Florida District Courts of Appeal, 2002

Greenhill v. Shands Teaching Hospital & Clinics, Inc.

Greenhill v. Shands Teaching Hospital & Clinics, Inc.
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided December 19, 2002 · Allen, Davis, Padovano
834 So. 2d 896; 2002 Fla. App. LEXIS 18614; 2002 WL 31833722 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

Greenhill v. Shands Teaching Hospital & Clinics, Inc.

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

The appellants challenge an order by which their medical malpractice action was dismissed, upon a finding that they failed to comply with a pretrial conference order. As indicated in cases such as Commonwealth Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n v. Tubero, 569 So.2d 1271 (Fla. 1990), dismissal is a severe sanction which should be used only in extreme circumstances. Tubero reiterated the description of such circumstances in Mercer v. Raine, 443 So.2d 944 (Fla. 1983), referring to a deliberate and contumacious disregard of the court’s authority, or bad faith, willful disregard or gross indifference, or conduct which otherwise evinces deliberate callousness. Acknowledging the court’s discretion to sanction a party in these circumstances, Tubero requires that an order sanctioning a party by dismissal contain a finding which indicates that the party’s conduct was willful or deliberate. The appealed order in the present case does not contain such a finding, and in accordance with Tubero the order must be reversed. See, e.g., First Fairway Condominium I Ass’n v. Gulfstream Roofing, Inc., 701 So.2d 652 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). The appealed order is therefore reversed and the case is remanded.

ALLEN, C.J., DAVIS and PADOVANO, JJ., CONCUR.

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