PHILIP A. BRIMMER, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on the motion pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a) [Docket No. 51] and the Stipulation for Dismissal [Docket No. 56] of certain claims against defendants Mike Bordogna, Dolores Semsack, the Board of County Commissioners, and the City of Leadville.
Plaintiffs request that the Court dismiss certain claims against defendants with prejudice pursuant to Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Docket No. 51 at 1; Docket No. 56 at 1. Defendants have filed answers to the amended complaint, Docket Nos. 35-37, and the pleadings are signed by all of the parties that have appeared in the case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1).
Although there is no controlling decision of the Tenth Circuit, the weight of authority from circuit courts is that Rule 41(a) governs dismissal of all claims against a defendant and does not allow for piecemeal dismissals. See Gobbo Farms & Orchards v. Poole Chemical Co., Inc., 81 F.3d 122, 123 (10th Cir. 1996) (noting that there is no support for the "contention that Rule 41(a) applies to dismissal of less than all claims in an action"); Ethridge v. Harbor House Restaurant, 861 F.2d 1389, 1392 (9th Cir. 1988) ("a plaintiff may not use Rule 41(a)(1)(i) to dismiss, unilaterally, a single claim from a multi-claim complaint . . . [instead, we agree with two of our sister circuits] that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) is the appropriate mechanism"). In cases such as this one, where a plaintiff has attempted to dismiss fewer than all claims against a defendant, courts typically convert the plaintiff's motion into a Rule 15 motion to amend the complaint. Southcrest, L.L.C. v. Bovis Lend Lease, Inc., 2011 WL 1793388, at *3 (N.D. Okla. May 11, 2011); see, e.g., Mechmetals Corp. v. Telex Computer Prods., Inc., 709 F.2d 1287, 1294 (9th Cir. 1983) ("it is immaterial whether [the] court acts pursuant to Rule 15(a) or Rule 41(a)(2)").
Accordingly, the Court will construe plaintiffs' motion under the standards applicable to a Rule 15 motion. Rule 15(a) provides that, "after a responsive pleading has been served, a party may amend its pleading `only by leave of court or by written consent of the adverse party,'" and "leave shall be freely given when justice so requires." Minter v. Prime Equip. Co., 451 F.3d 1196, 1204 (10th Cir. 2006); Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a). Rule 15 instructs that courts should grant amendments in the absence of undue delay, prejudice, futility, or bad faith. Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962); Frank v. U.S. West, Inc., 3 F.3d 1357, 1365 (10th Cir. 1993).
In the present case, the Court finds no reason to deny the withdrawal of plaintiffs' Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth claims against defendants Bordogna and Semsack. Similarly, the Court finds no reason to deny the withdrawal of plaintiffs' Twelfth claim against the Board of County Commissioners, Bordogna, and Semsack as well as plaintiffs' First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Twelfth claims against the City of Leadville.
Accordingly, it is