Opinion ID: 220490
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alioto's Motion for Leave to Amend

Text: Generally, a motion for leave to amend a complaint is evaluated under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2). That rule provides that courts should freely give leave when justice so requires. See also Soltys v. Costello, 520 F.3d 737, 742-43 (7th Cir.2008) (discussing the standard). However, the rule is in some tension with the rule that governs scheduling orders, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16. Under the rule, district courts are generally required to issue scheduling orders in their cases as soon as practicable. Fed. R.Civ.P. 16(b)(2). And courts are required in a scheduling order to set a deadline for filing amended pleadings. Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b)(3)(A). In this case, the district court read its scheduling order as requiring amended pleadings to be filed by the end of November 2008. Alioto does not question that interpretation. Therefore, the district court was entitled to apply the heightened good-cause standard of Rule 16(b)(4) before considering whether the requirements of Rule 15(a)(2) were satisfied. We put the imprimatur on that approach in our decision in Trustmark Ins. Co. v. General & Cologne Life Re of Am., 424 F.3d 542, 553 (7th Cir.2005). The two-step process is consistent with nearly every one of our sister circuits (and out of step with none). See O'Connell v. Hyatt Hotels of Puerto Rico, 357 F.3d 152, 154-55 (1st Cir.2004); Parker v. Columbia Pictures Indus., 204 F.3d 326, 340 (2d Cir.2000); Race Tires Am., Inc. v. Hoosier Racing Tire Corp., 614 F.3d 57, 84 (3d Cir.2010); Nourison Rug Corp. v. Parvizian, 535 F.3d 295, 298 (4th Cir.2008); S & W Enters., LLC v. SouthTrust Bank of Alabama, NA, 315 F.3d 533, 536 (5th Cir. 2003); Leary v. Daeschner, 349 F.3d 888, 909 (6th Cir.2003); Morrison Enters., LLC v. Dravo Corp., 638 F.3d 594, 610 (8th Cir.2011); Coleman v. Quaker Oats Co., 232 F.3d 1271, 1294 (9th Cir.2000); Sosa v. Airprint Sys., Inc., 133 F.3d 1417, 1419 (11th Cir.1998) (per curiam); see also United States ex rel. Ritchie v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 558 F.3d 1161, 1166 (10th Cir.2009) (reserving the issue of whether, once a scheduling order has been entered, Rule 16 applies before the standards of Rule 15 are considered). The district court did not did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Alioto failed to establish good cause for modifying the scheduling order. In making a Rule 16(b) good-cause determination, the primary consideration for district courts is the diligence of the party seeking amendment. Trustmark, 424 F.3d at 553; see also 3 MOORE'S FEDERAL PRACTICE § 16.14[1][b], at 16-72 (Matthew Bender 3d ed. 2010) ([A]lthough undoubtedly there are differences of views among district judges about how compelling a showing must be to justify extending the deadlines set in scheduling orders, it seems clear that the factor on which courts are most likely to focus when making this determination is the relative diligence of the lawyer or lawyers who seek the change.). Alioto offers an insufficiently robust explanation of why he was diligent. He argues chiefly that he had no reason to know that his complaint was deficient until the defendants filed their motions to dismiss the complaint. That explanation does not pass muster. The requirements for surviving a motion to dismiss are matters of hornbook civil procedure law, and a party should always ask itself whether the complaint it wants to file sets out a viable claim. (If the party does not do so on its own, its lawyer is required to ask that question. Fed. R.Civ.P. 11(b)(2).) Moreover, Alioto acted with insufficient diligence not merely because he waited to seek leave to amend for more than eight months beyond the district court's deadline. He waited until the last day  under a generous briefing schedule  for filing a response to the defendants' motion to dismiss. Indeed, he had defendants' motions to dismiss in his possession for more than two months before seeking leave to amend the complaint. As the 1983 advisory committee note explains, among the aims of Rule 16 are to prevent parties from delaying or procrastinating and to keep the case moving toward trial. Although the lack of clarity in the complaint made it difficult to perceive precisely what Alioto was alleging, the proposed amended complaint added at least one new theory and overhauled another. In light of Alioto's conduct and the purposes of Rule 16, the district court committed no abuse of its discretion in denying leave to amend. See Eastern Minerals & Chems. Co. v. Mahan, 225 F.3d 330, 340 (3d Cir.2000) (district court did not err in denying leave to amend complaint where plaintiff waited more than six months after the scheduling order cutoff).