Opinion ID: 656567
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Right to Amend

Text: 13 Under Rule 81(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, an action that is removed from state to federal court need not be repled unless the court so orders. The Kuehls maintain that their original federal complaint was a repleading ordered pursuant to Rule 81(c), but that--contrary to the district court's conclusion--that redrafting did not use up their Rule 15(a) right to amend their complaint once as a matter of course. 14 We can agree, generally, with the principle that a repleading ordered under Rule 81(c) does not automatically deprive the plaintiff of the one-time option to amend granted by Rule 15(a). This seems particularly so when the repleading involves simply a change of format to fit the federal court model. 15 In this case, however, the magistrate judge explicitly ordered an amended complaint that was intended to contain substantive changes to meet Rule 8(a)'s requirements. The plaintiffs, therefore, had a chance to make meaningful modifications to their complaint and, indeed, were given some advice about how to do so. They point to no authority supporting the proposition that they are entitled, as a matter of right, to a second chance to improve the substance of their complaint. The fact that plaintiffs squandered their one guaranteed opportunity by making only stylistic changes does not yield them another. 16