BYRON G. CUDMORE, Magistrate Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff Sharon Murray's Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint and Joinder of Parties (d/e 158). For the reasons set forth below, the Motion is DENIED.
Plaintiff Sharon Murray seeks leave to file an amended complaint that amends her claims against Defendants Nationwide Better Health, Barbara Ley, and Cynthia Northrup (Current Defendants), and adds additional Defendants Cingular/AT&T IDCS Benefit Plan, AT&T Mobility f/k/a Cingular Wireless (AT&T), Gaye Ann Pusch, Darlene Webster, and Sedgwick CMS (Proposed Defendants) (collectively All Defendants). Murray's proposed amended complaint, entitled Pro Se Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (d/e 159-62) (Proposed Amended Complaint), seeks to allege claims against All Defendants under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq., and 2601 et seq. She also makes reference to Constitutional violations and violations of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 29 U.S.C. § 794. She also alleges a number of common law and Illinois state statutory claims against All Defendants.
Leave to amend pleadings is to be freely given when justice so requires. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). The Court may deny leave to file an amendment to a complaint when the amendment would be futile or cause undue delay.
Defendants complain that they have filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (d/e 108) on June 22, 2011, and have been trying to get a resolution of that motion. They argue that the Proposed Amended Complaint would create an undue delay by forcing them to start over. They are correct that the filing of the Proposed Amended Complaint would moot the pending Motion for Summary Judgment. The Defendants could revive the Motion for Summary Judgment within fourteen days. Local Rule 7.1(E). The Proposed Amended Complaint, however, alleges claims against the existing Defendants in a substantially different manner and adds additional claims. The Defendants would be forced the rewrite the Motion for Summary Judgment in light of these differences. Allowing the amendment at this juncture could delay the Current Defendants' efforts to secure a resolution of their request for summary judgment.
The joinder of the Proposed Defendants would also complicate the case and could cause delays in the resolution of the issues raised in the Current Defendants' Summary Judgment Motion. The Motion for Summary Judgment has been pending for over six months, and the current Defendants are entitled to a resolution of that motion. At this point, allowing Murray to file the Proposed Amended Complaint would cause undue delay in the resolution of the pending summary judgment motion.
Filing the Proposed Amended Complaint also would be futile. Murray's claims arise from her employment with AT&T. That employment ended in 2008. She sued AT&T regarding these matters in this Court and lost.
Murray argues that the judgment in Case no. 08-CV-3159 is void due to fraud. A motion to set aside a judgment due to fraud, however, must be made within a year of the entry of the judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(3);
Murray relies on the case of
This Court had both personal and subject matter jurisdiction in Case. 08-CV-3159. Murray's claims of fraud relate to conduct by the defendant in that case during the proceeding. Thus, even if Illinois law applied, Murray would need to reopen Case No. 08-CV-3159 and seek relief from that judgment. She could seek that relief under Rule 60(b), but as explained, a motion to set aside a judgment based on fraud would be untimely. Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(3).
Murray also argues that the judgment is otherwise void, but the Court does not see any reason that the judgment would be void. The Court had subject matter and personal jurisdiction, and the judgment has been affirmed on appeal. The judgment in Case no. 08-CV-3159 is final and resolved Murray's claims against AT&T. She lost. She cannot make AT&T defend again. Her proposed amended claims against AT&T then would be futile.
Murray alleges a claim for breach of fiduciary duty against All Defendants under ERISA. The fiduciary duty claims all appear to be futile. Congress enacted ERISA to protect employee benefits plans. 29 U.S.C. § 1101. Congress established that certain individuals and entities that manage and administer ERISA qualified employee benefit plans are fiduciaries that owed fiduciary duties to the plan and to the plan participants and beneficiaries. 29 U.S.C. §§ 1102-1109. The Proposed Amended Complaint alleges that Murray was a beneficiary under an ERISA qualified plan that provided short term disability benefits. She alleges that all of the defendants were fiduciaries under the plan. She alleges that she was denied benefits under the plan and that all defendants further failed to disclose material information to her. She asks for compensatory damages and other monetary relief for the breach of fiduciary duty.
Congress authorized certain specific remedies for plan participants and beneficiaries. ERISA § 502. 29 U.S.C. § 1132;
Murray's attempts to state a claim for a violation of her constitutional rights also would be futile. Murray may sue a person acting under color of law who violates her constitutional rights. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Acting under color of law means acting as a government official or in the exercise of state authority.
Murray may bring an action against private individuals and entities that conspire to deprive her of her right to equal protection of the laws. 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). To state a § 1985(3) claim, however, Murray must allege that some class-based racial or other invidiously discriminatory animus motivated the conspirators.
The Proposed Amended Complaint refers to § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 29 U.S.C. § 794. Section 504 states, in part,
Murray does not allege that Nationwide Better Health, AT&T, or any other Defendant is "program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance" or an "activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service." Thus, § 504 does not apply. The attempt to allege a claim under § 504 would also be futile.
Finally Murray alleges a number of violations of Illinois law and a number of common law claims under state law. The proposed amendment would be futile because the Court would not have subject matter jurisdiction over these claims. Murray and Proposed Defendant Pusch are alleged to be Illinois residents.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff Sharon Murray's Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint and Joinder of Parties (d/e 158) is DENIED.