Petite v. Estate of Papachrist

Horney, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The Circuit Court for Harford County, by its order of July 11, 1958, refused to reinstate on the trial docket a cause of action which had been “dismissed for want of prosecution” by the clerk of court pursuant to the provisions of a local rule. The plaintiff below appealed. No brief was filed in this Court on behalf of the appellee.

Chapter 719 of the Acts of 1939, which was merely declaratory of the rule making powers of the courts of this State, specifically conferred on the circuit courts of the counties power to adopt rules governing the practice and procedure in such courts so long as such rules were not inconsistent with the rules of this Court or with any statute then or thereafter in force. 1 Thus, it is clear that on December 15, 1947, the Circuit Court for Harford County had power and authority to adopt local rules concerning its general, appeal and criminal dockets (Rules 1, 2, 3), its stet docket (Rule 4) and the order of trial of cases on the general trial docket (Rule 5). In substance Rule 1 provides that all cases on the law side of the court—other than appeals and criminal cases—shall be entered on the general trial docket when each case is filed, and further provides that all subsequent entries and proceedings pertaining to the case shall be entered thereon. Rule 4 provides that all cases which have been on the general trial docket for one year shall be marked “stet”—short for stet processus—by the clerk—thus staying all proceedings in such cases unless and until revived—and that all stetted cases not ¹⁷⁶ revived within one year after the entry of a stet shall be marked “dismissed for want of prosecution” by the clerk. Rule 5 provides that all cases on the general trial docket “not in default in pleading” shall stand for trial in the numerical order in which the cases appear on the trial docket.

The docket entries in this case show that suit was filed on November 12, 1953. The defendant was summoned on the same day, and an appearance by an attorney was entered for him eight days later. No further action was taken until November 13, 1954, when the case was stetted under the rule. On March 4, 1955, on motion of the plaintiff-appellant, the case was revived, and the defendant filed a general issue plea on March 18, 1955, but there was never a joinder of issue. [The case was reached for trial on March 21, 1955, but because the defendant was not ready, it was postponed with the consent of the plaintiff-appellant.] The case was stetted for the second time on March 5, 1956, and was dismissed on March 6, 1957, for want of prosecution under the rule.

On December 6, 1957, the plaintiff-appellant “petitioned” the court to reinstate the case on the trial docket. The administratrix of the estate of the defendant, who answered promptly, opposed