Civil Procedure — dismissal

Listen to this article

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Civil Procedure — dismissal

The district court did not abuse its discretion, after dismissing a suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, in holding that the suit could be refilled in state court only if the plaintiff paid the defendant’s attorney fees.

“Wells Fargo rightly does not argue for the section 1447(c) standard (‘objective reasonableness’). Rule 41(a)(2) is worded very differently from section 1447(c). It does not mention attorney’s-fee shifting, or indeed direct the district court to do anything at all. It merely authorizes the court to allow a voluntary dismissal upon such terms as the court thinks proper. We interpret this to mean that we can reverse the district court’s order only if the terms strike us as unreasonable. With the plaintiff asking the court for a chance to bring the same suit against the same defendants in a different court, it is reasonable to require the plaintiff to compensate the defendants for any wasted motion forced upon them by the plaintiff’s having chosen the wrong court. So the $11,000 award to the defendants is secure. But they are entitled to no more.”

Affirmed.

13-1365 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., v. Younan Properties, Inc.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kocoras, J., Posner, J.