Voluntary dismissal
termination of a lawsuit at the plaintiff's request
Voluntary dismissal is termination of a lawsuit by voluntary request of the plaintiff (the party who originally filed the lawsuit). A voluntary dismissal with prejudice (meaning the plaintiff is permanently barred from further litigating the same subject matter) is the modern descendant of the common law procedure known as retraxit.
In the United States, voluntary dismissal in Federal court is subject to Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 41(a)'s full text can be found below. Simply stated, Rule 41(a) allows the plaintiff to make a dismissal as long as the defendant has not filed an answer or filed a motion for summary judgment.
If the defendant has taken such action, dismissal is only proper under two circumstances:
a. all defendants stipulate to dismissal; or
b. the judge overseeing the case rules for the case to be dismissed
Once the case has been voluntarily dismissed, if it is brought to court again a dismissal in this second case will mean the case can never again be brought back to court.
If the defendant has a counterclaim, the case can only be dismissed if the counterclaim can still stand as its own case.
Full text of Rule 41 (a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure:
(a) Voluntary Dismissal: Effect Thereof
(1) By Plaintiff; By Stipulation.
“Voluntary dismissal” enters the record as termination of a lawsuit at the plaintiff's request. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Voluntary, dismissal and termination can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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