Opinion ID: 2514410
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Law of the Case Doctrine May Give the District Court Discretion to Decline to Revisit Issues Already Decided

Text: ¶ 27 Depending on the procedural posture of a case at the time the law of the case doctrine is invoked, the district court may or may not have discretion to reconsider a prior decision it has made. While a case remains pending before the district court prior to any appeal, the parties are bound by the court's prior decision, but the court remains free to reconsider that decision. [21] It may do so sua sponte or at the suggestion of one of the parties. And this discretionary power of reconsideration includes the right of the district court to decline to reopen a matter it has already decided. [22] As long as the case has not been appealed and remanded, reconsideration of an issue before a final judgment is within the sound discretion of the district court. ¶ 28 A different branch of the law of the case doctrine  often called the mandate rule  dictates that a prior decision of a district court becomes mandatory after an appeal and remand. The mandate rule, unlike the law of the case before a remand, binds both the district court and the parties to honor the mandate of the appellate court. [23] The mandate is also binding on the appellate court should the case return on appeal after remand. [24]