Pierce v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JEANETTE PIERCE, Case No. 1:23-cv-01480-JLT-CDB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING STIPULATION OF DISMISSAL OF JEFFREY SEGUINE 13 v. PURSUANT TO FEDERAL RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 41 14 HOME DEPOT U.S.A., INC., et al. (Doc. 8) 15 Defendants. Clerk of Court to Update Docket 16 17 On or about August 9, 2023, Plaintiff Jeanette Pierce filed a complaint against 18 Defendants Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., Crown Lift Trucks, Crown Equipment Corporation, and 19 Jeffrey Seguine (“Seguine”) in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Kern. 20 (Doc. 1). On October 16, 2023, Defendant Crown Equipment Corporation removed the action 21 to this Court. (Doc. 1). 22 On October 23, 2023, Defendant Seguine filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims 23 against him with prejudice. (Doc. 7). The next day, Plaintiff and Seguine filed a stipulation of 24 dismissal as to all claims and causes of actions against Seguine without prejudice pursuant to 25 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(ii). 26 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1), a “plaintiff may dismiss an action 27 without a court order by filing [either] (i) a notice of dismissal before the opposing party serves either an answer or a motion for summary judgment, or (ii) a stipulation of dismissal signed by 1 | all parties who have appeared.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1). Once a dismissal under Rule 41(a)(1) 2 || 1s properly filed, no order of the court is necessary to effectuate dismissal; the dismissal is 3 | effective automatically. Commercial Space Mgmt. Co. v. Boeing Co., 193 F.3d 1074, 1078 (9th 4 Cir. 1999) 5 Here, Plaintiff and Defendant Seguine frame their filing as a “stipulation of dismissal.” 6 | Even though the stipulation is not signed by all the parties who have appeared in the action, the 7 | Court acknowledges that counsel who signed the stipulation on Defendant Seguine’s behalf 8 | represents all other Defendants. In all events, because Defendant Seguine has not served either 9 | an answer or a motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff retains the inalienable right to notice his 10 | dismissal without consent of the party to be dismissed (Seguine). 11 Accordingly, this action is terminated by operation of law only as to Defendant Seguine 12 | without prejudice, with each party bearing that party’s own attorney’s fees and costs, without 13 | further order from the Court. 14 The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to terminate Defendant Seguine only. 15 Further, the Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to terminate Defendant Seguine’s motion to 16 | dismiss (Doc. 7) as the motion is rendered MOOT by Defendant Seguine’s dismissal. 17 | IT IS SO ORDERED. | Dated: _ October 30, 2023 | Word bo 19 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28