Lewis v. Denver Fire Department et al

Filing 16

MINUTE ORDER granting 12 Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to File the Attached Amended Complaint. The Tendered Amended Complaint (Docket No. 12-2) is accepted for filing as of the date of this Minute Order, by Magistrate Judge Michael J. Watanabe on 4/14/09.(ebs, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Civil Action No. 09-cv-00004-PAB-MJW THOMAS R. LEWIS, Plaintiff(s), v. DENVER FIRE DEPARTMENT, et al., Defendant(s). MINUTE ORDER Entered by Magistrate Judge Michael J. Watanabe It is hereby ORDERED that the plaintiff's Motion for Leave to File the Attached Amended Complaint (Docket No. 12) is granted, and the tendered Amended Complaint (Docket No. 12-2) is accepted for filing as of the date of this Minute Order. Here, plaintiff may file the tendered amended pleading as a matter of course; leave of court or written consent of the opposing party is not required. Defendant misstates Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1). According to that Rule, "[a] party may amend its pleading once as a matter of course: (A) before being served with a responsive pleading; or (B) within 20 days after serving the pleading if a responsive pleading is not allowed and the action is not yet on the trial calendar." Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1). In this case, according to the docket, a responsive pleading has not yet been served, and this is not a case in which a responsive pleading is not allowed. While the motion to amend (Docket No. 12) was filed after defendant filed its motion to dismiss (Docket No. 5), a motion to dismiss is not a responsive pleading for purposes of this Rule. See Robinson v. Dean Foods Co., 2009 WL 723329 (D. Colo. March 18, 2009). Date: April 14, 2009