Scott and Pamela Bye; Korey and Wendy Fauque; Butch and Doreen Gillespie; Wayne and Roxy Gillespie, and John Does 1, 2, 3, 4 v. Somont Oil Company, Inc.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Montana grants plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a third amended complaint and motion to join additional plaintiffs. The court concludes that amendment is timely, not futile or prejudicial, and that the additional plaintiffs’ claims concerning alleged produced-water discharges arise from the same series of transactions and share common questions of law and fact with the existing plaintiffs’ claims.

Holdings

1. Leave to amend should be freely granted when justice so requires, and amendment was appropriate because it was timely, would not prejudice Somont, was not shown to be undertaken in bad faith or with undue delay, and was not futile at that stage.
2. Permissive joinder was proper because the additional plaintiffs' claims arose out of the same series of transactions or occurrences as the existing plaintiffs' claims and shared material questions of law and fact.

Questions Presented

1. Whether plaintiffs should be granted leave under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2) to file a Third Amended and Second Supplemental Complaint.
2. Whether Randall J. Fauque and Gene and Kim Luckenbill could permissively join as plaintiffs under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20(a)(2).

Disposition

other