Erickson v. Breedlove

Appellant, a pro se plaintiff below, filed a rambling thirty-eight page complaint against various government agencies and government employees purporting to allege causes of action for false arrest, negligence, perjury, obstruction of justice, malpractice, invasion of privacy, malicious prosecution, and conspiracy. Plaintiffs purported causes of action appear to be related to his claim that he was wrongly arrested and prosecuted for failure to register as a sexual offender. Not surprisingly, the various defendants filed motions to dismiss the complaint. A hearing was held on the motions on March 31, 2004. Pursuant to an order dated April 23, 2004, the court granted the motions to dismiss, but gave plaintiff twenty days in which to file an amended complaint. Between the date of the hearing and the issuance of the written order, plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration. Nine of the defendants filed a response to the motion for reconsideration on May 17, 2004. The next record activity in the case occurred over sixteen months later when several of the defendants filed a motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute. After a hearing, the trial court granted the motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute. Our analysis is governed by the application of Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420(e) (2005).