Opinion ID: 1791065
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: did the trial court err in denying fuselier's motion to amend the complaint?

Text: ¶ 24. Fuselier twice attempted to amend their complaint to include a request for prejudgment interest, once during the trial, when they made an ore tenus motion to amend to include prejudgment interest and once during the motion to enforce the mandate. Each of these motions were denied by the special chancellor with little or no explanation. ¶ 25. Fuselier contends that they should have been granted leave to amend their complaint to seek prejudgment interest. American Guarantee counters, asserting that the issue of whether Fuselier should have been allowed to amend their original complaint is not supported by the mandate of this Court in Moeller and reiterates its stance that this Court's mandate dealt with the single issue of attorney's fees and nothing more. ¶ 26. This Court has outlined the standard of review for motions for leave to amend a complaint: Motions for leave to amend complaint are left to the sound discretion of trial court; the Supreme Court reviews such determinations under an abuse of discretion standard; and, unless convinced that trial judge abused discretion, the Supreme Court is without authority to reverse. Church v. Massey, 697 So.2d 407, 413 (Miss.1997). Grant or denial of motion for leave to amend is within sound discretion of trial court. MBF Corp. v. Century Bus. Communications, Inc., 663 So.2d 595, 600 (Miss.1995); Frank v. Dore, 635 So.2d 1369, 1375 (Miss.1994). Amendments to the pleadings are properly addressed to the discretion of the lower court. Red Enters., Inc. v. Peashooter, Inc., 455 So.2d 793, 796 (Miss.1984); McDonald v. Holmes, 595 So.2d 434, 436 (Miss.1992). Where the plaintiff filed his motion for amendment of declaration setting out its exact terms, and such terms were incorporated into an order which quoted text of motion and which was filed in cause and entered upon minutes of court, amendment was sufficient, as against defendant's contention that original declaration should have been manually amended by interlineation or otherwise. International Order v. Barnes, 204 Miss. 333, 341, 37 So.2d 487 (1948), overruled on other grounds by Mississippi Baptist Hosp. v. Holmes, 214 Miss. 906, 55 So.2d 142 (1951). While the trial court has discretion to allow an amendment and should do so freely under the proper circumstances, an amendment should not occur when to do so would prejudice defendant. Hester v. Bandy, 627 So.2d 833, 839 (Miss. 1993). Preferred Risk Mut. Ins. Co. v. Johnson, 730 So.2d at 579. ¶ 27. Rule 15(a) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure governs leave to amend. It states: A party may amend his pleading as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served, or, if the pleading is one to which no responsive pleading is permitted and the action has not been placed upon the trial calendar, he may so amend it at any time within thirty days after it is served. On sustaining a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), or for judgment on the pleadings, pursuant to Rule 12(c), thirty days leave to amend shall be granted, provided matters outside the pleadings are not presented at the hearing on the motion. Otherwise a party may amend his pleading only by leave of court or upon written consent of the adverse party; leave shall be freely given when justice so requires. A party shall plead in response to an amended pleading within the time remaining for response to the original pleading or within ten days after service of the amended pleading, whichever period may be longer, unless the court otherwise orders. M.R.C.P. 15(a) (emphasis added). ¶ 28. This Court has commented on the language leave shall be freely given when justice so requires found in M.R.C.P. 15(a): Rule 15(a) declares that leave to amend shall be freely given when justice so requires; this mandate is to be heeded... if the underlying facts or circumstances relied upon by a plaintiff may be a proper subject of relief, he ought to be afforded an opportunity to test his claim on the merits. In 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 the amendment, etc.-the leave sought should, as the rules require, be freely given. Estes v. Starnes, 732 So.2d 251, 252 (Miss.1999)(quoting Frank, 635 So.2d at 1375, and Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962)). ¶ 29. The Comment to Rule 15 states that amended pleadings have been liberally permitted throughout Mississippi legal history. M.R.C.P. 15 Comment. In practice, an amendment should be denied only if the amendment would cause actual prejudice to the opposite party. Id. This Court has previously relied upon this Comment in making determinations of whether amendment should have been allowed. See Beverly v. Powers, 666 So.2d 806, 809 (Miss.1995); Rector v. Mississippi State Highway Comm'n, 623 So.2d 975, 978 (Miss.1993). ¶ 30. In the present case it is difficult to ascertain the actual prejudice that American Guarantee would have suffered had Fuselier been allowed to amend their complaint to include a request for prejudgment interest. Neither special chancellor participating in this case presented any insightful reason as to why the motions to amend were denied. This lack of explanation or showing of actual prejudice to American Guarantee, combined with M.R.C.P. 15(a) and the case law relying upon Rule 15(a)'s language stating that leave to amend shall be freely given when justice so requires, leaves this Court with little choice but to find an abuse of discretion on the part of both special chancellors. The motion to amend should have been granted.