A lawsuit which is of a passing interest to me (it is against the company I work for) was recently dismissed “with prejudice”. I have no idea what that means, so I turn to the SDMB for enlightenment.
Many thanks in advance for your help.
Down and dirty explanation:
-If a case is dismissed w/o prejudice, the claimant/plaintiff/grievant can refile. generally after correcting some procedural or format error.
For example, I file a complaint against you but fail to get it properly served. The case may be dismissed w/o prejudice. I can refile and if I get it served, my claim can proceed.
-If a case is dismissed w/ prejudice, the claimant cannot refile the same action.
Say I sue you, but fail to appear at scheduled hearings and fail to file scheduled pleadings. You request dismissal w/ prejudice, and if granted, I simply lose. Or you could move for dismissal for various reasons - say the court lacks jurisdiction, I failed to exhaust administrative remedies, etc.
Thanks Dinsdale. I had never heard the term before (I know nothing about law). From the context of the article, I think this means the judge thought the case had no merit. I didn’t know they (judges) could do that in civil cases. If I sue someone for a ridiculous reason, can a judge just roll his eyes and dismiss the case because it’s ridiculous? Does this mean that a lot of the “frivolous” lawsuits we hear about may not have been so frivolous after all? (if they were, the judge could’ve told the sue-er to take a hike?)
This is all new to me (thankfully)
Doesn’t dismissal with predudice also entitle the winning defendant to recover compensation from the plaintiff? example
Note: I’m typing this all in general terms off the top of my head w/o any research.
Judges have a lot of leeway to act on their own initiative - sua sponte. But IME that is not all that common. Generally, dismissals occur following a motion by a party. If I am sued on a meritless claim, I can file a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. In federal court it is called 12(b)(6) motion, because it is set forth in FRCP (Fed. Rule of Civil Procedure) 12(b)(6).
You might want to look at FRCP 12(b) for a listing of other affirmative defenses.
I believe most state courts have similar provisions.
These motions take place at the early stage of a lawsuit, before the defendant answers a complaint. Essentially says - even if everything in the complaint is true, P still doesn’t win for one reason or another.
A case is generally initiated by the filing of a complaint. the defendant must answer within 60 days or so, after which a number of procedures kick in. 12(b) affirmative defenses must be raised prior to answering, or else they are waived.
Another situation would occur at a later step, when either party can move for summary judgment. Generally after the pleadings have been filed, but before trial.
And so ends my Monday morning civil procedure lesson.
The court concluded that the plaintiff had engaged in egregious conduct by his flagrant disregard of a court order requiring him to allow inspection of his computer and his utter lack of respect for the litigation process.
I think this is why the ct awarded costs - not the mere fact of the dismissal being with prej. All dismissals are either with or without prejudice. Generally speaking, Plaintiffs want dismissals to be w/o prej so they can refile if they want to. By the same measure, Ds want them w/prej, so P cannot refile.
I think this may be an example where the legal use of the term prejudice differs from one’s commonsense interpretation.
Unless the court says, “I’m dismissing this case because I don’t like Jews/blacks/women - and besides that - you’re ugly!” 
Yes, actually, it does mean that. The McDonald’s hot coffee case, for instance, was not frivolous.