Opinion ID: 567901
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amending the Complaint to Add a Party

Text: 9 Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits amendment of pleadings under certain circumstances. If amendment is sought prior to the filing of the responsive pleading, Rule 15(a) permits amendment once with no need to seek the court's permission. Here, the responsive pleading had already been filed, so Rule 15(a) requires leave of the court in order to amend. It also provides, however, that leave shall be freely granted when justice so requires. Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a). 10 We have held that leave to amend should not be given automatically. Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana v. Harry L. Laws Co., 690 F.2d 1157, 1163 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 814, 104 S.Ct. 69, 78 L.Ed.2d 83 (1983). Nonetheless, the circumstances in which the rule permits denial of leave to amend are limited. The Supreme Court has held that a court may deny leave to amend where there is 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, [or] futility of amendment. Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). 11 Here, none of these grounds was alleged before the district court or this court, and the district court dismissed the case on the ground that Rule 15(c), as interpreted by this court, did not permit the amendment. Since we find that the cases on which the district court relied are no longer good law, however, the court will have to consider Ynclan's motion for leave to amend on remand. For this reason, we set out here the standards for granting such leave. 12 In cases changing the designation of the party being sued, we have consistently held that mistakenly failing to sue the proper party does not itself constitute the kind of circumstance which would permit denial of leave to amend. See Darby v. Pasadena Police Dept., 939 F.2d 311 (5th Cir.1991); Chancery Clerk of Chickasaw County v. Wallace, 646 F.2d 151 (5th Cir. Unit A 1981). Wallace stated that such a mistake constituted [nothing] more than a remedial pleading defect.... 646 F.2d at 160.