GS Holistic, LLC v. Nitika, Inc . ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 ----oo0oo---- 11 12 GS HOLISTIC, LLC, No. 2:22-cv-2037 WBS DB 13 Plaintiff, 14 v. ORDER GRANTING LEAVE TO FILE AMENDED COMPLAINT 15 NITIKA, INC d/b/a SMOKE PARADISE 707, NITIKA 16 DADHWAL, GURPREET DADHWAL, and JEFFREY LEE, 17 Defendants. 18 19 ----oo0oo---- 20 21 Plaintiff GS Holistic, LLC moves for leave to amend the 22 operative complaint. A party seeking amendment must show that 23 the amendment is proper under Rule 15, see Johnson v. Mammoth 24 Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 608 (9th Cir. 1992). (citations 25 omitted), under which leave to amend should be given “freely 26 . . . when justice so requires,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). Leave 27 should only be denied if amendment (1) would cause prejudice to 28 the opposing party, (2) is sought in bad faith, (3) would create 1 undue delay, or (4) is futile. Chudacoff v. Univ. Med. Ctr. of 2 S. Nev., 649 F.3d 1143, 1152 (9th Cir. 2011) (citation omitted). 3 “[I]f a court finds that good cause exists, it should then deny a 4 motion for leave to amend only if such amendment would be 5 futile.” J & J Sports Prods., Inc. v. Maravilla, 2:12-cv-2899 6 WBS EFB, 2013 WL 4780764, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 5, 2013). 7 Plaintiff seeks leave to amend for the sole purpose of 8 substituting in Abdo Alghazali as the correct named individual 9 defendant in place of the current individual defendants, and 10 Unlimited Smoke and Vape Paradise d/b/a Smoke Paradise as the 11 correct corporate defendant in place of the current corporate 12 defendant. (See Mot. at 2 (Docket No. 28); Proposed Amended 13 Complaint (Docket No. 28-2).) It does so on the grounds that it 14 only recently learned the identities of the appropriate 15 defendants. (See Mot. at 3.) 16 The originally named defendants have not filed an 17 opposition, and the deadline to do so has passed. See L.R. 230. 18 Further, default has been entered against defendants other than 19 Abdo Alghazali and Unlimited Smoke and Vape Paradise d/b/a Smoke 20 Paradise because they failed to respond to the complaint. (See 21 Docket Nos. 16, 18.) Accordingly, good cause appearing, and 22 because it does not appear that the proposed amendment would be 23 futile, plaintiff’s motion will be granted. See Johnson, 975 24 F.2d at 609; J & J Sports Prods., 2013 WL 4780764, at *1. 25 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that plaintiff’s motion for 26 leave to file an amended complaint (Docket No. 28) be, and the 27 same hereby is, GRANTED. Plaintiff is directed to file the 28 proposed amended complaint attached to the motion (Docket No. 28- nnn nnn nen enn nn nn ne EI OE IEEE 1 2) within ten days of the issuance of this Order. The hearing on 2 plaintiff’s motion set for September 18, 2023 is hereby VACATED. 3 Dated: September 1, 2023 Jed / . 4k. 2 4 WILLIAMB.SHUBB © 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28