Incarnacion v. Thomas

LAGOA, Judge.

Appellant, Maria Incarnacion (“Incarna-cion”), the defendant below, appeals an order dismissing the proceedings for In-carnacion’s counsel’s failm-e to appear at a case management conference. Because we find that the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing the proceedings, we reverse.

While a trial court’s decision to impose sanctions is discretionary, that discretion is not absolute. The imposition of sanctions requires wrongdoing by the party being sanctioned, and the sanction must be commensurate with the offense. See Mercer v. Raine, 443 So.2d 944 (Fla.1983); Cossio v.…