Opinion ID: 2777843
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: amendments to a complaint

Text: 11 Case: 14-12038 Date Filed: 02/09/2015 Page: 12 of 20
Under Rule 15(a), the plaintiff may amend his complaint once as a matter of course within 21 days of serving it or within 21 days after the defendant’s service of either the answer or a motion under Rule 12(b), whichever is earlier. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1). After this time has passed, a plaintiff may amend his complaint “only with the opposing party’s written consent or the court’s leave.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). Rule 15(a)(2) instructs courts to “freely give leave when justice so requires.” Id. That said, courts may deny a motion for leave to amend on numerous grounds, including undue delay, undue prejudice to the defendants, and futility of amendment. Maynard v. Bd. of Regents, 342 F.3d 1281, 1287 (11th Cir. 2003). Furthermore, once the district court limits the time to amend pleadings in a scheduling order, the schedule may only be modified for “good cause” and with the district court’s consent. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4). Thus, a plaintiff seeking leave to amend his complaint after the scheduling-order deadline must show “good cause” under Rule 16(b). S. Grouts & Mortars, Inc. v. 3M Co., 575 F.3d 1235, 1241 (11th Cir. 2009). Lack of diligence in pursuing a claim is sufficient to show lack of good cause. Id. A plaintiff lacks diligence when, prior to the scheduling order deadline, he either (1) had full knowledge of the information with which he 12 Case: 14-12038 Date Filed: 02/09/2015 Page: 13 of 20 later sought to amend his complaint, or (2) failed to seek the information he needed to determine whether to amend the complaint. Id. at 1241 n.3.2
Here, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying either of Mathis’s pro se motions for leave to amend his complaint. With respect to his October motion, Mathis’s proposed Fourth Amended Complaint identified Donley in its caption as a named plaintiff, included Donley as one of the parties, made factual allegations involving her, and referred to the “plaintiffs” in its § 1983 claim for malicious prosecution. However, neither Donley nor her attorney of record signed Mathis’s October motion or his proposed Fourth Amended Complaint. Mathis’s proposed amendments affected Donley’s claims against the City and Turner, and, as Mathis was not representing Donley in the action, Mathis could not amend her complaint without her consent. Contrary to Mathis’s argument, the district court did not deny his October motion because “any amendment to the complaint by Appellant must include the co-plaintiff’s attorney’s joinder.” Rather, the district court denied the October motion because it ostensibly sought to amend the complaint on behalf of both 2 We review a district court’s denial of a motion for leave to amend a complaint for abuse of discretion. Covenant Christian Ministries, Inc. v. City of Marietta, 654 F.3d 1231, 1239 (11th Cir. 2011). 13 Case: 14-12038 Date Filed: 02/09/2015 Page: 14 of 20 Plaintiffs, but without the consent of either Donley or her counsel. This Mathis could not do. In any event, with respect to both the October and December motions, Mathis failed to show good cause for excusing him from the scheduling order’s deadline to amend the pleadings. Mathis’s complaint was filed in August 2012, and by January 9, 2013, his complaint was already amended three times, resulting in the Third Amended Complaint. Under the scheduling order, Mathis had until April 9, 2013, thirty days after the Plan was filed, to seek leave to amend his complaint. But, Mathis did not move to amend his complaint until almost six months after the deadline, on October 2, 2013, and then a second time on December 1, 2013, almost eight months after that deadline. Therefore, Mathis was required under Rule 16(b) to show “good cause” for each of his motions. Neither of Mathis’s motions demonstrated good cause, however. Indeed, as the district court noted, Mathis’s December motion failed to even mention Rule 16(b). Further, Mathis could not show good cause because he was not diligent in pursuing his state-law malicious prosecution claim. See S. Grouts & Mortars, 575 F.3d at 1241 n.3. Mathis had included the state-law claim in prior complaints, including his Second Amended Complaint, but omitted it from his Third Amended Complaint. He thus knew of the state-law claim and the facts supporting it well 14 Case: 14-12038 Date Filed: 02/09/2015 Page: 15 of 20 before the April 9, 2013 deadline,3 but waited until six months after the deadline to try to add that state-law claim. Mathis’s arguments—that he did not act in bad faith and that the Defendants would not have been prejudiced—ignore Rule 16(b) and do not show diligence or good cause for granting leave to amend many months after the deadline.