Opinion ID: 2536393
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether the trial court properly calculated the longevity of the cost bond for which prudential seeks recovery, and whether prudential failed to mitigate its costs.

Text: ¶ 11. Stewart argues that Prudential should have stopped incurring costs as of this Court's decision in the underlying case on September 27, 2007. Prudential, however, states that it continued to maintain the bond because its exposure did not end in 2007 due to a series of motions for rehearing that Stewart had filed, the second of which was in June 2008. After this Court denied Stewart's second Motion for Rehearing, Prudential allowed the bond to expire. ¶ 12. We find that Prudential's exposure ended as soon as this Court issued the mandate on December 20, 2007, making continued maintenance of the bond unnecessary. Under Rule 40(a) of the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure, once a Motion for Rehearing has been denied, no further motion for rehearing shall be filed by any party. Once this Court had denied Stewart's initial Motion for Rehearing, Stewart was no longer at liberty to file additional motions. Any subsequent Motions for Rehearing filed by Stewart did not serve to prolong the appeal in any way. As such, Prudential had no need to maintain the bond. This Court has denied a party recovery for a bond deemed to be unnecessary. N. Elec. Co., 673 So.2d at 1385 (citing Board of Trustees of Hattiesburg v. Gates, 467 So.2d 216, 219 (Miss. 1985)). ¶ 13. Accordingly, on this issue, we find that the trial court erred, and we reverse and remand to the trial court for a determination of the costs of maintaining the bond through December 20, 2007.