Court Opinion

ID: 9561418
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:09:34.830756+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:47.489415
License: Public Domain

Judge Wynn
dissenting.
In my opinion, the language of N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 41(a)(1) is clear. Therefore, we need not interpret this statute to give effect to the legislative intent. The two-dismissal rule under Rule 41(a)(1) provides in pertinent part that “a notice of dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits when filed by a plaintiff who has once dismissed ... an action based on or including the same claim.” (emphasis added). Without any notion of ambiguity, the statute addresses the dismissal of the same claim, not transaction.
In this case, the plaintiffs brought an action in Wake County alleging four claims and later (while the Wake action remained pending) brought a second action in Franklin County setting forth another claim which amounted to a fifth claim that arose from the same transaction. Procedurally, the parties should have moved to have the actions consolidated in the same county. Rather than taking this direct route, the plaintiff dismissed both actions and refiled all five claims as one action in Franklin County.
Since none of the claims that make up the consolidated action in Franklin County have ever been dismissed more than once, it follows that the two-dismissal rule does not apply under these facts. See Poore v. Swan Quarter Farms, Inc., 79 N.C. App. 286, 338 S.E.2d 817 (1986); Kuhn v. Williamson, 122 F.R.D. 192 (E.D.N.C. 1988). Plaintiffs, therefore, should be allowed to have their day in court.