Holt v. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc. ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DIANA HOLT, No. 1:20-cv-00047-DAD-SKO 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER DIRECTING THE CLERK OF COURT TO CLOSE CASE 14 WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC., (Doc. 19) 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 On August 20, 2020, Defendant filed a stipulation, signed by all parties who have appeared, 19 that this action be dismissed with prejudice pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Federal Rules 20 of Civil Procedure. (Doc. 19.) 21 In relevant part, Rule 41(a)(1)(A) provides as follows: 22 [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 summary 23 judgment; or (ii) a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared. 24 Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A). Rule 41 thus allows the parties to dismiss an action voluntarily, after 25 service of an answer, by filing a written stipulation to dismiss signed by all of the parties who have 26 appeared, although an oral stipulation in open court will also suffice. See Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 27 1470, 1472-73 (9th Cir. 1986). 28 1 Once the stipulation between the parties who have appeared is properly filed or made in 2 open court, no order of the court is necessary to effectuate dismissal. Case law concerning 3 stipulated dismissals under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) is clear that the entry of such a stipulation of 4 dismissal is effective automatically and does not require judicial approval. Commercial Space 5 Mgmt. Co. v. Boeing Co., 193 F.3d 1074, 1077 (9th Cir. 1999). Because the parties have filed a 6 stipulation for dismissal of this case with prejudice under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) that is signed by all 7 who have made an appearance, this case has terminated. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(ii). 8 Based on the foregoing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Clerk of Court close this case. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 Sheila K. Oberto 11 Dated: August 20, 2020 /s/ . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28