Donald Ray Thomas v. Gerber Productions & Columbia Pictures Television
Opinion
Opinion
Alarcon, J.
Appellant Donald Ray Thomas (hereinafter Thomas), acting as his own lawyer, has appealed from the dismissal of this action with prejudice. We reverse and remand.
After Thomas repeatedly, stubbornly, and improperly, ignored the patient efforts of the trial judge to compel completion of the taking of Thomas’ deposition on December 14, 1981, the district court ordered that sanctions be imposed. The court stated as follows:
In reply to the court’s inquiry, Thomas replied as follows:
Thereafter, the following colloquy occurred:
From the above comments, it would appear that the district court determined that dismissal was an appropriate sanction. Nevertheless, the plaintiff was given one last opportunity to save his claim by submitting to a deposition and compensating opposing counsel for their wasted time and effort.
No hearing was conducted by the court to determine whether Thomas had the ability to comply with that portion of the court’s order which required him to pay $750.00. Thus, the only information which the court received on December 14, 1981 concerning Thomas’ ability to comply with the court’s order was his unsworn statement that he could not pay the amount ordered.