Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

It means the case is over but they reserve the right to refile it at a later date. They must, however, refile before any applicable statute of limitations runs out as if the case had never been filed. It also means that you are the prevailing party for the purposes of costs recovery. So if you incurred filing fees or any of the other expenses (unfortunately not attorneys fees) that can be recovered as "costs" you must file a memorandum of costs with the court and serve it on the other side. The time limit for doing that is short. So do not delay. As for getting it dismissed completely, you can't do that. The plaintiff controls whether a dismissal is with prejudice, meaning it can never be refiled, or without prejudice, which means it can be refiled within the original statute of limitations. So with a dismissal without prejudice all you can do as a defendant is file your costs claim and wait for the statute of limitations to run out.