Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Taylor

Jim Hannah, Justice.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart), appeals an order reinstating Earnestine Taylor’s lawsuit. Taylor’s lawsuit was dismissed in error by the circuit court for failure to prosecute under Ark. R. Civ. P. 41. There was no failure to prosecute at the time the lawsuit was dismissed. The case was set to be tried within a few weeks. This was the second dismissal of this action, and pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 41(b), it operates as an adjudication on the merits. Hartford Ins. Co. v. Mullinax, 336 Ark. 335, 984 S.W.2d 812 (1999).

Taylor waited seventeen months after the dismissal…