Opinion ID: 551504
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appellant's Motion to Amend his Complaint

Text: 19 Appellant moves to amend his complaint in an attempt to continue his section 1981 action. Appellant wishes to incorporate claims that in 1983 appellee interfered with the arbitration proceedings on this matter. Appellant claims that appellee threatened and intimidated witnesses to prevent them from testifying at the arbitration proceedings. Appellant now claims that those actions constituted a violation of his right to enforce his contract. Appellant's amended complaint would claim that appellee violated section 1981 with its efforts to impede access to the courts or obstruct nonjudicial methods of adjudicating disputes about the force of binding obligations.... Patterson, 109 S.Ct. at 2373. 20 The magistrate denied appellant's motion to amend his complaint because the amendment at this late date, eight years after he was discharged and seven years after the alleged intimidation, would be highly prejudicial to the appellee. Appellant's original and amended complaint included only allegations of discriminatory discharge. Appellant offers no reason for the omission of these claims from his earlier complaint. The amendment relates to entirely different conduct than that involved in the original complaint, since the arbitration process was never before at issue. To force appellee to begin to formulate a defense to these allegations at this late date would be highly prejudicial. See Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). The magistrate did not abuse his discretion in denying appellant's motion to amend the complaint. 21 The grant of appellee's motion for summary judgment and denial of appellant's motion to amend are AFFIRMED. 22