Valine v. United States Department of Labor
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-08260
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Valine v. Department of Labor, Judge Swain granted Valine’s request to withdraw the case and dismissed the complaint voluntarily without prejudice.
Jacob Valine’s complaint was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice; the United States Department of Labor and Lori Chavez-Deremer were defendants in the dismissed action. Pending motions were terminated, and Valine was denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
What happened
In Jacob Valine v. United States Department of Labor; Lori Chavez-Deremer, the court considered Valine’s notice asking to end the case voluntarily. The court had previously ordered the case transferred to the District of Columbia.
Valine filed the dismissal notice before the receiving court’s clerk received the case papers. The court therefore found that it still had authority to consider the notice, even though the transfer had been ordered.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain granted Valine’s request and dismissed the complaint under Rule 41(a), without prejudice. She also directed the Clerk to terminate all pending motions and denied Valine permission to appeal without paying filing fees after certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Valine v. United States Department of Labor · No. 1:25-cv-08260
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 20, 2025
Background
On October 14, 2025, the Court ordered that this action be transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. That transfer order was entered on the docket on October 15, 2025. Also on October 14, Valine filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, which was entered on the docket on October 17, 2025.
Jurisdiction to Consider the Dismissal
A transfer usually ends the transferring court’s authority over the case. The transferring court may retain authority, however, when the party seeking review acts before the receiving court’s clerk receives the case papers. Because Valine filed the voluntary-dismissal notice on October 14, before the receiving court received the papers, the Court found that it had authority to consider the notice.
Ruling
The Court granted Valine’s request to withdraw the action. It voluntarily dismissed the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a). The opinion’s footnote states that this type of voluntary dismissal is without prejudice, but also notes the rule’s exception if the plaintiff previously dismissed a federal or state action involving the same claim. The opinion does not state whether that exception applies here.
The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate all pending motions. The Court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.