Babin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (S.D. Tex., 2015)

Boolean Connector	Use	Result
AND	Sleep AND Fall	Records with both “Slip” and “Fall”
OR	Lee OR Grant	Records with either “Lee” or “Grant”
NOT	Transaction NOT Fee	Records that contain “Transaction” but exclude “Fee”
( )	(Tree OR Shrub) AND Fall	Records containing “Tree” or “Shrub”, and the word “Fall”
" "	"Capital Punishment"	Records containing the exact phrase “Capital Punishment”
*	Affirm*	Records containing variations of the root word (such as “Affirmed”, “Affirming”, “Affirmation”, and etc…)
?	Connect?r	Records that contain single letter variations (such as “Connector” and “Connecter”)

Jurisdiction: Texas Southern District Courts

Decision Date: 4/7/2015

Babin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. Babin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (S.D. Tex., 2015)

ALLISON MARIE BABIN, Plaintiff,
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant.

CIVIL ACTION NO. H-14-3524

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION

April 7, 2015

ALLISON MARIE BABIN, Plaintiff, v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant.

CIVIL ACTION NO. H-14-3524

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION

April 7, 2015

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Pending before the court is Plaintiff Allison Marie Babin's Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 41 (Docket Entry No. 8), to which State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company has filed Defendant's Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 41 (Docket Entry No. 9) and Defendant's Supplemental Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 41 (Docket Entry No. 10).

Under Fed. R. Ci v. P. 41(a)(2), a plaintiff has the right to dismiss an action conditioned only on the sound discretion of the court upon a showing that the defendant will not suffer legal harm. Holiday Queen Land Corp. v. Baker 489 F.2d 1031 1032 (5th Cir. 1974); Durham v. Florida East Coast Railway Co. 385 F.2d 366 (5th Cir. 1967). 'Legal harm' to a defendant that will preclude a plaintiff's voluntary dismissal must be "some plain legal prejudice other than the mere prospect of a second law suit. It is no bar to

Page 2

dismissal that plaintiff may obtain some tactical advantage thereby. " Durham 385 F.2d at 368 (citation omitted). The only legal harm alleged by defendant is the possibility that plaintiff may "refile the case and get back into state court. " (Docket Entry No. 9, pp. 2 and 3) Since that is not the type of legal harm that will preclude a plaintiff's voluntary dismissal, and since plaintiff has filed her motion before the court has conducted the initial pretrial and scheduling conference and before the parties have commenced discovery, the court concludes that plaintiff's motion should be granted. Accordingly, Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 41 (Docket Entry No. 8) is GRANTED and this action will be dismissed without prejudice.

SIGNED at Houston, Texas, on this the 7th day of April, 2015.

/s/_________ SIM LAKE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Cited By

Cites

Holiday Queen Land Corporation v. Baker, 489 F.2d 1031 (5th Cir., 1974)

Decision Date: 1974-02-25 Citations: 2

Durham v. Florida East Coast Railway Company, 385 F.2d 366 (5th Cir., 1967)

Decision Date: 1967-10-31 Citations: 9

Negative Treatment

Notes

STATES

FEDERAL

Babin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. Babin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (S.D. Tex., 2015) Copy Citation

Babin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. Babin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (S.D. Tex., 2015)