The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit held that a tolling statute begins to run when a Voluntary Dismissal in the Federal Court is filed with the Court and not when it is entered into the record.
In Jenkins v. Village of Maywood, ____ F3rd _____ (7th Cir. 2007) (decided 11/5/07) the parties on March 9, 2004 filed a joint stipulation for Voluntary Dismissal Without Prejudice. The Court prepared an Order of Dismissal on the same day and the Clerk entered the Order on the docket on March 15, 2004. One year later, on March 15, 2005, the Plaintiff filed a nearly identical suit against the same Defendants. Illinois law applied and its tolling rules allowed a Plaintiff to voluntary dismiss a case to commence a new action within one year. The question presented was whether the one year period commenced on March 9, 2004, when the parties filed the joint stipulation, or on March 15, 2004 when the clerk entered the Court’s Order of Dismissal on the docket.
Illinois law provided that an Order of Dismissal is not effective for the purposes of the tolling statute until the Clerk has entered the Order onto the docket. However, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, no Order is needed to effect a voluntary dismissal and this is accomplished by filing a Stipulation of Dismissal signed by all of the parties.
The Court of Appeals held that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governed the date of dismissal and therefore the case refiled on March 15, 2005 was six days too late. Since it was untimely, the Court held that the District Court was correct to grant Summary Judgment in favor of the Defendants.