POST-JUDGMENT REMEDIES (PART 2) - Handout for my YouTube video

NOTE: This is the handout for my video recording on POST-JUDGMENT REMEDIES (PART 2) - Atty. Chato Olivas-Quinto



In Part 1 of the video on Post-judgment remedies, we discussed two remedies:

1. Motion for reconsideration, and
2. Motion for new trial.

In this video, which is Part 2 of Post-judgment remedies, we will discuss several remedies.

I also want to clarify that post-judgment remedies are divided into two categories:

1. Remedies that you can file within 15 days from receipt of the decision

• Motion for reconsideration (Rule 37)
• Motion for new trial (Rule 37)
• Appeal by notice of appeal/with record on appeal in certain cases
• From MTC to RTC (Rule 40)
• From RTC to CA (Rule 41, Section 2A; Rule 44)
• Petition for review
• From RTC to CA on decisions rendered by the RTC in its appellate jurisdiction (MTC —> RTC —> CA) (Rule 41, Section 2B; Rule 42)
• From quasi-judicial agencies to the CA (Rule 43)
• Appeal by certiorari or petition for review on certiorari
• From RTC, CA, CTA, Sandiganbayan to SC on pure questions of law (Rule 45)

2. Remedies that you can file after the 15-day period of appeal

• Petition for relief from judgment (Rule 38)
• Action for annulment of judgment, order, or resolution of the RTC, filed as an original action with the CA (Rule 47)
• Action for annulment of judgment, order, or resolution of the MTC,  filed with the RTC (Section 10 of Rule 47)

3. Petition for certiorari under Rule 65

• General rule: This is NOT a post-judgment remedy. It is an original action.
• Exception: With respect to the final judgments, orders, or resolutions of the COMELEC and COA, a petition for certiorari under Rule 64 in relation to Rule 65 is a post-judgment remedy.

DISCUSSION NOTES

APPEAL BY NOTICE OF APPEAL/WITH RECORD ON APPEAL IN CERTAIN CASES: FROM MTC TO RTC (RULE 40)

• Final decision, order or resolution of MTC
• File Notice of Appeal with the MTC, and pay the docket fees
• Same caption and title, but add “appellant” and “appellee” as the case may be.
• Example: XYZ, Plaintiff-Appellant vs. ABC, Defendant-Appellee
• File within 15 days from receipt of final decision, order or resolution
• In certain special proceedings, when record on appeal is required, file within 30 days. MTC will have to approve record on appeal.
• Serve on adverse party.
• MTC Clerk of Court will transmit full case records including transcripts of stenographic notes and evidence, to the RTC
• RTC Clerk of Court will notify the parties when they have received the case records
• Within 15 days from notice, appellant should file a memorandum. Otherwise, the court will dismiss the appeal.
• Within 15 days from receipt of the appellant’s memorandum, the appellee may file an appellee’s memorandum.
• Case will be submitted for resolution.
• If the appeal is taken from an order of the MTC dismissing the case for lack of jurisdiction, without a trial on the merits, the RTC may affirm or reverse the MTC decision.
• If RTC reverses the dismissal, and makes a finding that the MTC has jurisdiction over the subject matter, RTC will remand the case to the MTC for further proceedings.
• If RTC affirms the dismissal, and makes a finding that the RTC has jurisdiction over the subject matter, the RTC will try the case as if it was originally filed with it.

APPEAL BY NOTICE OF APPEAL/WITH RECORD ON APPEAL IN CERTAIN CASES: FROM RTC TO CA (RULE 44)

