Carter v. City of Alton

Dist. Ct. erred in granting plaintiff’s motion to voluntarily dismiss her complaint with prejudice. Record showed that plaintiff did not explicitly say in her motion that she sought dismissal without prejudice, that defendants had already filed answer to said complaint, and that although defendants urged Dist. Ct. to dismiss case with prejudice, plaintiff filed reply indicating that she sought dismissal without prejudice. As such, under Rule 41(a)(2), Dist. Ct. should have given plaintiff opportunity to withdraw her voluntary dismissal motion before entering instant dismissal with prejudice order.