The plaintiff moved for leave to amend his Statement of Claim to add claims for punitive and aggravated damages, and for further discovery, after the action had been set down for trial.
The proposed amendments arose from the defendant's late production of an accident investigation report.
The defendant opposed the motion, arguing the plaintiff failed to seek leave under Rule 48.04 and that the amendments raised a statute-barred new cause of action.
The court granted the motion, finding the amendments merely provided new legal characterizations of existing claims rather than a new cause of action, and the defendant demonstrated no non-compensable prejudice.
