LAUREN FRANK ANDERSON, MISENER MARINE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AND INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANTS,
v.
DONALD E. WATSON, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed trial court's order expunging "with prejudice" from a voluntary dismissal, holding that once a dismissal with prejudice is filed, the trial court loses jurisdiction to modify it even for secretarial error.
Once a party files a voluntary dismissal with prejudice under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420(a)(1)(i), the trial court loses jurisdiction to expunge the words "with prejudice" even if the inclusion resulted from secretarial error or excusable neglect.
[1] A voluntary dismissal under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420(a)(1)(i) divests the trial court of jurisdiction to modify or expunge the dismissal, even when the inclu…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePlaintiffs filed a voluntary dismissal with the words "with prejudice" included. Plaintiffs later moved to expunge those words from the notice of dism…
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RYDER, Chief Judge.
The defendants appeal a trial court order which granted the plaintiffs motion to expunge the words “with prejudice” from a notice of voluntary dismissal under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b). We reverse.
A voluntary dismissal under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420(a)(l)(i) divests a trial court of jurisdiction to relieve a plaintiff of the dismissal. Randle-Eastern Ambulance Service, Inc. v. Vasta, 360 So. 2d 68 (Fla.1978); Miller v. Fortune Insurance Co., 453 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); United Services Automobile Association v. Johnson, 428 So. 2d 334 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). After a party dismisses an action “with prejudice,” the court no longer has jurisdiction to correct the dismissal by expunging the words “with prejudice,” even if the mistaken use of words was a result of secretarial error or excusable neglect. Miller, 453 So. 2d at 490; United Services, 428 So. 2d at 335. But see Bender v. First Fidelity Savings and Loan Assoc. of Winter Park, 463 So. 2d 445, 446 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Shampaine Industries, Inc. v. South Broward Hospital District, 411 So. 2d 364, 367 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982).
In this case, the trial judge was without jurisdiction to grant appellee’s motion to expunge the words “with prejudice” from appellee’s voluntary dismissal.
Reversed.
SCHEB and DANAHY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Watson v. Anderson, 492 So. 2d 1046 (Fla. 1986)…BARKETT, Justice. We have for review Anderson v. Watson, 475 So. 2d 1315 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), because it directly and expressly conflicts with Bender v. First Fidelity Savings and Loan Association, 463 So. 2d 445 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), and Shampaine Industries, Inc. v. South Broward Hospital District, 411 So. 2d 364 (Fla. 4…
Authorities Cited
- Randle-Eastern Ambulance Serv., Inc. v. Vasta, 360 So. 2d 68 (Fla. 1978)
- Shampaine Indus., Inc. v. S. Broward Hosp. Dist., 411 So. 2d 364 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982)
- Bender v. First Fid. Sav. & Loan Ass'n OF Winter Park, 463 So. 2d 445 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)
- State v. Kendrick, 428 So. 2d 334 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)
- Miller v. Fortune Ins. Co., 453 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)