Plaintiff-Appellant Lorraine Weitz (“Weitz”) filed an action on behalf of her sister, Arlene Gutierrez (“Arlene”), and her niece, Loretta Gutierrez (“Loretta”) in federal district court against the United States, Lovelace Health and several of its employees and business affiliates (collectively, “Lovelace”) (a mental health provider), and various other defendants. 1 Weitz filed suit against the United States pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging negligence. Weitz also brought claims of negligence against Lovelace pursuant to New Mexico state law. The district court had pendent jurisdiction over the New Mexico state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. The district court dismissed the United States as a party pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) and granted summary judgment for Lovelace on the New Mexico state law claims.
Weitz appealed the order of the district court. This court dismissed the United States from this appeal by order entered March 4, 1999. Thus, Lovelace is the only appellee and the New Mexico state law claims are the only claims remaining in this case. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and AFFIRM.
I. BACKGROUND
On January 21, 1992, Edward Gutierrez (“Eddie”), husband of Arlene Gutierrez and father of Loretta, shot Arlene and Loretta and then took his own life. Eddie was an Air Force Staff Sergeant stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lovelace provided *1177 mental health care services to Air Force personnel and their families at Kirtland.
Eddie and Arlene began having marital problems in the early 1990s. They attended counseling sessions in connection with these problems in December 1991. They were seen jointly on December 4 by J. Barry Rumbles, a psychotherapist employed by Lovelace who referred them to a therapist for counseling. Eddie and Arlene were then seen jointly on December 9 by Dr. Cal Bolinder. Bolinder was apparently employed by Adlerian Therapy Services, not Lovelace. Bolinder saw Eddie individually on December 12 and Arlene individually on December 11 and 20. Bol-inder also had telephone conversations with Arlene on a number of occasions. Arlene expressed concern about Eddie’s violent tendencies during these conversations. Bolinder told Arlene at the December 20 session and on the phone on December 30 that she should try to keep herself and Loretta away from Eddie.
Eddie asked Arlene to come to his home on December 29 to discuss their marriage and Arlene agreed to go. When Arlene arrived with Loretta, Eddie was drunk. Arlene and Eddie discussed divorce, and Eddie said that he would disown Loretta so that he would not have to pay child support. After Arlene told Eddie she was leaving, Eddie pulled out a handgun. Arlene managed to wrestle the gun away from Eddie. Eddie at that time threatened suicide. Arlene reported the incident the following day to Col. Richard Haupt, Eddie’s commanding officer. Haupt made an appointment for Eddie to be evaluated by the mental health clinic. When Eddie told Haupt that he felt an examination was unnecessary, Haupt ordered Eddie to go to the clinic.
Although Eddie had an appointment to see Capt. Sally Kroner, a psychiatrist and Air Force officer, he arrived late for his appointment and could not be seen by Kroner because she had another appointment. Eddie was instead seen by Genevieve Davidge, a licensed clinical social worker employed by Lovelace. Davidge observed that Eddie was anxious and that he was unsure of his ability to handle his emotions should he and Arlene divorce. Davidge concluded that Eddie was not an immediate threat to himself or others but scheduled an appointment for Eddie to return the following day for further examination. Haupt ordered Eddie to go to the December 31 appointment. After meeting with Eddie a second time, Davidge concluded that Eddie was improved. Davidge recommended continued outside counseling, but none was arranged and Eddie never received additional counseling.
During the December 30 meeting between Haupt and Eddie, Haupt asked Eddie if he would be willing to turn over his weapons to Sgt. Keith Yekel. Eddie gave his weapons to Yekel on December 31. Two weeks later, Yekel returned the guns to Eddie after Eddie asked for the guns back so that he could go “plinking,” i.e., shooting cans. On January 21, Arlene went to Eddie’s home to pick up Loretta, whom he had been babysitting. Eddie shot and killed Arlene and Loretta and then took his own life.
Weitz filed this action against the United States, CIGNA (the parent company of Lovelace), Lovelace, and other individuals. As indicated above, CIGNA was voluntarily dismissed as a party at trial and this court dismissed the United States by an order entered on March 4, 1999, pursuant to a stipulation by the parties. Weitz’s remaining claims alleged that Lovelace had acted negligently by: (1) failing to adopt adequate policies for the evaluation of airmen who had threatened suicide or murder; (2) failing to warn the United States that it had inadequate policies in this regard; (3) failing to provide an adequate system for evaluating troubled airmen who threatened suicide or murder; (4) failing to properly train their personnel; (5) failing to provide competent personnel to perform evaluations; (6) failing to adopt adequate policies to supervise personnel; and (7) failing to adequately supervise personnel. The district court *1178 granted Lovelace’s motion for summary judgment, holding that: (1) Lovelace had no duty to control Eddie (i.e., prevent Eddie from harming another) because he was merely an outpatient; and (2) Lovelace had no duty to warn Arlene or Loretta because Arlene and Loretta were fully aware of Eddie’s violent propensities.
