Ewing v. BF Advance, LLC ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ANTON EWING, Case No. 20-cv-1748-BAS-WVG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PARTIES 13 v. JOINT MOTION TO DISMISS (ECF No. 48) 14 BF ADVANCE LLC, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Before the Court is the parties’ joint motion to dismiss this action pursuant to Federal 18 Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 41(a)(2). (Mot., ECF No. 11.) Plaintiff Anton Ewing 19 brought this consumer protection action in federal court on September 8, 2020, alleging 20 that Defendants BF Advance LLC and Joseph Cohen violated the Telephone Consumer 21 Protection Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and several provisions of the 22 California Penal Code. (ECF No. 1.) He filed his First Amended Complaint on February 23 17, 2021, which Defendants moved to dismiss on April 12, 2021. (ECF Nos. 18, 24.) The 24 Court issued an Order denying Defendants’ motion to dismiss and, in accordance with that 25 Order, Defendants filed their Answer to the First Amended Complaint on August 16, 2021. 26 (ECF Nos. 33, 34.) On December 14, 2021, the parties jointly moved to dismiss this 27 action, announcing that they had agreed to settle the dispute amicably. (Joint Mot., ECF 28 No. 48.) 1 “Except as provided in Rule 41(a)(1), an action may be dismissed at the □□□□□□□□□□□ 2 ||request only by court order, on terms that the court considers proper.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 3 ||41(a)(2). “The Ninth Circuit has long held that the decision to grant a voluntary dismissal 4 |lunder Rule 41(a)(2) is addressed to the sound discretion of the [d]istrict [c]ourt[.]’’ 5 || Hamilton v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 679 F.2d 143, 145 (9th Cir. 1982) (citing, inter 6 Sams v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 625 F.2d 273, 277 (9th Cir. 1980); Blue Mountain 7 || Constr. Corp. v. Werner, 270 F.2d 305, 306 (9th Cir. 1959), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 931 8 ||/(1960)). “A district court should grant a motion for dismissal under Rule 41(a)(2) unless 9 || a defendant can show it will suffer some plain legal prejudice as a result.” Smith v. Lenches, 10 || 263 F.3d 972, 975 (2001) (footnote omitted). “Legal prejudice” is “prejudice to some legal 11 |/interest, some legal claim, [or] some legal argument.” Westlands Water Dist. v. United 12 || States, 100 F.3d 94, 97 (9th Cir. 1996). A defendant is not said to suffer “legal prejudice” 13 ||from: (1) “[u]ncertainty because a dispute remains unresolved” or the “threat of future 14 || litigation”; (2) the inconvenience of having to defend itself in a different forum; or (3) a 15 plaintiff gaining a tactical advantage through dismissal. Smith, 263 F.3d at 976 (citing 16 || Hamilton, 679 F.2d at 145). 17 Because Defendants do not identify, nor does the Court find apparent, any legal 18 prejudice that might result from dismissal of this action with prejudice, the Court 19 || GRANTS the Joint Motion to dismiss the action with prejudice. (ECF No. 48.) The clerk 20 || of court shall close this case. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 / yy 23 || DATED: December 14, 2021 ( itl A (Lohan 6 24 United States District Judge 25 26 27 28