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Daniels v. Carpenter1/28/2003
03; Beaudoin, 492 P.2d at 970. We have also said that amendment should be allowed when it "'will serve a good purpose . . ..'" Wilder v. Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, 868 P.2d 211, 226 (Wyo. 1994) (quoting Herrig v. Herrig, 844 P.2d 487, 490 (Wyo. 1992)).
[ ] We cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in denying the appellant's motion to amend. While we may not have characterized the deficiencies in the motion exactly as the district court did, we may affirm the decision on any legal ground appearing in the record. Litzenberger v. Merge, 698 P.2d 1152, 1153 (Wyo. 1985); Mentock v. Mentock, 638 P.2d 156, 159 (Wyo. 1981). We affirm here because the motion to amend the complaint was not so much a legitimate request to add allegations that might establish a cause of action as it was an attempt to avoid the statute of limitations while the appellant belatedly commenced a basic investigation of his own case. The accident happened in May of 1997. The complaint was not filed until four years later. The motion was not heard for a month after it was filed. During the interim, the appellant or his attorneys apparently failed to discover the operative facts necessary to state a cause of action.
[ ] In moving to amend the complaint, counsel did not inform the district court of the proposed particulars of the amendment. *fn16 All that was offered was the hope that, if facts could be developed to support a cause of action, an amended complaint would be filed. Ironically, counsel's statements suggest that the failure to obtain the necessary information was partly the fault of the appellant, himself, who refused to divulge the source of the alcohol. This simply is not a sufficient basis for amending a complaint.
[ ] Finally, we note that the motion for leave to amend the complaint drew from the appellant but one sentence in his brief: "At a minimum, Appellants should be given an opportunity to amend their Complaint so as to more specifically allege breaches of the foregoing 'special relation' duties of care by Appellees, pursuant to this Court's liberal amendments policies." This type of perfunctory argument usually results in our refusal to consider the issue. Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting, Inc. v. Statewide Collections, 2002 WY 39, 12, 42 P.3d 478, 482 (Wyo. 2002); 40 North Corp. v. Morrell, 964 P.2d 423, 427 (Wyo. 1998); Scherling v. Kilgore, 599 P.2d 1352, 1359 (Wyo. 1979). However, because dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a cause of action is such a drastic remedy, and because the denial of a motion for leave to amend the complaint is, in effect, the death knell for the case, we have considered the latter issue despite the fact that the appellant presented no lega l authority or cogent argument.
CONCLUSION
[ ] It was not error for the district court to grant the appellees' motions to dismiss because the complaint did not contain the minimal factual allegations to state a cause of action. It was also not error by the district court to deny the appellant's motion for leave to amend the complaint because the motion resulted from the appellant's own dilatory conduct and was not made for a proper purpose.
[ ] Affirmed.
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