In Link v. Cater (1998) 60 Cal.App.4th 1315, the court reversed the trial court's order of dismissal because the "plaintiff had been prosecuting his case diligently for over four years and had appeared in court on a number of occasions." (Link v. Cater, supra, 60 Cal.App.4th at p. 1322.) In addition, in granting the dismissal, "the trial court was laboring under a number of misapprehensions . . . ." (Id. at p. 1325.) The Court of Appeal concluded that "under these circumstances, even assuming a penalty was warranted, clearly dismissal was too severe." (Id. at p. 1325.)