7th Cir. IOP 7

(a) Dismissal for Failure to Prosecute. Statutes and rules of court call for the parties to take specified steps at particular times, and the court treats failure to take some of these steps as failure to prosecute, leading to dismissal. Failure to pay the docket fee, failure to file the docketing statement required by Circuit Rule 3(c), and failure by the appellant or petitioner to file a brief, amount to abandonment of the appeal.

(1) Seven days after the docket fee, docketing statement, or brief is due, the Clerk will send a notice, by certified mail, reminding the party of the obligation. The notice will inform the party about the consequence of continued delay in satisfying the obligation.

(2) If the party or counsel does not respond within 21 days of the date of the notice, the Clerk will enter an order dismissing the appeal for want of prosecution. In a criminal appeal with appointed counsel, however, the Clerk will not dismiss the appeal but will instead discharge the lawyer and appoint new counsel. When counsel is discharged under this procedure, the Clerk also will enter an order requiring the lawyer to show cause why abandonment of the client should not lead to disbarment.

(3) If the party responds within 21 days but does not comply with the obligation, or if the Clerk has not received a receipt showing delivery of the notice, a staff attorney will present the papers to the motions panel for decision.

(b) Removal from the List of Attorneys Authorized to Practice. States within the jurisdiction of this circuit send the court lists of attorneys who have been suspended from practice, disbarred, or resigned to prevent consideration of a pending ethical complaint. As a rule, these attorneys have had ample opportunity to contest that adverse action and do not oppose parallel action by other jurisdictions, leading to routine handling in this court.

(1) Promptly after learning that a member of this court's bar has been suspended for a year or more, has been disbarred, or has resigned from the bar of a jurisdiction in which the attorney is authorized to practice, the Clerk will send a notice, by certified mail, directing the lawyer to explain within 30 days why this court should not strike him from the roll of attorneys authorized to practice.

(2) If the lawyer does not respond within 30 days, or if the lawyer consents to the proposed disposition, the Clerk will enter an order removing the lawyer from the roll of attorneys authorized to practice in this court.

(3) If the lawyer responds within 30 days but does not consent to the proposed disposition, or if within that time the Clerk has not received a receipt showing delivery of the notice, a staff attorney will present the papers to the motions panel for decision.

(c) Review of the Clerk's Action. A petition for rehearing contesting the entry of a routine order under this operating procedure will be treated as a motion and referred to the motions panel. An order by the motions panel permitting the appeal to continue has the effect of reinstating the appeal, and the Clerk will reset the briefing schedule accordingly.