Opinion ID: 599240
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: complaint amendment

Text: 24 Noting that plaintiffs had failed to plead ERISA violations in their complaints, the district court entered final judgment against them, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. See 790 F.Supp. at 6 & n. 5. We hold that the district court should have granted plaintiffs' request, made at the hearing on the summary judgment motion, for leave to amend their complaints to assert entitlement to relief under ERISA. 25 Final judgment is appropriately rendered under Rule 12(b)(6) when it is plain that the plaintiff has no claim to state; when a plaintiff has imperfectly stated what may be an arguable claim, however, leave to amend is ordinarily in order. See Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957) (reaffirmed in, e.g., Hospital Building Co. v. Rex Hospital Trustees, 425 U.S. 738, 746, 96 S.Ct. 1848, 1853, 48 L.Ed.2d 338 (1976)); see also Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). Consistently, sister courts have remanded for further airing cases similar to the two we confront; they have permitted plaintiffs who originally and incorrectly relied on state law as the basis for their employee benefit claims to proceed instead, on essentially the same facts, under ERISA. See Shannon v. Shannon, 965 F.2d 542, 552-53 (7th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom., Shannon v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 677, 121 L.Ed.2d 599 (1992); Bartholet v. Reishauer A.G. (Zurich), 953 F.2d 1073, 1077-78 (7th Cir.1992); Fitzgerald v. Codex Corp., 882 F.2d 586, 589 (1st Cir.1989). 26 [299 U.S.App.D.C. 370] RTC urges that plaintiffs here resisted reliance on ERISA too long, and have passed the point at which justice requires indulgence of pleading amendments. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a) (leave [to amend] shall be freely given when justice so requires). The argument is not without force. Once confronted with motions for summary judgment, plaintiffs approached the limits of the liberal pleading regime's indulgence by failing promptly to tender any alternate, ERISA-based claim. 27 The record, however, does not suggest bad-faith withholding on plaintiffs' part. ERISA's governance has been RTC's insistent plea from the start and so comes to defendant-appellee as no surprise. We count it important also that plaintiffs have represented in their briefs on appeal the absence of any need to allege new facts or engage in additional discovery. Cf. Williamsburg Wax Museum v. Historic Figures, Inc., 810 F.2d 243, 247 (D.C.Cir.1987) (leave to amend properly denied where plaintiff sought to allege new facts requiring extensive discovery several years after complaint was filed); Doe v. McMillan, 566 F.2d 713, 720 (D.C.Cir.1977) (affirming denial of leave to amend to allege new theory of case and add defendant 38 months after complaint was filed), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 969, 98 S.Ct. 1607, 56 L.Ed.2d 59 (1978). The only change plaintiffs will make on remand, they aver, is in the legal theory supporting their request for relief. See Hanson v. Hoffmann, 628 F.2d 42, 53 n. 11 (D.C.Cir.1980) (Unless a defendant is prejudiced on the merits by a change in legal theory, a plaintiff is not bound by the legal theory on which he or she originally relied.); 5 CHARLES A. WRIGHT & ARTHUR R. MILLER, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 1219 at 192-94 (1980).