Mercantile Investment Co. v. Superior Court

Application for a writ of mandamus directing the respondent Superior Court to dismiss a pending civil action for an alleged failure of the plaintiff therein to bring the same to trial within the five-year period prescribed in section 583 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Under this section a dismissal is mandatory where there has been a failure to bring the cause to trial within five years after answer filed except where the parties have stipulated in writing that the time may be extended.

The cause which it is here sought to have dismissed was commenced November 5, 1924, the petitioners Townsend and Parkford being named defendants therein. It was continued from time to. time and was partially tried on April 12, 1926, at which time a further continuance was found necessary in order to permit the plaintiff to amend his complaint to include the petitioner Mercantile Investment Company as a defendant. Answers to the amended complaint were respectively filed on April 27 and 29, 1926. The cause was thereafter set down for trial on June 28, 1926, at which time it went off calendar and was indefinitely continued upon motion of the defendants, supported by affidavits, to the effect that it…