Opinion ID: 2997096
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standard for Granting Leave To Amend

Text: Leave to amend a complaint should “be freely given when justice so requires.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a). “In the absence of any apparent or declared 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 amendment, etc.—the leave sought should, as the rules require, be ‘freely given.’” Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962). That leave be “freely given” is especially advisable when such permission is sought after the dismissal of the first complaint. Unless it is certain from the face of the complaint that any amendment would be futile or otherwise unwarranted, the district court should 3 grant leave to amend after granting a motion to dismiss. One treatise has explained succinctly the reason for this approach: 3 See Bisciglia v. Kenosha Unified Sch. Dist. No. 1, 45 F.3d 223, 230 (7th Cir. 1995) (reversing the denial of leave to amend because the record was not clear that the plaintiff could state no set of facts upon which relief can be granted); Rohler v. TRW, Inc., 576 F.2d 1260, 1266 (7th Cir. 1978) (“The permission to amend a complaint should be refused only if it appears to a certainty that the plaintiff cannot state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”); Austin v. House of Vision, Inc., 385 F.2d 171, 172 (7th Cir. 1967) (per curiam) (reversing the denial of leave to file a second amended complaint and noting that whether a cause of action will state a claim cannot be determined until the amended complaint is filed and tested); see also Polich v. Burlington N., Inc., 942 F.2d 1467, 1472 (9th Cir. 1991) (“Dismissal without leave to amend is improper unless it is clear, upon de novo review, that the complaint could not be saved by any amendment.”); cf. Garcia v. City of Chicago, 24 F.3d 966, 970 (7th Cir. 1994) (“A district court does not abuse its discretion in denying leave to amend if the proposed repleading would be futile . . . .”). 8 No. 03-2605 The federal rule policy of deciding cases on the basis of the substantive rights involved rather than on technicalities requires that plaintiff be given every opportunity to cure a formal defect in his pleading. This is true even though the court doubts that plaintiff will be able to overcome the defects in his initial pleading. Amendment should be refused only if it appears to a certainty that plaintiff cannot state a claim. The better practice is to allow at least one amendment regardless of how unpromising the initial pleading appears because except in unusual circumstances it is unlikely that the court will be able to determine conclusively on the face of a defective pleading whether plaintiff actually can state a claim. 5A Charles Allen Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1357 (2d ed. 1990) (internal footnotes omitted).