Opinion ID: 1852225
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the lower court abused its discretion when it denied plaintiff's motion to reopen time for appeal?

Text: ¶ 8. Four days after learning that the judge had denied their motion for reconsideration, well within the 7 days allowed under M.R.A.P. 4(h), the Boyleses filed a Motion to Reopen Time for Appeal so that they could continue to pursue their original appeal from the adverse ruling granting judgment on the pleadings in favor of Schlumberger. The trial judge, after a brief and somewhat scattered hearing, gave the attorneys ten days to research further, since there appeared to be confusion and lack of clarity about the law and facts. The court docket sheet reflects no further action until four months later when the judge denied the Motion to Reopen Time for Appeal. ¶ 9. The Boyleses contend the circuit court erred in denying their motion to reopen, since: 1) it is undisputed that there was no proper service of notice to them of the denial of their motion to reconsider, thus triggering the authority to reopen pursuant to M.R.A.P. 4(h); and 2) they had timely filed their motion to reopen. Schlumberger responds only with the argument that because the earlier Motion to Reconsider was not a proper Rule 59 motion, but only an improper attempt to get two bites at the apple, the Boyleses lost their right to appeal when they voluntarily dismissed their original appeal on November 24, 1998. ¶ 10. Rule 4(h) reads as follows: Reopening Time for Appeal. The trial court, if it finds (a) that a party entitled to notice of the entry of judgment or order did not receive such notice from the clerk or any party within 21 days of its entry and (b) that no party would be prejudiced, may, upon motion filed within 180 days of entry of the judgment or order or within 7 days of receipt of such notice, whichever is earlier, reopen the time for appeal for a period of 14 days from the date of entry of the order reopening the time for appeal. M.R.A.P. 4(h). ¶ 11. In Duncan v. Duncan, 774 So.2d 418 (Miss.2000), the first case in which this Court discussed the provisions of this new amendment to Rule 4, we reversed and remanded the chancellor's denial of Duncan's timely filed motion, with directions that the trial court should grant the motion to reopen the time to allow Duncan the 14 days to file his appeal, as provided in the rule. Noting that a timely filed Rule 4(h) motion allows the court to reopen for 14 days the time for appeal when: a) notice of entry of a judgment was not received within 21 days of its entry, and b) no party would be prejudiced, with prejudice defined as some adverse consequence other than the risk of having to oppose the appeal and encounter the risk of reversal, we held that: In limiting this decision to the facts before us and taking the rule as written, while also noting the absence of any argument by Helen that she is in any way prejudiced, we find that the trial court erred in failing to grant [the] motion to reopen time for appeal. Id. at 420. ¶ 12. In the present case, the trial judge unfortunately did not provide any findings of fact or conclusions of law, but rather entered a bare-bones, one-sentence order denying the Boyleses' motion. The record is silent regarding any prejudice to Schlumberger, although there was ample opportunity for it to show same in its written response to, and in its argument on, the Boyles' motion. The facts surrounding the motion and the decision of the trial judges in both Duncan and the present case are virtually the same. Thus we follow the precedent of Duncan and find that the trial court erred in denying the Boyleses' motion to reopen time for appeal.