conclude that the trial court, in any respect, abused its discretion in applying the sanction of dismissal of this action on the basis upon which it acted.
TORBERT, C.J., and ALMON, J., concur.