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Relation Back of Amendments Naming Previously Unnamed Defendants Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c) |
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Rebecca S. Engrav |
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| Normally, plaintiffs cannot amend their complaints to bring in new defendants after the statute of limitations applicable to the new defendants has run. However, in certain circumstances such an amendment will be allowed to “relate back” to the date the original complaint was filed, thus avoiding the bar of the statute of limitations. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c) governs relation back in federal court. It provides that an amendment that changes a defendant or names a new defendant will relate back when the claims against the new defendant arise out of the same transaction as the original claims, when the new defendant was not named originally because of a “mistake,” and when the new defendant has notice both of the existence of the suit itself and that it was not named because of the plaintiff’s mistake. The “mistake” clause has produced inconsistent results when applied to situations in which, at the time the suit was filed, the plaintiff made no factual mistake, but just did not know the identity of the correct defendant. Some courts have allowed relation back in such situations, but the majority of courts have not. This Comment argues that the language of Rule 15(c) should be changed to correct this inconsistency and to allow relation back in such situations, so long as the defendant be-ing brought in has had notice of the suit and that it is an intended defen-dant. | |
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Copyright
© 2001 by California Law Review, Inc. |
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