Mata v. Washington State Employment Security Department

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 5 AT TACOMA 6 ERIC JOHN MATA, Case No. C22-5054 TLF 7 Plaintiff, v. ORDER 8 WASHINGTON STATE EMPLOYMENT 9 SECURITY DEPARTMENT, 10 Defendants. 11 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s proposed third amended 12 complaint. Dkt. 34. A party may amend their pleading once as a matter of course, but 13 after this, the party is required to make a motion to the Court for leave to amend. Fed. 14 R. Civ. P. 15(a). Federal Rule 15(a) indicates that “[t]he court should freely give leave 15 when justice so requires.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). Although this is a liberal standard, 16 leave to amend is discretionary and courts have identified a number of factors to 17 consider when determining whether leave is appropriate. See, e.g., Foman v. Davis, 18 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962). These factors include undue prejudice, futility, and undue 19 delay. Id. 20 Local Civil Rule 15 requires a party who is seeking to amend a pleading to attach 21 the proposed amended pleading as an exhibit to the motion. LCR 15. The party must 22 also indicate how the proposed amended pleading differs from the original pleading by 23 highlighting the text that is added and striking through part that is deleted. Id. This rule 24 1 allows the Court and the parties to review the specific allegations in the proposed 2 amended complaint and evaluate whether the amendment should be allowed, or 3 whether the proposed amendment would be prejudicial, or futile. 4 Here, Plaintiff submitted an amended complaint, but did not file a motion

5 explaining how the proposed third amended complaint differs from the current operative 6 complaint (Dkt. 19) – he did not highlight added language, and he did not strike through 7 deleted language. 8 As such, Plaintiff has not complied with the requirements of the Local Civil Rules. 9 Therefore, the third amended complaint will not be considered by the Court at this time. 10 If Plaintiff seeks to amend his complaint, he must comply with LCR 15. 11 12 13 Dated this 25th day of October, 2022. 14 15 16 A

Theresa L. Fricke 17 United States Magistrate Judge

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