Opinion ID: 1665348
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether the trial court's grant of relief from dismissal was an abuse of discretion

Text: ¶ 19. An appellate court evaluates the granting of a Miss. R. Civ. P. 60 motion for abuse of discretion. Montgomery v. Montgomery, 759 So.2d 1238, 1240 (Miss.2000) (citing Stringfellow v. Stringfellow, 451 So.2d 219, 221 (Miss.1984)). The finding of the trial court will not be disturbed unless the judge was either manifestly wrong or clearly erroneous or erroneous in applying the legal standard. See Perkins v. Perkins, 787 So.2d 1256, 1261 (Miss.2001). ¶ 20. Three errors by the trial court clerk warranted relief from dismissal: (1) failing to file the McDaniels' letter sent in response to the motion to dismiss; (2) placing the incorrect docket number on the Order dismissing the case; and (3) failing to notify the McDaniels of the Order to Dismiss. There are two sections to Miss. R. Civ. P. 60 that allow relief from judgment. Cucos argues that any relief due to McDaniels should be granted only under section (a). The Court agrees, instead, with the trial court that Rule 60(b) is the more appropriate section. ¶ 21. Section (a) applies specifically to clerical mistakes in judgments, orders, or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission. Miss. R. Civ. P 60(a). The purpose of Rule 60(a) is simply to correct insubstantial clerical errors. Miss. R. Civ. P. 60(a) cmt. Rule 60(a) only offers a correction of the record, which is inadequate relief. The failure by the clerk to place the McDaniels' letter in the record, where the trial court indicated it expected to see such a letter, resulted in a dismissal by the trial court which was unaware at the time of dismissal the that McDaniels had sent what the trial court deemed a sufficient response to prevent dismissal or at least justify holding a hearing in order to determine whether good cause existed. This erroneous result could not be overcome by a mere correction of the record. The trial court properly set aside the Order Dismissing Case for Want of Prosecution, which is a result unattainable under Rule 60(a). ¶ 22. Relief from more substantial errors requires the use of Rule 60(b), Townsend v. Townsend, 859 So.2d 370, 375 (Miss.2003), and, specifically, Rule 60(b)(6) applies in this case. After the enumerated grounds of subsections 1 through 5, Rule 60(b)(6) provides that the court may relieve a party from a final judgment or order for any other reason justifying relief from judgment, and the motion shall be made within a reasonable time. M.A.S. v. Miss. Dep't of Human Servs., 842 So.2d 527, 530 (Miss.2003). A reasonable time is determined on a case-by-case basis, turning on the facts in each individual case. Id. Initially unaware of the dismissal due to the clerk's failure to comply with Miss. R. Civ. P. 77(d), which requires immediate notice of a judgment sent by the clerk to the parties, the McDaniels acted quickly, filing a motion to obtain relief from the dismissal within six days upon learning of the judgment. [4] ¶ 23. Additionally, two of the factors considered regarding whether a party acted in a reasonable time to justify relief are whether the party opposing the motion has suffered prejudice from the delay and whether the movant can show good cause for failure to act sooner. M.A.S., 842 So.2d at 530. Upon a hearing on the McDaniels' motion to set aside the dismissal, the trial court mentioned no finding of prejudice, and this Court has been presented with no argument regarding an improperly considered or ignored claim of prejudice. Also, the movants, according to the findings of the trial judge from the hearing and in the opinion of this Court, showed good cause in that they did not receive notice of the Order to dismiss and were unable to reasonably find the dismissal themselves because it was labeled with the incorrect docket number. Therefore, this Court finds that the McDaniels moved for relief within a reasonable time pursuant to Rule 60(b). ¶ 24. Further, Cucos argues that the facts of this case are insufficient to constitute the exceptional or extreme circumstances required to gain relief under Rule 60(b)(6). Correctly, Cucos states that Rule 60(b)(6) is for use only in extraordinary and compelling circumstances. M.A.S., 842 So.2d