Ellington, Justice. In Joyner v. Leaphart, 358 Ga. App. 383 (853 SE2d 407) (2021), the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s order dismissing with prejudice Vanessa and Brock Joyner’s wrongful death action against defendants Dr. Lynn Leaphart and MPPG, Inc. (“MPPG”), in accordance with the “two-dismissal rule” of OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3)[1] following the Joyners’ voluntary dismissal of two later-filed actions. In Division 2 of its opinion, the Court of Appeals held that, even though the Joyners’ second and third actions were filed against defendants who were not sued in the original, pending action, the two-dismissal rule nevertheless applied, and the second voluntary dismissal operated as an adjudication on the merits requiring the dismissal of the action against Leaphart and MPPG. See Joyner, 358 Ga. App. at 384-385 (2). We granted the Joyners’ petition for a writ of certiorari to consider the following question: Did the Court of Appeals err in holding that the two- dismissal rule, see OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3), applies to the second voluntary dismissal of an action, regardless of the parties named as defendants therein? As explained below, we answer this question in the affirmative. Therefore, we reverse Division 2 of the opinion of the Court of Appeals, vacate the remainder of the opinion, and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 1. Procedural background. After their newborn son died in a Savannah hospital, the Joyners decided to bring a wrongful death action. On August 17, 2016, the Joyners filed a complaint in the State Court of Fulton County, naming Leaphart, several nurses, and several corporate entities as defendants.[2] Upon determining that Chatham County was a more convenient forum for the litigation, the Fulton State Court transferred the action to the State Court of Chatham County. Within a few months of filing the original action, the Joyners decided to also sue Memorial Health University Medical Center, Inc. (“Memorial,” the nurses’ employer) and MPPG (Leaphart’s employer). Instead of seeking to add these defendants to the original action then pending in Chatham County, the Joyners filed two new actions in Fulton County: the first against Memorial on November 23, 2016,[3] and the second against MPPG on December 21, 2016. Neither defendant was sued in the original action.[4] The Joyners contend they did this because their attorneys were in Atlanta, electronic filing was not yet available in the State Court of Chatham County, and they believed their claims were about to become time-barred. The complaints filed in each of the three civil actions arose from the same events surrounding the infant’s death, made similar allegations of negligence, and posed similar claims for relief. However, each complaint sought relief from different defendants.[5] The Chatham County court entered a consent order on April 26, 2017, which authorized the Joyners to file an amended complaint adding Memorial and MPPG as defendants in the original action. Then on May 5, 2017, before adding Memorial and MPPG to the Chatham County action, the Joyners dismissed the Fulton County actions – the lawsuit against Memorial first and, a few minutes later, the lawsuit against MPPG. On October 12, 2017, Leaphart and MPPG moved to dismiss the Chatham County action, invoking the two-dismissal rule of OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3) and arguing that the Joyners’ notices of voluntary dismissal in the two later-filed Fulton County actions resulted in an adjudication on the merits of the claims against Leaphart and MPPG, requiring their dismissal from the pending Chatham County action on res judicata grounds. Before ruling on the motion to dismiss, the Chatham County court stayed the action so the Joyners could move to withdraw or to set aside their voluntary dismissals of the Fulton County actions. The Fulton County court denied the Joyners’ motions. The Joyners appealed, but the Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal as untimely and for failure to follow the discretionary appeal procedure. The Chatham County court then lifted its stay, granted the motion to dismiss, and entered a final judgment in favor of defendants Leaphart and MPPG, which the Court of Appeals affirmed. See Joyner, 358 Ga. App. at 384 (1). The Court of Appeals stated that OCGA § 9-11-41 is the statute governing voluntary dismissals and that “the filing of a second notice of [voluntary] dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits.” Joyner, 358 Ga. App. at 384 (2) (citing OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3)). According to the Court of Appeals, “before amending the Chatham County lawsuit to add [Memorial and MPPG], the Joyners made their fatal mistake. In what appears to have been intended as a step in implementing the parties’ agreement, they voluntarily dismissed the two Fulton County lawsuits.” Id. at 384 (1). The Court of Appeals reasoned: “[U]nder OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3), a plaintiff who has voluntarily dismissed a complaint two times is barred by the res judicata effect of that provision from” pursuing a third complaint. