Bulnes v. Suez WTS Services USA, Inc.
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Cynthia Ann Bashant (author)
Analysis
The parties jointly moved to dismiss the plaintiff's remaining individual claims with prejudice following the completion of arbitration. The court granted the motion, dismissing the action with prejudice and ordering the case closed.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Granting the parties' Joint Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's individual claims with prejudice“Having considered the parties’ request, the Court GRANTS the Joint Motion. (Id.) Thus, the Court DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE the instant action.” | agree with court The court correctly applied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), which allows for voluntary dismissal by stipulation signed by all parties. The parties explicitly stipulated to dismissal with prejudice, overriding the default rule of dismissal without prejudice under Rule 41(a)(1)(B). The court also correctly noted the local administrative requirement to file such a stipulation as a joint motion. |
The order itself: sound — The order is procedurally correct and relies on the appropriate Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and local administrative policies. It accurately identifies the mechanism for voluntary dismissal by stipulation and the requirement for a joint motion in this district. The reasoning is concise but sufficient for a procedural order based on a joint stipulation.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 Martin Bulnes, Case No. 22-cv-1154-BAS-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PARTIES’ 13 v. JOINT MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMS WITH 14 Suez WTS Services USA, Inc.; GE PREJUDICE (ECF No. 30) Mobile Water, Inc.; and Does 1 through 15 100, 16 Defendant. 17 18 Before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s individual claims 19 with prejudice. (ECF No. 30.) Plaintiff originally filed this case as a putative class action, 20 but this Court dismissed the putative class claims without prejudice, closed the case, and 21 ordered the parties to arbitration nearly a year ago. (ECF No. 28.) This allowed Plaintiff’s 22 individual claims to survive as the parties proceeded into arbitration. Now, having 23 completed arbitration, the parties jointly move to dismiss Plaintiff’s individual claims with 24 prejudice. (ECF No. 30 at 1:13–23.) 25 Under Rule 41(a)(1)(A), a plaintiff has an absolute right to voluntarily dismiss its 26 action by (1) filing a notice of voluntary dismissal before a defendant has filed an answer 27 or moved for summary judgment, see Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i), or (2) filing a stipulation of 28 dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared, see Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii). See also 1 || Wilson v. City of San Jose, 111 F.3d 688, 692 (9th Cir. 1997). Dismissal pursuant to Rule 2 ||41(a)(1)(A)Qai) is effective upon the filing of a compliant notice or stipulation. No court 3 ||order is required. See Stone v. Woodford, CIV-F-05-845 AWI-DLB, 2007 WL 527766 4 ||(E.D. Cal. Feb. 16, 2007). Nonetheless, the local civil rules of this district require that 5 || where, as here, litigants seek voluntary dismissal by filing a signed stipulation pursuant to 6 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), such a stipulation must be filed as a joint motion.! 7 A dismissal is without prejudice unless the parties stipulate otherwise. See Fed. R. 8 || Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(B). Here, the parties have stipulated otherwise. (See ECF No. 30.) 9 The Clerk of Court is ORDERED to re-open the case solely for the purposes of this 10 ||order. Having considered the parties’ request, the Court GRANTS the Joint Motion. (/d.) 11 || Thus, the Court DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE the instant action. The Clerk of Court 12 further ORDERED to amend the Clerk’s Judgment to reflect this order and is directed 13 || to close the case. 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. 15 16 || DATED: February 27, 2024 ( yi uA (Hiphan 6 17 United States District Judge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 || ——_—— 28 See Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, United States District Court for the Southern District of California. ~_9.