Turner v. T & T OLDSMOBILE, INC.

267 S.E.2d 833, 154 Ga. App. 228, 1980 Ga. App. LEXIS 2099

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: March 20, 1980
• Docket: 59464
• Status: Published

Opinion

Shulman, Judge.

Upon plaintiffs failure to attend a pretrial hearing, the trial court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs complaint. In this appeal, plaintiff assigns error to the dismissal of his complaint and to the denial of his motion to set aside that judgment. We find no error.

1. The authority of the trial court to dismiss plaintiffs complaint for failure to appear at a pretrial hearing is clearly established by Code Ann. § 81A-141 (b) and Weeks v. Weeks, 243 Ga. 416 (254 SE2d 366). Therefore, the two enumerations of error concerning that authority provide no cause for reversal.

Argued February 14, 1980 Decided March 20, 1980 Rehearing denied April 3, 1980 John N. Crudup, for appellant. Gibson Dean, II, for appellee.

2. Plaintiffs enumeration concerning the denial of his motion to set aside the judgment is equally without merit. There has been no showing of a nonamendable defect or of any lack of jurisdiction such as would support such a motion. See Code Ann. § 81A-160 (d); Carver v. Cranford, 122 Ga. App. 100 (176 SE2d 272).

3. Plaintiff has contended in each enumeration of error that the trial court’s actions in this case constitute an abuse of discretion. Those assertions are based on plaintiffs counsel’s efforts to resolve a scheduling conflict. However, there is nothing in the record to show that plaintiffs counsel took any official steps to resolve the conflict: he had his secretary call the judge’s secretary, but made no formal request to the trial judge for a continuance or postponement. We find no abuse of discretion in either the dismissal or the denial of plaintiffs motion to set aside the dismissal.

Judgment affirmed.

Quillian, P. J., and Carley, J., concur.