We decide the jurisdictional question of whether the time limit for filing certain motions for relief from judgment is tolled during the pendency of an appeal.
I
Nevitt filed a Homestead Act claim with the Alaska office of the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) in 1973. 43 U.S.C. §§ 161, 164 (repealed 1976). After years of administrative proceedings the BLM eventually denied Nevitt’s claim and the Interi- or Board of Land Appeals (“IBLA”) affirmed the decision of the BLM. Nevitt then sought judicial review of the IBLA order in the district court which granted BLM summary judgment on September 10, 1985.
On October 8, 1985, Nevitt filed a notice of appeal to this court which eventually affirmed the district court judgment on September 28, 1987.
Nevitt v. United States,
On October 29, 1987, Nevitt filed a new motion for relief from the 1985 judgment, again purportedly pursuant to Rule 60(b)(2), which the district court denied on March 21, 1988, concluding on the merits that the law of the case doctrine barred consideration of the controlling issue already decided by this court. This appeal from the denial of that motion was timely filed.
II
The district court was without jurisdiction to consider Nevitt’s second Rule 60(b)(2) motion. A motion for relief from judgment based on a mistake (Rule 60(b)(1)), newly discovered evidence (Rule 60(b)(2)), or fraud (Rule 60(b)(3)) shall be made “not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b).
In
Scott v. Younger,
Several circuits are in accord.
See, e.g., Moolenaar v. The Virgin Islands,
Ill
Since the Rule 60(b)(2) motion was not filed within one year of entry of judgment, the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider it. We need not, therefore, reach the merits of this appeal.
AFFIRMED.
