Dismissed. Without. Prejudice.
By: Lauren Pevehouse
Dismissed without prejudice. After this week’s episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, it’s the legal jargon on everybody’s lips. So, what does that even mean?
When a Plaintiff files a lawsuit against you, they have an obligation to litigate that lawsuit. The Plaintiff needs to file the lawsuit in a Court where (a) the events leading to the lawsuit took place, or (b) where the Defendant lives, and a couple of other places that don’t matter for the purposes of this article. The Chicago lawsuit… you know… the one that started this all (read in Erika’s sad divorcee accent), was dismissed so that it could be refiled in California — where the DEFENDANTS LIVE.
I would expect a California Bar Exam Tutor like Erika Jayne to know this stuff.
There are two phrases that follow the dismissal of a lawsuit, “with prejudice,” and “without prejudice.” To the lay person, it sounds like the Court is talking about whether the Defendant is a bad person or something. At least that’s what I thought before I learned about it in law school.
Here’s what it actually means: If your case is dismissed without prejudice, the Plaintiff is allowed to re-file it at a later time, or in a more appropriate Court.
If your case is dismissed with prejudice, the Plaintiff cannot re-file it. The jig is up. The suit is over. You can rest easy knowing that this, specific crap won’t come up again.
Erika is being sued in a few different Courts. The Lion Air crash victim lawsuit against Tom and Erika and the business was filed in Illinois. But, California was a more appropriate place for this lawsuit to be heard.
The lawsuit in Illinois might have been dismissed, but Edelson PC refiled the lawsuit in California so that it would be more convenient for all of the Defendants to participate.
Hopefully the survivors of the Lion Air victims can have some peace soon.
