Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Company

Background

Iovance brought a contract action against Federal Insurance Company concerning Federal’s alleged refusal to cover claims submitted under the parties’ insurance agreements. Federal moved for judgment on the pleadings, which asks the court to decide a case based on the pleadings filed by the parties. In response, Iovance requested permission to file an amended complaint and later filed a separate motion seeking that permission.

Amendment

The court held that Iovance had shown good cause to modify the case schedule under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4), even though the deadline for amending the pleadings had passed. The court found that Iovance sought amendment promptly after learning the specific issues it wanted to correct from Federal’s motion and its attachments.

The court also considered the factors governing amendment under Rule 15, including delay, bad faith, repeated failure to fix deficiencies, prejudice, and whether amendment would be futile. The court found that the first five factors favored amendment. Federal identified no prejudice, and this was the first contemplated amendment. The court deferred deciding whether the proposed amended claims would be futile because that issue was better addressed in a fully briefed motion after the amended pleading was filed.

Rulings

The court granted Iovance’s motion for leave to file a first amended complaint. It denied Federal’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as moot, meaning the court did not decide that motion because the amendment changed the operative pleading. The court also granted the parties’ motions to seal, finding compelling reasons to preserve their narrowly tailored redactions.

The court ordered Iovance to file the new operative pleading and an accompanying redline showing the changes, with the accepted redactions and without filing another motion to seal, by August 29, 2025.