Motion for Reconsideration: Rule 59(e), Rule 60(b), and Rule 54(b)

No Federal Rule of Civil Procedure is titled "motion for reconsideration." When you ask a federal judge to change a ruling, the court construes the motion under Rule 59(e), Rule 60(b), or its power over interlocutory orders under Rule 54(b) — and which one applies turns on whether the ruling was a final judgment and how many days have passed since entry.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice. For guidance on a specific case, consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.

The rule is chosen for you, not by you

Search the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for "reconsideration" and you will not find a motion by that name; the Fifth Circuit has said as much directly. St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co. v. Fair Grounds Corp., 123 F.3d 336, 339 (5th Cir. 1997). So courts recharacterize, and your caption barely matters. The posture of the ruling controls:

Rule 59(e): 28 days, and not one day more

The text is one sentence: "A motion to alter or amend a judgment must be filed no later than 28 days after the entry of the judgment." Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e).

Three things about that deadline matter more than the standard.

It cannot be extended. Rule 6(b)(2) provides that a court "must not extend the time to act under Rules 50(b) and (d), 52(b), 59(b), (d), and (e), and 60(b)." Not for good cause, not on stipulation. A judge who gives you 35 days has given you nothing the court of appeals will honor.

It is 28 calendar days. Under Rule 6(a)(1), exclude the day of entry, count every intervening day (weekends and legal holidays included), and if the last day is a weekend or holiday the period runs to the next business day.

It used to be 10 days. The 2009 time-computation amendments expanded the former 10-day post-judgment periods to 28 precisely because Rule 6(b) could not be relaxed. Older opinions and practice guides still recite 10.

The three grounds

Reconsideration is appropriate where the district court "(1) is presented with newly discovered evidence, (2) committed clear error or the initial decision was manifestly unjust, or (3) if there is an intervening change in controlling law." School Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah County v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1263 (9th Cir. 1993). Most circuits phrase it the same way.

The intervening-decision ground moves judges most often and is missed most often, because catching it means re-running the research against opinions issued after briefing closed — see our guide to checking whether a case is still good law.

Rule 60(b): six grounds, two different clocks

Once the 28 days close, you are in Rule 60(b), which lists six grounds:

Rule 60(c)(1) sets both clocks: the motion "must be made within a reasonable time—and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) no more than a year after the entry of the judgment or order or the date of the proceeding." One year is an outer boundary, not a safe harbor — a 60(b)(1) motion filed at month eleven still fails if you sat on the ground after finding it. Rule 6(b)(2) bars extending this period too.

Rule 60(b)(4) is narrower than it reads. It reaches only "the rare instance where a judgment is premised either on a certain type of jurisdictional error or on a violation of due process that deprives a party of notice or the opportunity to be heard." United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa, 559 U.S. 260, 271 (2010).

What 60(b)(6) actually requires

The catch-all reads like an invitation. It is not. A movant must show "extraordinary circumstances," and the clause reaches only reasons the first five do not address. Gonzalez v. Crosby, 545 U.S. 524, 535 (2005) — where a later shift in the Court's own statutory interpretation was held not extraordinary enough. If your best argument is that the judge got the law wrong, 60(b)(6) is not the door.

Rule 54(b): the path nobody talks about

If what you lost is not a final judgment — a discovery ruling, a partial denial of summary judgment, an order striking one defense — none of the above applies, and your position is better than most assume.

Rule 54(b) provides that an order "that adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties . . . may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties' rights and liabilities." The Supreme Court put the same point the other way around: "every order short of a final decree is subject to reopening at the discretion of the district judge." Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 12 (1983).

For a solo who just lost a motion to compel, that is the practical route: no 28-day cliff, no extraordinary-circumstances showing. Two caveats. If a magistrate judge signed the order, the vehicle is a Rule 72(a) objection filed within 14 days — "a party may not assign as error a defect in the order not timely objected to." And many districts set their own interlocutory deadline anyway.

The appeal-clock trap

This is where getting it wrong costs the most. FRAP 4(a)(4)(A) restarts the appeal period only for motions a party "files in the district court . . . and does so within the time allowed by those rules." The list covers Rule 50(b), 52(b), and 59 motions, and — this one surprises people — a motion "for relief under Rule 60 if the motion is filed within the time allowed for filing a motion under Rule 59." A Rule 60(b) motion filed on day 20 tolls; the same motion on day 30 does not.

The appeal deadline is 30 days from entry, or 60 when the United States or a federal officer is a party. Because it is fixed by statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2107, it is jurisdictional: Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007), cost an appellant his appeal for an untimely notice filed in reliance on a district court order granting extra time.

