Lynn Church v. Eastern Connecticut Hemotology & Oncology Associates, P.C. (2013)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION RE MOTION FOR ARTICULATION (# 156)

Defendant moves for an articulation of the court's April 8, 2013 order, granting the plaintiff's motion to reopen.

The dismissal that was entered by the court on November 9, 2012, was a discretionary dismissal based upon the failure of the plaintiff's counsel to attend a status conference to discuss discovery objections.   On January 31, 2013, the plaintiff moved to reopen the judgment of dismissal and the defendants objected.

The thrust of the plaintiff's arguments was that his office had mistakenly calendared the status conference or did not calendar the status conference as an explanation for the failure to appear.

From a review of the motion filed by the plaintiff, it is clear that they did not comply with a number of the procedural requirements for the filing of motion to reopen a judgment.   In the court's view, however, these failures were technical or procedural in nature.   A review of the file shows that the issues raised in this suit are important and that there has been a substantial amount of time invested in the past to prepare the case to bring it to trial.

Connecticut has a preference for deciding disputes on their merits.   In this case, the court was satisfied that counsel's absence was inadvertent.

If, however, the plaintiff demonstrates further inattention to the court's orders and scheduled conferences, the court may look less favorably if the issue of a dismissal arises again.

Cosgrove, J.

Cosgrove, Emmet L., J.