501 U.S. 32 (1991) Cited 9,363 times 14 Legal Analyses
Holding that courts "may bar from the courtroom a criminal defendant who disrupts a trial" may "assess attorney fees when a party has acted in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons," and "may act sua sponte to dismiss a suit for failure to prosecute"
Holding that the circuit court will give due deference to the district court's Fed. R. Civ. P. 41[b] dismissal of a pro se litigant's complaint "only when the circumstances are sufficiently extreme"
Holding that a bank did not act arbitrarily or irrationally when conditioning its consent to a debtor's asset sale "on the receipt of additional collateral and economic benefits to which the bank was not entitled under the [contract]"
Holding a plaintiff's voluntary dismissal without prejudice under Rule 41 "does not deprive a district court of jurisdiction for all purposes" and "a district court retains jurisdiction to consider a Rule 60(b) motion following a voluntary dismissal"
Holding it is beyond dispute district court may dismiss case pursuant to Rule 41(b) when plaintiff, without offering explanation, is not ready to present case or refuses to go forward with properly scheduled trial
Holding that, while delay caused by plaintiffs counsel's failure to appear at trial "might be said to be minimal in view of her offer to begin trying the case ten days later . . ., we have upheld a dismissal for failure to prosecute where a plaintiffs refusal to proceed to trial was of much shorter duration"
Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 Cited 15,441 times 49 Legal Analyses
Recognizing the federal rules of civil procedure should be employed to promote the "just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding"