Opinion ID: 1119164
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: guidance for determination of when time to appeal begins to run from orders which dispose of matters taken under advisement

Text: Because (a) this case addresses itself to a relatively new statutory standard [31] for memorials of matters taken under advisement and (b) recent appeals have convinced us that procedural pitfalls for the unwary practitioner are omnipresent, we give guidance on what is to be done about the developing pattern of aberrational procedure currently in use for memorializing matters taken under advisement. A serious aberrational pattern is present when: (1) The record does not show that a file-stamped copy of the appealable order was ever mailed by any party but the appealing party's counsel receives actual notice of the prepared memorial, either from other counsel in the case or by participation in the processing of a proposed journal entry; (2) The prevailing party's counsel prepares a memorial, secures the trial judge's signature and without opposing counsel's participation or knowledge files the judgment or appealable order but neither counsel nor the court clerk mails a file-stamped copy to opposing counsel; or (3) The prevailing party's counsel mails to opposing counsel a copy of a judge-signed judgment or order which does not bear a file stamp. As for the first aberration described, actual participation in the beginning of the process for finalizing the judgment or appealable order would impose on the appealing party the obligation to monitor the case filings in the court clerk's office for the appealable event's occurrence. Vigilance will disclose when the critical filing has transpired. As for the second example, appeal time would be triggered when the losing party acquires actual notice of the appealable order's filing. The aberration last described requires that upon receipt of the judge-signed order ( sans file stamp), the appealing party inquire of the filing's date to ascertain when the appealable event occurred. Appeal time would run from the time counsel actually receives that information. In enacting 12 O.S.Supp.1993 § 696.2(A) and (B) the Legislature intended (1) that actual notice of the appealable event be imparted to the appealing party by the court clerk and (2) that the appeal-time clock for nisi prius orders disposing of matters taken under advisement begin to run from the time the copy of the file-stamped original order is mailed by that official in substantial compliance with the statutory regime. The guidance offered today is consistent both with the expressed legislative intent and with Oklahoma's extant jurisprudence, which holds that the clerk's notice to counsel of the appealable order's entry triggers appeal time. [32]