So the failure mode is stark. Counsel files a "motion for reconsideration" on day 31, assumes the clock is frozen, waits for the ruling, and appeals three months later. Nothing tolled. The appeal is gone.

What reconsideration is not for

One Supreme Court sentence disposes of most motions actually filed. Rule 59(e) "may not be used to relitigate old matters, or to raise arguments or present evidence that could have been raised prior to the entry of judgment." Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, 554 U.S. 471, 485 n.5 (2008).

That rules out the three motions judges see most: the one rearguing the losing brief more loudly, the one raising a theory counsel thought of after reading the order, and the one attaching a declaration that belonged with the original opposition. Courts call reconsideration "an extraordinary remedy that should be used sparingly." Templet v. HydroChem Inc., 367 F.3d 473, 479 (5th Cir. 2004). Recycled argument padded with authority that does not say what you claim is also a Rule 11 exposure.

Local rules will change your deadline

The Federal Rules set a floor. Districts add to it, and the additions are not uniform:

• Leave to file. The Northern District of California requires leave before a party may file a motion for reconsideration of an interlocutory order, and bars arguments that could have been raised the first time. Civil L.R. 7-9.
• Shorter deadlines. The Eastern District of Michigan allows 14 days for reconsideration of non-final orders, calls them disfavored, and routes final judgments to Rule 59(e) or 60(b). E.D. Mich. LR 7.1(h).
• Different standards. The Western District of Michigan demands "a palpable defect by which the court and the parties have been misled." W.D. Mich. LCivR 7.4.

No local rule can extend the Rule 59(e) period, but one can shorten your practical window or add a leave requirement whose omission turns a good argument into a procedural denial.

Is it worth filing?

Usually not — the same judge rarely reverses herself on the same record. File when one of these is true:

1. A controlling decision issued after briefing. The strongest ground available and the cheapest to verify.
2. The order rests on a factual mistake in the record. Not a disputed inference — a misread date, a misattributed exhibit, a confusion of parties.
3. The order is interlocutory and the stakes compound. A discovery ruling that shapes the case earns one careful Rule 54(b) request.
4. You need the reasoning preserved. A targeted motion can force an unstated basis onto the record before appeal.

Buying time is not on that list, and a losing motion can leave you worse off: the order denying it often supplies the appellate court the reasoning it was missing. If you do file, find the controlling authority in your court, confirm it is good law, and quote it exactly. CaseRead searches your firm's case files and the public law in one query, scoped to the matter, and flags what it cannot verify.

Frequently asked questions

How long do you have to file a motion for reconsideration in federal court?

It depends on what you attack. Against a final judgment, the motion must be filed within 28 days of entry to fall under Rule 59(e), and Rule 6(b)(2) bars any extension. After that it is a Rule 60(b) motion: a reasonable time, capped at one year for grounds (1) through (3).

What are the grounds for a motion for reconsideration?

Under Rule 59(e), most circuits recognize three: an intervening change in controlling law, new evidence not previously available, and clear error or manifest injustice. Rule 60(b) lists six, including excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, fraud by an opposing party, a void judgment, and a catch-all requiring extraordinary circumstances.

Does a motion for reconsideration stop the deadline to appeal?

Only a timely one. FRAP 4(a)(4)(A) restarts the appeal clock for listed motions filed within the time the Civil Rules allow. A Rule 59(e) motion filed on day 29 tolls nothing, and the 30-day appeal period keeps running from entry. That deadline is statutory, so missing it is jurisdictional.

What is the difference between a motion for reconsideration and an appeal?

Reconsideration asks the same judge to fix a specific error on the existing record. An appeal asks a higher court to review the judgment under appellate standards. Reconsideration is cheaper, but the standards are strict and the judge who ruled against you decides it. A timely motion restarts the appeal clock rather than replacing it.

Do you need the court's permission to file a motion for reconsideration?

Sometimes. Nothing in the Federal Rules requires leave, but districts add the requirement by local rule. The Northern District of California, for example, requires leave before a party may file a motion for reconsideration of an interlocutory order. Read the local rules and the judge's standing order first.

Before you file it

A reconsideration motion argues that the court got the law wrong, so every authority in it will be read closely. If any part of the draft came from a general-purpose AI tool, run it through the Hallucination Shield first — free, no signup, and each citation it finds (up to 25 per run) is checked for existence and support. A fabricated cite in a motion telling a judge she erred is the worst place to be wrong.