Opinion ID: 482453
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Denial of First Motion: Amend the Complaint

Text: 15 During the first appeal, we noted that Gatlinburg had presented to us allegations that its lease was part of a scheme of resale restrictions imposed by appellees to preclude the establishment of a secondhand market in Lynch figures, and that these allegations had not been made before the district court and did not appear in Gatlinburg's complaint. See National Souvenir Center, supra, 728 F.2d at 513 n. 8. At that time, we stated that we would 16 leave it to the district court, which is more familiar with the history of the proceedings in this case and the evolution of Gatlinburg's exact contentions, to decide if this claim is sufficiently related to Gatlinburg's original complaint ... so that Gatlinburg may raise the claim on remand at this late date. 17 Id. 18 On remand, Gatlinburg moved to amend its complaint to include these allegations. This motion came in late 1984, over seven years after Gatlinburg had filed its initial complaint. The district court denied the motion, finding that the proposed amendment added an entirely new antitrust theory to the case, that it would prejudice appellees by requiring extensive new discovery, and that it would cause a significant delay in resolving this already protracted litigation. Memorandum Order, June 25, 1985. Gatlinburg now challenges this denial, arguing essentially that the district court's conclusions were erroneous and unsupported by the record. 19 As an initial point, we note that in our prior opinion we incorrectly stated that Gatlinburg had first raised the issue of preclusion of the secondhand market on appeal. See National Souvenir Center, 728 F.2d at 513 n. 8. Apparently, appellant had raised the issue before the district court, albeit six years into the litigation and after summary judgment had been granted for appellees. See Memorandum in Support of Motion to Alter, Amend, or Vacate Judgment (with respect to the Gatlinburg lease) 5-6, filed Feb. 10, 1983. Nevertheless, the claim had not been raised in Gatlinburg's original complaint, therefore the issue correctly laid before the district court as a motion to amend the complaint. 20 Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a) states in relevant part that a party may amend his pleadings only by leave of the court and that leave shall be freely given when justice so requires. It is within the sound discretion of the district court to decide whether to grant such leave. See, e.g., Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 401 U.S. 321, 330, 91 S.Ct. 795, 802, 28 L.Ed.2d 77 (1971). Reversal of a district court's decision not to permit amendment is thus appropriate only if there has been an abuse of discretion. See 6 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 1484 (1971). This court has noted that denial is permitted if the amendment would result in delay or undue prejudice to the opposing party, or if a party has had sufficient opportunity to state a claim and has failed to do so. Doe v. McMillan, 566 F.2d 713, 720 (D.C.Cir.1977) (citing 3 Moore's Federal Practice p 15.08 at 897-900 (1964)), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 969, 98 S.Ct. 1607, 56 L.Ed.2d 59 (1978). 21 In the present case, appellant Gatlinburg attempted to raise an entirely new issue by amendment, years after it had filed its original complaint, after the parties had conducted extensive discovery, and after the district court had granted a summary judgment motion against the museum. Gatlinburg offered no explanation for its tardiness. In addition, the secondhand market issue was not related to the issues raised in Gatlinburg's original complaint, and therefore a new round of discovery would have been required. Under these circumstances, when so much time has passed and where the movant has had abundant opportunity over the course of a half-dozen years to raise the issue, the district court's denial of the motion for leave to amend was fully warranted. 22 The district court's decision is supported by our decision in Doe v. McMillan, supra, in which we upheld the denial of a motion to amend under circumstances remarkably similar to those in this case. In Doe v. McMillan, the motion to amend came over thirty-eight months after the filing of the original complaint, and the movant had given no prior indication of the potential change in the theory of the case and had offered no reason for its failure to seek amendment earlier. We stated that 23 [w]hen a plaintiff seeks to file an amended complaint this tardily, it is within the sound discretion of the district court, in consideration of the potential for prejudice to the other party and the interest in eventual resolution of the litigation, to deny leave to amend. 24 566 F.2d at 720 (citations omitted). 25 Our holding in Doe v. McMillan applies with equal force here. Gatlinburg has been extremely tardy in raising the secondhand market issue, and here, as in Doe v. McMillan, we do not find that the district court has abused its discretion in denying appellant leave to amend its complaint. 26