Khela v. Safeco Insurance Company of America ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 BALDEV KHELA, et al., No. 1:19-cv-00972-NONE-SKO 12 Plaintiffs, ORDER DIRECTING CLERK TO ASSIGN 13 v. A DISTRICT JUDGE TO THIS MATTER AND CLOSE THE CASE 14 SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, (Doc. 17) 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 19 On October 15, 2020, Defendant filed a stipulation, signed by all parties who have appeared, 20 that this action be dismissed with prejudice pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil 21 Procedure. (Doc. 17.) 22 In relevant part, Rule 41(a)(1)(A) provides as follows: 23 [A] plaintiff may dismiss an action without a court order by filing: (i) a notice of dismissal before the opposing party serves either an answer or a motion for 24 summary judgment; or (ii) a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have 25 appeared. 26 Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A). Rule 41 thus allows the parties to dismiss an action voluntarily, after 27 service of an answer, by filing a written stipulation to dismiss signed by all the parties who have 28 1 appeared, although an oral stipulation in open court will also suffice. See Eitel v. McCool, 782 2 F.2d 1470, 1472-73 (9th Cir. 1986). 3 Once the stipulation between the parties who have appeared is properly filed or made in 4 open court, no order of the court is necessary to effectuate dismissal. Case law concerning 5 stipulated dismissals under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) is clear that the entry of such a stipulation of 6 dismissal is effective automatically and does not require judicial approval. Commercial Space 7 Mgmt. Co. v. Boeing Co., 193 F.3d 1074, 1077 (9th Cir. 1999). Because the parties have filed a 8 stipulation for dismissal of this case with prejudice under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) that is signed by all 9 whom have made an appearance, this case has terminated. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(ii). 10 Based on the foregoing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Clerk of Court SHALL assign 11 a district judge to this matter and thereafter CLOSE the case. 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 Sheila K. Oberto 14 Dated: October 16, 2020 /s/ . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28