Glenn Maniago (Maniago) worked as a surgical technologist in a cardiac catheterization laboratory. On March
15, 2023, Maniago was called in to assist Dr. Praveen Panguluri with a surgery on a patient who was suffering from cardiac arrest. As part of his job duties, Maniago prepared a “splash bin,” which is a piece of surgical equipment that is designed to safely hold biohazardous waste. As the surgery proceeded, Panguluri used a syringe to draw blood from the patient. Rather than emptying the syringe into the splash bin, Panguluri discharged the syringe onto a sterile drape, causing blood to splash into Maniago’s right eye. It was later discovered that the patient had HIV. As a result of his potential exposure to HIV, Maniago was required to take antiviral drugs that caused various side effects including abdominal pain, nausea and headaches. He also had to test for HIV for a period of six months. During that time, the “uncertainty surrounding his health condition” resulted in high levels of anxiety that interfered with his marriage.
Maniago and his wife filed a complaint alleging negligence and several related claims arising from the husband’s exposure to HIV-positive blood during a surgical procedure. The trial court sustained a demurrer to some of the claims with leave to amend (two claims were not subject to the ruling) and struck certain forms of requested relief, including punitive damages. Five days before the time to amend the pleadings had expired, plaintiffs filed a voluntary dismissal of all their claims with prejudice. (Code Civ. Proc., § 581, subd. (b)(1)).
The request was accompanied by a declaration explaining that the dismissal was intended to expedite an appeal of the trial court’s orders. After the clerk entered the voluntary dismissal, plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal. The issue then became whether plaintiffs’ voluntary dismissal constitutes an appealable judgment.
A voluntary dismissal, which is filed with and entered by the clerk, constitutes a ministerial, not a judicial, act, and no appeal lies therefrom. A wilful dismissal terminates the action for all time and affords the appellate court no jurisdiction to review rulings made prior to the dismissal. Alternatively stated, a voluntary dismissal deprives the court of both subject matter and personal jurisdiction over the dismissed claims, except for the limited purpose of awarding costs and attorney fees.
The Supreme Court of California stated in its July 16, 2026 Opinion that in this case, the trial court issued two orders prior to the filing of the voluntary dismissal, neither of which foreclosed any of the plaintiffs’ claims: those orders merely sustained a demurrer to some (but not all) of their claims with leave to amend and struck certain forms of requested relief. Because the plaintiffs filed their dismissal before the time to amend had expired, that ruling cannot be said to have foreclosed any of those claims: “the voluntary dismissal operated to terminate each of the dismissed claims (which in this case amounted to the entire action), thus forfeiting the right to challenge any orders the court issued prior to the entry of dismissal … We hold that when, as here, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismiss their action before the court has reached a final resolution regarding any of the claims pleaded in the complaint, the effect of the dismissal is to terminate the action entirely, thus forfeiting the right to appeal. … allowing an appeal under the circumstances presented here would violate the principles of the one final judgment rule [which precludes an appeal from a judgment disposing of fewer than all the causes of action extant between the parties].”
Source Maniago v. Desert Cardiology Consultants’ Medical Group, Inc., S290188.
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