Jonesboro Healthcare Ctr., LLC v. Eaton-Moery Envtl. Servs.

Delta Environmental filed a contract suit against Jonesboro Healthcare Center, alleging damages for the early termination of a five-year contract for services. The complaint was mistakenly filed in district court and alleged damages in excess of the district court's jurisdiction. The district court entered an order dismissing the case without prejudice due to a lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. On the same day, Delta filed the identical complaint in circuit court. Jonesboro moved to dismiss the complaint with prejudice based on a fatally flawed summons. Jonesboro argued in the motion that this would be the second dismissal in the case following a first dismissal that was a voluntary nonsuit and therefore should be a dismissal with prejudice pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 41(b). The circuit court granted Jonesboro's motion but entered the current dismissal without prejudice, concluding that the previous dismissal in the district court did not trigger the two-dismissal rule. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction was not the type of voluntary dismissal contemplated by rule 41(a), nor the type of involuntary dismissal contemplated by rule 41(b), and therefore, the circuit court did not err in its judgment.