Robinson v. Twin Falls Highway District

233 F.R.D. 670, 64 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 191, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11492, 2006 WL 507962
CourtDistrict Court, D. Idaho
DecidedMarch 1, 2006
DocketNo. CV04-618-S-BLW
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 233 F.R.D. 670 (Robinson v. Twin Falls Highway District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Idaho primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robinson v. Twin Falls Highway District, 233 F.R.D. 670, 64 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 191, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11492, 2006 WL 507962 (D. Idaho 2006).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

WINMILL, Chief Judge.

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion to Amend Complaint (Docket No. 34). Having fully reviewed the record, the Court finds that the parties have adequately presented the facts and legal arguments in the briefs and record and that the decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument. Therefore, in the interest of avoiding further delay, the Court shall decide this matter on the written motions, briefs and record without oral argument. D. Id. L.R. 7.1(b). Accordingly, the Court enters the following Order.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff was terminated from his employment at the Twin Falls Highway District by Dave Burgess on August 13, 2003. Complaint, p. 2 (Docket No. 1). The Board of Commissioners upheld the termination decision on October 17, 2003. Id.

On November 18, 2004, Plaintiff filed the within action in state court against the Twin Falls Highway District and Dave Burgess alleging (1) unlawful termination in violation of public policy, and (2) violation of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In addition to Twin Falls Highway District and Dave Burgess, the Complaint named as Defendants John Does 1-10 as “individuals associated with the Twin Falls Highway District who made or participated in the decision to terminate the Plaintiffs employment and otherwise deprived him of his rights.... ” The ease was removed to this Court on December 13, 2004. On February 25, 2005, the Court entered a Case Management Order (Docket No. 8). The Order set deadlines of May 26, 2005 for amending pleadings and joining parties, September 15, 2005 for completing discovery, and October 14, 2005 for filing dispositive motions.

On the last day for filing dispositive motions, Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 11) supported by several Affidavits. Thereafter, Plaintiff moved to strike portions of those Affidavits and filed several Affidavits in opposition to the summary judgment motion. Defendants, in turn, filed a motion to strike several of the Plaintiffs Affidavits. On December 16, 2005, following a hearing on the, various motions, Judge David O. Ezra entered an Order (Docket No. 33) denying Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, granting in part and denying in part Defendants’ Motion to Strike Portions of Affidavits Submitted by Plaintiff, and denying Plaintiffs Motion to Strike Portions of Affidavits. Further, the Order barred Plaintiff from seeking punitive damages against the Highway District under either cause of action or against Mr. Burgess in his public policy claim.

On December 20, 2005, Plaintiff filed his Motion to Amend Complaint (Docket No. 34) based on Fed.R.Civ.P. 15 to add Dave Jones as a defendant in place of John Does 1 — 10, and to limit his previous punitive damages claim to the individual Defendants and only pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He requested the amendment so that the pleadings would conform to the evidence. Plaintiff did not file a supporting Affidavit or Memorandum of law. Defendants filed a timely Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiffs Motion to Amend Complaint (Docket No. 37). Plaintiff thereafter filed his Memorandum in Support of Motion to Amend Complaint (Docket No. 40) in which he asserts that the amendment is necessary based on evidence revealed during discovery and when interviewing witnesses and gathering affidavits in opposition to the summary judgment motion. However, he did not file a supporting Affidavit.

[672]*672APPLICABLE LAW AND DISCUSSION

Fed.R.Civ.P. 15 addresses amended and supplemental pleadings. While Plaintiff does not specify the subsection on which he bases his Motion to Amend, it appears to be Rule 15(b) which provides in relevant part:

When issues not raised by the pleadings are tried by express or implied consent of the parties, they shall be treated in all respects as if they had been raised in the pleadings. Such amendment of the pleadings as may be necessary to cause them to conform to the evidence and to raise these issues may be made upon motion of any party at any time, even after judgement; but failure so to amend does not affect the result of the trial of these issues____

By its terms, Rule 15(b) concerns conforming the pleadings to the evidence on unpled issues where the evidence is presented during trial with the express or implied consent of the parties. While the Ninth Circuit has applied Rule 15(b) to pretrial motions, it has done so only in cases where the unpled issues have, in fact, been argued during pretrial motions. See Bobrick Corp. v. American Dispenser Co., 377 F.2d 334 (9th Cir.1967) (recognizing applicability of Rule 15(b) to motion to quash where unpled issue was argued before district judge who apparently thought the issue was before him); Save Lake Washington v. Frank, 641 F.2d 1330, 1340 (9th Cir.1981) (recognizing that Bobrick applied Rule 15(b) to issues raised in pretrial motions but finding district court had discretion to deny motion to amend on grounds of delay and prejudice); Smith v. CMTA-IAM Pension Trust, 654 F.2d 650 (9th Cir.1981) (citing Bobrick, treating pleadings as amended for purposes of appellate review of unpled Erisa and state claims that had been briefed and argued on summary judgment).

Unlike the cases cited above, during the summary judgment proceedings here, the parties did not litigate the issue of whether Mr. Jones is a proper party in this litigation or treat him as if he were a party. This is not a case of an unpled issue being tried or argued during pretrial motions with the express or implied consent of the parties. Furthermore, Plaintiff does not cite any cases in support of his attempt to add a party pursuant to Rule 15(b). The only case addressing adding a party pursuant to Rule 15(b) that has come to the Court’s attention is Chao v. Hall Holding Co., Inc., 285 F.3d 415 (6th Cir.2002). However, the circumstances of Chao are quite distinguishable. There, the party had been named in the complaint in a count that was later dismissed, and the party continued to be treated as a defendant by the plaintiff, remaining defendants, and the court throughout the motion proceedings on the remaining counts.

Rule 15 provides another avenue for amending pleadings. Pursuant to subsection (a), following a responsive pleading, a party may amend its pleading by leave of court freely given or written consent of the adverse party. However, once a scheduling order has been entered pursuant to Rule 16(b), the more restrictive provisions of that subsection requiring a showing of “good cause” for failing to amend prior to the deadline in that order apply. See Coleman v. Quaker Oats, 232 F.3d 1271, 1272 (9th Cir.2000); Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc.,

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233 F.R.D. 670, 64 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 191, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11492, 2006 WL 507962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinson-v-twin-falls-highway-district-idd-2006.