Opinion ID: 153180
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denial of plaintiff's motion to amend complaint

Text: 22 The district court denied plaintiff's motion to amend her complaint for the reasons outlined by defendants in their responsive pleading. On appeal, plaintiff claims the court abused its discretion in denying her motion to amend. 23 Rule 15(a), which governs the amendment of pleadings, provides: 24 A party may amend the party's pleading once 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, the party may so amend it at any time within 20 days after it is served. Otherwise a party may amend the party's pleading only by leave of court or by written consent of the adverse party; and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires. 25 The denial of a motion to amend a complaint is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Long v. United States, 972 F.2d 1174, 1183 (10th Cir.1992). Although a district court should normally set forth its reasons for exercising its discretion and denying a motion to amend, the court's failure to do so is harmless when the record contains an apparent reason justifying the denial of a motion to amend. Id. In addition, we are free to affirm a district court decision on any grounds for which there is a record sufficient to permit conclusions of law, even grounds not relied upon by the district court. United States v. Sandoval, 29 F.3d 537, 542 n. 6 (10th Cir.1994). 26 Reviewing the record, we conclude there are several apparent reasons justifying the denial of plaintiff's motion to amend. The motion to amend was filed far beyond the permissive period set forth in Rule 15(a). Here, the motion to amend was filed eight months after defendants filed their motion to dismiss. Moreover, plaintiff failed to provide an adequate explanation for her delay in seeking the amendment. See Pallottino v. City of Rio Rancho, 31 F.3d 1023, 1027 (10th Cir.1994) (holding that untimeliness in itself can be a sufficient reason to deny leave to amend). Plaintiff apparently did not file a copy of her proposed amended complaint with her motion for leave to amend, as required by the local rules of the district court. As the district court was not provided with a copy of the proposed amended complaint, it would have been impossible for the court to determine its viability. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion to amend.