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A lawsuit may contain several claims. If a plaintiff wants to abandon just one of them while pursuing the others, can the plaintiff use Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 41 to do it? That question recently brought a case I’m handling before the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Rule 41 governs voluntary dismissals. Its wording refers to dismissing an “action,” but lawyers have long used it to dismiss individual claims within an ongoing lawsuit. And this distinction matters.
An action is the lawsuit as a whole, while a claim is only one part of it. Other provisions of Tennessee’s procedural rules refer to both “actions” and “claims,” suggesting that the choice of words has a purpose.
This particular question arose in a trade secret lawsuit against a manufacturer we represent. The plaintiff alleged that a former employee had taken sensitive information that could give the manufacturer a competitive advantage. The plaintiff later sought to hold the manufacturer’s owner personally liable through a claim to pierce the corporate veil.
We argued that Rule 41 did not authorize the plaintiff to voluntarily dismiss an individual claim while keeping the rest of the lawsuit intact. The trial court agreed and dismissed the claim at issue. The Court of Appeals took a different view, concluding that “action” could encompass a single claim in this context. The Tennessee Supreme Court accepted our application for permission to appeal, and we presented oral argument on September 3.
The Distinction Matters
Our position does not mean a party must continue pursuing every claim it files. Rule 15 provides a process for amending pleadings, and parties may have other ways to narrow a case. The issue before the Supreme Court is more specific — whether Rule 41 itself permits a plaintiff to dismiss one claim without dismissing the action.
And that answer has practical consequences. A voluntary dismissal can affect a party’s ability to refile. If Rule 41 applies separately to each claim, claims that began in a single lawsuit could potentially be dismissed and refiled at different times as separate cases. Lawyers and their clients need to know what effect a dismissal will have before they file it.
The Court of Appeals’ interpretation reflects a familiar practice. Our argument asks the Supreme Court to consider whether that practice can be reconciled with the language of the rules. For now, the question remains before the court. Its decision could clarify how Tennessee litigants should handle a claim they no longer wish to pursue.
If you’re considering dropping a claim in a Tennessee lawsuit, the procedure you use may affect what happens next, including whether the claim can be refiled. Contact a member of Chartwell’s commercial litigation team to discuss how this pending decision may affect your case.
