Court Opinion

ID: 9495346
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:00:51.343994+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:58.267461
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING IN PART, DISSENTING IN PART
SILER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the conclusion and reasoning of the majority opinion on whether the district court had jurisdiction. In short, I agree that there was jurisdiction to consider the motion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(5). However, I dissent from the decision that the matter should be remanded for further proceedings.
Admittedly, Rogers v. Stratton Industries, Inc., 798 F.2d 913, 917 (6th Cir.1986), states that “if a court does not have jurisdiction, ipso facto, it cannot address the merits of a case.” However, we now hold that the district court had jurisdiction in the ease. The court made an alternative ruling, called dicta by the majority opinion, that if jurisdiction were present, then it would still deny the motion to relieve the Township from a final judgment.
The district court set out valid reasons why it would deny the motion. First, the argument by the Township that its financial health had changed to such a degree that the 1972 consent judgment should be set aside was insufficient to reverse the intent of the judgment. It found no inequity in the transfer of the water system to the City. Moreover, the district court decided that the Township had not filed its motion within a reasonable time because the 28-year delay in filing the motion was well beyond the time limitation contemplated by Rule 60(b). It concluded that the City would be extremely prejudiced if the court revisited the matter after the City had relied upon the judgment for almost 30 years absent any challenge by the Township.
Although the Township wants the matter to be remanded for a hearing on the merits of the motion, the court has already made its ruling. It would be an exercise in futility to remand for such a hearing. The Township does not explain what evidence it would use to refute any of the previous determinations by the court. Therefore, I would find that the district court has made its ruling under Rule 60(b) and that it did not abuse its discretion in denying the relief requested. Thus, I would affirm the alternative decision by the district court. In my opinion, such a result does not contradict the decision in Rogers.