Rule 67.01.Dismissal Without Prejudice and With Prejudice.

Every dismissal in a Missouri civil case lands in one of two buckets, and Rule 67.01 tells you what each one means. A dismissal without prejudice is not the end of the story — the plaintiff can file the same cause of action again later, subject to whatever other rules or deadlines might apply, such as a statute of limitations. A dismissal with prejudice is final. It bars the plaintiff from asserting that same cause of action or claim against that same party ever again.

This rule doesn't decide which label applies to a given dismissal — that job falls to Rule 67.02 for voluntary dismissals and Rule 67.03 for involuntary ones, along with Rule 67.06 for dismissals that follow a failed opportunity to amend a pleading. Rule 67.01 supplies the vocabulary and the consequence that attaches to each term, so that once a court or a party labels a dismissal as "with prejudice" or "without prejudice," everyone knows exactly what follows.

The distinction matters most at the moment a plaintiff considers filing suit again. A party who received a dismissal without prejudice can typically start over, though a second dismissal on the same claim may come with strings attached under Rule 67.02. A party facing a dismissal with prejudice has no such option — that claim is over, and the only path forward is an appeal of the dismissal itself.