• Final decision, order or resolution of RTC
• File Notice of Appeal with the RTC, and pay the docket fees
• Same caption and title, but add “appellant” and “appellee” as the case may be.
• The counsel and guardians ad litem of the parties in the court of origin shall be respectively considered as their counsel and guardians ad litem in the Court of Appeals.
• File the notice of appeal within 15 days from receipt of the decision, final order or resolution.
• When record on appeal is required as in certain special proceedings, the period to appeal is 30 days
• RTC will approve the record on appeal.
• If RTC finds the notice of appeal to have been filed on time and the docket fees paid, it will forward the records to the CA.
• CA will notify the parties when the records have been received from the RTC.
• Appellant shall file appellant’s brief within 45 days from notice from the CA.
• Appellee has 45 days from receipt of the appellant’s brief within which to file an appellee’s brief.
• Appellant may file a reply brief within 20 days from receipt of appellee’s brief.
• Certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto and habeas corpus cases - the parties shall file, in lieu of briefs, their respective memoranda within a non-extendible period of thirty (30) days from receipt of the notice issued by the clerk that all the evidence, oral and documentary, is already attached to the record.
• The failure of the appellant to file his memorandum within the period may be a ground for dismissal of the appeal.
• Questions that may be raised on appeal. - Appellant may include in his assignment of errors any question of law or fact that has been raised in the court below and which is within the issues framed by the parties.

PETITION FOR REVIEW (Rules 42, 43, 45)

• Two kinds

a) From RTC to CA on decisions rendered by the RTC in its appellate jurisdiction (MTC —> RTC —> CA) (Rule 41, Section 2B; Rule 42)

b) From quasi-judicial agencies to the CA (Rule 43)

• Note that this is a petition, that this is not a matter of right. In contrast, an appeal by notice of appeal is a matter of right.
• The petitioner files the petition directly with the court that will review the decision. In this case, file it with the CA.
• The designation of the parties: petitioner and respondent
• Petition must be verified, and docket fees must be paid.
• A certification of non-forum shopping is required.
• A copy of the petition must be served upon the adverse party before the same is filed with the CA.
• The CA may require the respondent to file a comment within 10 days from notice.
• Certified true copies of the material portions of the records must be submitted to the court. Note: this is not like an ordinary appeal where the whole case file is forwarded by the RTC to the CA.
• CA may set the case for oral arguments or require the parties to file memoranda within 15 days from notice.
• Case will be submitted for decision.

APPEAL BY CERTIORARI OR PETITION FOR REVIEW ON CERTIORARI (RULE 45)

• From RTC, CA, CTA, Sandiganbayan to SC on pure questions of law
• File a petition for review on certiorari which must be verified and may include application for writ of preliminary injunction and other provisional remedies
• Not a matter of right
• Discretionary upon the Court
• Filed within the 15-day period to appeal
• Docket fees must be paid
• Statement of material dates
• Certified copy of the judgment, final order or resolution subject of the petition
• Grounds for review that the SC may consider
• When the court a quo has decided a question of substance, not theretofore determined by the Supreme Court, or has decided it in a way probably not in accord with law or with the applicable decisions of the Supreme Court; or
• When the court a quo has so far departed from the accepted and usual course of judicial proceedings, or so far sanctioned such departure by a lower court, as to call for an exercise of the power of supervision.
• SC may require that the whole records or parts of it be elevated

REMEDIES THAT YOU CAN FILE AFTER THE 15-DAY PERIOD OF APPEAL

• Petition for relief from judgment (Rule 38)
• Action for annulment of judgment, order, or resolution of the RTC, filed as an original action with the CA (Rule 47)
• Action for annulment of judgment, order, or resolution of the MTC, filed with the RTC (Section 10 of Rule 47)
• Petition for certiorari under Rule 65
• General rule: This is NOT a post-judgment remedy. It is an original action.
• Exception: With respect to the final judgments, orders, or resolutions of the COMELEC and COA, a petition for certiorari under Rule 64 in relation to Rule 65 is a post-judgment remedy.

PETITION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT (RULE 38)

• Verified petition for relief from judgment
• Judgment or final order is entered, or any other proceeding is taken against a party in any court through fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence.
• File a petition in such court and in the same case praying that the judgment, order, or proceeding be set aside.

• Verified petition for relief from denial of appeal.
• Judgment or final order is rendered by any court in a case, and a party thereto, by fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence, has been prevented from taking an appeal
• File a petition in such court and in the same case praying that the appeal be given due course.

