Brown et al v. CitiMortgage, Inc.

Filing 42

District Judge Leo T. Sorokin: ORDER entered. Accordingly, the Court ALLOWS Plaintiffs' motion for leave to amend to file an amended complaint (Doc. 31) and DENIES AS MOOT Defendant's motion to dismiss (Doc. 25). The Court ORDERS Plaintif fs to file an amended complaint within 14 days of this Order and ORDERS Defendant to file any response to the amended complaint within 14 days thereafter. Plaintiffs are cautioned to make sure the amended complaint is sufficient to survive a motio n to dismiss. If Plaintiffs fail to file a sufficient amended complaint within 14 days, the Court will dismiss this action with prejudice. re 25 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim; 31 Motion for Leave to File Document ; Counsel using the Electronic Case Filing System should now file the document for which leave to file has been granted in accordance with the CM/ECF Administrative Procedures. Counsel must include - Leave to file granted on (date of order)- in the caption of the document. (Simeone, Maria)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
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FITZROY L. BROWN, et al.,
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Plaintiffs,
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v.
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Case No. 16-cv-11484-LTS
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CITIMORTGAGE, INC.,
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Defendant.
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ORDER
October 19, 2016
SOROKIN, D.J.
In response to Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 25), Plaintiffs, who are pro se, filed
an opposition (Doc. 33) as well as a boilerplate motion for leave to file an amended complaint
(Doc. 31).
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2), the Court should “freely give leave to
amend where the interests of justice so require, . . . even where a party requests leave to amend
after a motion to dismiss has been fully briefed.” U.S. ex rel. D’Agostino v. EV3, Inc., 802 F.3d
188, 192, 195 (1st Cir. 2015) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). “In the absence of
any apparent or declared reason – such as undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of
the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue
prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, futility of amendment,
etc. – the leave sought should, as the rules require, be freely given.” Klunder v. Brown
University, 778 F.3d 24, 34 (1st Cir. 2015) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
However, “where, as here, a request to file an amended complaint consists of nothing more than
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boilerplate sentences stating the well-settled ‘freely given’ standard under which a request for
leave to amend is generally analyzed, a district court acts well within its discretion when
completely disregarding the request.” U.S. ex rel. Ge v. Takeda Pharm. Co., 737 F.3d 116, 128
(1st Cir. 2013) (citation, internal quotation marks, and alterations omitted).
Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file an amended complaint is precisely the kind of
boilerplate request that this Court has wide discretion to “completely disregard[].” Id.
Moreover, the Court questions whether Plaintiffs can state a viable claim to relief, in part for the
reasons stated in its Order denying Plaintiffs’ earlier request for a preliminary injunction (Doc.
20). Finally, while Plaintiffs are entitled to some latitude with procedural rules because they are
pro se, see Barrett v. Lombardi, 239 F.3d 23, 28 (1st Cir. 2001), the Court notes that they have
experience litigating pro se and that their filings are more sophisticated than a typical pro se
litigant’s. Nevertheless, out of an abundance of caution and fairness, the Court will allow the
motion.
Accordingly, the Court ALLOWS Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to amend to file an
amended complaint (Doc. 31) and DENIES AS MOOT Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 25).
The Court ORDERS Plaintiffs to file an amended complaint within 14 days of this Order and
ORDERS Defendant to file any response to the amended complaint within 14 days thereafter.
Plaintiffs are cautioned to make sure the amended complaint is sufficient to survive a motion to
dismiss. If Plaintiffs fail to file a sufficient amended complaint within 14 days, the Court will
dismiss this action with prejudice.

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The Clerk shall mail this Order to Plaintiffs, in addition to placing it on the case’s ECF
docket.
SO ORDERED.
/s/ Leo T. Sorokin
Leo T. Sorokin
United States District Judge

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