Ending lawsuits for delay

1. Whether Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) permits affirmance of a litigation ending dismissal where the record reflects substantial prosecution of the case, rather than abandonment or contumacious delay, and when lesser sanctions were available. 2. Whether a federal court must meaningfully consider and explain non-use of lesser sanctions before imposing a litigation ending Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) dismissal where the alleged default is principally attributable to counsel and the plaintiff has not personally engaged in intentional delay or bad-faith disobedience. 3. Whether affirmance of a Rule 41(b) dismissal on a record characterized as showing “no significant discovery or case development” conflicts with this Court’s due process principles and the decisions of other circuits requiring calibrated sanctions and preservation of merits adjudication where less drastic alternatives are available. 4. Whether a court of appeals may avoid the heightened standard applicable to litigation ending sanctions by first affirming exclusion of all evidence under ordinary evidentiary discovery factors, and then affirming Rule 41(b) dismissal as inevitable because no evidence remains.