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Rule 1.904 – Findings by court

May 13, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Iowa

1. 904(1)Findings; conclusions; judgment. The court trying an issue of fact without a jury, whether by equitable or ordinary proceedings, shall find the facts in writing, separately stating its conclusions of law, and direct an appropriate judgment. A party, on appeal, may challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain any finding without having objected to it by motion or otherwise. No request for findings is necessary for purposes of review. Findings of a master shall be deemed those of the court to the extent it adopts them.
1. 904(2)Motion to reconsider, enlarge, or amend. On motion joined with or filed within the time allowed for a motion for new trial, the findings and conclusions may be reconsidered, enlarged, or amended and the judgment or decree modified accordingly or a different judgment or decree substituted. Resistances to such motions and replies may be filed and supporting briefs may be served as provided in rules 1.431(4) and 1.431(5).
1. 904(3)Motions to reconsider, enlarge, or amend other court orders, rulings, judgments, or decrees; time for filing. In addition to proceedings encompassed by rule 1.904(1), a rule 1.904(2) motion to reconsider, enlarge, or amend another court order, ruling, judgment, or decree will be considered timely if filed within 15 days after the filing of the order, judgment, or decree to which it is directed.
1. 904(4)Successive rule 1.904(2) motions. Successive rule 1.904(2) motions by a party are prohibited unless the court has modified its order, ruling, judgment, or decree and the subsequent rule 1.904(2) motion is directed only at the modification.

Iowa. R. Civ. P. 1.904

Report 1943; amendment 1973; October 31, 1997, effective January 24, 1998; November 9, 2001, effective February 15, 2002; November 18, 2016, effective March 1, 2017.

COMMENT: Rules 1.904(3) and 1.904(4) supersede prior case law that held a timely rule 1.904(2) motion must also have been “proper” to extend the time for appeal. See, e.g., Hedlund v. State, 875 N.W.2d 720, 725 (Iowa 2016). To obviate controversies over whether a rule 1.904(2) motion tolls the time for appeal, the rule authorizes any timely rule 1.904(2) motion to extend the appeal deadline, subject to one exception in rule 1.904(4).

Under rule 1.904, the timely filing of a rule 1.904(2) motion extends the deadline for filing a notice of appeal or an application for interlocutory appeal. See Iowa R. App. P. 6.101(1)(b) & 6.104(1)(b)(2). However, the rule does not address whether a rule 1.904(2) motion preserves error for purposes of appeal as to evidence or arguments raised for the first time in that motion. See, e.g., Tenney v. Atlantic Associates, 594 N.W.2d 11, 14 (Iowa 1999). The rule also is not intended to affect prior case law concerning a court’s inherent authority to reconsider. See Iowa Elec. Light & Power Co. v. Lagle, 430 N.W.2d 393, 395-96 (Iowa 1988).