Practice Pointer--Giving Oral Notice
If you give oral notice of a voluntary dismissal without prejudice and intend to re-file, do so within one year of the date you gave oral notice, not one year from the date you filed a stipulation of dismissal.
Oral notice of voluntary dismissal serves to start the one-year refiling period specified in N.C.R. Civ. P. 41(a).
In Cordrey v. Flinn, 2016 WL 1565517, an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals re-affirmed that our courts have consistently held that oral notice of voluntary dismissal serves to start the one-year refiling period specified in Rule 41. The one-year refiling period does not start to run upon the filing of the stipulation of dismissal unless the trial court accepts notice of voluntary dismissal and then instructs the parties to enter a stipulation.
