Escritor v. Maui County Council, Ltd.

629 P.2d 1146, 2 Haw. App. 200, 1981 Haw. App. LEXIS 198
CourtHawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 2, 1981
DocketNO. 7948
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 629 P.2d 1146 (Escritor v. Maui County Council, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Escritor v. Maui County Council, Ltd., 629 P.2d 1146, 2 Haw. App. 200, 1981 Haw. App. LEXIS 198 (hawapp 1981).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

In this case, we sua sponte ordered additional briefing on the question of whether we had jurisdiction of the appeal. The facts involved on that issue are as follows: The complaint herein [201]*201named one corporation, one individual and John and Mary Does 1-10 as defendants. The Does were named pursuant to Rule 17(d), Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure (HRCP), under a pro forma allegation that their names, identities, capacities, responsibilities or involvement were unknown. No further steps were taken by the plaintiffs-appellants on the record to identify any of the names, identities, capacities, responsibilities or involvements of the Does.

A motion for summary judgment was filed by the defendants and orally granted after argument. The next day, appellants’ counsel received a proposed form of order from appellees’ counsel which he disapproved. Appellees’ counsel forwarded the disapproved form of order to the court which entered the same five days later on May 16, 1979 at 3:35 p.m. Appellants’ counsel apparently did not receive notice of the entry of the order until May 29, 1979.

On May 31, an ex parte motion for enlargement of time to file a motion for reconsideration was filed and an order allowing appellants until June 8, 1979 to file a motion for reconsideration was granted. The motion purports to be made pursuant to Rule 6(b)(1), HRCP. The motion for an ex parte order bears a certificate of service dated May 29,1979 indicating that it was served by mail. The motion for reconsideration, which purports to be filed pursuant to Rule 59, HRCP, was filed June 8,1979. A hearing on the motion was held June 21, 1979 at which time the court took the matter under advisement until moved on. According to the minutes, this was to give appellants’ counsel enough time to get another deposition and possibly file other memos. For approximately ten months nothing further was filed. On April 14, 1980, appellees filed a motion for entry of final judgment. That motion asked for the entry of a Rule 54(b), HRCP, certificate, apparently upon the theory that the order on the motion for summary judgment, having not mentioned the John Does, was incomplete. Appellants filed a memorandum in opposition and on May 15, 1980, after hearing, orders denying the motion for reconsideration and granting the motion for an entry of final judgment were entered. Appellants thereupon on June 13, 1980 filed their notice of the present appeal.

We hold that we do not have jurisdiction because the appeal was not filed within the time prescribed by Rule 73(a), HRCP. The John Doe allegations do not, in our opinion, prevent the May 16, 1979 order for summary judgment from being a final judgment. There [202]*202are no factual allegations to substantiate the John Does either as parties or as having any responsibility in the matter and appellants did nothing and have done nothing on the record to change that situation. Appellants had ample opportunity to convert the John Doe allegations into real claims involving real parties. They did not do so.

We note that appellants failed to comply with Rule 23 of the Rules of the Circuit Court which requires a party objecting to a proposed judgment, decree or order, to serve upon the prevailing party and deliver to the court within five days after service of the form of order upon him, a statement of objections and the reasons therefor or a proposed judgment. Appellants chose to ignore this Rule. Had they followed it, they would, in all probability, have received prompt notice of the court’s action. It is true that under the provisions of Rule 77(d), HRCP, appellants should have received notice of the order or judgment from the clerk of court anyway, but that Rule expressly provides:

Lack of notice of the entry by the clerk, or failure to make such service, does not affect the time to appeal or relieve or authorize the court to relieve a party for failure to appeal within the time allowed, except as permitted in Rule 73(a).

It is undisputed that the appellants received notice of the entry of the order on May 29,1979, well within the 30 days within which they had to appeal. (Rule 73(a) provides that the circuit court may extend the time for filing a notice of appeal for an additional 30 days upon a showing of excusable neglect. No such application was ever made.)

Instead of appealing, appellants applied for an extension of time to file a motion for reconsideration. If, as appellants claim, that motion was one pursuant to Rule 59, HRCP, it must have been pursuant to Rule 59(e), and Rule 6(a) expressly provides that the circuit court has no power to extend the time for taking any action under Rule 59(e).

Moreover, appellants moved ex parte for the extension of time before the circuit court pursuant to Rule 6(b)(1). This was wrong. Since the ten-day period prescribed by Rule 59(e) had already expired, appellants were required to move under Rule 6(b)(2). Motions, except for those which are expressly permitted to be made ex parte, must be served under Rule 5(a), HRCP. In this case, the motion was served by mail on May 29, which means that when it was [203]*203granted ex parte on May 31, 1979, effective service had not been made.

The motion for reconsideration (which in essence only reargues points already made on the motion for summary judgment) was filed June 8,1979, well before the original 50-day period for appeal had expired. Appellees could have as easily filed a notice of appeal and thus avoided the present problem. Instead, they noticed the hearing on the motion for reconsideration for June 21, 1979, 36 days after the entry of the order. At that hearing, they requested and received permission to file additional documents in support of the motion for reconsideration. For almost a year no further papers were filed with the court until appellees moved “for entry of a final judgment”. Subsequently, the order appealed from was entered.

We hold that the order of May 16, 1979 was a final order. That being so, since no motion under Rule 59 was timely filed as required by Rule 73(a), the appeal, on the face of the record, was taken too late.

Appellants, however, cite several federal cases which they claim prevent literal application of the rules in this case. The original case in this line of authority is Harris Truck Lines, Inc. v. Cherry Meat Packers, Inc., 371 U.S. 215, 83 S. Ct. 283, 9 L.Ed.2d 261 (1962). In that case, before the expiration of the 30 days for time to appeal, the appellant applied to the district court for an extension of time based upon the fact that its general counsel who had sole responsibility for all corporate decisions was vacationing in Mexico and could not be reached. The district court, at a hearing with opposing counsel present, granted the additional time finding excusable neglect. The court of appeals dismissed the appeal holding that the finding of excusable neglect was in error.' The Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals in view of the obvious great hardship on the appellant who had relied upon the trial court’s finding of excusable neglect prior to the expiration of the 30-day period.

Had appellants in this case moved for an extension of time to file its notice of appeal instead of filing an ex parte motion for extension of time to file a motion for reconsideration, the case would be in point. Based upon the facts, however, it is not.

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Escritor v. MAUI CTY. COUNCIL LTD.
629 P.2d 1146 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
629 P.2d 1146, 2 Haw. App. 200, 1981 Haw. App. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/escritor-v-maui-county-council-ltd-hawapp-1981.