Recent Feedback
I am the plaintiff in a federal case. Upon the filing of a corporate disclosure by the defendant, (17 months after the initial filing of the suit!) I learned that the defendant is a subsidiary of another corp. I know I should add this parent corp as a defendant - but the SOL is up on the violation. How do I handle this? Am I allowed to joinder this defendant even tho it's outside the SOL, because the defendant waited so long to file their corporate disclosure?
Optional Information: Country relating to Question: United States State (if USA): Arkansas
Thank you for your question.Since "Doe" defendant pleadings are not allowed in Federal Court, the procedure to add a party-defendant is generally limited to a motion for leave to amend the complaint to add a party-defendant.If an important deadline has passed, included in (or separately if one prefers) would be a motion to have the amendment "relate back" to the date of filing the original complaint, "in the interests of justice" per FRCP 1, as well as other authority and case law regarding the "relation back" of amendments.Key to getting an amendment to relate back is showing that the newly-brought in proposed defendant would suffer no undue surprise or "prejudice" from being brought in *at this time*. This is litigated often enough that controlling and fairly recent case law from the US District Court of Appeals Circuit including Arkansas should be fairly easy to locate. If nothing really is "on-point" there or at the US Supreme Court level, then we go with "persuasive" authority from other Circuits.Thank you.BAB.
Experience: Twelve years of experience in estate planning and probate, consumer bankruptcy, and business law.