Rule 59.Motions for Post-Trial Relief

After judgment is entered, Rule 59 gives a party 14 days to ask the trial court for post-trial relief: a new trial on all or part of the case, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, amended findings, or an amended judgment. A party can combine these requests or plead them as alternatives, and the court itself may order the same relief on its own initiative within that same window. None of this is required before appealing — filing, or not filing, a post-trial motion does not limit what issues a party may raise on appeal.

A motion for new trial rests on different grounds than judgment notwithstanding the verdict. New trial grounds include an irregularity that denied a party a fair trial, jury misconduct, an accident or surprise that ordinary care could not have prevented, newly discovered evidence, excessive or inadequate damages, or an error of law; the first four of these require a supporting affidavit, and the opposing side then has 21 days to file a response. Judgment notwithstanding the verdict, by contrast, asks the court to override the jury because the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law, or because there is no genuine factual dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law — and a party need not have moved for a directed verdict first to ask for it.

The consequences of granting these motions differ too. Granting a new trial is not immediately appealable; a party has to wait until final judgment after the new trial to challenge that order. Granting judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or amending findings or judgment, is immediately appealable. And because these motions could otherwise drag on, the court must decide any post-trial motion within 63 days (9 weeks) of filing — or, when there are multiple motions, within 63 days of the last one filed. A motion left undecided past that point is deemed denied automatically, and the clock for filing a notice of appeal starts running from that date.