Doe 1 v. The College Board

Background

The court had granted the College Board’s motion to compel arbitration on February 24, 2020. The plaintiffs were therefore required to arbitrate the dispute. On May 27, 2020, the court denied their request for a two-month extension and ordered the parties to commence arbitration by June 10, 2020. That order stated that the action would be dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) if arbitration was not commenced by that date.

On June 11, 2020, the plaintiffs informed the court that arbitration had not started because of their inability to travel to New York and the associated costs. The court noted that the plaintiffs did not address videoconference arbitration, an option they had previously presented. The court also stated that the plaintiffs had taken what it called a meritless position about venue, twice missed court-ordered deadlines to commence arbitration, failed to follow the court’s rules for extension requests, and failed to file required joint status letters.

Rule 41(b) Analysis

Rule 41(b) permits a district court to dismiss an action for failure to prosecute. The court said it had to consider the duration of the failure to comply, whether the plaintiffs had notice that noncompliance could lead to dismissal, likely prejudice to the defendant from further delay, the balance between managing the court’s docket and giving the plaintiffs a fair chance to be heard, and whether a less severe sanction had been considered.

Disposition

Judge Lorna G. Schofield ordered that the action be dismissed for failure to prosecute under Rule 41(b). The court emphasized that the plaintiffs had long been on notice of their arbitration obligation and had received an explicit warning that failure to begin arbitration by June 10 would result in dismissal. The court dismissed the action with prejudice. The opinion did not decide the underlying dispute between the plaintiffs and the College Board on its merits.