Opinion ID: 795072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plaintiffs' New Trial Motion

Text: 13 A new trial motion may be granted so long as, inter alia, it is filed not more than one year after the judgment ... was entered. Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(3). The one-year limitation period for Rule 60(b) motions is absolute. Warren v. Garvin, 219 F.3d 111, 114 (2nd Cir.2000) (internal quotations and citation omitted). Judgment in this case was entered on November 4, 2002, but plaintiffs' motion was not filed until May 2, 2005 — two and a half years later. 14 To defendants' argument that this motion was untimely, plaintiffs counter that the one-year period should be measured from the October 2004 decision of this court because it substantially changed the outcome of the case. In support, Protas and the Foundation cite Harduvel v. Gen. Dynamics Corp., which held that the one-year clock did not begin to run until after the judgment of the district court on remand, because the decision of the court of appeals had substantially changed the legal position of the party bringing the Rule 60(b) motion (i.e., the plaintiff). 801 F.Supp. 597, 602-03 (M.D.Fla.1992). Harduvel does not support the argument of Protas and the Foundation, because the Eleventh Circuit in Harduvel had reversed the judgment of the district court in favor of the plaintiff and remanded the entire case with instructions to enter judgment for the defendant. Id. at 600. Before the Eleventh Circuit reversed the judgment, the plaintiff, as the prevailing party, had no incentive (or legal basis) to move for a new trial. Here, by contrast, this court affirmed the district court's ruling with respect to all dances except the seven dances; the trial on remand and this appeal relate only to the seven dances. Protas and the Foundation now seek a new trial on those portions of the district court's 2002 ruling that we affirmed. Because we affirmed, our ruling made no substantive change in their legal position from that established by the judgment of the district court. See, e.g., U.S. Lines v. U.S. Lines Reorg. Trust, 262 B.R. 223, 239 (S.D.N.Y.2001) (The timeliness of a Rule 60(b) motion depends on whether on appeal, the appellate court `has disturbed or revised legal rights and obligations which, by [the] prior judgment, had been plainly and properly settled with finality.') (quoting Simon v. Navon, 116 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir.1997) (quoting FTC v. Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co., 344 U.S. 206, 212, 73 S.Ct. 245, 97 L.Ed. 245 (1952))). Moreover, even if the legal position of Protas and the Foundation did change with respect to the seven dances, they already received a second opportunity — the trial on remand — to litigate the merits of that portion of their claims. 15 Because plaintiffs' motion for a new trial was untimely, we need not reach the merits of that motion.