SMITH v. CORTEVA INC

• Court: District Court, M.D. Georgia
• Decided: March 26, 2025
• Docket: 5:25-cv-00030
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA MACON DIVISION

BONNIE MICHELLE SMITH, Administrator of the Estate of Dorothy Jean Morton,

Plaintiff, CIVIL ACTION NO. v. 5:25-cv-00030-TES

CORTEVA, Inc.,

Defendant.

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS AS MOOT

Before Plaintiff Bonnie Michelle Smith filed her Amended Complaint [Doc. 7], Defendant Corteva, Inc. filed a Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 6] the original Complaint [Doc. 1]. Under black-letter federal law, “an amended complaint supersedes the initial complaint and becomes the operative pleading in the case.” Lowery v. Ala. Power Co., 483 F.3d 1184, 1219 (11th Cir. 2007) (citations omitted). This means that “the original pleading is abandoned by the amendment, and [it] is no longer a part of the pleader’s averments against h[er] adversary.” Dresdner Bank AG v. M/V Olympia Voyager, 463 F.3d 1210, 1215 (11th Cir. 2006) (citation omitted); see also Hoefling v. City of Miami, 811 F.3d 1271, 1277 (11th Cir. 2016) (initial pleading “bec[o]me[s] a legal nullity”). Further, an original complaint would still have legal effect if “the amendment specifically refers to or adopts the earlier pleading.” Varnes v. Local 91, Glass Bottle Blowers Ass’n, 674 F.2d

1365, 1370 n.6 (11th Cir. 1982) (citation omitted). An amended complaint that does not incorporate the prior pleading, however, moots “the motion to dismiss the original complaint because the motion seeks to dismiss a pleading that has been superseded.”

Wimberly v. Broome, No. 6:15-cv-23, 2016 WL 3264346, at *1 (S.D. Ga. Mar. 29, 2016) (citing cases). The Court has reviewed Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint and found no reference

to, or adoption of, any allegations set forth in her original Complaint. Therefore, Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is the sole operative pleading in this case and renders moot Defendant’s pending Motion to Dismiss. Accordingly, the Court DENIES Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 6] as moot.

SO ORDERED, this 26th day of March, 2025. S/ Tilman E. Self, III TILMAN E. SELF, III, JUDGE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT