Meyer v. Welsch

Background

Scott Meyer filed a first motion to amend his complaint. The opinion states that, in his first amended complaint, Meyer added two defendants but inadvertently removed all the defendants he had originally sued. He sought to correct that mistake in a second amended complaint.

The opinion also states that, by the court’s count, all defendants except a John Doe defendant from the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been dismissed. That John Doe defendant would be dismissed if Meyer filed his proposed second amended complaint.

Legal standard

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2), a party who has already used the one amendment allowed as a matter of right must obtain the court’s permission or the opposing party’s written consent to amend again. Courts are generally encouraged to allow amendments when justice requires. An amendment may be denied for reasons such as undue delay, bad faith, repeated failure to correct deficiencies, unfair prejudice to the opposing party, or futility.

Ruling

The court found that justice required naming all the parties Meyer sought to sue and found, at that time, none of the reasons that would counsel against allowing the amendment.

The court granted Meyer’s First Motion to Amend the Complaint. It directed Meyer to file his Second Amended Complaint on the docket and made him responsible for serving it on the defendants. The court excused Meyer from refiling his exhibits but required him to file a separate exhibit list with the second amended complaint. It also canceled the April 1, 2024 hearing on the motion.