Opinion ID: 479181
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Refusal to Permit Amendment of the Complaint and to Give Instructions

Text: 80 During trial, the Employees requested that they be allowed to amend their complaint to state a claim for promissory estoppel, and that the court instruct the jury on this issue. The court refused. The decision to grant or deny a request to amend the complaint is within the district court's discretion. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers v. Republic Airlines, 761 F.2d 1386, 1390 (9th Cir.1985). 81 To recover on a claim of promissory estoppel, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant made a promise, upon which the plaintiff detrimentally relied. Ravelo v. County of Hawaii, 66 Haw. 194, 658 P.2d 883, 887 (1983). Recovery is limited to an amount that does not place the promisee in a better position than would performance of the promise. Id. 658 P.2d at 888. 82 However, in the Employees' case, the jury, when considering the contract claims, found that Ward made no promise to pay full pensions. Thus, even if the district court should have allowed the amendment and placed the issue before the jury, such error was more probably than not harmless. See A.H. Robins, 764 F.2d at 1337 (an error in a civil trial need only be found more probably than not harmless). 83