Opinion ID: 1631232
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Amendments Pursuant to Miss. R. Civ. P. 15(a)

Text: ¶ 45. Hartford next claims that the trial court erred by entering the order which rescinded its prior order granting Hartford 10 days leave to amend its complaint. Hartford asserts that if the motion filed by Halliburton is converted into a motion under Rule 12, that it has the absolute right to amend the complaint pursuant to Rule 15(a), which states in part: 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. ¶ 46. The Mississippi Court of Appeals recently rejected this argument of an absolute right to amend in Jones v. Lovett, 755 So.2d 1243 (Miss.Ct.App.2000). The Court of Appeals cited to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962), which we cited favorably in Red Enter., Inc. v. Peashooter, Inc., 455 So.2d 793, 795 (Miss.1984). In Jones, the Court of Appeals denied appellant's plea to reverse the trial court's refusal to allow her amended complaint relying on the following language: 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 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. Jones, 755 So.2d at 1247 (citing Foman, 371 U.S. at 182, 83 S.Ct. at 227). The Court of Appeals refused to reverse the trial court and grant appellant leave to amend her complaint. The court ruled that she had exercised undue delay and lack of diligence by waiting years to make her application to amend, and in any event, any amendment would be futile. Id. at 1248. ¶ 47. This Court is of the opinion that this reasoning should apply to the present case. This case was reactivated in 1997. An agreed scheduling order was entered on April 11, 1997 which gave Hartford 30 days to amend its complaint. An amended agreed order was entered on June 2, 1997, which gave Hartford 60 days to amend its complaint. Yet, Hartford failed to submit an amended complaint until after summary judgment was entered against it. The trial court questioned Hartford as to whether it had amended its complaint. Hartford's response was [i]t has never been amended. And we will obviously have to amend, if nothing else, the indemnity clause in the complaint. ¶ 48. Hartford had the opportunity to amend its complaint prior to Halliburton's answer being served. It did not do so. Twice, Hartford was given additional time to amend its complaint. It failed to do so either time. Thus, we find Hartford should not now be heard to complain on this issue when it had ample opportunity and time to amend its complaint, and has offered no justification for why it did not do so. ¶ 49. However, if this Court determines the motion was one for summary judgment, Rule 15 provides that leave to amend shall be freely given when justice so requires. We find the answer remains the same. In passing on this issue, we have already held that Rule 56 requires actual diligence. Bourn v. Tomlinson Interest, Inc., 456 So.2d 747, 749 (Miss.1984). In Bourn, we favorably cited: The liberal amendment policy of the Federal Rules was not intended to allow a party to circumvent the effects of summary judgment by amending the complaint every time a termination of the action threatens. The time must arrive in every case when the plaintiff must demonstrate that there is a genuine issue for trial or have summary judgment entered against him. Bourn, 456 So.2d at 749 (citing Glesenkamp v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 71 F.R.D. 1, 4 (N.D.Cal.1974), aff'd, 540 F.2d 458 (9th Cir.1976)). ¶ 50. The time for Hartford to demonstrate a genuine issue for trial has already come and gone. Hartford had several opportunities to submit an amended complaint. Because it failed to submit an amended complaint within the time frame that it agreed to, and because no justification has been offered for this failure, the trial court did not err in refusing Hartford's request.