Nonsuit: Fill & Download for Free

Bench trial (no jury), civil case for $25K plus involving real estate. Plaintiff’s first attorney was granted leave from the case due to his major meducal emergency and long term rehab. The plaintiff’s new attorney, who was a real estate lawyer, has a second (younger) attorney working with her, got up to speed quickly and said she was prepared to move forward with the trial. Four hours into Day 2 of the plaintiff’s evidence, the plaintiff’s lead attorney tells the judge she is now going to turn the rest of the case over to her second chair because she (the lead attorney) must take the witness stand to testify! The judge was incredulous about this, and asked how she expected to do that as she was the attorney in the case. She said her testimony was vital, involving conversations she had with the defedant in her capacity as the real estate agent who sold the property months before the plaintiff initiated the lawsuit. The judge asked her what law school she went to; she said received her JD from (named a prestigious school). The judge asked her if she skipped class the days Professor (judge named the professor, whom the judge knew) covered Law 101 as to attorneys testifying in cases? She had no answer, and the judge denied her request to testify over her repeated exceptions to the ruling and repeated requests to testify. The judge ruled that she either conclude her evidence or nonsuit the case which would be with prejudice for the defendant. She moved on. The defense presented an excellent case and won. The plaintiff later filed a complaint against that lead attorney and won that lawsuit.

Generally speaking (because the question didn’t indicate a location):—CIVIL CASES“Nonsuit” is a broad term in law for any of several ways to terminate a legal action (i.e. lawsuit) without an actual determination of the merits or controversy of the case.A voluntary nonsuit is a motion taken by the plaintiff to release one or more of the defendants from the lawsuit (and therefore liability). The defendant has no similar counterpart motion, so the term voluntary nonsuit usually doesn’t require to be qualified by the word plaintiff.The words at plaintiff’s cost means the plaintiff absorbs the cost of the above motion plus any other costs related to it. Depending on the country and/or jurisdiction, it may be possible the above motion may be at defendant’s cost. Depending on the nature of the case and the particular law involved, the court may have discretion to order the above motion to be at plaintiff’s or at defendant’s cost.While I’m on the subject:—A compulsory nonsuit is a court decision that a case cannot proceed to trial, either on substantive or procedural grounds.A voluntary nonsuit without prejudice is often in the context of creditor lawsuits — it means the creditor files a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The motion is usually filed “without prejudice,” which is a legal term of art meaning that the plaintiff is voluntarily giving up on his case but reserves the right to refile the case if they wish to.In matters of court judgments and rulings:—A judgment nonsuit means the court has granted a judgment against the plaintiff who either failed to pursue (or has abandoned) his action.A case dismissed with prejudice means the case has been dismissed permanently and cannot be brought back to court.A case dismissed without prejudice is the opposite of above — it is not dismissed forever or permanent and may be refiled later by the plaintiff.A voluntary dismissal without prejudice is the result of an out-of-court settlement between the litigants that they agree is final.Can you reopen or refile a case after settlement?Depends on the particulars of your case. Chances are, you WON’T be able to reopen or refile a case that had been settled out of court, but there are always exceptions. This is because most insurance companies WON’T go forward with sending the settlement payment unless and until they have received this signed release of liabilities from the settlement agreement.CRIMINAL CASESLet’s also mention something about criminal cases:—Are dismissed cases on your criminal record?If criminal charges against you are dismissed any time during the proceedings, you will be set free and there will be no conviction on your criminal record. In most countries, your ‘criminal record’ will have some details about this non-conviction.Similarly, if your criminal case goes to trial and you are found not guilty, there will be no criminal charge on your record.Can a criminal case be reopened after being closed?This will depend on the legal system and its ‘attitudes’ and practices in your particular jurisdiction.If new evidence is discovered after the close of your case, it is possible that it can be reopened by the authorities. This means the judge and/or the jury can consider the case anew with the newly discovered evidence. The decision to reopen the case (i.e. in effect vacating the judgment already entered for the case) is usually at the discretion of the trial court.

They cannot. Even a dismissal with prejudice can be appealed. However, if the plaintiff requests a dismissal, or nonsuit, with prejudice, then the plaintiff has himself nailed the door shut, and an appeal won’t be considered by a higher court.I actually witnessed a Plaintiff’s attorney attempt to nonsuit a case he had filed which was barred by a statute of limitations. Normally a nonsuit is without prejudice, and a Plaintiff is allowed to reintroduces the suit anytime. In fact the nonsuit action is just a notice to the Court and Defendant that the suit is withdrawn — normally not even a hearing on it. However, nonsuiting a case can result in the Plaintiff being sanctioned by the Court.The Defendant in the case formally objected to the nonsuit, based on some rule in the Rules of Civil Procedure, and requested sanctions against the Plaintiff, asking for dismissal with prejudice.The Plaintiff then filed a nonsuit with prejudice, and, based on Plaintiff’s own request, the Judge then issued an Order dismissing the case with prejudice.That was a pretty clever move by the court because it gave the Defendant what he wanted, yet at the same time allowed the Court to avoid sanctions against the Plaintiff’s attorney — and the Plaintiff also got just what he asked for — a dismissal with prejudice.