Lasalle

*130 Here is what Code of Civil Procedure 1 section 583.130 says: "It is the policy of the state that a plaintiff shall proceed with reasonable diligence in the prosecution of an action but that all parties shall cooperate in bringing the action to trial or other *265 disposition." That is not complicated language. No jury instruction defining any of its terms would be necessary if we were submitting it to a panel of non-lawyers. The policy of the state is that the parties to a lawsuit "shall cooperate." Period. Full stop.

Yet the principle the section dictates has somehow become the Marie Celeste of California law - a ghost ship reported by a few hardy souls but doubted by most people familiar with the area in which it's been reported. The section's adjuration to civility and cooperation "is a custom, More honor'd in the breach than the observance." 2 In this case, we deal here with more evidence that our profession has come unmoored from its honorable commitment to the ideal expressed in section 583.130, and - in keeping with what has become an unfortunate tradition in California appellate law - we urge a return to the professionalism it represents.

*131 FACTS

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