UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS AUSTIN DIVISION

1:23-CV-00129-DAE § LILLIAN MILLS, in her official capacity § as Dean of the McCombs School of § Business at the University of Texas at § Austin; ETHAN BURRIS, in his official § capacity as Senior Associate Dean for § Academic Affairs of the McCombs School § of Business at the University of Texas- § Austin; and CLEMENS SIALM, in his § official capacity as Finance Department § Chair for the McCombs. [...] § DEFENDANTS’ RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND COMPLAINT AND TO ADD JAY HARTZELL AS DEFENDANT Lillian Mills, in her official capacity as Dean of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin; Ethan Burris, in his official capacity as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. [...] The Fifth Circuit has noted that when a plaintiff that had known of the underlying facts of his claim before filing suit yet waited nine months after initiating the action to seek to amend, there could be an “inference that the party was engaging in tactical maneuvers to force the court to consider various theories seriatim. [...] To the contrary, Lowery again argued at this week’s hearing that he didn’t need to name someone as a defendant to pursue discovery from them directly, and the Court has permitted 3 To be sure, the Court denied Lowery’s initial request to expand the discovery schedule (Dkt. [...] The Court was correct to dismiss the retaliation claim in its order on the motion to dismiss; there is no basis for the Court to allow Lowery to reinsert a retaliation claim into this case through creative pleading to call it a speech- code claim.