Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/429/17.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 13:23:29+00:00

Document:
On motion to recall Supreme Court mandate affirming a District Court judgment against movant, and for leave to file a motion under Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 60 (b), the motion to recall is denied because the District Court may take appropriate action on the Rule 60 (b) motion without leave of this Court.
We recognize that in the past both this Court and many Courts of Appeals have required appellate leave before the District Court could reopen a case which had been reviewed on appeal. 2 The requirement derived from a belief that an appellate court's mandate bars the trial court from later disturbing the judgment entered in accordance with the mandate. See In re Potts, 166 U.S. 263 (1897); Butcher & Sherrerd v. Welsh, 206 F.2d 259, 262 (CA3 1953), cert. denied, 346 U.S. 925 (1954); Home Indemnity Co. of New York v. O'Brien, 112 F.2d 387, 388 (CA6 1940). It has also been argued that the appellate-leave requirement protects the finality of the judgment and allows the appellate court to screen out frivolous Rule 60 (b) motions. Tribble v. Bruin, 279 F.2d 424, 427-428 (CA4 1960); 7 J. Moore, Federal Practice § 60.30 2., p. 429 n. 27 (1975).
In our view, the arguments in favor of requiring appellate leave are unpersuasive. Like the original district court judgment, the appellate mandate relates to the record and issues then before the court, and does not purport to deal with possible later events. Hence, the district judge is not flouting the mandate by acting on the motion. See 11 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure 2873, pp. 269-270 (1973). Cf. SEC v. Advance Growth Capital [429 U.S. 17, 19] Corp., 539 F.2d 649, 650 (CA7 1976). Furthermore, the interest in finality is no more impaired in this situation than in any Rule 60 (b) proceeding. Finally, we have confidence in the ability of the district courts to recognize frivolous Rule 60 (b) motions. Indeed, the trial court "is in a much better position to pass upon the issues presented in a motion pursuant to Rule 60 (b)," Wilkin v. Sunbeam Corp., 405 F.2d 165, 166 (CA10 1968). Accord, Wilson Research Corp. v. Piolite Plastics Corp., 336 F.2d 303, 305 (CA1 1964); 11 Wright & Miller, supra, at 269.
The appellate-leave requirement adds to the delay and expense of litigation and also burdens the increasingly scarce time of the federal appellate courts. We see no reason to continue the existence of this "unnecessary and undesirable clog on the proceedings," S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. v. Johnson, 175 F.2d 176, 184 (CA2 1949) (Clark, J., dissenting). We therefore deny the motion to recall because the District Court may take appropriate action without this Court's leave.
[ Footnote 1 ] It is technically incorrect to refer to our "mandate" because a copy of the judgment was issued in lieu of a mandate. See this Court's Rule 59 (3). Nevertheless, to avoid confusion with the District Court judgment, we will use the term "mandate" throughout this opinion.

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