Opinion ID: 1412480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: In his cross-appeal, Lambrecht contends the circuit court erred in finding USAA's motion for reconsideration was timely given it was filed more than ten days after entry of the April 8, 2005 order. If the motion is found to have been untimely, Lambrecht asserts the circuit court was without jurisdiction to hear the motion. As a result, Lambrecht claims this Court, in turn, is without jurisdiction to review the appeal on the ground the time was not tolled for USAA to file its Notice of Appeal. Rule 203(b), SCACR, requires a party to serve his notice of appeal within thirty days after receiving written notice of the entry of a final order or judgment, and failure to do so divests this court of subject matter jurisdiction and results in dismissal of the appeal. Canal Ins. Co. v. Caldwell, 338 S.C. 1, 4, 524 S.E.2d 416, 418 (Ct.App.1999). The requirement of service of the notice of appeal is jurisdictional, i.e., if a party misses the deadline, the appellate court lacks jurisdiction to consider the appeal and has no authority or discretion to `rescue' the delinquent party by extending or ignoring the deadline for service of the notice. Elam v. S.C. Dep't of Transp., 361 S.C. 9, 14-15, 602 S.E.2d 772, 775 (2004). A timely post-trial motion, including a motion to alter or amend the judgment pursuant to Rule 59(e), SCRCP, stays the time for an appeal for all parties until receipt of written notice of entry of the order granting or denying such motion. Id. at 15, 602 S.E.2d at 775 (citing Rule 203(b)(1), SCACR, Rules 50(e), 52(c), and 59(f), SCRCP). A motion under Rule 59(e) is timely if it is `served not later than 10 days after receipt of written notice of the entry of the order.' If a timely motion is made pursuant to Rule 59, the time for appeal runs from the receipt of written notice of entry of the order disposing of the motion. Coward Hund Constr. Co. v. Ball Corp., 336 S.C. 1, 3, 518 S.E.2d 56, 57 (Ct.App.1999). Strictly applying the above-outlined rules of civil and appellate procedure, there is evidence to support Lambrecht's assertion. However, for this Court to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, it would have to essentially reject the circuit court's implicit credibility determination of USAA's counsel and find that counsel made a false representation to the circuit court regarding notice of entry of the order. In response to Lambrecht's assertion that USAA's motion to reconsider was untimely, USAA's counsel submitted a letter to the circuit court in which she claimed she did not receive notice of entry of the final order until May 16, 2005, when Lambrecht's counsel contacted her. After receiving this notice, USAA's counsel claimed she filed the motion for reconsideration on May 26, 2005, within the requisite ten-day time period. Presumably, USAA's counsel was being truthful when she made this representation to the circuit court. See Rule 407(1), SCACR (A lawyer, being a member of the legal profession, is a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.); Rule 3.3(a)(1)(A lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer.); Rule 4.1(a)(In the course of representing a client a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person.); Rule 8.4(d)(It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.). Because there is no record of the hearing, this Court is unable to determine whether USAA's counsel's representations to the circuit court were under oath. Furthermore, the circuit court's order is silent regarding the basis for its decision finding that USAA's motion for reconsideration was timely filed. In light of this procedural posture, it was incumbent upon Lambrecht to file a motion pursuant to Rule 59(e) of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure to request that the circuit court provide specific factual findings for its decision. See Noisette v. Ismail, 304 S.C. 56, 58, 403 S.E.2d 122, 124 (1991) (holding that where a trial court does not explicitly rule on an argument raised, and appellant makes no Rule 59(e) motion to obtain a ruling, the appellate court may not address the issue); Floyd v. Floyd, 365 S.C. 56, 73, 615 S.E.2d 465, 474 (Ct.App.2005) (When a trial judge makes a general ruling on an issue, but does not address the specific argument raised by the appellant and the appellant does not make a motion to alter or amend pursuant to Rule 59(e), SCRCP, to obtain a ruling on the argument, the appellate court cannot consider the argument on appeal.). Without explicit findings of fact by the circuit court, our decision can only be based on the implicit credibility determination of the circuit court. Deferring to the circuit court, we find USAA's counsel was credible in explaining her delay in filing the motion for reconsideration. See Reed v. Ozmint, 374 S.C. 19, 24, 647 S.E.2d 209, 211 (2007) (noting the circuit court judge, who saw and heard the witnesses, is in a better position to evaluate their credibility and assign comparative weight to their testimony). Based on the record before us, we decline to reverse the decision of the circuit court. As a result, we hold USAA's motion to reconsider and Notice of Appeal were timely. In turn, this Court has jurisdiction to review USAA's appeal.