Opinion
Civil Action No. 98-0685-P-L
March 6, 2001
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Plaintiff, an Alabama inmate proceeding pro Se, filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Doc. 1.) This action was referred to the undersigned pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636 (b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 72.2(c)(4) for appropriate action, and is now before the Court for Plaintiff's failure to prosecute and obey the Court's order. (Doc. 34.)
In an order dated January 18, 2001, the undersigned converted defendants' special reports and answers to a motion for summary judgment and ordered plaintiff to inform the Court by February 22, 2001, if he wanted to proceed with the prosecution of this action. (Doc. 34.) Plaintiff was warned that his failure to respond would be considered by the Court as an abandonment of the prosecution of this action by him, and that his action would be dismissed. Plaintiff's copy of the Court's order has not been returned to the Court, nor has the Court, to date, heard from Plaintiff since this order was entered.
Due to Plaintiff's failure to comply with the Court's order of January 18, 2001, the undersigned concludes that the plaintiff has abandoned the prosecution of his action. Upon consideration of the alternatives available to the Court and of the time and the resources dismissed with prejudice pursuant to Rule 41(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as no other lesser sanction will suffice. Link v. Wabash R. R., 370 U.S. 626, 630, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962) (interpreting Rule 41(b) not to restrict the court's inherent authority to dismiss sua sponte an action for lack of prosecution); World Thrust Films, Inc. v. International Family Entertainment, Inc., 41 F.3d 1454, 1456-57 (11th Cir. 1995); Mingo v. Sugar Cane Growers Co-op, 864 F.2d 101, 102 (11th Cir. 1989); Blunt v. U.S. Tobacco Co., 856 F.2d 192 (6th Cir. 1988) (unpublished); Goforth v. Owens, 766 F.2d 1533, 1535 (11th Cir. 1983); Jones v. Graham, 709 F.2d 1457, 1458 (11th Cir. 1983). Accord Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 115 L.Ed.2d 27 (1991) (ruling that federal courts' inherent power to manage their own proceedings authorized the imposition of attorney's fees and related expenses as a sanction); Malautea v. Suzuki Motor Co., 987 F.2d 1536, 1545-46 (11th Cir.) (finding that the court's inherent power to manage actions before it permitted the imposition of fines), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 863, 114 S.Ct. 181, 126 L.Ed.2d 140 (1993).