Rule 62.Stay of Proceedings to Enforce a Judgment

Rule 15-6-62 gives the losing party breathing room before a judgment can be enforced. Except where the rule itself says otherwise, or the court orders otherwise for good cause, or the judgment was entered by default, no execution can issue and no enforcement proceedings can begin until thirty days after entry of judgment. That automatic stay does not extend to injunctions or receivership judgments, which are not stayed pending appeal unless the court orders it — those are governed instead by the rule’s separate provision on injunctions pending appeal.

Beyond that automatic window, the court has discretion to stay enforcement further, on whatever security conditions it sets, while certain post-trial motions are pending: a motion for a new trial under Rule 15-6-59, a motion for relief from judgment under Rule 15-6-60, or a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 15-6-50. That discretion lets the court hold enforcement in place while the motions that could change or undo the judgment are still being decided.

For injunctions and stays pending on appeal, Rule 15-6-62 hands off to chapter 15-26A, which governs injunctions pending appeal, stays upon appeal generally, and stays in favor of the state or a state agency. None of that limits the Supreme Court’s own power to stay proceedings, to suspend, modify, restore, or grant an injunction while an appeal is pending, or to enter whatever order is needed to preserve the status quo or protect the judgment eventually to be entered.

The rule also reaches back to the multiple-claims situation Rule 15-6-54(b) addresses. When a court has certified a partial judgment as final under that rule, Rule 15-6-62(g) lets it also stay enforcement of that judgment until the remaining claims are resolved, and set whatever conditions are needed to secure the benefit of the judgment for the party who won it.