Court Opinion

ID: 9696960
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:02:20.721554+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:28.069230
License: Public Domain

CLIFFORD, J.,
dissenting.
[¶ 16] I respectfully dissent. M.R. Civ. P. 15(a) provides that leave to amend a pleading shall be freely given when justice so requires. In Kelly v. Michaud’s Ins. Agency, Inc., 651 A.2d 345 (Me.1994), we said that “ ‘[t]his mandate means that if the moving party is not acting in bad faith or for delay, the motion will be granted in the absence of undue prejudice.’ ” Id. at 347 (quoting John W. Goodwin, Inc. v. Fox, 642 A.2d 1339, 1340 (Me.1994)).6
[¶ 17] The complaint was filed on March 10, 1999. The motion to amend the answer and to assert a counterclaim was filed on April 23, 1999. In denying the motion to amend, the court made no finding of bad faith, nor did it find that the motion was filed for purposes of delay. Moreover, there has been no showing of undue preju*563dice to the plaintiff if the motion to amend were granted.
[¶ 18] As the Court correctly concludes, the trial court impermissibly struck the affidavit of Michael Liberty. In that affidavit Liberty alleges that he was fraudulently induced into signing the forbearance agreement on which this lawsuit is based. Such evidence would be admissible at trial and creates a genuine issue of material fact that should have precluded the entry of a summary judgment. See LeClair v. Wells, 395 A.2d 452, 453 (Me.1978).
[¶ 19] The law favors cases being decided on their merits. See Espey v. Wainwright, 734 F.2d 748, 750 (11th Cir.1984). “ ‘The philosophy of the rules is that pleadings are not an end in themselves, but only a means of bringing into focus the area of actual controversy. Leave to amend should be freely granted when justice so requires. A party should not be precluded by the technicalities of pleading from presenting his claim or defense on its merits unless the pleadings have misled the opposing party to his prejudice.’ ” Bangor Motor Co. v. Chapman, 452 A.2d 389, 392 (Me.1982) (quoting 1 Field, McKusick & Wroth, Maine Civil Practice § 15.1 at 301-02 (2d ed.1970)). Because the motion to amend was filed so soon after the complaint was entered, in the absence of an explicit finding by the court that the motion to amend was filed in bad faith or for purposes of delay, I would vacate the summary judgment and remand to allow the filing of an amendment to the answer.

. Although the decision whether to grant leave to amend is committed to the trial court’s discretion, " '[discretion may be a misleading term, for rule 15(a) severely restricts the judge’s freedom, directing that leave to amend 'shall be freely given when justice so requires.’ ” Espey v. Wainwright, 734 F.2d 748, 750 (11th Cir.1984) (quoting Dussouy v. Gulf Coast Inv. Corp., 660 F.2d 594, 597 (5th Cir.1981)).