II. Discussion
A. Timeliness
We must first address whether we have jurisdiction to review the district court’s summary judgment order, or whether our review is confined to the district court’s denial of Appellant’s subsequent motion for reconsideration. Because we find that Appellant did not timely file her notice of appeal with respect to the court’s summary judgment order, we may only consider whether the district court abused its discretion in denying her motion for reconsideration.
On May 27, 1997, the district court entered its order granting summary judgment and dismissing Weitz’s claims with prejudice. On June 10,1997, 2 Weitz filed a Motion for Extension of Time to File Motions Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) to Reconsider Judgment Entered May 27, 1997 Dismissing Plaintiffs Claims. That motion requested an extension of time until June 20, 1997. On June 13, 1997, the court entered an order granting this motion and extending Weitz’s time until June 20, 1997, to file a Rule 59(e) motion. On June 20, 1997, Weitz filed a Rule 59(e) Motion to Reconsider Order Granting Lovelace Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment or, in the Alternative, to Certify the Question of Duty to the Supreme Court of New Mexico. On July 31, 1998, the district court denied Weitz’s motion. Weitz then filed her notice of appeal on September 28,1998.
Generally, a party has thirty days from the entry of the district court’s order or judgment within which to file a notice of appeal. See Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(1)(A). When the United States or its officer or agency is a party to the case, the time is extended to sixty days. See Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(1)(B). The appeal period is tolled, however, when a party timely files either a motion to alter or amend the judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) (filed no later than ten days after entry of judgment), or a'motion for relief under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60 (provided that the Rule 60 motion is filed within ten days of entry of the judgment). See Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(4)(A)(iv), (vi). In the case at bar, it is undisputed that Appellant did not file a notice of appeal until more than a year after the district court entered summary judgment in favor of Appellee. The question before us, therefore, is whether Appellant’s post-judgment motion, filed on June 20, 1997, successfully tolled the period for filing a notice of appeal.
We must first examine whether it is proper to view Appellant’s post-judgment motion as a Rule 59 motion. Generally, this court will construe a motion to alter or amend or to reconsider the judgment that is served more than ten days after the judgnent is entered as a motion for relief under Rule 60(b).
See Van Skiver v. United States,
In rare cases, however, these time limits can be extended where the party makes a showing of “unique circumstances” justifying the delay.
See Thompson v. INS,
It is clear that the district court was not empowered to grant Appellant additional time to file her 59(e) motion. Rule 59(e) specifies that “[a]ny motion to alter or amend a judgment shall be filed no later than 10 days after entry of the judgment.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e). Rule 6(b) grants the district court limited authority to extend various time limits under the rules. That rule provides, however, that the court “may not extend the time for taking any action under Rule[ ] ... 59(b), (d) and (e), ... except to the extent and under the conditions stated [therein].”
Id.; see also Collard v. United States,
In
Stauber v. Kieser,
One of our post-Osiemeck decisions suggests that
Stauber
is no longer good law. In
Certain Underwriters at Lloyds of London v. Evans,
In the present case, Appellant’s counsel could have avoided this mistake by reading Rules 59(e) and 6(b) prior to filing the motion for an extension of time. In light of the clear prohibition of the extension, we cannot say that Appellant’s reliance on the court’s order was reasonable. In this
*1180
regard, the present case is similar to
Certain Underwriters,
where we held, that even a manifestly erroneous ruling by the district court did not constitute a specific assurance by the court that the request was properly made.
See also Van Skiver,
Moreover,
Ostemeck
limited the application of the unique circumstances rule to instances “where a party has performed an act which, if properly done,- would postpone the deadline for filing his appeal.”
It makes great practical sense to require the parties to comply with clearly mandated requirements in the Federal Rules. Otherwise, we would be encouraging litigants to invite courts to commit easily avoidable errors. District courts today suffer under a burdensome caseload, and a certain degree of cooperation and assistance from litigants is essential to the judicial system’s effective operation. Just as we require attorneys to certify that all arguments presented to the court have legal and factual bases, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 11(b), we likewise impose upon attorneys the duty to make sure that their requests are not expressly forbidden under the rules.
“In the case of an intervening Supreme Court ruling, a single panel is permitted to reconsider a previous Tenth Circuit decision to the extent the new case law invalidates our previous analysis.”