at 530. However, this Court recently decided in a similar case that the trial court acted well within its discretion when it granted a motion to vacate and subsequently allowed post trial motions to be considered on the merits that were filed fifteen days after the final judgment as opposed to the ten day requirement in the rules. [5] Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Williams, 936 So.2d 888, 894-95 (Miss.2006). The Court upheld the granting of the motion to vacate under Rule 60(b)(6), finding exceptional circumstances where the clerk failed to give notice of the judgment as required immediately upon the entry by Miss. R. Civ. P. 77(d) and answered incorrectly the movant's inquiries about the status of the case. Id. ¶ 25. The case sub judice is significantly akin to Hartford in at least three ways. The clerk similarly failed to comply with Rule 77(d) in not notifying the McDaniels of the judgment and inhibiting his ability to respond to the dismissal more quickly. Also, incorrect information was provided by the clerk regarding the status of the case since the judgment was labeled with the incorrect docket number. Finally, as Hartford filed a motion for relief on the day of learning of the judgement, McDaniel, too, filed for relief quickly, filing within six days. In Hartford this Court held that Rule 60(b) provides a trial judge with the discretionary capacity to right the unforeseeable wrong without having to undermine important procedural mandates. Id., 936 So.2d at 894. The numerous errors made by the clerk constitute exceptional circumstances that justify relief for the McDaniels under Rule 60(b)(6), and the trial court was within its discretion when it granted the McDaniels' motion pursuant to Rule 60(b)(6) to set aside the dismissal for want of prosecution. Therefore, this Court will, as we did in Hartford, uphold the judgment of the trial court. ¶ 26. Cucos contends that the trial court made erroneous statements used as a bases for its decision to grant relief under Rule 60(b), and consequently, the decision cannot be upheld. The Court dismisses this argument as irrelevant. The result was legally justifiable, and a trial court judgment may be affirmed on grounds other than those relied upon by the trial court judgment. Askew v. Askew, 699 So.2d 515, 519 (Miss.1997) (citing Kirksey v. Dye, 564 So.2d 1333, 1336 (Miss.1990); Stewart v. Walls, 534 So.2d 1033, 1035 (Miss.1988)). It is well established in our jurisprudence that the right result reached for the wrong reason will not be disturbed on appeal. Accredited Sur. & Cas. Co., 535 So.2d at 60 (affirming a trial court grant of relief under Rule 60(b)(6) despite the incorrect identification by the movant of the subsection for which relief was available and no identification of the appropriate prong of Rule 60(b) by the trial court). ¶ 27. Within the trial court decision, Cucos also refutes the relevancy of the clerk's failure to notify the McDaniels of the Order dismissing the case. The Court agrees in part and disagrees in part. Regarding Rule 41(d), the point in time which triggers the plaintiff's rights in preventing dismissal is when the clerk files the motion to dismiss at which time the plaintiff has thirty days in which to respond to prevent dismissal of the case. Thus, the important event for Rule 41(d) is the filing of the motion to dismiss and providing notification of the motion, rather than notice of the Order to dismiss. While this Court agrees that the Order to dismiss is irrelevant for the purposes of applying Rule 41(d), it finds the failure to send notice of the Order critically relevant for the application of Rule 60(b). Failure by the clerk to send notice of the Order to dismiss was one of several factors that justified the granting of relief under Rule 60(b)(6). ¶ 28. Cucos argues that the McDaniels do not qualify for relief under Rule 60(b) because they failed to exhaust procedural remedies available under Miss. R. Civ. P. 41(d). Indeed, Rule 60(b) is not an escape hatch for litigants who failed to use available procedural remedies. Briney v. United States Fid. & Guar. Co., 714 So.2d 962, 967 (Miss.1998). However, the Court addresses the issue of Rule 41(d) compliance above and finds that the McDaniels properly pursued the procedural remedies available under Rule 41(d).