Gilbert v. Dresser Industries, Inc.

158 F.R.D. 89, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20651, 1993 WL 740996
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Mississippi
DecidedDecember 3, 1993
DocketNo. DC90-G160-B-0
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 158 F.R.D. 89 (Gilbert v. Dresser Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gilbert v. Dresser Industries, Inc., 158 F.R.D. 89, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20651, 1993 WL 740996 (N.D. Miss. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BIGGERS, District Judge.

This cause comes before the court upon the motion of the plaintiffs for relief from judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b). The court having considered the motion and the defendant’s response is in a position to rule.

FACTS

This action was commenced on October 3, 1990 by the heirs-at-law and beneficiaries of Franklin Lamar Gilbert, who was killed when he fell from a Galion Model RP-60 road planer manufactured by defendant Dresser Industries, Inc. (“Dresser”). The plaintiffs pleaded claims against Dresser based on negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty. On July 20, 1992, this court granted summary judgment in Dresser’s favor, finding that the consumer expectations test for products actions as applied in Mississippi precluded recovery under any theory pled in the action. The court did not reach the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims nor did it address the defendant’s alternative grounds for summary judgment. The judgment was affirmed without opinion by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on January 22, 1993, 983 F.2d 1064. On March 25,1993, the Mississippi Supreme Court in Sperry-New Holland, Div. of Sperry Corp. v. Prestage, 617 So.2d 248 (Miss.1993), rejected a manufacturer’s argument that Mississippi follows the “consumer expectations” test in products actions. Finding instead that the trial court properly applied the “risk-utility” analysis, the Supreme Court used the decision “to clarify [its] reasons for the adoption for that test” in Whittley v. City of Meridian, 530 So.2d 1341 (Miss.1988), and Hall v. Mississippi Chemical Exp. Inc., 528 So.2d 796 (Miss.1988). Sperry-New Holland, 617 So.2d at 253. Accordingly, Sperry-New Holland, makes clear that at the time that this ease was decided on summary judgment, the state law that controlled this diversity action did not follow the consumer expectations test, the standard applied by this court in dismissing the action. See also Satcher v. Honda Motor Co., 993 F.2d 56, 57 (5th Cir. 1993) (“Mississippi applies a ‘risk-utility’ test and has done so since 1987.”)1

Four days after Sperry-New Holland was decided, the plaintiffs moved this court to stay the taxation of costs awarded to Dresser. As grounds for the motion, the plaintiffs cited Sperry-New Holland, and stated their intention “to perfect an appeal to the United States Supreme Court seeking a writ of cer-tiorari.” In their motion, the plaintiffs asserted that “the significant change in the law ... should provide a basis for further review by the United States Supreme Court or, in the alternative, a re-opening of the proceedings pursuant to Rule 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.” On September 7, 1993, the present motion was filed.

LAW

Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b) provides in relevant part that:

(b) Mistakes; Inadvertence; Excusable Neglect; Newly Discovered Evidence; Fraud, etc.
On motion and upon such terms that are just, the court may relieve a party or a party’s legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect;
(5) the judgment has been satisfied, released or otherwise vacated or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment. The motion shall [92]*92be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2) and (3) not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken.

In this circuit, the analysis of the merits of a motion under 60(b) include consideration of several factors:

(1) That final judgments should not be lightly disturbed; (2) that the rule 60(b) motion is not to be used as a substitute for appeal; (3) that the rule should be liberally construed in order to achieve substantial justice; (4) whether the motion was made within a reasonable time; (5) whether — if the judgment was a default or dismissal in which there was no consideration of the merits — the interests in deciding cases on the merits outweighs, in the particular case, the interests in finality of judgments, and there is merit in the movant’s claim or defense; (6) whether — if the judgment was rendered after a trial on the merits — the movant had a fair opportunity to present his claim or defense; (7) whether there are intervening equities that would make in inequitable to grant relief; and (8) any other factors relevant to the justice of the judgment under attack.

Seven Elves, Inc. v. Eskenazi, 635 F.2d 396, 402 (5th Cir.1981).

DISCUSSION

A. 60(b)(1)

Dresser responds that the motion is untimely since it was not filed within one year. Construing the possible basis for the motion,2 the defendant asserts that it can only be predicated upon Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(1), i.e., that this court as well as the appellate court made a “mistake” in the application of Mississippi law. Following this reasoning, it is the defendant’s contention that since Sperry-New Holland did not change but, rather, only clarified Mississippi law, a “mistake” has been made. The court does not agree.

When directed at the results reached by the court rather than the conduct of the party seeking relief, Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(1) has generally been construed to govern errors of law properly characterized as judicial “oversight” such as “overlooking controlling statutes or case law.” In re Ta Chi Navigation (Panama) Corp. S.A., 728 F.2d 699, 703 (5th Cir.1984). As stated in United States v. 329.73 Acres of Land, 695 F.2d 922, 925 (5th Cir.1983), “one purpose of Rule 60(b)(1) is to permit the trial court to reconsider and correct ‘obvious errors of law’ without forcing the parties to engage the machinery of appeal” (quoting Fackelman v. Bell, 564 F.2d 734, 736 (5th Cir.1977)). That decision is in accord with the weight of authority in this circuit. See Alvestad v. Monsanto Co., 671 F.2d 908, 913 (5th Cir.) (“mistake” within the purview of 60(b)(1) is not misinterpretation of law; the latter is properly disposed of by appeal), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1070, 103 S.Ct. 489, 74 L.Ed.2d 632 (1982); Fackelman,

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Bluebook (online)
158 F.R.D. 89, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20651, 1993 WL 740996, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilbert-v-dresser-industries-inc-msnd-1993.