The plaintiffs brought a motion to set aside a Registrar's administrative dismissal order that dismissed their product liability action for delay under Rule 48.14.
The action arose from an incident where the plaintiff was allegedly struck by a defective liftgate on a minivan.
The court applied the Reid factors using a contextual approach to determine if the dismissal should be set aside.
The court found that the plaintiffs failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for over two years of cumulative delay and that the dismissal was not due to mere inadvertence.
Furthermore, the court held that the defendants would suffer non-compensable prejudice due to the degradation of physical evidence (the prop rods) and fading witness memories.
The motion to set aside the dismissal order was dismissed.
