The Haidets filed a lawsuit against the association alleging nuisance and breach of fiduciary duty claims against the board. The trial court partially dismissed the complaint after sustaining the association’s demurrer. Part of the demurrer ruling was with leave to amend, and part was without leave to amend.

When the Haidets amended their complaint, they completely omitted the association as a defendant. Accordingly, the association requested to be dismissed from the case. The court granted the association’s request for dismissal with prejudice.

The Haidets argued that the decision not to include the association in the amended complaint was a voluntary dismissal and should have been without prejudice in case the Haidets wanted to add the association back in to the lawsuit later.

The court clarified that the code allows a plaintiff to dismiss parties without prejudice before trial. But after a demurrer is sustained without leave to amend, and the plaintiff has already amended the complaint without including that defendant, the plaintiff cannot later request a voluntary dismissal without prejudice.

TAKEAWAY: Parties must be very careful with amending pleadings and naming parties; failing to do so may mean losing out on the right to pursue particular remedies against a party.