Federal Judiciary

Catz v. Chalker (9th Cir. - May 13, 2009)

By Shaun Martin

Admittedly, it's about a totally hypertechnical procedural matter: Whether a Rule 60(a) motion filed within 10 days of the judgment tolls the time for filing an appeal. A question, I might add, which has a simple answer, which you can fairly rapidly discern from FRAP 4, which says: "If a party timely files in the district court any of the following motions under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the ime to file an appeal runs for all parties from the entry of the order disposing of the last such remaining motion. . . . for relief under Rule 60 if the motion is filed no later than 10 days after the judgment is entered." Pretty explicit, huh?

So the panel just follows the express language of the rule. Which, parenthetically, is what every other court to address the issue has done as well.

Still, the panel adds some additional -- nice -- touches that make the proper outcome even clearer. It's a nice opinion that reaches an obviously correct result.

Full post as published by California Appellate Report on May 13, 2009 (boomark / email).