Rebecca Broadbent, Jared Rasband, and Hazel Sainsbury v. Richard “Biff” Williams, Jordan Sharp, Del Beatty, Michael Lacourse, Henrie Walton, Tiffany Wilson, Utah Tech University, Geoff Landward, Utah Board of Higher Education, Utah System of Higher Education, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, Alison Adams, Eric Pedersen, Matt Black, Jyl Hall, Jared Madsen, Stacy Schmidt, Brooke Ulrich, Travis Rosenberg, Kyle Wells, Courtney White, and John and Jane Does I-X

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Utah grants Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. The amendment adds Shane B. Smeed as a defendant, adds a First Amendment retaliation claim related to Plaintiffs’ termination, modifies claims and parties, and voluntarily removes certain claims. The court declines to address futility at the amendment stage and terminates the pending motions to dismiss as moot.

Holdings

1. The motion to amend was not unduly delayed and was not filed for a dilatory purpose because the case was procedurally in its infancy, no scheduling order or trial date was in place, discovery had not materially advanced, and the motion was filed less than a month after the relevant terminations.
2. The court granted leave to amend without deciding whether the proposed amendments were futile or inadequately pleaded because those arguments were more appropriately addressed in dispositive motions concerning all claims.
3. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41 did not apply to plaintiffs' omission of individual claims against defendants from the proposed second amended complaint, and the two-dismissal rule was not triggered.

Questions Presented

1. Whether plaintiffs' motion for leave to file a second amended complaint was unduly delayed or motivated by an improper dilatory purpose.
2. Whether the court should deny leave to amend as futile or because the proposed allegations were inadequately pleaded.
3. Whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41 and its two-dismissal rule applied to plaintiffs' omission of individual claims against certain defendants from the proposed amended complaint.

Disposition

other