Opinion ID: 766907
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Leave to File Amended Complaint

Text: 19 Lastly, Looper argues that the district court erroneously denied his motion to file a fourth amended complaint; a decision we review for an abuse of discretion. See Crim v. Board of Educ. of Cairo Sch. Dist. No. I, 147 F.3d 535, 547-48 (7th Cir. 1998). We have previously held that [a] trial judge is particularly well-situated to judge the worthiness of a plaintiff's motion to amend his complaint, having been involved in the progress of the case throughout its development and having viewed first-hand the party's diligence or lack thereof. Bohen v. City of 20 E. Chicago, Ind., 799 F.2d 1180, 1185 (7th Cir. 1986). 21 In this case, Looper was given three opportunities to amend his complaint to state claims upon which relief could be granted and yet made no appreciably substantive changes to the complaint. We must not lose sight of the fact that Looper's first and second amended complaints were almost identical to his original complaint, and that Looper's second amended complaint included repeat references to HUD as a party- defendant, in spite of the fact that HUD had been dismissed from the suit well over a year before. Looper's counsel, in fact, admitted that the majority of the second amended complaint was a photocopy reproduction of the two previous complaints. Despite these failures, Looper was extended yet another opportunity to amend his complaint. Looper filed his third amended complaint after more than two years of discovery and pre-trial litigation. As discussed in length above, Looper's third amended complaint still failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. 22 We have stated on numerous occasions that leave to amend need not be given if there is an apparent reason not to do so, 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, [or] futility of amendment. Payne v. Churchich, 161 F.3d 1030, 1036 (7th Cir. 1998) (quoting Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962)) (emphasis added). In this case, Looper was given three opportunities to amend his complaint, and yet he was still unable to state a claim for relief. As such, we are of the opinion that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Looper leave to file a fourth amended complaint.