Wilson v. McNeely

Gary Wilson appeals, pro se, from the trial court’s order dismissing his complaint with prejudice based upon his failure to supplement his discovery responses and submit his portion of a pre-trial order. In seven related enumerations of error, Wilson contends the trial court erred by dismissing his complaint with prejudice. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate the trial court’s order and remand this case to the trial court for consideration of a less harsh sanction. This case involves a legal malpractice action filed by Wilson against Richard McNeely in connection with a real estate closing. It is the second appearance of this case before this court. In Wilson v. McNeely , 295 Ga. App. 41, 43 1 670 SE2d 846 2008, we reversed a jury verdict in favor of McNeely because the trial judge should have recused herself.

The record shows that the trial court ordered Wilson to appear at a pre-trial conference two weeks before a specially set trial with his portion of a pre-trial order. At the time this order was issued, Wilson’s attorneys had withdrawn, and he was not represented by counsel. When Wilson appeared for the scheduled pre-trial conference, he did not have his portion of the pre-trial order prepared and had not yet obtained counsel. Defense counsel moved for dismissal of his complaint based upon Wilson’s failure to prepare his portion of the pre-trial order, and the trial court granted the motion at the conclusion of the hearing. In a written order issued the same day, the trial court dismissed Wilson’s complaint with prejudice based upon his failure “to supplement his discovery responses as to who his expert witnesses will be” and failure to prepare his portion of the pretrial order.