McDonnell v. American Trust Co.

Appellants appeal from a judgment of dismissal rendered under Code of Civil Procedure, section 583, by reason of their failure to proceed to trial within three years after filing of the remittitur upon a previous appeal. They urge that since the delay occurred because of the time involved in procuring the testimony of a material witness the court should have exercised its discretion to extend the period of limitation but improperly failed to do so here. We cannot conclude that the absolute limitation is modified by such an undertaking, and, in any event, assuming the issue to be…