Blue Cross and Blue Shield v. Butler

The defendant, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Inc. ("Blue Cross"), brings this appeal by permission granted pursuant to Rule 5, Ala.R.App.P., from an interlocutory order denying its summary judgment motion. The plaintiff, Betty S. Butler, had originally brought her claim in the district court, but, after appealing to the circuit court, filed a motion for voluntary dismissal of her complaint without prejudice; the circuit court granted that motion. The issue is whether the circuit court's dismissal of that first action without prejudice was effective to allow her to bring the present…