Mullen v. Pepperl & Fuchs, Inc., No. 13-3512 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs filed suit against Heinkel and Pepperl in Iowa state court, seeking damages based on a products-liability theory. On appeal, Heinkel and Pepperl challenged the district court's grant of plaintiffs' motion to dismiss without prejudice and the district court's failure to condition the dismissal on the payment of fees and costs. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by granting plaintiffs' motion to dismiss without prejudice where the grant of voluntary dismissal did not result in a waste of judicial time and effort because the case had not progressed very far. Further, in these circumstances, the district court did not abuse its discretion by granting the voluntary dismissal without awarding fees and costs. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Civil case - Civil Procedure. The district court did not abuse its discretion by permitting plaintiffs to dismiss this products-liability case without prejudice, nor did the court abuse its discretion by denying defendants' motions for costs and fees.
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