"With Prejudice" Means What It Says
A divided panel of the Amarillo Court of Appeals held that a dismissal with prejudice operates as an adjudication on the merits for purposes of res judicata even if the trial court erred by including the phrase "with prejudice" in the dismissal order. The majority followed Amarillo precedent while the dissent called for it to be overruled. Because the Amarillo court has only four justices, it is unlikely that the dissent could muster the three votes necessary to overturn the controlling precedent en banc. The majority opinion in Rodriguez v. ICON Benefit Administrators, Inc. can be found at this link. Justice Pirtle's dissenting opinion can be found at this link.