• Time for filing petition
• Filed within sixty (60) days after the petitioner learns of the judgment, final order, or other proceeding to be set aside, and not more than six (6) months after such judgment or final order was entered, or such proceeding was taken

• Contents
• Petition must be accompanied with affidavits showing the fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence relied upon, and the facts constituting the petitioner’s good and substantial cause of action or defense, as the case may be

• Order to file answer
• The court in which it is filed shall issue an order requiring the adverse parties to answer the same within fifteen (15) days from the receipt thereof. The order shall be served in such manner as the court may direct, together with copies of the petition and the accompanying affidavits.

• Preliminary injunction pending proceedings.
• The court may grant preliminary injunction as may be necessary for the preservation of the rights of the parties, upon the filing by the petitioner of a bond in favor of the adverse party, conditioned that if the petition is dismissed or the petitioner fails on the trial of the case upon its merits, he will pay the adverse party all damages and costs that may be awarded to him by reason of the issuance of such injunction or the other proceedings following the petition; but such injunction shall not operate to discharge or extinguish any lien which the adverse party may have acquired upon the property of the petitioner.

• Proceedings after answer is filed.
• Court shall hear the petition and if after such hearing, it finds that the allegations thereof are not true, the petition shall be dismissed;
• If it finds said allegations to be true, it shall set aside the judgment or final order or other proceeding complained of upon such terms as may be just.
• Thereafter the case shall stand as if such judgment, final order or other proceeding had never been rendered, issued or taken.
• The court shall then proceed to hear and determine the case as if a timely motion for a new trial or reconsideration had been granted by it.

• Procedure where the denial of an appeal is set aside.
• Where the denial of an appeal is set aside, the lower court shall be required to give due course to the appeal and to elevate the record of the appealed case as if a timely and proper appeal had been made.

ACTION FOR ANNULMENT OF JUDGMENT, ORDER, OR RESOLUTION OF THE RTC, FILED AS AN ORIGINAL ACTION WITH THE CA (RULE 47)

• Coverage.
• This Rule shall govern the annulment by the Court of Appeals of judgments or final orders and resolutions in civil actions of Regional Trial Courts for which the ordinary remedies of new trial, appeal, petition for relief or other appropriate remedies are no longer available through no fault of the petitioner.

• Grounds for annulment. - The annulment may be based only on the grounds of extrinsic fraud and lack of jurisdiction.
• Extrinsic fraud shall not be a valid ground if it was availed of, or could have been availed of, in a motion for new trial or petition for relief.

• Period for filing action. - If based on extrinsic fraud, the action must be filed within four (4) years from its discovery; and if based on lack of jurisdiction, before it is barred by laches or estoppel.

• Filing and contents of petition. - The action shall be commenced by filing a verified petition alleging therein with particularity the facts and the law relied upon for annulment, as well as those supporting the petitioner’s good and substantial cause of action or defense, as the case may be.

• A certified true copy of the judgment or final order or resolution shall be attached to the original copy of the petition intended for the court and indicated as such by the petitioner.

• The petitioner shall also submit together with the petition affidavits of witnesses or documents supporting the cause of action or defense

• Certification against forum shopping is required.

• Action by the court. 
• Should the court find no substantial merit in the petition, the same may be dismissed outright with specific reasons for such dismissal.
• Should prima facie merit be found in the petition, the same shall be given due course and summons shall be served on the respondent.

• Procedure. - The procedure in ordinary civil cases shall be observed. Should a trial be necessary, the reception of the evidence may be referred to a member of the court or a judge of a Regional Trial Court.

• Effect of judgment. - A judgment of annulment shall set aside the questioned judgment or final order or resolution and render the same null and void, without prejudice to the original action being refiled in the proper court. However, where the judgment or final order or resolution is set aside on the ground of extrinsic fraud, the court may on motion order the trial court to try the case as if a timely motion for new trial had been granted therein.

• Suspension of prescriptive period. - The prescriptive period for the refiling of the aforesaid original action shall be deemed suspended from the filing of such original action until the finality of the judgment of annulment. However, the prescriptive period shall not be suspended where the extrinsic fraud is attributable to the plaintiff in the original action.

