Jaramillo v. Burkhart
| Decision Date | 27 June 1995 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 94-2650N,94-2651NE,s. 94-2650N |
| Citation | 59 F.3d 78 |
| Parties | Ruby JARAMILLO, minor; Bienvenida Jaramillo, as legal guardian and next friend, Appellants, v. Joseph G. BURKHART; Olsen Brothers, Inc., Appellees. Cindy JARAMILLO, minor; Bienvenida Jaramillo, as legal guardian and next friend, Appellants, v. Joseph G. BURKHART; Olsen Brothers, Inc., Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Edward F. Fogarty, Omaha, NE, argued, for appellant.
Mark C. Laughlin, Omaha, NE, argued (Robert F. Rossiter, Jr., on brief), for appellee.
Before McMILLIAN, FAGG, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.
Bienvenida Jaramillo appeals the district court's order dismissing these diversity personal injury actions with prejudice. We reverse and remand.
In 1986 Jaramillo's daughter, Carmen, and Carmen's daughters, Cindy and Ruby, were passengers in a car that collided with a truck owned by Olsen Brothers, Inc. and driven by the corporation's employee, Joseph G. Burkhart. As a result of the accident, Carmen died and Cindy and Ruby were injured. The next year, Jaramillo filed three negligence actions against Burkhart and Olsen Brothers, Inc. (collectively Burkhart). Jaramillo filed one action for Carmen's wrongful death as administrator of her estate, and one personal injury action for each of her granddaughters as their legal guardian.
Carmen's lawsuit was tried in 1989 and a jury found in favor of Burkhart. We affirmed the jury's verdict in an unpublished opinion. Jaramillo v. Burkhart, 985 F.2d 567 (8th Cir.1991) (table) (Jaramillo I ). Based on the jury's finding of no liability in Carmen's lawsuit, Burkhart moved for summary judgment in Cindy's and Ruby's lawsuits. The district court granted the motion, holding collateral estoppel prevented Jaramillo from relitigating the liability issue in her granddaughters' lawsuits. On the claims for Cindy's and Ruby's medical expenses, the district court alternatively held their father, Danny Nava, was the proper plaintiff rather than Jaramillo.
Jaramillo appealed the summary judgment. We reversed and remanded, holding that under controlling Nebraska law, collateral estoppel did not preclude relitigation of the negligence question in Cindy's and Ruby's lawsuits. Jaramillo v. Burkhart, 999 F.2d 1241, 1245-46 (8th Cir.1993) (Jaramillo II ). As for the district court's alternative holding on the medical expense claims, we could not determine from the record whether the district court had given Jaramillo a reasonable time to substitute or join Nava as the proper plaintiff. We thus stated, "On remand the district court should allow Jaramillo a reasonable time to substitute or join Nava as the real party in interest with respect to the claims for the girls' medical expenses." Id. at 1246.
Four months after we issued our decision, Jaramillo filed a motion to amend the complaint to add Nava as a plaintiff on the claims for medical expenses and to add claims for emotional distress and loss of consortium. The district court denied the motion to amend, stating, "[A]t this point [Burkhart] would be unduly prejudiced by the addition of a party and new legal theories." The court did not explain how Burkhart would be prejudiced or further explain its denial.
Based on the denial of leave to amend, Jaramillo filed a motion to dismiss her granddaughters' complaints without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a). Burkhart filed a brief opposing the motion, arguing he would be prejudiced by a dismissal without prejudice seven years after Jaramillo filed the lawsuit because Jaramillo would reframe the issues and reopen discovery in a new action. Burkhart also argued that proceeding with the lawsuits would waste judicial time and resources because any recovery was unlikely. In his brief's conclusion, Burkhart asked the court to either dismiss the lawsuits with prejudice or bring them to trial. The district court then dismissed the actions with prejudice, without giving Jaramillo notice of its intention or an opportunity to respond, or stating any reasons for its decision.
Jaramillo now appeals, arguing the district court abused its discretion in dismissing the actions with prejudice. To decide whether the district court abused its discretion in dismissing with prejudice, we review the facts and circumstances surrounding the district court's actions in this case. Moser v. Universal Eng'g Corp., 11 F.3d 720, 724 (7th Cir.1993). We agree with Jaramillo that the district court abused its discretion.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) provides for the voluntary dismissal of actions at the plaintiff's request. Under Rule 41(a)(2), dismissals sought by the plaintiff are without prejudice unless the district court's order specifies otherwise. Thus, Rule...
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... ... Jaramillo v. Burkhart, 59 F.3d 78, 79 (8th Cir.1995) (internal citations omitted). In this case, however, EDI has expressly stated that it intends dismissal ... ...
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US ex rel. Stone & US v. Rockwell International Corp.
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