Bruns v. E-Commerce Exchange, Inc.

Bruns (plaintiff) sued E-Commerce Exchange (defendant) in 2002; over the following years, the trial court issued both orders staying the entire litigation and separate orders staying only parts of it, like discovery. In 2006, E-Commerce moved to dismiss under a statute requiring trial within five years of filing, and the trial court granted dismissal; the Court of Appeal reversed, reasoning that partial-stay periods should also be excluded from the five-year calculation under the statute's stay exception, which would mean the deadline hadn't yet passed.