• Relief available. - The judgment of annulment may include the award of damages, attorney s fees and other relief.

• If the questioned judgment or final order or resolution had already been executed, the court may issue such orders of restitution or other relief as justice and equity may warrant under the circumstances.

ACTION FOR ANNULMENT OF JUDGMENT, ORDER, OR RESOLUTION OF THE MTC (SECTION 10 OF RULE 47)

• An action to annul a judgment or final order of a Municipal Trial Court shall be filed in the Regional Trial Court having jurisdiction over the former. It shall be treated as an ordinary civil action and sections 2, 3 4, 7, 8 and 9 of this Rule shall be applicable thereto.

PETITION FOR CERTIORARI UNDER RULE 65

• General rule: This is NOT a post-judgment remedy. It is an original action.
• Exception: With respect to the final judgments, orders, or resolutions of the COMELEC and COA, a petition for certiorari under Rule 64 in relation to Rule 65 is a post-judgment remedy.

• Scope
• Review of judgments and final orders or resolutions of the Commission on Elections and the Commission on Audit.

• Mode of review
• A judgment or final order or resolution of the Commission on Elections and the Commission on Audit may be brought by the aggrieved party to the Supreme Court on certiorari under Rule 65, except as hereinafter provided.

• Time to file petition
• The petition shall be filed within thirty (30) days from notice of the judgment or final order or resolution sought to be reviewed.
• The filing of a motion for new trial or reconsideration of said judgment or final order or resolution, if allowed under the procedural rules of the Commission concerned, shall interrupt the period herein fixed.
• If the motion is denied, the aggrieved party may file the petition within the remaining period, but which shall not be less than five (5) days in any event, reckoned from notice of denial.

• Docket and other lawful fees.
• Upon the filing of the petition, the petitioner shall pay to the clerk of court the docket and other lawful fees and deposit an amount for costs.

• Form and contents of petition.
• The petition shall be verified.
• The petition shall name the aggrieved party as petitioner and shall join as respondents the Commission concerned and the person or persons interested in sustaining the judgment, final order or resolution a quo.
• The petition shall state the facts with certainty, present clearly the issues involved, set forth the grounds and brief arguments relied upon for review, and pray for judgment annulling or modifying the questioned judgment, final order or resolution.
• Findings of fact of the Commission supported by substantial evidence shall be final and non-reviewable.
• The petition shall be accompanied by a clearly legible duplicate original or certified true copy of the judgment, final order or resolution subject thereof, together with certified true copies of such material portions of the record as are referred to therein and other documents relevant and pertinent thereto.
• The petition shall state the specific material dates showing that it was filed within the period fixed herein, and shall contain a sworn certification against forum shopping.
• The petition shall further be accompanied by proof of service of a copy thereof on the Commission concerned and on the adverse party, and of the timely payment of docket and other lawful fees.
• The failure of petitioner to comply with any of the foregoing requirements shall be sufficient ground for the dismissal of the petition.

• Order to comment
• If the Supreme Court finds the petition sufficient in form and substance, it shall order the respondents to file their comments on the petition within ten (10) days from notice thereof; otherwise, the Court may dismiss the petition outright.

• The Court may also dismiss the petition if it was filed manifestly for delay, or the questions raised are too unsubstantial to warrant further proceedings. 
• Comments of respondents.
• The original shall be accompanied by certified true copies of such material portions of the record as are referred to therein together with other supporting papers. The requisite number of copies of the comments shall contain plain copies of all documents attached to the original and a copy thereof shall be served on the petitioner.
• No other pleading may be filed by any party unless required or allowed by the Court.

• Effect of filing.
• The filing of a petition for certiorari shall not stay the execution of the judgment or final order or resolution sought to be reviewed, unless the Supreme Court shall direct otherwise upon such terms as it may deem just.

• Submission for decision.
• Unless the Court sets the case for oral argument, or requires the parties to submit memoranda, the case shall be deemed submitted for decision upon the filing of the comments on the petition, or of such other pleadings or papers as may be required or allowed, or the expiration of the period to do so.