Scardino v. Southern-Owners Insurance Company

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA ORLANDO DIVISION

MARIA SCARDINO,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No: 6:25-cv-919-JSS-LHP

SOUTHERN-OWNERS INSURANCE COMPANY, JOHN DOES 1-5, JANE DOES 1-5, BLACK CORPORATIONS 1-5, and WHITE PARTNERSHIPS 1-5,

Defendants. ___________________________________/ ORDER Invoking Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a), the parties jointly move to dismiss without prejudice Plaintiff’s bad faith claim, count two of Plaintiff’s complaint. (Dkt. 28.) However, Rule 41(a) is not the proper procedural vehicle to dismiss this count because the rule governs the voluntary dismissal of an action—either the “entire lawsuit or, in a multi-defendant lawsuit, all the claims against one party. City of Jacksonville v. Jacksonville Hosp. Holdings, L.P., 82 F.4th 1031, 1036–37 (11th Cir. 2023) (quotation omitted). Here, Plaintiff does not seek to dismiss all the claims against Defendant. (Dkt. 28.) “The easiest and most obvious” way to dismiss less than an entire action “is to seek and obtain leave to amend the [operative] complaint to eliminate” claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15. Perry v. Schumacher Grp. of La., 891 F.3d 954, 958 (11th Cir. 2018). Rule 15 authorizes a party to amend its complaint before trial with “the court’s leave” and instructs the court to “freely give leave [to amend] when justice so requires.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). The court thus construes the parties' joint stipulation for dismissal as a motion to amend the complaint to eliminate the claim at issue, and it grants the construed motion to amend. See Transworld Food Serv., LLC v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., No. 23-11444, 2023 WL 5841944, at *1, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 23940, at *3 (11th Cir. Sept. 11, 2023) (“[A]n ineffective dismissal of claims under Rule 41(a) c[an] be construed as a motion to amend the pleadings under Rule 15[.]” (citing Klay v. United Healthgroup, Inc., 376 F.3d 1092, 1106 (11th Cir. 2004))). Accordingly: 1. The construed motion to amend (Dkt. 28) is GRANTED. 2. The complaint (Dkt. 31) is amended such that the claims in count two are DISMISSED without prejudice. ORDERED in Orlando, Florida, on June 24, 2025.

( a A _ wheeok JUVIE S. SNEED UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE Copies furnished to: Counsel of Record

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