S. Ct. Civ. No. 2016-0048

In an action pled on theories of abuse of process and malicious prosecution, following the termination of plaintiff's employment, the Superior Court's August 12, 2016 order, which granted summary judgment against the plaintiff on all counts of his complaint, dismissing them with prejudice, is affirmed Plaintiff's two arguments on appeal are both waived by failure to cite legal authority supporting his position and failure to present an "excusable neglect" argument to the Superior Court. The law-of-the-case doctrine does not apply to the present case. The argument that denial of a 10-day extension of time to file a substantive response to the defense summary judgment motion was an abuse of discretion is waived, and in any event would not prevail since plaintiff has failed to show excusable neglect in failing to meet deadlines. Plaintiff's delay was wholly within his control, and excusing it would impair the Superior Court's ability to manage its caseload by effectively allowing a litigant to dictate that the court resolve motions in a piecemeal manner, prolonging litigation. Finally, factors applicable to decisions dismissing cases on the merits as a sanction are not applicable here since the present complaint was dismissed - not as a sanction ruling - but because plaintiff failed to carry his burden of responding to a defense summary judgment motion. Accordingly, the Superior Court's August 12, 2016 memorandum opinion and order are affirmed.