Bulnes v. Suez WTS Services USA, Inc.

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.