Old Republic General Insurance Corporation v. Amtrust North America ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 OLD REPUBLIC GENERAL No. 1:20-cv-00778-DAD-BAK INSURANCE CORPORATION, 12 Plaintiff, 13 ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION TO v. VOLUNTARILY DISMISS DEFENDANT 14 NAVIGATORS SPECIALTY INSURANCE COLONY SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY FROM THIS ACTION 15 COMPANY, et al., (Doc. No. 78) 16 Defendants. 17 18 On April 20, 2022, plaintiff Old Republic General Insurance Corporation and defendant 19 Navigators Specialty Insurance Company (“Navigators”) filed a joint motion requesting an order 20 dismissing defendant Navigators from this action, without prejudice, pursuant to Federal Rule of 21 Civil Procedure 41(a)(2). (Doc. No. 78.) In the pending motion, plaintiff and defendant 22 stipulated that they “have no further dispute about whether Navigators has a duty to defend the 23 mutual insured in the underlying action” and agree that plaintiff’s operative second amended 24 complaint, as brought against defendant Navigators, should be dismissed without prejudice. (Id. 25 at 2.) 26 Dismissals under Rule 41 are not limited to dismissals of entire actions; a plaintiff may 27 request voluntary dismissal of a single defendant from an action. See Hells Canyon Pres. Council 28 v. U.S. Forest Serv., 403 F.3d 683, 688 (9th Cir. 2005) (noting that Rule 41 “allow[s] the 1 | dismissal of all claims against one defendant, so that a defendant may be dismissed from the 2 | entire action”). A district court should grant a motion for voluntary dismissal under Rule 41(a)(2) 3 | unless a defendant can show that it will suffer some plain legal prejudice as a result. Waller v. 4 | Fin. Corp. of Am., 828 F.2d 579, 583 (9th Cir. 1987). Here, plaintiff and defendant Navigators 5 | agree that Navigators should be dismissed as a named defendant in this action, and the remaining 6 | defendants did not file any oppositions to the pending motion. Accordingly, the court will grant 7 | the joint motion and dismiss defendant Navigators from this action without prejudice. 8 Good cause appearing, it is hereby ordered that: 9 1. The motion to dismiss defendant Navigators Specialty Insurance Company from 10 this action (Doc. No. 78) is granted; 11 2. Plaintiffs claims against defendant Navigators Specialty Insurance Company in 12 this action are dismissed, without prejudice; and 13 3. The Clerk of the Court is directed to update the docket to reflect that defendant 14 Navigators Specialty Insurance Company has been terminated as a named 15 defendant in this action. 16 | IT IS SO ORDERED. me □ Dated: _May 2, 2022 Vila A Drag 18 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28