Walton v. Rent-A-Center West, Inc.
- Wilhelmina Wright
- 0:21-cv-01856
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Walton v. Rent-A-Center West, Inc., Judge Wright denied defendants’ motion to dismiss without prejudice as moot after Walton amended her complaint.
The defendants’ motion to dismiss was denied without prejudice as moot, and the scheduled hearing on that motion was canceled. The amended complaint remained the operative pleading.
What happened
Ebony Monique Walton sued Rent-A-Center West, Inc., and Get It Now, LLC, alleging that they violated the bankruptcy code. The defendants moved to dismiss the original complaint.
While that motion was pending, Walton filed an amended complaint that revised the allegations and added claims. The court explained that an amended complaint replaces the original complaint, usually making a pending motion to dismiss moot.
In Walton v. Rent-A-Center West, Inc., Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss without prejudice as moot and canceled the scheduled hearing. The order did not decide whether Walton’s claims were legally valid.
The detailed version
- Walton v. Rent-A-Center West, Inc. · No. 0:21-cv-01856
- Wilhelmina Wright
- Jan. 19, 2022
Background
Ebony Monique Walton brought this action against Rent-A-Center West, Inc., and Get It Now, LLC. She alleged that the defendants violated the bankruptcy code. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss on December 21, 2021.
On January 10, 2022, Walton filed an amended complaint that revised the allegations and added claims.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that an amended complaint replaces the original complaint and removes the original complaint’s legal effect. As a result, when a plaintiff files an amended complaint while a motion to dismiss is pending, the amended complaint generally makes that motion moot, meaning that the court no longer needs to decide it as directed at the original complaint.
Disposition
The court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss without prejudice as moot. It also canceled the February 8, 2022 hearing on that motion. The order did not decide the merits of Walton’s claims or the defendants’ arguments for dismissal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.