212266P.pdf   07/15/2022  Wagstaff & Cartmell, LLP  v.  Neal Lewis
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  21-2266
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City   
   [PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Benton and Kelly, Circuit Judges] 
   Civil case. In action seeking a declaratory judgment regarding plaintiff's 
   responsibility to share attorney's fees with defendant for work done in a 
   wrongful death action, the district court did not err in denying 
   defendant's motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction as 
   the record supported the district court's finding that there was diversity 
   of citizenship; the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying 
   defendant's motion to dismiss his counterclaims without prejudice; nor did 
   the court abuse its discretion by denying his motion for permission to 
   file a second amended answer; on this record, the district court properly 
   applied the appropriate factors in denying defendant's motion to dismiss 
   the declaratory judgment action on the basis of the abstention doctrine; 
   the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to alter or 
   amend the judgment or, in the alternative to grant relief from judgment.