R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 15

(a) Amendments. A party may

amend the party's pleading once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive

pleading is served or, if the pleading is one to which no responsive pleading is

permitted and the action has not been placed upon the trial calendar, the party may

so amend the pleading at any time within twenty (20) days after the pleading is

served. Otherwise a party may amend the party's pleading only by leave of court or

by written consent of the adverse party; and leave shall be freely given when justice

so requires. When filing a motion to amend in the EFS, the amended pleading shall

be attached as an exhibit to the motion and filed in accordance with Rule 1(b)(3).

Amendments shall be embodied in a fair copy of the whole paper as amended. A

party shall plead in response to an amended pleading within the time remaining for

response to the original pleading or within ten (10) days after service of the amended

pleading, whichever period may be longer, unless the court otherwise orders.

(b) Amendments to Conform to the Evidence. When issues not raised by the

pleadings are tried by express or implied consent of the parties, they shall be treated

in all respects as if they had been raised in the pleadings. Such amendment of the

pleadings as may be necessary to cause them to conform to the evidence and to raise

these issues may be made upon motion of any party at any time, even after judgment;

but failure so to amend does not affect the result of the trial of these issues. If

evidence is objected to at the trial on the ground that it is not within the issues made

by the pleadings, the court may allow the pleadings to be amended and shall do so

freely when the presentation of the merits of the action will be promoted thereby and

the objecting party fails to satisfy the court that the admission of such evidence

would prejudice the objecting party in maintaining his or her action or defense upon

the merits. The court may grant a continuance to enable the objecting party to meet

such evidence.

(c) Relation Back of Amendments. Whenever the claim or defense asserted in

the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth

or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment relates back to

the date of the original pleading. An amendment changing or adding a plaintiff or

defendant or the naming of a party relates back if the foregoing provision is satisfied

and within the period provided by Rule 4(j) for service of the summons, third-party

complaint, Language Assistance Notice, and all other required documents, the party

against whom the amendment adds a plaintiff, or the added defendant:

(1) Has received such notice of the institution of the action that the party would

not be prejudiced in maintaining his or her defense on the merits; and

(2) Knew or should have known that but for a mistake the action would have been

brought against the party.

(d) Supplemental Pleadings. Upon motion of a party the court may, upon

reasonable notice and upon such terms as are just, permit the party to serve a

supplemental pleading, setting forth transactions or occurrences or events which

have happened since the date of the pleading sought to be supplemented. Permission

may be granted even though the original pleading is defective in its statement of a

claim for relief or defense. If the court deems it advisable that the adverse party plead

to the supplemental pleading, it shall so order, specifying the time therefor.