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store v. Robinson, 341 Ga. App. 285, 286 (800 SE2d 372) (2017). That rule “applies when an action seeking recovery on the same claim was brought and dismissed twice, regardless of the parties named as defendants.” Walker v. Mecca, 320 Ga. App. 142, 143 (739 SE2d 450) (2013). Presiding Judge Barnes concurred fully and specially in Walker, acknowledging that the holding we reaffirmed in that case was compelled by the “language and structure of OCGA § 9-11-41″ but urging “the General Assembly [to] amend OCGA § 9-11-41 so that the ‘two dismissal’ rule applies only to the same or substantially the same defendant.” Walker, 320 Ga. App. at 144 (Barnes, P. J., concurring fully and specially). She urged that so limiting the rule would be consistent with the commonly understood public policy behind the rule: preventing harassment of a defendant with repeated lawsuits. Id. at 145. And she urged that “application of the ‘two dismissal’ rule to unrelated defendants is inconsistent” with our understanding of the closely related renewal statute, OCGA § 9-2-61 – that “the second-filed suit must involve the same or ‘substantially identical’ defendants for the privilege of renewal to be exercised.” Id. at 146. (Punctuation omitted.) Joyner, 358 Ga. App. at 384-385 (2). Applying this rationale and its precedent, and noting that the General Assembly had not amended OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3) as Presiding Judge Barnes urged in Walker, the Court of Appeals held that “the rule that a second notice of voluntary dismissal of the same claim operates as an adjudication upon the merits, regardless of the parties named as defendants, remains the law[,]” and affirmed the trial court’s dismissal order. Joyner, 358 Ga. App. at 385 (2). 2. Analysis. (a) The two-dismissal rule. OCGA § 9-11-41 (a),[6] which governs voluntary dismissals, provides that filing a second notice of dismissal of an action operates as an adjudication upon the merits of that action. See OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3). The plain text of the statute provides that the two-dismissal rule applies to actions, not to claims. This was not always the case. In 1966, the General Assembly enacted the Civil Practice Act. See Ga. L. 1966, pp. 609-691.[7] The first iteration of the voluntary dismissal rule provided in pertinent part that “[a] dismissal under this paragraph is without prejudice, except that a notice of dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits when filed by a plaintiff who has twice dismissed in any court an action based on or including the same claim.” (Emphasis supplied.) Ga. L. 1966, p. 653, § 41 (a). Then, in 1985, the General Assembly repealed and replaced OCGA § 9-11-41 (a). See Ga. L. 1985 pp. 546-547, §§ 1-2. The new subsection (a) did not include the language “an action based on or including the same claim,” and provided that “[a] dismissal under this subsection is without prejudice, except that the filing of a third notice of dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits.” Id. at p. 546547 § 1 (codified as OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (1985)). Finally, in 2003, the General Assembly amended the voluntary dismissal rule so that it applied to a second, instead of a third, notice of dismissal. See Ga. L. 2003, p. 824, § 4 (codified as OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3)). The General Assembly has not amended the two-dismissal rule to reinstate the “same claim” language, and the current rule thus provides that “[a] dismissal [of an action] under this subsection is without prejudice, except that the filing of a second notice of dismissal [of an action] operates as an adjudication upon the merits.” (Emphasis supplied.) OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3). The language “this subsection” references subsection (a), which, in turn, provides for the voluntary dismissal by a plaintiff of “an action,” making it clear that the General Assembly meant the two-dismissal rule to apply to the plaintiffs entire action, not to individual claims.[8] As used in Title 9, an “action” is simply “the judicial means of enforcing a right.” OCGA § 9-2-1 (1). Thus, in considering whether to grant Leaphart and MPPG’s motion to dismiss, the trial court’s first step was to determine whether the Joyners had twice dismissed the same action. That does not end the inquiry, however. Although the text of the two-dismissal rule plainly provides that the filing of a second notice of dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits, it does not expressly provide that a second voluntary dismissal of an action shall be conclusive as to matters in a third action or that a second dismissal of the same action has res judicata effect. See OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3). Put another way, a party cannot simply plead OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3) as a defense in a separate action. Instead, “adjudication on the merits” is a legal term of art that invokes and is a component of the defense of res judicata. See Western Group Nurseries, Inc. v. Ergas, 211 FSupp.2d 1362, 1368 (S.D. Fla. 2002) (“The [federal] two dismissal rule does not bar a subsequent suit, but instead merely states that when the rule applies, the dismissal of the second suit operates as an adjudication on the merits; once there is an adjudication on the merits, it is the doctrine of res judicata which bars subsequent suits on the same cause of action.” (citations omitted)). Therefore, after a trial court determines that the two-dismissal rule applies and that the second voluntary dismissal results in an adjudication on the merits, the trial court must then evaluate whether that adjudication bars the third action (in this case, the pending action) by applying the law of res judicata. (b) Res judicata. It is well established that, under Georgia law, “[t]hree prerequisites must be satisfied before res judicata applies – (1) identity of the cause of action, (2) identity of the parties or their privies, and (3) previous adjudication on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction.” (Citations omitted.) Coen v. CDC Software Corp., 304 Ga. 105, 112 (2) (816 SE2d 670) (2018). See also OCGA § 9-12-40.