Judical Code

Judicial Code

Rule 33: Relief from Judgment or Order

(a) Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the Court at any time of its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice as the Court may direct; mistakes may be corrected before an appeal is docketed in the Appellate Court, and thereafter while the appeal is pending may be corrected with leave of the Appellate Court.

(b) Upon motion and upon such terms as are just, the Court may, in the furtherance of justice, relieve a party or her/his 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 to move for a new trial under Rule 32(a);

(3) Fraud, misrepresentation or other misconduct of an adverse party;

(4) When, for any cause, the summons in an action has not been personally served upon the defendant and the defendant has failed to appear in said action;

(5) The judgment is void;

(6) The judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged; or a prior judgment should have prospective application; or

(7) Any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment.

The motion shall be made within a reasonable time and for reasons (1), (2), (3), or (4), not more than three (3) months after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken. A motion under subsection (b) does not affect the finality of a judgment or suspend its operation. This rule does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order or proceeding or to set aside a judgment for fraud upon the Court. The procedure for obtaining any relief from a judgment shall be by motion as prescribed in these rules or by an independent action.

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