Opinion ID: 389242
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: motions for joinder of new defendants and further discovery

Text: 23 The plaintiffs moved in January of 1978 to amend their complaint, substituting the three F.B.I. Special Agents for the John Doe defendants in the initial complaint. Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that leave to amend pleadings shall be freely given when justice so requires. Only limited circumstances justify a district court's refusal to grant such leave to amend: undue delay, bad faith on the part of the moving party, or undue prejudice to the opposing party. Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). 24 The district court denied the plaintiffs' motion to join the F.B.I. agents as defendants because it found that the timing of the motion prejudiced Mitchell's interests in the prompt resolution of the claims against him. We reverse that denial and remand for further proceedings against the new defendants. We recognize that there was substantial delay between the receipt of the revealing documents under the Freedom of Information Act and the filing of the motion to amend the complaint, but that delay is insignificant relative to the five-year inability of the FBI to locate the same wiretaps in the F.B.I. indices. 25 On remand, the plaintiffs should be allowed appropriate further discovery as long as they proceed with due diligence. The three agents may or may not have ignored Mitchell's minimization memoranda, thereby violating the plaintiffs' statutory and constitutional rights; in any event, the plaintiffs should have an opportunity to discover relevant evidence. Although no longer a party, Mitchell may be deposed regarding his knowledge of the White Panther Party surveillance. It is agreed that Mitchell approved that surveillance repeatedly between August 1970 and January 1971. If his deposition or other discovery indicates that Mitchell knew that improper surveillance was being conducted despite his memoranda and nonetheless reauthorized the wiretaps at 30-day intervals, the plaintiffs can seek to reinstate him as a defendant by moving under Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 60(b) for relief from the judgment in Mitchell's favor. 26 Affirmed in part; reversed and remanded in part.