Conner et al v. Ford Motor Company

Filing 188

ORDER GRANTING 185 Plaintiffs' Amended Motion to Voluntarily Dismiss Visteon. Defendant Visteon Coroporation is hereby DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE from this action, pursuant to Rule 41(a)(2). ORDER GRANTING 187 Plaintiffs' Amended Mot ion to Lift Stay of Bankruptcy. Accordingly, the Court hereby LIFTS the Stay entered in this case. ORDER FINDING AS MOOT 178 Plaintiffs' Motion to Dismiss Visteon and Johnson Controls without Prejudice, and 179 Plaintiffs' Motion to Lift Stay. Signed by Chief Judge David R. Herndon on 06/12/2009. (seg)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS PAM CONNER and FRANK MUEGGE, Plaintiffs, v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, VISTEON CORPORATION, and JOHNSON CONTROLS, INC., Defendants. ________________________________________ FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Third-Party Plaintiff, v. TIMOTHY SWINDELL, Third-Party Defendant. Case No. 07-cv-122-DRH

ORDER HERNDON, Chief Judge: On June 4, 2009, the Court entered an Order (Doc. 177) staying this case due to defendant Visteon's bankruptcy filing (see Doc. 171). Shortly thereafter, Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Dismiss Defendants Visteon and Johnson Controls (Doc. 178) and a Motion to Lift Stay (Doc. 179). Plaintiffs have also since filed a Motion to Withdraw their original Motion to Dismiss defendant Johnson Controls and seek Page 1 of 3

only a voluntary dismissal of Visteon (Doc. 185) and have also filed their Amended Motion to Lift Stay (Doc. 187). The Court entered an Order for the Parties to this case to file their Response to these Motions, if any, no later than June 11, 2009 (Doc. 181). Since then, the only responding Party has been defendant Visteon, who consents to its dismissal by Plaintiffs without prejudice (Doc. 186). Plaintiffs move for a voluntary dismissal without prejudice of defendant Visteon only, pursuant to FEDERAL RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 41(a)(2), which allows a plaintiff to dismiss its action against a defendant by court order, on terms that the court considers proper. In this case, Plaintiffs obviously seek to dismiss defendant Visteon because of its current bankruptcy proceedings which are resulting in a stay of these proceedings. Because there are no pending counterclaims filed by Visteon, because Visteon consents to the dismissal and because no other Parties have voiced an objection, the Court finds good cause to GRANT Plaintiffs' Motion to Voluntarily Dismiss defendant Visteon Without Prejudice (Doc. 185). Accordingly, defendant Visteon Corporation is hereby DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE from this matter, pursuant to Rule 41(a)(2). Because Visteon is no longer a party to this action and is the only Party to this case currently in bankruptcy proceedings, the Court finds no reason to continue the stay. As such, the Court also hereby GRANTS Plaintiffs' Amended Motion to Lift Stay of Bankruptcy (Doc. 187). In doing so, the Court LIFTS the Stay in this case. The Court REFERS this matter to Magistrate Judge Wilkerson to once

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again commence discovery conferences as he sees fit. Lastly, the Court FINDS AS MOOT Plaintiffs' Motion to Dismiss Visteon and Johnson Controls (Doc. 178) and Plaintiff's initial Motion to Lift Stay (Doc. 179). IT IS SO ORDERED. Signed this 12th day of June, 2009.

/s/

DavidRHer|do|

Chief Judge United States District Court

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