States Steamship Company, a Corporation v. Philippine Air Lines, a Corporation, and Qantas Airways, a Corporation

Presented for review is the single issue of whether the district judge abused his discretion in dismissing the complaint for lack of prosecution.

The complaint was filed on November 14, 1966, and was served on appellees November 30th. Philippine filed its answer on March 1, 1967, and Qantas answered on March 6th. Philippine served requests for admissions on March 17th, the responses to which were filed on April 20th. Qantas, on April 19th, served separate requests for admissions, to which responses were filed on May 26th. Qantas, on April 19th, served a group of interrogatories on appellant. On March 28, 1968, the court, sua sponte, entered an order to show cause why the action sould not be dismissed for lack of prosecution, or otherwise disposed of in conformity with Rule 11 of the court’s local rules of practice. Seemingly, the order to show cause did not overly excite the appellant. It remained inactive until May 24, 1968, on which date it served interrogatories on Philippine. It did not respond to Qantas’ interrogatories until May 27th, over thirteen months after they had been served. The following day, appellant, in attempted compliance with Rule 11, filed a certificate of…