Sroga v. Huberman

Dist. Ct. abused its discretion in dismissing for want of prosecution plaintiff’s section 1983 retaliation claim after plaintiff had failed to appear for status hearing. Although Dist. Ct. had previously warned plaintiff that failure to appear at said hearing could result in dismissal of case, Dist. Ct. improperly failed to consider lesser sanction where: (1) plaintiff’s failure to appear at status hearing was first-time offense; (2) plaintiff had history of compliance with other Dist. Ct. deadlines; and (3) plaintiff had plausible excuse in his claim that he never received actual notice of said hearing.