Court overturns trial judge's dismissal of injury claim

Leonteen Montgomery filed an injury claim against Keith Cohens and Montgomery's own insurer.  Montgomery was hurt in a traffic accident and sued both the at-fault and the company, State Farm, who sold him uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.  State Farm complained that Montgomery did not respond adequately to its discovery requests and the Court dismissed Montgomery's case with prejudice (meaning it could not be re-filed).  Montgomery appealed and the Court of Appeals reversesed the trial judge.  It held that the drastic sanction of dismissal with prejudice must be supported by a reasoned analysis demonstrating an intentional failure to comply with discovery rules.  Since the record was devoid of any such analysis, the case must be returned to the trial court for a hearing.