Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. BNSF Railway Company

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 10 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT CASE NO. C14-1488 MJP OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, 11 ORDER ON MOTION TO APPEAR Plaintiff, AS AMICUS CURIAE v. BNSF RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant.

The Court has received and reviewed the Motion to Appear as Amicus Curiae by the Washington Employment Lawyers Association (Dkt. No. 205) and Defendant’s response (Dkt.

No. 208), as well as relevant portions of the record.

IT IS ORDERED that the motion is DENIED.

The day after the amicus motion was filed, the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal of this action with prejudice. Dkt. No. 207. The effect of that dismissal pursuant to FRCP 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), “without court order,” was to automatically terminate the action and deprive this Court of further jurisdiction to act in the matter. “[O]nce a notice of voluntary dismissal is filed, the district court in which the action is pending loses jurisdiction and cannot exercise discretion with respect to the terms and conditions of dismissal.” Commercial Space Mgmt. Co., Inc. v. The Boeing Co., Inc., 193 F.3d 1074, 1076 (9th Cir. 1999). That loss of jurisdiction includes the discretion to allow the intervention of new parties.

6 The clerk is ordered to provide copies of this order to all counsel.

7 Dated June 24, 2020.

A Marsha J. Pechman United States Senior District Judge