- Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
- Area(s) of Law: Civil Procedure
- Date Filed: 01-05-2022
- Case #: A173482
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Armstrong, S.J. for the Court; Tookey, P.J.; & Aoyagi J.
- Full Text Opinion
Plaintiff brought tort claims against her employer for personal injuries from an altercation, Plaintiff settled the claim with one of the Defendants. Plaintiff’s counsel drafted a judgment of dismissal for the court and signed not realizing that it also dismissed plaintiff’s claim against remaining defendants. Plaintiff appealed an order denying her motion under ORCP 71 B(1)(a) for relief from a stipulated general judgment which dismissed her tort claims with prejudice. ORCP 71 B(1)(a) allows a court to relieve a party or legal representative from a judgment for: mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. The trial court found the signing of the judgment was a mistake but did not believe that ORCP 71 B(1)(a) extended to mistakes of counsel. Inadvertence in signing the mistaken judgment is grounds for relief because relief under ORCP 71 B(1)(a) restores litigation to a prejudgment posture that parties would have intended and expected. Reversed and remanded.