Advisory Commission Comments to Rules 60.01-60.02

Advisory Commission Comments

60.01: This Rule supersedes the provisions of Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 20-1508 [repealed], 20-11-106 and 20-11-107, although it is generally consistent with the purpose of those statutes. The provisions of the Rule are somewhat more flexible than the statutory procedures.

60.02: This Rule supersedes chapter 7 of Title 27, T.C.A., dealing with the writ of error coram nobis, and Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 27-203, 27-204 [both repealed] dealing with bills of review. The Committee felt that it was better to bring together under one Rule the subject matter formerly covered by these statutes and to provide a simple remedy by motion or by separate suit to obtain relief under the circumstances set out in the Rule.

Advisory Commission Comment [2009]

A modified Rule 60 procedure to obtain relief from a general sessions court judgment is available by statute, T.C.A. § 16-15-727.

Advisory Commission Comment [2017]

60.02. Rule 60.02 provides that a motion filed pursuant to the Rule “shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1) and (2) not more than one year after the judgment, order or proceeding was entered or taken.” The Supreme Court, however, has held that “the reasonable time filing requirement of Rule 60.02 does not apply to petitions seeking relief from void judgments under Rule 60.02(3).” Turner v. Turner, 473 S.W.3d 257, 260 (Tenn. 2015). But the Court went on to also hold in Turner that relief from a void judgment should nevertheless be denied “if the following exceptional circumstances exist: ‘(1) [t]he party seeking relief, after having had actual notice of the judgment, manifested an intention to treat the judgment as valid; and (2) [g]ranting the relief would impair another person’s substantial interest of reliance on the judgment.’ Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 66 (1982).”Id.