Rule 41.Dismissal of Actions.

Rule 41(a) gives a plaintiff two ways to walk away from a case without asking the court’s permission: filing a notice of dismissal before the other side answers or moves for summary judgment, or filing a stipulation of dismissal signed by everyone who has appeared. Either one is without prejudice by default, meaning the plaintiff can refile later — with one exception. If a plaintiff has already dismissed the same claim once before, in any Rhode Island court, another state’s court, or federal court, a second notice of dismissal counts as a ruling on the merits and bars refiling. Once the case has moved past that early stage, or if the plaintiff needs to dismiss for some other reason, dismissal requires a court order, and if the defendant has already filed a counterclaim, the court will not dismiss over the defendant’s objection unless that counterclaim can still be decided on its own.

Rule 41(b) covers dismissals the plaintiff does not choose. The court can dismiss a case on its own for lack of prosecution once it has been pending more than five years, or at any point if the plaintiff fails to follow the rules or does not show up when the case is called for trial. Before that happens, the court has to give notice of the dismissal date to the plaintiff’s attorney of record and to the plaintiff if the address is known, or publish notice if there is no attorney and no known address. A defendant can also move for this kind of dismissal on the same grounds. Unless the court says otherwise, a dismissal under this part counts as a decision on the merits — the one exception being dismissals for lack of jurisdiction, improper venue, or a missing indispensable party, which never bar a refiled suit.

The same rules apply to counterclaims, cross-claims, and third-party claims, though a claimant dismissing one of those on their own must do it before a response or summary judgment motion comes in, or before evidence is introduced at trial if neither has happened yet. And if a plaintiff dismisses a case and later files the same claim again against the same defendant, Rule 41(d) lets the court order payment of the costs from the first case and pause the new one until that is done.