Short answer. No. A complaint may be dismissed by simple notice of dismissal only before service of the answer or a motion for summary judgment. Once the answer has been filed and served, that route is closed, and a different, more formal method is needed instead.
What the law says
A complaint may be dismissed by the plaintiff by filing a notice of dismissal at any time before service of the answer or of a motion for summary judgment.
Rule 17, Section 1 — Dismissal upon notice by plaintiff. Read the full provision →
The notice-of-dismissal window closes once the answer is served
Section 1 gives the plaintiff a narrow, self-executing right to dismiss: a notice of dismissal may be filed at any time before service of the answer or of a motion for summary judgment. This is deliberately time-limited. The rule is built around the idea that, early on, before the defendant has committed to a defense, the plaintiff should not need the court's permission to walk away from the case. Once the answer has been served, that window has closed.
What happens once a valid notice is filed in time
Where the notice is filed within that window, the court's role is largely confirmatory: upon the notice being filed, the court shall issue an order confirming the dismissal. This is not a discretionary approval the court can withhold — filing the notice in time is, by itself, what accomplishes the dismissal, with the court's order simply recognizing it rather than deciding whether to allow it in the first place.
Whether the dismissal is with or without prejudice
Unless the notice itself states otherwise, a dismissal under this rule is without prejudice — meaning the plaintiff can generally refile the same claim later. There is one important exception: the notice operates as an adjudication upon the merits — meaning it is treated as a final, binding resolution — when filed by a plaintiff who has already once dismissed, in a competent court, an action based on or including the same claim. A second such dismissal is not treated as freely reversible.
Why the timing matters for your situation
Because Section 1's notice-of-dismissal right expires once the answer has been served, a plaintiff in your position — where the defendant has already filed an answer — cannot use this simple, self-executing mechanism anymore. The rule's structure exists precisely to draw that line: before an answer, dismissal by notice is largely the plaintiff's own call; after it, ending the case requires a different procedural path, not a unilateral notice under this provision, and that path will typically involve the court's own discretion rather than an automatic result the plaintiff can simply invoke on their own.