Opinion
No. 90-1864.
February 5, 1991.
Appeal from the Circuit Court, Monroe County, J. Jefferson Overby, J.
Hershoff Levy and Jay M. Levy, Robert Gardana, Miami, for appellant.
Cunningham, Albritton, Lenzi, Warner, Miller Erskine and Robert K. Miller, Marathon, for appellee.
Before BASKIN, FERGUSON and LEVY, JJ.
Appellant, Nautical Management Association, Inc., the plaintiff below, appeals from orders dismissing its case and denying a motion for reconsideration where counsel arrived two hours late for a nonjury trial. Counsel's call to the judge's office twenty minutes before the scheduled time for trial to advise that he was experiencing car trouble while en route and would be late is not consistent with a willful and blatant disregard for the court's authority so as to justify the harsh sanction of dismissal. See Blanco v. Allstate Ins. Co., 561 So.2d 1370 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); United States Fidelity Guar. Co. v. State Supply Co., 548 So.2d 893 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); United States Fidelity Guar. Co. v. Herr, 539 So.2d 542 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Paris Int'l Records Filmworks, Inc. v. Rodriguez, 539 So.2d 5 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989).
Reversed and remanded for further consistent proceedings.