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Timestamp: 2019-04-25 20:52:49+00:00

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FindACase | Romero v. Hartford Casualty Insurance Co.
Romero v. Hartford Casualty Insurance Co.
HARTFORD CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY a foreign corporation, and JOHN DOE, Defendants.
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff Fernando Romero's Opposed Motion to Amend/Correct the Complaint (Doc. 23) and Defendant Hartford Casualty Insurance Company's (“Hartford”) Cross Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 26). Having reviewed the accompanying briefing and being otherwise fully advised, the Court will deny Plaintiff's Motion to Amend and grant in part and deny in part Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings.
Plaintiff filed a Complaint against both the company that issued his insurance policy and an individual, identified as John Doe, who he alleges trespassed on his property while acting as Hartford's agent. Plaintiff seeks to recover for the losses he incurred after an armed robbery occurred at Ferny's Electronics on February 11, 2013. (Doc. 1-1.) Plaintiff claims that Hartford engaged in bad faith, unfair practices, and breach of contract for failing to act reasonably under the circumstances to conduct a timely and fair evaluation of his claim and failing to accept and pay Plaintiff's claim for coverage for the losses after charging and collecting premiums from him. Id.
“After the pleadings are closed -- but early enough not to delay trial -- a party may move for judgment on the pleadings.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c). “Any party may move for judgment on the pleadings if no material facts are in dispute and the dispute can be resolved on both the pleadings and any facts of which the Court can take judicial notice.” Ramirez v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 192 F.R.D. 303, 304 (D.N.M. 2000).
The standard for deciding a motion on the pleadings mirrors the applicable standard for a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Myers v. Koopman, 738 F.3d 1190, 1193 (10th Cir. 2013). Under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court accepts only the well-pleaded factual allegations as true, viewing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679 (2009); Casanova v. Ulibarri, 595 F.3d 1120, 1125 (10th Cir. 2010). Thus, the Court need only evaluate allegations “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. Following these principles, the Court considers whether the facts “plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Barrett v. Orman, 373 Fed.Appx. 823, 825 (10th Cir. 2010) (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 677-78).
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) states that leave to amend “shall be freely given when justice so requires.” Unlike the good cause requirements under Rule 16, this standard has been described as lenient and easily reached. Rowen v. New Mexico, 210 F.R.D. 250, 252 (D.N.M. 2002); Youell v. Russell, Civ. No. 04-1396 JB/WDS 2007 WL 709041, at *1 (D.N.M. February 14, 2007). Under this rule, leave to amend should be granted “[i]n the absence of any apparent or declared reason-such as undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, futility of amendment, etc.” Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962); see also Frank v. U.S. W., Inc., 3 F.3d 1357, 1365 (10th Cir. 1993).

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