Stewart v. Michaelis

Ijn, April 2015, the St. Francis County Circuit Court dismissed this ten-year-old case without prejudice for lack of prosecution. The court’s order stated that there had been no activity during the two years before the dismissal; our review of the record and the parties’ arguments indicates that there was no case activity for the past four years. In either event, the issue here is whether the circuit court abused its discretion when it dismissed the case without prejudice under Arkansas Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b).

I

This case’s particular history informs our decision to reverse the dismissal…