Opinion ID: 1116618
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the copiah county circuit court abused its discretion when it vacated the original forfeiture order.

Text: Rule 60(b) of The Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure is very nearly identical to rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and as such this court will consider as authoritative federal constructions when determining what our construction of our rule ought to be. Stringfellow v. Stringfellow, 451 So.2d 219, 221 (Miss. 1984); Brown v. Credit Center, Inc., 444 So.2d 358, 364 fn. 1 (Miss. 1983). Motions for relief under Rule 60(b) are generally addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court and appellate review is limited to whether that discretion has been abused. Stringfellow, 451 So.2d at 221; See Clarke v. Burkle, 570 F.2d 824 (8th Cir.1978). When ruling on [Rule 60(b)] motions a balance must be struck between granting a litigant a hearing on the merits with the need and desire to achieve finality in litigation. House v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 688 F.2d 7 (2nd Cir.1982). Further, Rule 60(b) motions should be denied were they are merely an attempt to relitigate the case. Mastini v. American Telephone and Telegraph Co., 369 F.2d 378 (2nd Cir.1966) cert. den. 387 U.S. 933, 87 S.Ct. 2055, 18 L.Ed.2d 994. Stringfellow, 451 So.2d at 221. Rule 60(b) is not an escape hatch for litigants who had procedural opportunities afforded under other rules and who without cause failed to pursue those procedural remedies. King v. King, 556 So.2d 716 (Miss. 1990). Rule 60(b) is designed for the extraordinary, not the common place. Id. Rule 60(b) provides for extraordinary relief which may be granted only upon an adequate showing of exceptional circumstances, and that neither ignorance nor carelessness on the part of an attorney will provide grounds for relief... . Additionally, it has been said that a party is not entitled to relief merely because he is unhappy with the judgment, but he must make some showing that he was justified in failing to avoid mistake or inadvertence; gross negligence; ignorance of the rules; or ignorance of the law is not enough. King, 556 So.2d at 722 (quoting Stringfellow, 451 So.2d at 221); See Also Accredited Sur. & Casualty Co. v. Bolles, 535 So.2d 56, 59 (Miss. 1988). In the case at bar, extraordinary circumstances have not been shown which would support the lower court's examination of the forfeiture order under a rule 60(b) analysis. All the record contains is Judge Pigott's statement that the original forfeiture order was based upon both a mistake of law and fact. The fact that H. Collins could have pled, in the lower court, that entrapment should be a defense to a forfeiture action, does not amount to extraordinary circumstances justifying rule 60(b) analysis. Nowhere does the record reflect why such a contention was not asserted by H. Collins. Absent more, all that can be said is that H. Collins did not plead such a defense to the forfeiture action as the result of negligence, ignorance, or mistake of law. The Copiah County Circuit Court abused its discretion when it examined H. Collins' failure to plead entrapment, in the civil forfeiture action, under rule 60(b) analysis. Therefore, the judgment of the lower court is reversed and judgment is rendered here for MBN. REVERSED AND RENDERED. HAWKINS, P.J., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, ANDERSON, PITTMAN and BLASS, JJ., concur. DAN M. LEE, P.J., dissents.