Opinion ID: 1872635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: appeal from the grant of a cr 60.02 motion

Text: As Moberly and the Court of Appeals correctly observe, the general rule in Kentucky is, and for some time has been, that an order setting aside a judgment and reopening the case for trial is not final or appealable. Asher v. Asher, 339 S.W.2d 630 (Ky.1960). We borrowed this rule from federal practice. Hackney v. Hackney, 327 S.W.2d 570 (Ky.1959). Federal courts have recognized an exception, however, permitting an immediate appeal from orders setting aside a judgment when the trial court lacked jurisdiction to grant that relief. Asset contends that Kentucky courts should follow suit. The origin of the federal exception is Phillips v. Negley, 117 U.S. 665, 6 S.Ct. 901, 29 L.Ed. 1013 (1886), in which a defendant successfully moved to vacate a default judgment more than three years after it had been entered. The Supreme Court reversed. Applying what, in the late nineteenth century, was the vital procedural distinction between law and equity, it ruled that the federal district court, a court of law, was not authorized to entertain the motion at a term after the term in which the judgment was entered, and indicated that the defendant's proper remedy was to pursue a bill in equity. In justifying its review of the matter, the Supreme Court explained that [i]f . . . the order made [the order vacating and granting a new trial] was made without jurisdiction on the part of the court making it, then it is a proceeding which must be the subject of review by an appellate court. Id. at 671-72, 6 S.Ct. at 903-04. Relying on this statement from Phillips v. Negley , several federal Circuit Courts have recognized a right to appeal from a trial court order setting aside a judgment (usually pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59 or 60), if the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter it. Rinieri v. News Syndicate Co., 385 F.2d 818 (2nd Cir.1967); National Passenger R.R. Corp. v. Maylie, 910 F.2d 1181 (3rd Cir.1990); Shepherd v. International Paper Company, 372 F.3d 326 (5th Cir.2004); McDowell v. Dynamics Corp. of America, 931 F.2d 380 (6th Cir.1991); Central Microfilm Serv. Corp. v. Basic/Four Corp., 688 F.2d 1206 (8th Cir.1982); Jones & Guerrero Co. v. Sealift Pac., 650 F.2d 1072 (9th Cir. 1981); Tobriner v. Chefer, 335 F.2d 281 (D.C.Cir.1964). Under this common-law exception to the final-judgment rule, Fuller v. Quire, 916 F.2d 358, 360 (6th Cir. 1990), the only question on appeal is the jurisdictional one. If the appellate court determines that the trial court acted within its authority, then the appellate court's own jurisdiction fails, and the appeal must be dismissed. The federal cases often focus on whether the trial court acted contrary to one of the rules establishing time limits for setting aside a judgment. See, e.g., Fuller v. Quire, supra (considering whether the trial court was bound by the one-year limitations period in Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(1)). In short, the issue is frequently identical to the one posed by this case, i.e. did the trial court invoke the exceptional or extraordinary circumstances basis to set aside a judgment pursuant to (Fed. R. Civ.Proc.60(b)(6)) (CR 60.02(f) in Kentucky) when the facts presented actually fit within one of the other enumerated bases for relief in which the trial court's exercise of power is limited to one year following entry of judgment? This so-called jurisdictional exception to the general rule that orders setting aside a judgment are not appealable appears not to have been widely addressed by state appellate courts. [1] A limited number of them have recognized the exception, Connecticut Light and Power Company v. Costle, 179 Conn. 415, 426 A.2d 1324 (1980); Brown v. Triple D Drilling Company, Inc., 224 Kan. 636, 585 P.2d 987 (1978) (citing Landscape Development Company, Inc. v. Kansas City Power & Light Company, 197 Kan. 126, 415 P.2d 398 (1966)), and at least one has rejected it. Baca v. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Corporation, 121 N.M. 734, 918 P.2d 13 (N.M.App.1996). As the Court of Appeals of New Mexico noted in Baca , commentators have generally given the federal practice lukewarm reviews at best. Their concerns are that the grant of an immediate appeal disrupts trial court proceedings, that it risks piecemeal appeals, that it increases already heavy appellate caseloads, that it encourages imaginative attempts to characterize alleged trial court errors as jurisdictional breaches, and that it is not necessary given the availability of extraordinary writs in those cases where the trial court is clearly abusing its authority. See Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2871 (1995) and §§ 3915.5, 3916 (1992). Notwithstanding these criticisms, the federal practice remains viable after more than 120 years. We are persuaded that there are sound reasons for this viability and therefore join the federal courts to the extent of recognizing a narrow exception to the rule that orders setting aside a judgment may not be appealed. Where a final judgment has been ordered reopened, where the disrupted judgment is more than a year old, and where the reason offered for setting it aside is allegedly an extraordinary circumstance under CR 60.02(f), permitting an immediate appeal helps to maintain the important balance between, on the one hand, the equitable insistence on justice at all costs and, on the other, the equally vital insistence that litigation must at some point conclude and reasonable expectations founded upon long-established final judgments must not lightly be overturned. This is the balance that the limitations provisions of CR 60.02 attempt to strike, and we agree with Asset that when that balance is threatened by the trial court's alleged disregard of those provisions, an immediate appeal is appropriate. We are confident that recognizing this limited modification of the finality rule will not prove unduly disruptive of trial court proceedings or burdensome to our appellate courts. Like the Court of Appeals of New Mexico, we are certain that the trial courts usually get it right, applying CR 60.02 as written and invoking the reason of an extraordinary nature ground for relief only in the most exceptional of circumstances. Notwithstanding the inventiveness of counsel, there is no reason to expect more than a manageable number of new appeals will be generated by this newly-announced approach. We are also persuaded that an immediate appeal is a more appropriate remedy than a writ, for, as important as the judgment holder's interest in the judgment may be, the irreparable nature of the injury typical in a writ case is lacking here. The judgment holder, after all, would usually have a remedy by way of appeal at the conclusion of the reopened proceedings. This new approach represents an appropriate remedy in between the extremes of writ and ordinary appeal and will adequately protect the judgment holder from breaches of the trial court's authority without any significant disruption of the ordinary workings of trial and appellate courts.