Legal Commentary

While everyone (including me) is talking about yesterday's decision in the dog-fighting case or Monday's oral argument in Christian Legal Society, I am all about this morning's argument in Krupski v. Costa Crociere, a case from the Eleventh Circuit that deals with relation back of amended pleadings under Rule 15(c) and what constitutes a "mistake concerning the proper party's identity." In part this is because I helped moot the respondent's attorney here in Miami.

A plaintiff who was injured while on a cruise ship initially sued the cruise line rather than the owner/operator of the ship, then sought to amend her pleading after the limitations period has expired (and apparently after a lengthy delay in which she (or her attorney) new the cruise line was the appropriate defendant). The Court granted cert, I assume, to help define with some precision what constitutes a "mistake concerning the proper party's identity." This continues to flummox courts; some courts read it so narrowly as to make amendment impossible, while some basically read the mistake requirement completely out of the rule. I have had a long-standing interest in this tied to the issue of pleading against John Doe police officers in § 1983 actions.

Anyway, I may be one of the few people anxiously downloading the transcript when this one is over.