Also known as: amend complaint · amending complaint · amended complaints · supplemental complaint · amended pleading
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A civil pleading that modifies and replaces an original complaint by adding or altering allegations concerning events that occurred before or at the commencement of the action. The amendment may be filed as of right within specified periods or with consent or leave of court thereafter. A response to the amended pleading is due within the time remaining to respond to the original pleading or within fourteen days after service of the amended pleading, whichever is later.
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Ariana Azizi served her original premises-liability complaint on Prime Mall on March 1. Prime Mall answered on March 10. Azizi obtained new internal policies on March 15 and filed and served an amended complaint adding a negligent-training claim on March 18. Prime Mall filed its response on April 5. The later of the remaining original answer period or fourteen days after service of the amended complaint controlled the deadline.
Albert Allen filed an employment suit against several White House aides. After extensive discovery he filed an amended complaint that first named Richard Nixon as a defendant more than eight years after the underlying events. The amendment added the former president to the existing action without starting a new proceeding.
Atlas Ventures filed an antitrust complaint alleging parallel conduct by telephone carriers. After the district court dismissed for lack of a plausible agreement, the firm filed an amended complaint that added specific allegations of an agreement to allocate markets and customers. The new pleading supplied the factual detail needed to survive a motion to dismiss.
Andre Antoine and other shareholders filed a securities-fraud action against Basic Inc. After initial dismissal they filed an amended complaint alleging that they sold shares in reliance on the company's public statements. The amendment supplied the reliance element required to proceed as a class.
Ava Adebayo and other voters filed suit attacking Tennessee's legislative apportionment. After the district court dismissed the original complaint they filed an amended complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief on equal-protection grounds. The amendment framed the statewide challenge to the statutory districting formula.
Alexandra Armstrong's parents filed a wrongful-death action against university therapists. After the trial court sustained demurrers they filed a second amended complaint that added a claim for failure to warn the victim of the patient's violent intentions. The amendment supplied the allegations needed to state a duty to the identifiable victim.
A plaintiff may amend once as of right no later than twenty-one days after serving the original pleading or twenty-one days after service of a responsive pleading or Rule 12 motion, whichever is earlier. Filing within either window requires no leave or consent.
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Any required response must be made within the time remaining to respond to the original pleading or within fourteen days after service of the amended pleading, whichever is later. A response filed after that date is untimely.
…subdivisions. The present action, which comes here on appeal from an order of a statutory three-judge District Court dismissing amended complaints seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, challenges the provisions of Tenn. Code Ann., 1955 §§ 3-101 to 3-109, which apportion state representative and senatorial seats among Tennessee's…
…statements made by Basic, the presence or absence of scienter, and the materiality of the misrepresentations, if any. In their amended complaint, the named plaintiffs alleged that in reliance on Basic's statements they sold their shares of Basic stock in the depressed market created by petitioners. See
…further proceedings in the District Court. Following the remand and extensive discovery thereafter, Fitzgerald filed a second amended complaint
…that the charge is not “plausible” provide a legally acceptable reason for dismissing the complaint? I think not. Respondents’
…to warn them of the danger posed by the patient. The superior court sustained defendants' demurrers to plaintiffs' second amended complaints
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A later-served defendant receives its own thirty-day removal window measured from service of the amended complaint that first names it. Earlier-served defendants' deadlines do not cut off this separate period.
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Leave is required once the periods for amendment as of right have expired. The court should freely grant leave when justice so requires, especially when the amendment adds claims arising from the same transaction and causes no prejudice.
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Citizenship of proposed plaintiff class members is determined as of the date the complaint or amended complaint is filed. If the initial pleading did not support federal jurisdiction, the date of service of the amended pleading that first indicates jurisdiction controls.
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