Sitrick v. Freehand Sys., Inc., No. 02 C 1568, 2007 WL 2298362 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 3, 2007) (Guzman, J.).

Judge Guzman denied plaintiff’s motion to amend the Court’s final order dismissing plaintiff’s patent infringement case with prejudice pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1). Plaintiff sought to amend the order to include the terms of the parties’ settlement agreement because in Lynch v. SamataMason, Inc., 279 F.3d 487, 489 (7th Cir. 2006), the Seventh Circuit held that a court only maintains ancillary jurisdiction to enforce settlement agreements if the dismissal order contains (not just by incorporation) the terms of the agreement. But the Court denied the motion for two reasons. First, the Court’s original order was a nullity because it was issued after the parties filed their unconditional stipulation of dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1) which immediately ended the Court’s jurisdiction. Second, because the amendment was not clerical, sought within one year of entry of the order or otherwise justified, Fed. R. Civ. P. 60 prevented the Court from amending the order.