Opinion ID: 762476
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Amend the Third Complaint (Tolling of the Limitation Period)

Text: 19 A district court determines the propriety of a motion to amend by ascertaining the presence of any of four factors: bad faith, undue delay, prejudice to the opposing party, and/or futility. See DCD Programs, Ltd. v. Leighton, 833 F.2d 183, 186 (9th Cir.1987). Generally, this determination should be performed with all inferences in favor of granting the motion. See id. 20 In the present case, the district court stated that its decision to deny Griggs's motion for leave to amend, was based on the futility of granting it. However, the district court also noted that most significant [sic], the court is persuaded by the fact that Griggs filed two amended complaints, each with a crucial misrepresentation of fact solely within Griggs's knowledge and that [Griggs] alleged these facts when he knew they were not accurate. These latter statements suggest that the district court also may have based its decision on an implicit finding that Griggs's previous filings were made in bad faith. For the following reasons, assuming that Griggs still seeks leave to amend his complaint, we reject both of these bases for denying Griggs's motion and reverse the district court's decision.
21 Because Griggs had standing, the applicable limitation period 3 was tolled as to all putative class members by the timely filing of Griggs's complaint. 4 See Crown, Cork & Seal Co., Inc. v. Parker, 462 U.S. 345, 350, 103 S.Ct. 2392, 76 L.Ed.2d 628 (1983) (following American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538, 554, 94 S.Ct. 756, 38 L.Ed.2d 713 (1974)). Therefore, contrary to the district court's reasoning, the claims of other class members were not barred, and amendment to substitute them as class representatives should have been permitted. See id. Moreover, given that, as addressed above, summary judgment should not have been granted, it no longer makes any sense to speak of amendment being futile (in the sense of not being able to save the complaint) since there no longer is any danger to the continued viability of Griggs's complaint.
22 The cases cited in Standards of Review, supra, indicate that amendment should be permitted unless it will not save the complaint or the plaintiff merely is seeking to prolong the litigation by adding new but baseless legal theories. See, e.g., Steckman, 143 F.3d at 1296. In the present case, Griggs's previous amended complaints might (but need not) have been filed in bad faith. Yet, there is no evidence in the record that his subsequent amended complaint would have been filed in bad faith. Therefore, even if the district court's decision was based on a finding that Griggs's previous filings were made in bad faith, amendment still should have been permitted because-for the reasons discussed in Part I, supra-Griggs's subsequent filings would not have been grounded in legal theories that were baseless.