Opinion ID: 1414647
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Malone's Motion to Amend

Text: Defendants had not filed a responsive pleading at the time Malone filed his amended claim. There was no necessity for obtaining the trial court's order granting leave to file this amended claim. Platco Corporation v. Shaw, 78 N.M. 36, 428 P.2d 10 (1967); Buhler v. Marrujo, 86 N.M. 399, 524 P.2d 1015 (Ct.App. 1974); see Martinez v. Research Park, Inc., 75 N.M. 672, 410 P.2d 200 (1965), overruled on other grounds, Lakeview Invest., Inc. v. Alamogordo Lake Vil., Inc., 86 N.M. 151, 520 P.2d 1096 (1974). The motion was superfluous. The defendants' contention that, by filing the motion to amend, Malone waived his right to amend as a matter of course, is not well-taken. Malone was entitled to amend as a matter of right, and had filed his amended claim long before he filed a motion to obtain leave of court to amend. There was no waiver of this right. Jacobson v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co., 81 N.M. 600, 471 P.2d 170 (1970); See Platco, supra ; Martinez, supra . Cases such as Peoples v. Peoples, 72 N.M. 64, 380 P.2d 513 (1963), upon which defendants rely, are inapposite. Peoples held that once a judgment or a final order has been entered dismissing a complaint, the right to amend as of right under N.M.R. Civ.P. 15(a) terminates. The same is true under the federal counterpart of our Rule 15(a). Kelly v. Delaware River Joint Commission, 187 F.2d 93 (3d Cir.1951), Feddersen Motors v. Ward, 180 F.2d 519 (10th Cir.1950). It is the entry of judgment or of the final order which terminates the right, not the mere filing of the motion to amend or the oral granting of the motion to dismiss. We approve of the language in, e.g., Breier v. Northern California Bowling Proprietors' Ass'n, 316 F.2d 787, 789 (9th Cir.1963) which, in distinguishing Kelly, supra, and Feddersen, supra, stated: A motion to dismiss is not a responsive pleading within the meaning of the Rule. Neither the filing nor granting of such a motion before answer terminates the right to amend; an order of dismissal denying leave to amend at that stage is improper, and a motion for leave to amend (though unnecessary) must be granted if filed. Breier goes on to point out in a footnote at 789 that where, however, a final order or judgment is entered dismissing the action prior to answer, the right to amend as of right does terminate. Were this not true anyone could reopen such a dismissed case years after the dismissal by simply filing an amended complaint. See discussion in Feddersen, supra .