Opinion · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Katherine Deloach v. Ralph E. Woodley

405 F.2d 496

Type
Opinion
Court
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1969-01-22
Topic
general

finding pleading has been filed, the court should grant court need not amend when complaint fails to cure “leave” to amend “freely” “when justice so re- original, fatal defects | “liberal amendment rules of F.R.Civ.P. 15(a) do not require that courts indulge in futile gestures.” | “Where a complaint, as amended, would be subject to dismissal, leave to amend and not be granted.” | “The liberal amendment rules of F.R.Civ.P. 15(a) do not require that courts indulge in futile gestures. Where a complaint, as amended, would be subject to dismissal, leave to amend need not be granted.”

Citator

Cited by
56 opinions
PER CURIAM:

The jurisdictional derivative of this action is 28 U.S.C.A. § 1332 which requires that the matter in controversy exceed the sum or value of $10,000.00 exclusive of interest and costs. We have ferreted the complaint for allegations supporting the jurisdictional amount and could find only the following: “The estimated sum which the plaintiff alleges the defendant owes her for the eleven (11) years support of her daughter, Kathryne, is Seven Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty Dollars ($7,860.00) with interest.” The fatal vulnerability of this allegation is obvious and dismissal was therefore properly decreed. Wood v. Citronelle-Mobile Gathering System Company Ltd., et al., 5 Cir. 1968, 409 F.2d 367 (December 4, 1968).

Appellant complains that a motion was made in the district court to amend her complaint and that leave to amend was denied. However, appellant’s proposed amendment alleged no new jurisdictional facts. As such her amended complaint would have been subject to dismissal for the same reasons as her original complaint. The liberal amend *497 ment rules of F.R.Civ.P. 15(a) do not require that courts indulge in futile gestures. Where a complaint, as amended, would be subject to dismissal, leave to amend need not be granted. Foman v. Davis, 1962, 371 U.S. 178, 88 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed. 222, 226.

Affirmed.