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Also known as:relation-back of amended pleadings · relates back · relating back · relation back doctrine · Rule 15(c) · relation back
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A procedural doctrine under which an amended pleading is treated as filed on the date of the original pleading for statute of limitations purposes. The doctrine applies when the law supplying the applicable limitations period authorizes relation back or when the amendment asserts a claim arising from the same conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out in the original pleading.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
2
State Limitations Law Permits Relation Back
Rebecca Ross sued Valley Regional Bank in federal court for common-law misrepresentation in the sale of notes. After the state blue-sky statute of limitations expired, she moved to amend to add state statutory securities-fraud claims based on the same offering documents. The forum state's law expressly allows such statutory claims to relate back whenever they rest on those same documents. The court treats the amended claims as timely filed because the state limitations law authorizes relation back on these facts.
Amendment Adds Claim From Same Transaction
Rhea Reynolds sued Apex Industries for breach of contract on unpaid invoices under a master licensing order. After the statute of limitations expired, she moved to amend to add a claim that the same nonpayment also breached a minimum user-license purchase requirement in that order. The court treats the proposed amendment as relating back because the new claim arises from the identical nonpayment transaction already pleaded in the original complaint.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cases
Federal Rules
Uniform Acts
Model Codes
Restatements
Course Outlines
United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty445 U.S. 388, 400 (1980)
Common questions
Frequently Asked
4
When does federal procedure allow an amended pleading to relate back based on state limitations law?+
Federal procedure permits relation back when the law providing the applicable statute of limitations itself authorizes relation back under the circumstances. In a diversity case the court looks to the state limitations scheme when it directly addresses relation back for the type of claim at issue.
Supporting sources
Does an amendment adding a new legal theory from the same facts relate back?+
An amended claim relates back when it arises out of the same conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out in the original pleading. The focus is whether the original pleading gave fair notice of the core factual situation so the defendant is not prejudiced by the late-added theory.
Supporting sources
May a federal court apply a more generous state relation-back rule in a diversity case?+
Yes. When a plaintiff sues under state law and the state statute of limitations supplies the time bar, federal procedure incorporates the state's rules on relation back if those rules are more generous than the ordinary federal standard.
Supporting sources
What controls relation back when adding a new defendant after limitations has run?+
For Rule 15(c)(1)(C) relation back when changing or adding a defendant, the key inquiry is what the party to be brought in knew or should have known within the Rule 4(m) period—that but for a mistake concerning the proper party's identity, the action would have been brought against it.
Supporting sources
560 U.S. 538 (2010)Civil Procedure
…the plaintiff knew or should have known of the proper defendant before filing her original complaint. The court also held that relation back was not appropriate because the plaintiff had unduly delayed in seeking to amend. We hold that relation back under Rule 15(c)(1)(C) depends on what the party to be added knew or should have…
Civil ProcedurePretrial procedures · Pleadings and amended pleadingsNEXTGENFoundational