Flores v. Green
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:24-cv-05568
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Flores v. Green, Judge Abrams granted Flores’s request to voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice.
Rhonda Flores and the defendants—Gary Green, Joan DiSalvo, the unidentified individuals, and the unidentified corporations—are affected. The case was dismissed without prejudice, the pending motions were terminated, and the case was closed.
What happened
In Flores v. Green, Rhonda Flores asked the court to end her case voluntarily. The defendants consented, and the court had not yet ruled on their motions to dismiss or begun discovery.
The court applied the rule allowing dismissal by court order and considered factors including the timing of Flores’s request, the case’s progress, and potential duplication of expenses. The court found that the relevant factors favored dismissal and accepted Flores’s explanation that she sought to preserve potential claims in state court.
Judge Ronnie Abrams granted Flores’s motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2), dismissed the action without prejudice, terminated all pending motions, and closed the case.
The detailed version
- Flores v. Green · No. 1:24-cv-05568
- Ronnie Abrams
- Jan. 22, 2025
Background
Rhonda Flores filed this action against Gary Green, Joan DiSalvo, unidentified individuals, and unidentified corporations. The defendants filed partial motions to dismiss and motions to stay discovery. Flores later amended her complaint, and the defendants filed another partial motion to dismiss and renewed their request to stay discovery. The court had not ruled on those motions, and discovery had not begun.
Flores moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2) for voluntary dismissal without prejudice. This rule permits a plaintiff to dismiss an action by court order on terms the court considers proper. The defendants consented to the dismissal. The parties did not use a stipulation of dismissal because they sought to preserve Flores’s claims for a possible state-court action.
Court’s Analysis
The court applied the Second Circuit’s five voluntary-dismissal factors, known as the Zagano factors: the plaintiff’s diligence, any improper vexatiousness, the progress of the case and the defendants’ preparation and expenses, duplicative expenses from later litigation, and the adequacy of the plaintiff’s explanation for dismissal.
The court found that the diligence factor favored dismissal because discovery had not begun. Because the defendants consented, the court found that the third and fourth factors also favored dismissal. The court also found that Flores adequately explained why she sought a court-ordered dismissal rather than a stipulation: she wanted to preserve the possibility of bringing certain claims in state court.
Ruling
Judge Ronnie Abrams granted Flores’s motion for voluntary dismissal under Rule 41(a)(2). The action was dismissed without prejudice. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate all pending motions and close the case.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.