Opinion ID: 2581004
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Perfection of appeal by filing motion for reconsideration

Text: In addition to the foregoing finality requirement, this court has noted that, [b]y the plain language of the statute, a party desiring to appeal from an order entered in a proceeding governed by HRS § 571-54[, see supra note 21,] is required to file a motion for reconsideration. In re Doe Children: John Doe, Born on December 22, 1997; John Doe, Born on December 22, 1997, 94 Hawai'i 485, 486, 17 P.3d 217, 218 (2001) (citing In re Doe, 3 Haw.App. 391, 394, 651 P.2d 492, 494 (1982)). Thus, there is no appealable order until the family court resolves the motion for reconsideration. Id. In the present matter, the DOE satisfied the foregoing requirement for perfecting an appeal from the December 6, 2001 orders, directing the DOE to place John in the eighth grade, because the DOE and the DHS filed a motion for reconsideration on October 1, 2001, which the family court adjudicated by entering the October 16, 2001 orders, denying the October 1, 2001 motion for reconsideration. [25] The DOE's right to assert an appeal under HRS § 571-54, see supra note 21, was therefore perfected when the family court entered the October 16, 2001 orders. [26]