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Martinez v. Friede2/20/2004
no later than ten days after the entry of judgment. Finally, Rule 1-059(D) states that " f a motion for new trial is not granted within thirty (30) days from the date it is filed, the motion is automatically denied." Since Petitioner in this case timely filed a motion for new trial but the trial court failed to grant the motion within thirty days of the date of filing, we must first determine Rule 1-059(D)'s effect on the district court's power to order a new trial.
The New Mexico Rules of Civil Procedure are modeled after the federal rules and our Rule 1-059 is substantially the same as its federal counterpart with one notable exception-Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59 does not impose a time limit on the trial court in granting new trial motions. The automatic denial provision in Rule 1-059(D), though, is not entirely unique to this state's rules of civil procedure. See, e.g., Ark. R. Civ. P. 59(b) ("If the court neither grants nor denies the motion within 30 days of the date on which it is filed or treated as filed, it shall be deemed denied as of the 30th day."). The automatic denial provision of Rule 1-059(D) was intended, at least in part, to assist district courts in managing their dockets by disposing of motions for new trial that are not acted upon within a specified time. Cf. State v. Ratchford, 115 N.M. 567, 571, 855 P.2d 556, 560 (1993) (stating that case management was one of the purposes of the automatic denial provision of Rule 5-614(C) NMRA 2004, which governs motions for new trial in criminal cases). If case management was the only policy reason for the automatic denial provision of Rule 1-059(D), this Court might well construe the rule as merely "a housekeeping rule" that was constructively waived by the district court in this case. See Lovelace Med. Ctr. v. Mendez, 111 N.M. 336, 339, 805 P.3d 603, 606 (1991).
However, beyond assisting district courts with the management of their dockets, Rule 1-059(D) acts "to encourage expeditious determination of post-trial motions and to provide certainty in the calculation of the time within which a party must file a notice of appeal." Campbell v. McGill, 810 P.2d 199, 200 (Colo. 1991) (en banc). Construing Rule 1-059(D) as a mere housekeeping rule would contravene these other policy reasons for automatically denying motions for new trial after a fixed period of time. Cf. Canton Oil Corp. v. Dist. Court, 731 P.2d 687, 693 (Colo. 1987) (en banc) ( "If trial courts could forestall the [time limit for ruling on motions for new trial] by merely taking some inconclusive action, the purpose of the rule would largely be defeated."). In order to avoid such an anomalous result, we agree with the Court of Appeals that " hen the trial court failed to rule on the motion within the thirty-day period prescribed by Rule 1-059(D), the motion was denied by operation of law." Martinez, 2003-NMCA-081, 13. Therefore, the district court in this case lacked the authority to grant a new trial under Rule 1-059 beyond September 9, 1999, the day Petitioner's motion was denied by operation of law.
B.
Although the district court lacked the authority to grant a new trial under Rule 1-059, that rule is not the only authority upon which the district court may order a new trial. A new trial may also be an available remedy under Rule 1-060(B), which provides as follows:
On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or his [or her] legal representative from a final judgment, order or proceeding for the following reasons:
(1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect;
(2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time
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