Legal Opinion
Samm v. Grina
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Decided June 10, 1988No. 87-731, 87-732PublishedCited by 4 opinions
1Per curiam
Appellant Evangeline Samm filed this lawsuit as a pro se litigant in August, 1984. On March 12, 1987, the trial court dismissed the case because of Samm’s failure to attend a pretrial conference. Samm argues that on the record before us, dismissal was an improper sanction. We agree and reverse.
A pretrial conference was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on March 12, 1987. Samm failed to appear at that time. The court waited until 3:00 p.m. and then sua sponte ordered that the case be dismissed for Samm’s failure to attend the pretrial conference. The dismissal was recorded in an entry on the docket…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Lyons v. JordanDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1987
- Durham v. District of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1985
- District of Columbia v. GreeneDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1988
3Cited by4 opinions
- Solomon v. Fairfax Village Condominium IV Unit Owner's Ass'nDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1993
- Johnson v. BerryDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1995
- Panici v. RodriguezDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1997
- Stuckey v. AhmadDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1994