First Circuit Upholds Hasty Dismissal with Prejudice

Westlaw provides the following summary of the First Circuit's recent decision in Torres-Vargas v. Pereira, 431 F.3d 389 (1st Cir. Dec. 19, 2005):

Territorial police officer brought § 1983 action against territorial police department, its superintendent, and individual officers, alleging politically discriminatory workplace persecution and hostile work environment. The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Pieras, Senior District Judge, dismissed with prejudice for failure to prosecute and failure to obey Court's order to satisfy outstanding discovery requests, and officer appealed.Holdings: The Court of Appeals, Selya, Circuit Judge, held that:

(1) District Court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing with prejudice, given officer's repeated flouting of civil procedure rules' and Court's discovery deadlines, and

(2) District Court did not have to exhaust lesser sanctions before dismissing with prejudice, given Court's clear warning that dismissal would follow further disregard of its orders.