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Abuse of Discretion – Dismissal

By: Derek Hawkins//September 1, 2015//

Abuse of Discretion – Dismissal

By: Derek Hawkins//September 1, 2015//

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Civil

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: CUDAHY, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Abuse of Discretion – Dismissal

No.14-2158 Peggy Pendell v. City of Peoria, Illinois

Appellant failure to attend two depositions in appellant-commenced civil rights suit was properly dismissed.

“Pendell argues that the district court abused its discretion here, but she is incorrect. After twice failing to complete her deposition, Pendell violated her duty to show up at her resumed deposition, despite having received ample notice of it and a warning that failing to appear may lead to dismissal. Furthermore, by ignoring that duty, she put opposing counsel to needless expense and delayed the court’s calendar. In addition, because she lied to the court in asserting that she did not know about the resumed deposition, she gave the court no reason to believe that she would respect the judicial process. See Greviskes v. Univs. Research Ass’n, Inc., 417 F.3d 752, 759 (7th Cir. 2005) (affirming decision to dismiss suit where plaintiff lied to court about discovery); Dotson v. Bravo, 321 F.3d 663, 667–669 (7th Cir. 2003) (same). Given these factors, and with Pendell’s suit otherwise showing little promise after two years of litigation, the district court committed no abuse of discretion in dismissing the case. See Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626 (1962); Fischer, 446 F.3d at 666; Halas, 16 F.3d at 165.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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