Court Opinion

ID: 9541386
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:25:01.2897+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:49.063621
License: Public Domain

*1312HOWE, Justice
(concurring and dissenting):
I concur in the opinion of Chief Justice Hall with the following observation. Neither in his opinion nor in the majority opinion is any recognition given to that part of Rule 60(b)(6) which specifically provides that if a judgment has been “satisfied, released, or discharged”, that is a ground upon which the court may relieve a party from the judgment. Entirely aside from the fact that the plaintiffs here had filed a written Satisfaction of Judgment in the court below, the judgment debtor’s insurer, Wausau, has paid or is obligated to pay the plaintiffs’ insurer, State Farm, $4,347.71 on a subrogation claim handled through arbitration. This fact clearly provided the judgment debtor with grounds to have the judgment against it modified to the extent of that amount. On somewhat similar facts, a judgment was modified because of partial satisfaction thereof in Sunderland v. City of Philadelphia, 575 F.2d 1089 (3rd Cir.1978). There, the plaintiffs obtained a judgment against the defendants in the amount of $35,000 arising out of a gas explosion. After entry of judgment, defendants filed a motion to amend the judgment because one of them had paid $7,500 to the plaintiffs’ insurer on account of the latter’s subrogation claim against the defendants. The court held that the denial of the motion by the district court was an abuse of discretion and that the defendants were entitled to such relief modifying the judgment under Federal Rule 60(b)(5), which is the same as our Rule 60(b)(6).