Ruggiero v. Orange County Jail

Background

The opinion’s caption identifies Francis Henry Ruggiero as the plaintiff and Sergeant K. Lyons, Dr. Salwa Khouri, and Health Service Administrator Ibellis Diaz as defendants. On August 28, 2020, the court scheduled an initial case-management and scheduling conference for October 14, 2020, to be held by telephone. Defense counsel attended, but Ruggiero did not appear and provided no excuse or explanation.

On October 14, the court deemed Ruggiero to have abandoned the case and adjourned the conference to October 30, 2020. The court warned him, in bold and underlined language, that another failure to appear could result in dismissal for failure to prosecute or comply with court orders under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b). The court mailed the order to the address on the docket, and the mailing was not returned as undeliverable.

Ruling

Defense counsel appeared at the October 30 telephone conference, but Ruggiero again failed to appear and gave no excuse or explanation. After considering the factors identified in Lucas v. Miles, the court dismissed the case with prejudice for failure to prosecute and failure to comply with court orders under Rule 41(b). “With prejudice” means the dismissal bars refiling the same case.

The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied permission to pursue an appeal without paying court fees. The clerk was instructed to close the case, and chambers was directed to mail the order to Ruggiero.