Beritich v. Starlet Corp.

This is an appeal by the defendant, Starlet Corporation, from an order of the trial court granting the plaintiff’s motion for voluntary nonsuit. The determinative issue raised is whether a motion for a voluntary dismissal without prejudice is proper after the cause had been submitted to the trial court under our summary judgment procedure, Rule of Pleading, Practice and Procedure 56, and after the trial court had orally announced its decision in favor of the defendant on its motion for summary judgment.

The fact pattern which provoked the procedural problem before us is relatively simple. The…