Opinion ID: 2639104
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Issue 1: Did the district court have jurisdiction to address the interest issue?

Text: The Krigels first claim that ARY's motion for interest should have been denied because the district judge signed a journal entry resolving the substantive case on May 6, 2002, but ARY waited too long until June 10, 2002, to file its motion. The parties do not dispute that Kansas law applies to this issue: We agree because determining whether jurisdiction lies in a Kansas district court or instead in a Kansas appellate court must be governed by Kansas law. See Vanier, 251 Kan. 88; Western Video Collectors v. Mercantile Bank, 23 Kan. App. 2d 703, 705, 935 P.2d 237 (1997) (In conflict of laws situations, matters of procedure are usually considered to be subject to the law of the forum.). As support, the Krigels argue that under K.S.A. 60-259(f), ARY should have filed its motion within 10 days of the signing of the court's journal entry and that ARY was simply too late. Krigels' argument has no merit. Under K.S.A. 60-258, the effective date of a journal entry is when signed by the trial judge and filed with the clerk of the court. The clerk of the court filed the first signed journal entry resolving the substantive case on May 29, 2002. Under K.S.A. 60-259(f), ARY had 10 days afterward to file a motion to alter or amend the judgment. K.S.A. 2001 Supp. 60-206(a) dictates that if the allocated period is 11 days or less, weekends and holidays are not counted when calculating the due date. ARY's motion, filed on June 10, 2002, was timely. For the Krigels' second jurisdictional argument, they claim the district court should not have heard ARY's motion because their appeal had already been docketed in the Court of Appeals. On May 30, 2002, the day after the filing of the journal entry, Krigels filed their notice of appeal with the district court. On June 4, 2002, they docketed their appeal with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts. Six days later, on June 10, 2002, ARY timely filed its motion to alter or amend the substantive judgment. This court has recognized: A trial court does not have jurisdiction to modify a judgment after it has been appealed and the appeal docketed at the appellate level. In re Estate of Robinson, 232 Kan. 752, 754, 659 P.2d 172 (1983). However, instead of summarily remanding the interest issue  which is a meaningless exercise in light of paragraphs 6 and 7 of the district court's decision which resolved the issue on September 13, 2002, i.e., the parties agreed to the rate at which interest would be earned on the escrowed funds  we will consider the interest issue out of judicial economy. Cf. Martin v. Martin, 5 Kan. App. 2d 670, 674-75, 623 P.2d 527, rev. denied 229 Kan. 670 (1981) (Even where district court lacks jurisdiction to rule on a motion for new trial under K.S.A. 60-260, the preferable procedure is for that court to consider the motion, if warranted, to prevent inefficient adjudication of the issue.).