Opinion ID: 76756
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Conditions of Versa's Voluntary Dismissal

Text: 13 Versa argues that the conditions imposed on the voluntary dismissal of this action amount to legal prejudice under LeCompte. We disagree. Both conditions are designed to protect Home Depot from unfairness and do not prejudice Versa in its right to renew this litigation. 14 The first condition—that Versa, upon refiling, pay the fees and costs incurred by Home Depot in defending this case—is plainly intended to protect Home Depot from the unfairness of duplicative litigation. In Ortega Trujillo, for example, we upheld a voluntary dismissal on the condition that the plaintiff pay the defendant approximately $700,000 in costs and fees. 379 F.3d at 1300, 1303. In Yoffe v. Keller Industries, Inc., the former Fifth Circuit upheld a condition that the plaintiff pay the defendant $44,000 in costs and fees, which in 2004 dollars would be a six-figure sum. 580 F.2d 126, 129-30 (5th Cir.1978). The condition that Versa pay the fees only upon refiling is less severe than the conditions of immediate payment in Ortega Trujillo and Yoffe ; it does not amount to legal prejudice to the plaintiff because the plaintiff's right to renew the litigation is certain. Cf. Pontenberg v. Boston Scientific Corp., 252 F.3d 1253, 1258 (11th Cir.2001) (no abuse of discretion in granting voluntary dismissal on condition of paying costs of defendant upon refiling). 15 The second condition—the venue restriction —was imposed by the district court in LeCompte, but the Fifth Circuit did not determine whether that condition amounted to legal prejudice to the defendant. LeCompte, 528 F.2d at 602. The only court of appeals to have addressed a similar issue did so forty years ago. In Scholl v. Felmont Oil Corp., the Sixth Circuit held that a district court properly conditioned a voluntary dismissal on the refiling of the complaint in the federal district court to which the action had been removed from a state court. 327 F.2d 697, 699-700 (6th Cir.1964). 16 The condition that Versa refile a future complaint in the Northern District of Georgia does not constitute legal prejudice to Versa. This venue restriction protects Home Depot from the unfairness of having to relitigate the issue of the more convenient forum for this dispute, but the venue restriction maintains the right of Versa to file a new complaint. The venue restriction also promotes judicial economy because the transfer from the Eastern District of Missouri maintains its legal force. The condition does nothing more than preserve, upon refiling, the status quo ante.