[9] Normally, “[f]or a former judgment to be a bar to a subsequent action, the merits of the case must have been adjudicated,” OCGA § 9-12-42, and when an action is voluntarily dismissed, the court does not address its merits. But OCGA § 9-1141 (a) (3) changes that principle for a second such dismissal, deeming it an “adjudication on the merits” as a matter of law. However, when a defendant shows that a plaintiff has filed in a court of competent jurisdiction a second notice voluntarily dismissing an action pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-41 (a), the defendant has satisfied just one of the three criteria of a res judicata defense – a previous adjudication on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction. Thus, to obtain a dismissal of the third action, the defendant must do more than simply assert that the plaintiff has twice voluntarily dismissed a prior action. The defendant must demonstrate that the third action is barred by the doctrine of res judicata by showing that the other two prerequisites of the res judicata defense have been satisfied. See Fowler v. Vineyard, 261 Ga. 454, 456-457 (2), (3) (405 SE2d 678) (1991) (determining that a voluntary dismissal with prejudice under OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) operated as an adjudication on the merits “for purposes of res judicata” and then “examin[ing] whether the prior action and the [third] action involve an identity of parties and subject matter[[10]]“). See also Hedquist v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, 272 Ga. 209, 211-212 (2) (528 SE2d 508) (2000) (“We hold expressly that the effect of a voluntary dismissal [with prejudice] does not extend to any party not named therein.”); Rowland v. Vickers, 233 Ga. 67, 68 (209 SE2d 592) (1974) (“The dismissal of an action against a defendant with prejudice even when a consideration is paid by such defendant to the dismissing party, does not, as a matter of law, adjudicate all issues in the case. Such a dismissal merely means that the same plaintiff cannot again sue that same defendant on that same cause of action.”). In this case, to show that the doctrine of res judicata required that they be dismissed from the pending Chatham County action, Leaphart and MPPG had to show – in addition to an adjudication on the merits under the two-dismissal rule – that they were parties or privies in an action that had been twice voluntarily dismissed.[11] We note that Georgia law on this point is largely in accord with federal law,[12] even though Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41 (a) (1) includes the “same claim” language that was removed from the Georgia statute in 1985.[13] Further, the requirement that the defendants in the actions compared be the same or in privity is in accord with the law construing Georgia’s renewal statute, OCGA § 9-2-61.[14] Well- settled precedent holds that, “[t]o be a good ‘renewal’ of an original suit, so as to suspend the running of the statute of limitations . . . , the new petition must be substantially the same both as to the cause of action and as to the essential parties.” Sheldon & Co. v. Emory University, 184 Ga. 440, 440-441 (1) (191 SE 497) (1937). See also Gish v. Thomas, 302 Ga. App. 854, 861-862 (3) (691 SE2d 900) (2010) (“Long-standing and well-settled precedent establishes that in a renewal action the cause of action must be substantially the same as in the original action and there must also be a substantial identity of essential parties.” (citations and punctuation omitted)). (c) Remand. In holding that the Joyners’ Chatham County action against Leaphart and MPPG was barred by the two-dismissal rule because it sought “recovery on the same claim [that] was brought and dismissed twice [in Fulton County], regardless of the parties named as defendants,” the Court of Appeals erred. It relied on precedent from that court that erroneously held that, so long as the second voluntarily dismissed action and the pending action shared common claims, the two-dismissal rule had “res judicata effect” that required the pending action to be dismissed. Not only did this precedent fail to properly apply the law of res judicata, it applied a former version of OCGA § 9-11-41 (a) (3), a version that contained the subsequently deleted “same claim” language.[15] Therefore, we reverse Division 2 of the Court of Appeals’ opinion, vacate the remainder of the opinion, and remand with instruction that the case be remanded to the trial court to reconsider, in light of this opinion, Leaphart and MPPG’s motion to dismiss.[16] Judgment reversed in part and vacated in part, and case remanded. All the Justices concur, except Colvin, J., disqualified.
