Firefighters' Retirement System v. Citco Group, Ltd., No. 19-30165 (5th Cir. 2020)

Plaintiffs, a group of Louisiana pension funds, filed suit against various defendants for their alleged involvement in a Ponzi scheme. The district court later entered summary judgment for a set of defendants—the Citco Group and various related entities. The Funds then voluntarily dismissed one defendant without prejudice and then resolved all remaining claims either by settlement or default judgment.

The Fifth Circuit dismissed the appeal for want of appellate jurisdiction, holding that Williams v. Taylor Seidenbach, Inc., 958 F.3d 341, 343 (5th Cir. 2020) (en banc), was controlling in this case. In Williams, the court held that there is no final decision if a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses a defendant without prejudice, because the plaintiff is entitled to bring a later suit on the same cause of action. Furthermore, under Rule 54(b), in a suit against multiple defendants, there is no final decision as to one defendant until there is a final decision as to all defendants. In this case, the only difference between this case and Williams is the order of dismissals after the adverse decision. The Funds voluntarily dismissed one defendant without prejudice and then adjudicated their claims against other defendants. The court explained that that is a distinction without a difference.