Pickens v. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 MARLIN GIOVANNI PICKENS, Case No. C22-5019RSM 10 11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO AMEND ANSWER 12 v. 13 VIRGINA MASON FRANCISCAN 14 HEALTH SAINT JOSEPH MEDICAL CENTER, et al., 15 16 Defendants. 17 This matter comes before the Court on Defendant Allister GC Stone’s Motion to File an 18 Amended Answer, Dkt. #46. No party has filed a timely opposition to this Motion. 19 A “court should freely give leave [to amend] when justice so requires,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 20 15(a)(2). Courts apply this policy with “extreme liberality.” Eminence Capital, LLC v. 21 22 Aspeon, Inc., 316 F.3d 1048, 1051 (9th Cir. 2003). Five factors are commonly used to assess 23 the propriety of granting leave to amend: (1) bad faith, (2) undue delay, (3) prejudice to the 24 opposing party, (4) futility of amendment, and (5) whether the party has previously amended 25 the pleading. Allen v. City of Beverly Hills, 911 F.2d 367, 373 (9th Cir. 1990); Foman v. Davis, 26 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962). In conducting this five-factor analysis, the court must grant all 27 28 inferences in favor of allowing amendment. Griggs v. Pace Am. Group, Inc., 170 F.3d 877, 1 2 880 (9th Cir. 1999). 3 Defendant seeks to amend its Answer due to developments in discovery. There is no 4 indication of undue delay, bad faith, prejudice, or futility in this amendment. This is 5 Defendant’s first motion to file an amended pleading. 6 Having considered the briefing from Plaintiff and the remainder of the record, the Court 7 8 hereby FINDS and ORDERS that Defendant Allister GC Stone’s Motion to File an Amended 9 Answer, Dkt. #46, is GRANTED. Defendant is directed to immediately file the Amended 10 Answer attached to its Motion. 11 DATED this 12th day of August, 2022. 12 13 A 14 RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 15 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28