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Duffey v. Ford Motor Co.

Trial court's order requiring personal injury plaintiffs to pay defendant's attorney fees and costs as condition for refiling action after voluntary dismissal was immediately appealable; trial court abused its discretion by requiring plaintiffs to pay defendant's attorneys' fees as condition for voluntary dismissal without first inquiring into whether plaintiffs' trial attorneys, rather than plaintiffs, were responsible for delay.

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The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

Stephen E. Duffy and Sue Ann Duffy (“the Duffys”), the plaintiffs-appellants, voluntarily dismissed their personalinjury lawsuit against the defendant-appellee, Ford Motor Company (“Ford”), on the third day of trial. The written dismissal order entered several days later imposedtwo conditions on the voluntary dismissal: that the Duffys pay Ford’s litigation costs, including attorney fees, if the case is refiled; and that the rulings from the originalaction (including most evidentiary rulings and a partial grant of summary judgment) govern the refiled action as the law of the case. When the Duffys refiled their caseapproximately one year later, the district court dismissed it without prejudice because the Duffys were unable to pay Ford’s costs. The Duffys now appeal theconditions imposed by the district court in connection with the first dismissal. We hold that, under the unique circumstances of this case, the district court abused itsdiscretion in failing to consider whether the Duffys themselves — rather than their attorneys — were responsible for the dilatory conduct of the trial. We also hold thatit was an abuse of discretion to impose those litigation costs and to apply the law of the original case to the refiled case without giving the Duffys sufficient notice ofthose conditions and allowing them an opportunity to withdraw their motion to dismiss prior to entering the first dismissal. Therefore, we VACATE the districtcourt’s order of dismissal and the related orders and REMAND for the district court to reconsider its rulings in light of this opinion.

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