Mayes v. AT&T Information Systems, Inc., 88-2134
| Decision Date | 17 February 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-2134,88-2134 |
| Citation | 867 F.2d 1172 |
| Parties | 130 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2735, 13 Fed.R.Serv.3d 180 Joan MAYES, Appellant, v. AT & T INFORMATION SYSTEMS, INC.; Communication Workers of America, Local 6507, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Gene O'Daniel, Little Rock, Ark., for appellant.
Bruce R. Lindsey, Little Rock, Ark., for appellees.
Before BOWMAN and WOLLMAN, Circuit Judges, and HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge.
Joan Mayes appeals the district court's summary judgment in favor of AT & T Information Systems, Inc. (AT & T) and Communication Workers of America, Local 6507 (CWA). She claims that she timely filed a motion to amend her complaint and therefore commenced her action before the statute of limitations expired. We agree.
Mayes filed suit against AT & T on July 22, 1987, alleging that AT & T had breached a collective bargaining agreement by using non-bargaining unit employees to perform bargaining unit work. AT & T moved to dismiss the complaint because Mayes had failed to name her union, CWA, which was an indispensable party. On September 21, 1987, Mayes filed a motion for leave to amend her complaint to include CWA as a party. She attached a copy of the amended complaint to the motion. On October 20, 1987, the district court granted Mayes' motion to amend, whereupon Mayes filed her amended complaint.
CWA moved for summary judgment because Mayes' amended complaint was filed six days after the six-month statute of limitations provided by 29 U.S.C. Sec. 160(b) had run. AT & T then filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that Mayes' action could not proceed without CWA. The district court agreed with the defendants and granted summary judgment to both.
"A civil action is commenced by filing a complaint with the court." Fed.R.Civ.P. 3. Amended complaints may not be filed until the court has ordered leave to do so. A number of courts have addressed the situation where the petition for leave to amend the complaint has been filed prior to expiration of the statute of limitations, while the entry of the court order and the filing of the amended complaint have occurred after the limitations period has expired. In such cases, the amended complaint is deemed filed within the limitations period. See Rademaker v. E.D. Flynn Export Co., 17 F.2d 15, 17 (5th Cir.1927); Longo v. Pennsylvania Elec. Co., 618 F.Supp. 87, 89 (W.D.Pa.1985), aff'd, 856 F.2d 183 (3d Cir.1988); Eaton Corp. v....
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In re Metropolitan Securities Litigation
...the statute of limitations, that an amended pleading is effectively filed when the motion to amend is filed. Mayes v. AT & T Info. Sys., Inc., 867 F.2d 1172, 1173 (8th Cir.1989). See also Buller Trucking Co. v. Owner Operator Indep. Driver Risk Retention Group, Inc., 461 F.Supp.2d 768, 777 ......
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...proposed First Amended Complaint, which was filed on May 11, 2011, and that therefore they are timely. In Mayes v. AT & T Information Systems, 867 F.2d 1172, 1173 (8th Cir.1989), the court held that a claim is timely if it is included in a motion for leave to file an amended complaint filed......
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...Schillinger, 425 F.3d at 334-35 (quoting Moore v. Indiana, 999 F.2d 1125, 1131 (7th Cir.1993)). See also Mayes v. AT & T Info. Sys., Inc., 867 F.2d 1172, 1173 (8th Cir.1989) (holding that an "amended complaint is deemed filed" by filing a motion to amend); Rademaker v. E.D. Flynn Export Co.......
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