Sunday, November 1, 2009

Fourth District On Motions To Amend

In Quality Roof Services, Inc. v. Intervest National Bank (4D08-3382), the Fourth District reversed the trial court's order denying a motion for leave an answer and affirmative defenses.  The court provided an analysis of the standard for amending :
A trial court’s denial of a motion to amend is reviewed for abuse of discretion...  Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.190(e) states that “[a]t any time in furtherance of justice, upon such terms as may be just, the court may permit any process, proceeding, pleading, or record to be amended or material supplemental matter to be set forth in an amended or supplemental pleading.” A court “should be especially liberal when leave to amend is sought at or before a hearing on a motion for summary judgment.”  In ruling on a motion for leave to amend, “all doubts should be resolved in favor of allowing an amendment, and the refusal to do so generally constitutes an abuse of discretion unless it clearly appears that allowing the amendment would prejudice the opposing party, the privilege to amend has been abused, or amendment would be futile.”...A proposed amendment is futile if it is insufficiently pled, id., or is “insufficient as a matter of law,”

0 comments:

Post a Comment