Title: TUSSHANI v. ALLSOP

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

TUSSHANI v. ALLSOP2000 WY 1371 P.3d 1263Case Number: 99-304Decided: 06/12/2000Supreme Court of Wyoming
 
OMAR TUSSHANI, Appellant 
(Plaintiff),v.ROGER ALLSOP, LARAMIE COUNTY SHERIFF; JEFF KETCHUM, FRED 
EMERICH and JACK KNUDSON, LARAMIE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, in their 
official capacities; and LARAMIE COUNTY, Appellees (Defendants).

Appeal from the District 
Court of Laramie County

Representing 
Appellant: Ronald G. Pretty, 
Cheyenne, Wyoming.Representing Appellee: John McKinley of Davis & 
Cannon, Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

Before 
LEHMAN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY*, GOLDEN, and 
HILL, JJ.

HILL, 
Justice.

[¶1] Omar 
Tusshani (Appellant) alleges that the district court erred by failing to grant 
him an extension of time in which to file a notice of appeal pursuant to 
W.R.A.P. 2.01(a)(1). We conclude that Appellant has failed to demonstrate 
excusable neglect and affirm.

ISSUE

[¶2] Appellant 
posits a single issue for consideration:

Was it error for the 
district court, under the circumstances of this case, to fail to grant the 
appellant an extension of time to file a notice of appeal under W.R.A.P. 2.01(a) 
before the time to grant such an extension had expired.

[¶3] The 
Appellees restate the issue slightly:

Did the District Court 
abuse its discretion by denying Plaintiff's Motion for Enlargement of Time to 
File Notice of Appeal?

FACTS

[¶4] Appellant 
filed suit against the Laramie County Sheriff, the Laramie County Board of 
Commissioners, the County Commissioners, and Laramie County for injuries 
allegedly suffered in an accident while he was a federal pretrial detainee in 
the Laramie County Detention Facility. On May 18, 1999, the district court 
entered an order granting summary judgment against Appellant on a portion of his 
claims against several of the defendants. Pursuant to W.R.C.P. 54(b)1, the district court specifically 
found that there was no just reason for delay and that a final judgment is 
hereby entered consistent with this order dismissing on the merits, and with 
prejudice, all claims and causes of action asserted against those 
defendants.

[¶5] Thereafter, 
Appellant sought review of the district court's order in this Court by filing a 
Petition for Review. After treating Appellant's petition as one for a Writ of 
Review under W.R.A.P. 13, we dismissed the action on the basis that the proper 
means of securing appellate review of a Rule 54(b) certification was by Notice 
of Appeal pursuant to W.R.A.P. 2.01(a)2. By the time our decision was 
issued, however, the 30-day period for filing an appeal had expired. In 
response, Appellant filed a motion with the district court for an extension of 
time in which to file an appeal per W.R.A.P. 2.01(a)(1). Pursuant to 2.01(a)(1), 
the time for filing an appeal may be extended by no more than a total of 45 days 
from the entry of the appealable order upon a showing of excusable neglect by 
the moving party. That 45-day period expired on July 2, 1999. The district court 
did not issue its order denying Appellant's request for an extension until July 
6, 1999. Appellant filed a Notice of Appeal from that order on July 16, 
1999.

DISCUSSION

[¶6] Appellant 
contends that the district court erred by failing to address his motion for an 
extension until after the 45-day appeal period had expired, and that it also 
erred in concluding that Appellant had not demonstrated excusable neglect in 
justification for an extension. Appellant claims that his failure to follow the 
proper procedure in perfecting an appeal of a Rule 54(b) certification to this 
Court constituted excusable neglect.

[¶7] The timely 
filing of a notice of appeal is jurisdictional. Venable v. State, 854 P.2d 714, 
716 (Wyo. 1993); State v. Berger, 600 P.2d 708, 709 (Wyo. 1979); W.R.A.P. 1.03 
(LEXIS 1999). A party has 30 days in which to file a notice of appeal after the 
entry of an appealable order. W.R.A.P. 2.01(a). As noted, however, that 30-day 
period may be extended by an additional 15 days pursuant to motion under 
W.R.A.P. 2.01(a)(1) if excusable neglect is shown. Twenty-one years ago we said 
that:

[t]his court has 
established precedent by unpublished orders and held that ignorance of the 
provisions of the Wyoming Rules of Appellate Procedure is not excusable neglect 
as a matter of law. Hadley v. Plumber, No. 5161; Lewis v. Roper (Wyo.), 579 P.2d 434. Excusable neglect is measured on a strict standard to take care of genuine 
emergency conditions, such as death, sickness, undue delay in the mails, Bosler 
v. Morad, Wyo. 1975, 555 P.2d 567, and other situations where such behavior 
might be the act of a reasonably prudent person under the 
circumstances.

[¶8] Crossan v. 
Irrigation Development Corporation, 598 P.2d 812, 813 (Wyo. 1979). This case 
presents a clear instance of a failure to timely file a notice of appeal based 
on a misunderstanding of our rules of appellate procedure. As a matter of law, 
such a failure cannot constitute excusable neglect.

[¶9] 
Furthermore, once the additional 15-day period provided by W.R.A.P. 2.01(a)(1) 
had expired, no extensions beyond that time could have been granted. Matter of 
Estate of Graham, 597 P.2d 967, 968 (Wyo. 1979). Since the timely filing of a 
notice of appeal is jurisdictional in nature, no appellate jurisdiction would 
lie in this case in any event. Ideally, the district court should have issued 
its decision prior to the expiration of the 15-day period. However, without a 
demonstration of excusable neglect on Appellant's part, any error by the 
district court in not timely rendering a decision is 
harmless.

CONCLUSION

[¶10] As a 
matter of law, ignorance of the rules of appellate procedure cannot constitute 
the basis for a claim of excusable neglect in a motion to extend the time for 
filing a notice of appeal pursuant to W.R.A.P. 2.01(a)(1). The district court's 
denial of Appellant's motion is hereby affirmed.

Footnotes

1 Rule 54. 
Judgment; costs.

. . 
. .

(b) Judgment 
upon multiple claims or involving multiple parties. - When more than one claim 
for relief is presented in an action, whether as a claim, counterclaim, 
cross-claim, or third-party claim, or when multiple parties are involved, the 
court may direct the entry of a final judgment as to one or more but fewer than 
all of the claims or parties only upon an express determination that there is no 
just reason for delay and upon an express direction for the entry of judgment. 
In the absence of such determination and direction, any order or other form of 
decision, however designated, which adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the 
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.

2 2.01 How 
and when taken; cross-appeals and dismissals.

(a) An 
appeal from a trial court to an appellate court shall be taken by filing the 
notice of appeal with the clerk of the trial court within 30 days from entry of 
the appealable order and concurrently serving the same in accordance with the 
provisions of Rule 5, Wyo.R.Civ.P., (or as provided in Wyo.R.Cr.P. 32 (c) (4)). 
Within five days of the filing of the notice of appeal with the clerk of the 
trial court, a copy of the notice of appeal shall also be filed with the clerk 
of the appellate court, and in a criminal case upon the office of public 
defender and the office of attorney general.

(1) Upon a 
showing of excusable neglect, the trial court in any action may extend the time 
for filing the notice of appeal not to exceed 15 days from the expiration of the 
original time prescribed, provided the application for extension of time is 
filed and the order entered prior to the expiration of 45 days from entry of the 
appealable order; appellant shall promptly serve appellee a copy of the order 
extending the time. If such an order is issued, it shall be appended to the 
notice of the appeal.