On October 6, 2023, the Fourth Department issued a decision in CHS, Inc. v. Land O’Lakes Purina Feed, LLC, 2023 NY Slip Op. 05071, holding that a proposed amendment related back to the original pleading when the amendment related to the same facts and occurrence as the original claims, explaining:
Generally, leave to amend a pleading should be freely granted in the absence of prejudice to the nonmoving party where the amendment is not patently lacking in merit and the decision whether to grant leave to amend a pleading is committed to the sound discretion of the court. Here, plaintiff established that the relation-back doctrine applied for statute of limitations purposes with respect to adding Mosaic, because the proposed claims concerning the damage suffered by Mosaic were based on the same facts and occurrence as plaintiff’s prior claims concerning the damage to the Mosaic property and thus related back to the original complaint. In opposition to the motion, defendants failed to establish that they would be prejudiced by plaintiff’s delay in seeking leave to amend the complaint.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).