Before I get started on Monday’s blog, I want to express what most Pittsburghers feel today.
Yes we wish the Steelers were going to the Super Bowl. Yes it was very hard to watch other teams play this weekend.
But the thing that I am most impressed with concerning the Pittsburgh Steelers is there absolute refusal to make excuses or blame referees or injuries or bad plays for their loss.
Western Pennsylvania GRIT.
That’s why we love our Pittsburgh Steelers.
No whining and no excuses. Next man up.
Wait till next year!
Now for today’s blog.
Do you know the difference between a case being dismissed with prejudice versus a case being dismissed without prejudice?
It is all the difference in the world.
A few days ago a federal judge in Pittsburgh dismissed a local woman’s defamation suit against Bill Cosby.
The judge dismissed the defamation suit with prejudice.
That means her case is over. The woman’s case has been thrown out of court completely.
The only thing the woman and her attorney can do now is file an appeal of the judge’s decision.
That appeal would be then heard by the Third Circuit US Court of Appeals.
Suffice it to say it’s very difficult to get a case reinstated when you get up to the Third Circuit.
They are in fact only one step below the United States Supreme Court.
The US District Judge found that the three statements at the heart of the woman’s lawsuit against comedian Bill Cosby are not legally defamatory.
However suppose the federal judge had dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice.
How would that have been different than what happened here?
Do you know the answer? Want to take a stab at it?
Come on you Legal Eagles tell us what you think.
Pittsburgh wrongful death, medical malpractice, car accident, slip and fall and criminal defense attorney Bernie Tully want you to know that if the judge had dismissed it without prejudice, the case would not be thrown out of court.
See the difference?
Dismissed without prejudice would allow the defamed woman to amend her lawsuit and still be able to proceed in the case.
Dismissed with prejudice is the end of the case.
Dismissed without prejudice allows the party to refile its lawsuit making the necessary changes that the judge objected to.
Dismissal with versus dismissal without legally is the difference between night and day.
In other words, dismissal without prejudice allows you to fight another day in the courtroom.
It’s definitely the better option of the two.
Well thats it for now.
If you follow our blogs each day, eventually you’ll know a lot about the law.
Whether that’s good or bad is an open question. Haha.
Thanks for reading
Bernie the attorney.