W. Sasso

The plaintiff moved to amend its Statement of Claim shortly before trial in a commercial dispute arising from the termination of a racetrack slots program agreement.

The defendant opposed the amendment on grounds including alleged limitation issues, withdrawal of a prior admission, expansion beyond the agreed issues list, and the inclusion of argumentative pleading.

The court reviewed the principles governing amendments under Rule 26 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and concluded that amendments should generally be granted unless non-compensable prejudice is demonstrated.

Finding no such prejudice, the court allowed the amendments but imposed conditions restricting further discovery and requiring the amendments to be filed in black‑line format.

The court also rejected arguments that the amendments improperly altered the character of the action or were barred by limitation on the record before it.

The defendants moved for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiffs' statutory claims for secondary market misrepresentation under the Securities Act, arguing the claims were statute-barred by the three-year limitation period in s. 138.14.

The plaintiffs had brought a motion for leave to assert the statutory claims within the limitation period, but the limitation period expired while the court's decision on the leave motion was under reserve.

The court held that it had inherent jurisdiction and authority under the Rules of Civil Procedure to grant the leave order nunc pro tunc (retroactively) to the date the leave motion was argued, applying the actus curiae maxim to prevent injustice caused by the court's delay.

The defendants' motion for summary judgment was dismissed, and the plaintiffs were permitted to amend their statement of claim effective the date the leave motion concluded.