Court Opinion

ID: 8944181
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 08:14:35.09026+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:09:48.771330
License: Public Domain

CANBY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part):
I understand the appeal of the majority’s decision that Rule 15(c) is not to be brought to the aid of an attorney who inexplicably fails to correct a pleading within a reasonable time after being notified that he has sued the wrong party. But the result is a harsh one for the client, and it is dictated neither by the Rule nor by the Supreme Court’s decision in Schiavone v. Fortune, — U.S.-, 106 S.Ct. 2379, 91 L.Ed.2d 18 (1986). There is no suggestion of prejudice to the new defendants. I therefore would permit the relation back.
*860The books are replete with cases in which a court finds itself required to reach a harsh result, based on a technicality, because the express language of a rule or statute permits no other outcome. See, e.g., Schiavone, 106 S.Ct. at 2385. Here, however, the language of the Rule favors the more humane and equitable result. I would not resist it.
Rule 15(c) provides for relation back if: within the period provided by law for commencing the action against him, the party to be brought in by amendment (1) has received such notice of the institution of the action that he will not be prejudiced in maintaining his defense on the merits, and (2) knew or should have known that, but for a mistake concerning the identity of the proper party, the action would have been brought against him.
There is no question in this case that Arco Marine and Arch Tankers had sufficient notice of the action that their defense of the merits would not be prejudiced. There is also no question that they received that notice within the applicable limitations period. All of the elements of requirement (1) of Rule 15(c) were therefore met. The majority opinion concedes as much.
There can also be little question that Arco Marine and Arch Tankers knew, within a short time after the action was commenced, that a mistake had been made and that they should have been named as parties defendant. The majority opinion holds, however, that requirement (2) of Rule 15(c) has not been fully met because Arco Marine and Arch Tankers did not know of this mistake “within the prescribed limitations period,” as required by Schiavone, 106 S.Ct. at 2384. That result can be reached only by a most unlikely interpretation of the Rule and of the Schiavone gloss upon it.
Schiavone dealt with a situation in which neither the “right” nor the “wrong” defendant was given notice of the commencement of the action or of the mistake in identity until after limitations has run. Here, however, notice of the action and of the mistake was given to Arco Marine and Arch Tankers long before limitations had expired. The majority opinion seems to agree that if an amendment had been made promptly, it would have related back; all of the conditions had been met.
What the majority seems to be holding in practical effect is that knowledge of a mistake, once timely gained, may be unlearned if the plaintiff permits an undue amount of time to pass before amending. The requirement of Schiavone that the new defendants know of the mistake “within the prescribed period” is changed to a requirement that the new defendants know of the mistake all during the prescribed limitations period. The majority states that Arco Marine and Arch Tankers are entitled to conclude, after a period of delay, that they were omitted not because of mistake, but for some tactical reason. There is no suggestion what the tactical reason might be. If it was to forum-shop by the bringing of a separate action, that reason appeared long after the original mistake was apparent and terminated long before limitations ran.
It is clear here what the claim was and who should have been sued, and these facts were known to all parties, old and new, within weeks after the complaint was filed. There is no reason not to permit the action to continue against the proper defendants, as the Rule permits. The intentions were manifest when the action was commenced; the Rules should be applied to facilitate a decision on the merits. See Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 181, 83 S.Ct. 227, 229, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). I therefore dissent from the majority’s refusal to permit a relation back.
In all other respects, I concur in the majority opinion.