U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Wilkinson Jr., on January 16, made good on giving a plaintiff his one chance to file an amended complaint in an ongoing lawsuit.
The U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana granted Robert Najor’s request for leave to file an amended complaint in his lawsuit against Plaquemines Clay Co. LLC, and others, including judgment debtor Hai Nguyen and Trustee of the Nguyen Family Trust. The amended complaint is in relation to Najor’s request to recover property and damages of $35,000 plus interests and costs, that came from Nguyen’s transfer of real estate to the family trust.
Najor wanted leave so he could “assert a Louisiana state law oblique action against Nguyen and his company, National Marine Financing Corporation,” according to the lawsuit. The trustees said Najor shouldn’t be granted leave as Najor went even further and asked for attorney’s fees claiming the defendants conducted fraud. The case is based on Najor's discovery of a sale between Nguyen and the Trust, which Najor said boosted Nguyen’s failure as his own judgment debtor.
“Generally, a court should not dismiss an action for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) without giving the plaintiff ‘at least once chance to amend,’” the court said as it granted Najor’s motion for leave to amend. “This is that one chance.”
The court added that neither side has even raised concern about the timeframe of the amendment as it relates to the version of 2041 that could block the argument, so the court decided not to raise it in this phase of the case. It went on to say that, “No undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the plaintiff can be found.”