Durgin v. Graham

• Decision Date: 27 January 1967
• Docket Number: No. 23070.,23070.
• Citation: Durgin v. Graham, 372 F.2d 130 (5th Cir. 1967)
• Parties: Franklin W. DURGIN, Catherine Durgin, and Orpha Durgin, Appellants, v. John T. GRAHAM, M. Smith Burns, B. Clarke Nichols, and Lindsay Newspapers, Inc., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

372 F.2d 130 (1967)

Franklin W. DURGIN, Catherine Durgin, and Orpha Durgin, Appellants, v. John T. GRAHAM, M. Smith Burns, B. Clarke Nichols, and Lindsay Newspapers, Inc., Appellees.

No. 23070.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

January 27, 1967.

Franklin W. Durgin and Catherine Durgin, pro se.

B. Clarke Nichols, Naples, Fla., Tom Fairfield Brown, Tampa, Fla., for appellees.

Before GEWIN and AINSWORTH, Circuit Judges, and HUNTER, District Judge.

PER CURIAM:

This suit for libel was instituted in the Federal District Court against the individual defendants, appellees here. Jurisdiction is pegged on diversity and the cause of action arises from a series of incidents involving the Sarasota Juvenile Court (appellees John T. Graham and M. Smith Burns, judge and chief counselor, respectively), the Assistant State Attorney (appellee B. Clarke Nichols), and the Publisher of the Sarasota Herald Tribune (appellee Lindsa Newspapers, Inc.). The record reveals that despite the patience of several district court judges, appellants have declined to appear either personally or through counsel at any of the many proceedings below.

On October 23, 1963, the District Court entered an order of dismissal as to Lindsay Newspapers, Inc., having specifically found that appellants had willfully failed and refused to appear for the taking of their depositions. On June 28, 1965, an order of...