Tucker v. AllianceOne Inc. et al

Filing 13

ORDER directing parties to file joint motion not later than 7/16/2010 on dropping defendant from this action. Ordered by Judge Hugh Lawson on 7/12/2010. (nbp)

Tucker v. AllianceOne Inc. et al

Doc. 13

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT F O R THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA V AL D O S TA DIVISION D AV ID B. TUCKER, P l a i n ti ff, C A S E NO. 7:08-CV-106 (HL) v. AL L IAN C E O N E , INC. and HSBC BANK U S A N.A., Defendants. ORDER B e fo re the Court is Plaintiff's and Defendant AllianceOne Receivable M a na g e m e nt, Inc.'s Joint Motion to Dismiss AllianceOne Receivable Management, Inc . W i th Prejudice (Doc. 12).1 In the Joint Motion, Plaintiff and AllianceOne move the Court for an order dismissing AllianceOne from this action with prejudice. Plaintiff and AllianceOne cite Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2) as a utho ri zi ng the Court to dismiss the action against AllianceOne. Rule 41, however, d o e s not permit the Court to dismiss a party. Instead, it allows the Court to dismiss a n action. ("Except as provided in Rule 41(a)(1), an action may be dismissed at the p l a i nti ff's request only by court order, on terms that the court considers proper.") F e d . R. Civ. P. 41(a)(2) (emphasis added). In contrast, the governing rule for d i s m i s s i ng a party from a case is Rule 21. That rule provides that "on motion or on

A c c o rd i ng to the Joint Motion, the proper name of the Defendant is A l l i a nc e O ne Receivables Management, Inc., not AllianceOne, Inc.

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its own, the court may at any time, on just terms, add or drop a party." Fed. R. Civ. P . 21. P l a i nti ff and AllianceOne are ordered to file a joint motion under Rule 21 if they w i s h to drop AllianceOne from the case. This motion must be filed on or before July 1 6 , 2010.

S O ORDERED, this the 12 th day of July, 2010. s / Hugh Lawson HUGH LAWSON, SENIOR JUDGE m bh

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