Opinion ID: 629075
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Motion to Supplement the Amended Complaint

Text: 23 Plaintiffs also assert that the district court abused its discretion in denying Plaintiffs' September 21, 1990 motion to supplement their amended complaint. Plaintiffs motion to supplement again proposed to add Northwestern Bell as a defendant and also asserted retaliation claims arising subsequent to the complaint. The district court denied this motion because it was filed four and a half months after the court's May 4, 1990 deadline for amending the pleadings. We review for an abuse of discretion. GWN Petroleum Corp. v. Ok-Tex Oil & Gas, Inc., 998 F.2d 853, 857-58 (10th Cir.1993). 24 To the extent that Plaintiffs' motion to supplement sought the addition of a party, it is controlled by Rule 15(a) because it is actually a motion to amend. Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(d) (supplemental pleadings are those which set forth transactions or occurrences or events which have happened since the date of the pleading sought to be supplemented). Rule 15(a) provides that leave to amend shall be freely given when justice so requires. Refusing leave to amend is generally only justified upon a showing of undue delay, undue prejudice to the opposing party, bad faith or dilatory motive, failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, or futility of amendment. Castleglen, Inc. v. Resolution Trust Corp., 984 F.2d 1571, 1585 (10th Cir.1993) (citing Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962)). It is well settled in this circuit that untimeliness alone is a sufficient reason to deny leave to amend, see Woolsey v. Marion Laboratories, Inc., 934 F.2d 1452, 1462 (10th Cir.1991); Las Vegas Ice & Cold Storage Co. v. Far West Bank, 893 F.2d 1182, 1185 (10th Cir.1990); First City Bank v. Air Capitol Aircraft Sales, 820 F.2d 1127, 1133 (10th Cir.1987), especially when the party filing the motion has no adequate explanation for the delay, Woolsey, 934 F.2d at 1462. Furthermore, [w]here the party seeking amendment knows or should have known of the facts upon which the proposed amendment is based but fails to include them in the original complaint, the motion to amend is subject to denial. Las Vegas Ice, 893 F.2d at 1185. 25 Because Plaintiffs' motion was untimely in that it was filed four months after the court's deadline for amending pleadings and because Plaintiffs knew or should have known long before that date that Northwestern Bell was a possible defendant, 9 we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying leave to amend. First City Bank, 820 F.2d at 1133 ([w]hether or not, had we been sitting as the trial court, we might have granted Plaintiff's motion to amend, we cannot say the district court abused its discretion). 26 To the extent that Plaintiffs' motion asserted retaliation claims arising subsequent to the complaint, it was properly styled a motion to supplement. Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(d) (events occurring since date of complaint are proper for inclusion in a supplemental pleading). However, we need not address whether the district court's refusal to supplement Plaintiffs' complaint with these claims was an abuse of discretion, because we have already determined that there is no proper defendant in this case. 27 AFFIRMED.