Breckenridge

On July 5, 1961, plaintiff sued Paul A.

Mason, attorney at law and notary public, on his alleged false acknowledgment as a notary and Ohio Casualty Insurance Company on the statutory bond, alleging that one Grant T. Shepherd neither signed nor acknowledged the document in question. On October 24, 1963, all parties appeared for trial; by stipulation of counsel the cause was ordered off calendar subject to being reset on 30 days’ notice by plaintiff. Two years and four months later plaintiff filed Certificate of Readiness ; on March 18, 1966, Mason filed notice of motion for order dismissing the action under section 583, Code of Civil Procedure. On March 31, 1966, the motion was heard and Ohio Casualty Insurance Company joined in the motion; four years, eight months and twenty-five days after the complaint was filed order of dismissal was entered. Plaintiff appeals from the order.

On Mason’s motion to dismiss, supporting declarations were filed by Mason and Max G. Kolliner, attorney for Ohio Casualty Insurance Company; they reflect the history of the litigation and the events leading up to the dismissal. In 1958 Grant T. Shepherd, Paul W. Wilds, Jr., and B. L. Harmon formed a…