3 Moore's Federal Practice - Civil § 15.16

Summary

• [1] Amendment to Add or Drop Parties

  A party may amend a pleading in order to add or drop parties. Because more than one rule arguably covers the situation, an issue arises to whether the party may amend as a matter of course under Rule 15(a)(1), assuming that an amendment as a matter of course would be timely (see § 15.10),1 or whether the party must obtain leave of court under Rule 21, which requires court action in order to add or drop parties (see Ch. 21, Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of Parties).1.1 Courts traditionally required leave to amend a pleading that added a new party based on the rationale that the more specific Rule 21 controls the more general Rule 15. As a result, parties could not be added by amendment as a matter of course, even when the time for amendment as a matter of course had not run out. Some courts continue to follow this approach.2