reversing a dismissal that was based on an inmate's failure to attend a pretrial conference
How later courts described this case
- reversing a dismissal that was based on an inmate's failure to attend a pretrial conference
- procedural rule allowing dismissal based on party’s failure to attend pretrial conference “must be carefully exercised” and ‘“carefully scrutinized’ ” given the extreme nature of the sanction
- "In general, pretrial conferences are not intended to be a forum in which the parties present evidence."
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Although I concur in the result to reverse the circuit court's judgment of dismissal, I do not agree that Aguilar v. Spradlin , 408 So.2d 525 (Ala.Civ.App. 1981), is due to be overruled. Rather, in my view, this case is properly distinguished from Aguilar in that James Brent Brown made an effort to "appear" at the scheduling conference in the circuit court by timely filing a detailed written response to that court's September 3, 2003, order setting the date of that conference. The opinion in Aguilar contains no indication that the plaintiff in that case made any effort to "appear" at a scheduled pretrial conference that may be deemed comparable to James Brent Brown's, and a harsher sanction may indeed be appropriate under the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure *Page 577
where no such effort is made by an incarcerated plaintiff.