Under certain circumstances, a prior action may be deemed to have been abandoned, which prevents abatement of the second action.  In some jurisdictions a suit may be terminated by lack of diligence in bringing it to trial; where it is off docket for a stated period of time it is deemed abandoned and automatically dismissed and will not abate a second suit based on the same cause of action.  If a suit is merely filed and no further activity in the matter occurs for a period of time, or where there appears to be no bona fide intention to obtain service and prosecute the suit, the suit is not deemed to be commenced.