The Scope of Rule 59
April 8, 2019 § Leave a comment
MRCP 59 allows the chancellor to grant a new trial as to all or some issues in a case “for any of the reasons for which rehearings have heretofore been granted in suits in equity in the courts of Mississippi.”
When granted, the chancellor may open the judgment “if one has been entered, take additional testimony, amend findings of fact and conclusions of law or make new findings and conclusions, and direct the entry of a new judgment.”
The COA discussed the scope of a R59 ruling in its March 19, 2019, ruling in Warner v. Thomas. Judge McDonald wrote for the unanimous court:
¶28. With respect to the trial court’s ruling under Rule 59, we have stated that the chancery court’s authority to modify the final judgment is “limited” by Rule 59, and it is a “higher” standard than under Rule 54(b), which allows a trial court to set aside interlocutory decisions for any reason it sees just. Dissolution of Pevey v. Pevey, 2017-CA-01144-COA, 2018 WL 4089685, at *1 (¶5) (Miss. Ct. App. Aug. 28, 2018); Maness [v. K&A Enters. of Miss. LLC], 250 So. 3d [402] at 419 (¶¶69, 71) [(Miss. 2018)]. A party may only obtain relief on a motion for new trial upon showing: (1) an intervening change in controlling law, (2) availability of new evidence not previously available, or (3) the need to correct a clear error of law or to prevent manifest injustice. Miller v. Smith, 229 So. 3d 148, 154-55 (¶28) (Miss. Ct. App. 2016). To grant the motion under Rule 59, the chancery court need only be “convinced that a mistake of law or fact has been made, or that injustice would attend allowing the judgment to stand.” See Pevey, 2018 WL 4089685, at *2 (¶6); Maness, 250 So. 3d at 419 (¶69).
¶29. The appellate court reviews a trial court’s denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. Miller, 229 So. 3d at 154 (¶27); McLaughlin [v. N. Drew Freight, Inc.], 249 So. 3d [1081] at 1084 (¶8) [(Miss Ct. App. 2018)] . . .
The portion of R54 referred to above reads this way:
(b) . . . any order or other form of decision, however designated, which adjudicates fewer than all of the claims[,] or rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties[,] shall not terminate the action as to any of the claims or parties[,] and the order or other form of decision is subject to revision at any time before the entry of judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties.
So an R59 motion requires more than just asking the judge for a do-over. You have to have evidence or law that would have changed the outcome were it known at the time of hearing, and it was not known either because the law changed or evidence previously unknown after due diligence has come to light. You may also prevail by convincing the judge that she made a mistake of law or fact, or that the judgment creates an injustice; good luck with that.
The COA casts the issue thus: “Did the trial court err in denying the motion for reconsideration and/or motion for new trial [My emphasis]. The term “reconsideration” has been linked to R59 so often that, in my opinion, it has risen from the level of colloquialism to the point that we should seriously consider inserting it into the rule. Lawyers almost unanimously refer to the motion as one for “reconsideration.” The COA, as it did in this case, frequently uses that nomenclature for the motion. I have not searched carefully, but I believe the MSSC did also in a decision handed down last year. You can search the term in my Search box above and see how I have pushed against it. Even the Advisory Committee Notes point out that there is no such thing as a motion for consideration. Yet, the beat goes on. Maybe it’s just time to add it in and live with it.
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