One of my favorite is the 12 Days of Christmas. In this case, let me reprise the 10th day with my own version, to wit: On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me....10 amended pleadings!
Wait, what? Yeah, 10 amended pleadings. That's how many I've had to deal with this last week. Ten. So, before we get into this, what is an amended pleading? Well, according to Black's Law Dictionary (10th edition), AMENDED PLEADING means:
A pleading that replaces an earlier pleading and that contains matter omitted from or not known at the time of the earlier pleading. An amendment is the correction of an error or the supplying of an omission in the process of pleading.
So, how might an AMENDED PLEADING play out? There are a number of ways that people can run into trouble and have to deal with an amendment.
- A party might have to substitute the true name of a person or entity for the fictitious (i.e. DOE) name (i.e. DOE defendants).
- A party might have to correct the spelling of another party's name.
- A party might have to change the prayer for relief (i.e. they want money instead of an injuction).
- A party might have to add or remove another party from a lawsuit.
- A party might have to correct facts or particular pleadings in a complaint
- A party might have to amend a complaint following the granting of a demur with leave to amend.
So, what got me started on this was a Guy came into my law library. Seems he had filed a lawsuit against his neighbor after neighbor's tree fell onto his fence crushing it. When neighbor refused to fix the fence, Guy sued. Problem was, Guy incorrectly spelled neighbor's name.
By the time Guy realized what had happened ( after having had neighbor taunt him relentlessly saying Guy had spelled his name wrong), the action had proceeded a ways and so Guy needed to file a motion to amend the complaint. So, standing in front of me, I suggested Guy take a look at:
- California Forms of Pleading and Practice (Lexis; Vol. 3, Chp. 21 (Amended & Supplemental Pleadings)
- California Civil Procedure Before Trial (CEB)
- American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms (TR; Vol. 19B (Pleading)
and off Guy went to get his case back on track.
So, even though Guy dropped the ball, he knew well enough that the good people at his local county law library could help him recover and keep moving down field.
So, even though Guy dropped the ball, he knew well enough that the good people at his local county law library could help him recover and keep moving down field.
Yep, we are that good.
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