Timely Appeal – Motion to Reopen

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Michael Armstrong v. Ben Louden, et al

Case No.: 15-1844

Officials: POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and SYKES, Circuit Judges

Focus: Timely Appeal – Motion to Reopen

Appellant fails to timely file appeal and to reopen his time to appeal.

“And there is a further problem. Although the district judge and the litigants have discussed Armstrong’s initial post-judgment motion as if it were one under Rule 60(b), that is not the right rule. Appellate Rule 4(a)(6) governs what happens when a litigant does not receive timely notice of a judgment’s entry. Rule 4(a)(6)(B) permits a district court to reopen the time to appeal, but only if the motion is filed within 180 days of the judgment, or 14 days of actual notice, whichever is earlier. Armstrong learned of the judgment within 180 days of its entry, but he waited some three months to ask the district court for relief (and that request arrived about eight months after the judgment’s entry). So his request was late under both parts of Rule 4(a)(6)(B), and the district court lacked authority to reopen the time for appeal. Treating Armstrong’s January 2015 motion as under Rule 4(a)(6)(B) would mean that the March 2015 submission was the first genuine Rule 60(b) motion, but that would not matter. Armstrong missed deadlines that a court is forbidden to extend, see Fed. R. App. P. 26(b)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(2), so the characterization of the papers that Armstrong filed in March 2015 is irrelevant.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.