Manor Drug Stores v. Blue Chip Stamps

Manor Drug Stores, plaintiff in a class action, appeals its dismissal, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, section 583, subdivision (b) (the five-year statute), as against ten specified remaining defendants. The appeal lies. (§§ 581d, 904.1, subd. (a).)

We affirm the dismissal because we do not believe that the pendency of an earlier filed, virtually identical, federal action for approximately four of the five years prevented plaintiff from getting this action ready for trial and, in any event, the one year remaining constituted sufficient time to complete the task,

Facts

The relevant facts are not in dispute. On June 21, 1971, plaintiff initiated the action before us within a month following the local federal district court’s dismissal of its virtually identical federal class action based upon the same alleged facts. Plaintiff did nothing further in this action until early June 1974 when it served respondents herein and one other subsequently dismissed corporate defendant in order to avoid dismissal of this action as to these defendants pursuant to section 581a, subdivision (b). At that time plaintiff granted the served defendants an open extension of 30 days, after…