Opinion ID: 2634677
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Inadvertence

Text: Rule 60(b)(1) permits relief from judgment entered as a result of inadvertence. A party seeking relief under Rule 60(b) must establish that she had good reason for failing to act sooner, that she has a good claim or defense, and that she has moved to vacate judgment within a reasonable time. [15] The court will also consider whether reopening the judgment will cause hardship to the opposing party. [16] The authority to give relief granted by Rule 60(b)(1) has been exercised in a wide variety of cases, including cases in which an employee neglectfully or intentionally caused a party's attorney not to timely receive or file important litigation documents. [17] The unrebutted contentions of Harris and her attorney establish that Harris's objections dated December 17, 2001 had not been filed. They also establish that it was through inadvertence that Harris and her attorney did not realize that the objections had not been filed or that the child support order was entered on December 27, 2001. This inadvertence required that the child support order of December 27, 2001 be set aside. It also required the superior court, before deciding on the merits whether to reenter that proposed order, to consider the objections Harris had previously attempted to submit in objecting to the proposed order. Several of the grounds in Harris's objections were compelling and unrebutted. They establish that Harris's objections were meritorious. On its face, the June 7 order awarded Westfall and Harris shared physical custody of the child. Westfall therefore did not in fact have primary physical custody of the child. Therefore, just as Harris's objections contended, a joint child support calculation was required. As the objections contended, the court had to take into account each parent's earning capabilities to make that calculation. And as the objections also argued, before making that calculation, the court had to know Westfall's earning capacity and should have required him to submit a child support guidelines affidavit. Harris's objections explicitly raised these grounds. They should have carried the day had they been filed and considered in December 2001. It may be that the superior court, in considering Harris's Rule 60(b) motion, rejected as inaccurate the factual assertions made in Harris's affidavit and her attorney's memorandum. But the court made no findings to that effect. Because the court did not find that these assertions were inaccurate, it was error to deny the Rule 60(b) motion.