The case is going bad. Discovery responses have not been completed or supplemented, risking the exclusion of evidence at trial. What is a plaintiff to do? If the claims are within the statute of limitations, dismiss them and re-file, restarting all of the deadlines. Except, don't wait until it's too late, as the Iowa Supreme Court explained today in Lawson v. Kurtzhals.
There, the plaintiff's counsel sought to dismiss the case three days into the jury trial. The district court determined that the plaintiff had an unfettered right to do so and allowed the dismissal. The plaintiff immediately refiled an identical case.
The Iowa Supreme Court has now stopped the maneuver, reinstating the first case, with the same exclusion of evidence rulings that had been in place as a result of the plaintiff's failure to provide sufficient discovery responses.
The relevant rule is 1.943, which allows dismissals "without order of court ... at any time up until ten days before the trial is scheduled to begin." After that, dismissals are allowed "only by consent of the court which may impose such terms or conditions as it deems proper."
The Supreme Court acknowledged that the second sentence was "less clear." The legislative history did make clear, though, that Iowa was seeking a balance between the harsher federal rule -- which usually requires stipulations of dismissal -- and an unlimited right to dismiss at any time. Thus, the ten day provision. The Iowa Supreme Court concluded that "anytime after ten days before the trial is scheduled to begin the ability to seek a voluntary dismissal without prejudice is not absolute. It is within the discretion of the trial court."
In Lawson, had the district court exercised its discretion, it would have been an abuse of discretion to allow the dismissal, given how far it had progressed into trial.
As a result, if you are a plaintiff and you want to restart the process, do so at least ten days before trial.
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