A Reminder From The Seventh Circuit To Proofread The Form Of The Judgment

The Seventh Circuit's docket appears to be rife with cases involving little errors that turn out to have not-so-little effects. Last month we wrote about the perils of typos in security agreements; this month the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion that serves as a good reminder that parties must look carefully at the form of the judgment entered by the district court. Article III insulates the judicial branch from the "diminish[ment]" of judges' "compensation . . . during their continuance in office"; but, alas, it does nothing to insulate the third branch from the sort of typographical errors that plague the rest of us mere mortals—a fact to which the district judge in Dual-Temp of Illinois, Inc. v. Hench Control, Inc., Nos. 14-3393 & 14-3394 (7th Cir. Jan. 23, 2015), now can attest.

In a three-page decision (issued per curiam by Judges Ripple, Manion, and Williams), the court dismissed two consolidated appeals for lack of jurisdiction after the district judge conceded that she had checked the wrong box on the judgment form, indicating that she was not awarding prejudgment interest when she in fact intended to do so. The underlying dispute was a breach-of-contract case.

Luckily, the prevailing plaintiff (Dual-Temp) filed a motion to "quantify interest based on the memorandum opinion and order" twenty-eight days after the judgment's entry on the docket. That was in the nick of time under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e), which governs motions to alter or amend judgments, and requires that such motions be brought no later than 28 days after entry of the judgment.

If Dual-Temp hadn't filed its motion by the 28th day, it might well have lost a substantial award of prejudgment interest. Set Rule 59(e) to one side for a moment. Rule 60(a), which has no time limitation, would offer the only remaining path to relief to Dual-Temp, but that rule cabins the district court's ability to alter an entered judgment to "clerical mistakes, or a mistake arising from oversight or omission whenever one is found in a judgment." Rule 60(a) is a narrow window through which parties can end-run the law's preference for the finality of judgments. If...