In 2007, an Alabama court ordered a father to pay $600 for monthly postminority educational support. Ten months later, in December of that year, the mother brought the father to court because the father was not paying the educational support. He also had not shown up for the court hearing, and was therefore in contempt of court.

However, the father argued that under Ala. R. Civ. P. 60(b), he did not have to make the payments because his attorney did not tell him about the court hearing. The rule he cited could have protected him because the rule provides relief for a defendant based on "mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect."Unfortunately for the father, the rule also states that an appeal must be made four months after the original order; the father in this case made the appeal ten months later.

Thus, due to the missed deadline, the court would have no jurisdiction over the case. Nevertheless, the appellant court then considered taking the father's appeal under a subsection of the 60(b) rule, 60(b)(6).

This section states that an order may be undone for "any . . . reason justifying relief." This subsection also contains a time limit more ambiguous than four months, stating that "[the appeal] only has to be brought within a ‘reasonable time.'" Was the father's appeal successful? Did the court determine whether it had jurisdiction over the case?

Noll v. Noll, 2010 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 32.