Hurd v. Pittsburg State Univ.,
Consequently, Appellant is not entitled to the tolling provision of Rule 59(e), and thus her ultimate notice of appeal with regard to the district court’s summary judgment order was untimely. We therefore lack jurisdiction over that claim. As a result, our review is limited to whether the district court properly denied Appellant’s motion to reconsider, which we construe as a Rule 60(b) motion because it was filed more than ten days after judgment was entered.
B. Standard of Review
“We review ... the disposition of Rule 60(b) motions for an abuse of discretion .... Under this standard, we will not reverse unless the trial court has made ‘an arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, or manifestly unreasonable judgment.’ ”
Woodworker’s Supply, Inc. v. Principal Mut. Life Ins. Co.,
C. Merits
Under New Mexico law, Lovelace cannot be held liable for the deaths of Arlene and Loretta unless Appellant can show that Lovelace owed a duty of care to Arlene and Loretta Gutierrez.
See Calkins v. Cox Estates,
1. Duty to Control
Weitz argues the district court erred when it concluded that Lovelace had no duty to protect Arlene and Loretta from Eddie’s violent propensities. The New Mexico Supreme Court has explained:
In the control cases, courts have relied upon Section 315 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts to find a special relationship between doctor and patient, which creates a special duty to control that patient’s actions. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 315 (1965). This doctrine, holding institutions and doctors potentially liable for patients with known “dangerous propensities” has been recognized in New Mexico. See Kelly v. Board of Trustees,87 N.M. 112 ,529 P.2d 1233 (Ct.App.), cert. denied,87 N.M. 112 ,529 P.2d 1232 (1974); see also Stake v. Woman’s Div. of Christian Serv.,73 N.M. 303 ,387 P.2d 871 (1963).
Wilschinsky,
At present, New Mexico law states that the duty to control “must stem from the doctor’s control over his offices ..., not from a duty to control a patient with known dangerous propensities.”
Wilschinsky,
The facts of the present case indicate that New Mexico most likely would not impose such a duty on Lovelace. Lovelace treated Eddie on an outpatient basis, and it did so on only three occasions. In addition, some three weeks had elapsed between Eddie’s last encounter with Lovelace and the murders of his wife and daughter. Relative to a situation where a patient is in the custodial or long-term care of a health care provider, Eddie’s contact with Lovelace was minimal in both duration and degree. Thus, it would be unreasonable to conclude that Lovelace had the sort of substantial relationship with Eddie giving rise to a duty, much less the practical ability, to control him.
2. Duty to Warn
Appellants further suggest that Lovelace owed a duty to warn Arlene and Loretta of Eddie’s violent propensities. New Mexico has noted that many courts recognize “a duty to warn when a specific, identifiable third party [victim] was known to the doctor,”
Wilschinsky,
Other jurisdictions considering the matter have held that a victim’s awareness of the potential harm negates the health care provider’s duty to warn.
See, e.g., Boulan-ger,
In the present case it is clear that Arlene was aware of both Eddie’s threats against her and his propensity for violence. Records from a counseling session Arlene attended December 20 indicate that she was aware of Eddie’s violent tendencies and the possibility that he might harm her and her daughter. At that session, Arlene agreed with the therapist to avoid situations where Eddie might “be in a position to do harm to either one of them.” Following the December 29th incident in which Eddie pointed a gun at Arlene, Arlene told her sister that she was afraid he would kill her. The therapist’s records confirm Arlene’s awareness of the threat:
A major turning point happened when Eddie threatened Arlene and her daughter with a gun.... Once she got out of the house she knew that it was not safe to be around Eddie, ever again. She knew she could not trust him.... The threat of death directed towards Arlene and her daughter convinced me that things had definitely gotten out of hand.... After some discussion I told Arlene the following: She must keep both herself and her daughter away from Eddie no matter how skillful he is at attempting to get them alone with him.
Thus, there can be no doubt that Arlene was fully aware of Eddie’s potential for violence against her and her daughter. 4 As a result, we believe New Mexico would conclude on these facts that Lovelace did not have a duty to warn Arlene and her daughter.
Under the deferential standard of review to be applied to rulings on a Rule 60(b) motion, we cannot find that the district court committed error.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the Appellant’s post-judgment motion should be treated as one under Rule 60(b), and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion. Under these facts, Lovelace had neither a duty to control Eddie nor a duty to warn Arlene or Loretta, and therefore Lovelace cannot be held responsible for Eddie’s conduct. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
Notes
. These other defendants were voluntarily dismissed at the summary judgment hearing and are not parties on appeal.
. Excluding intervening weekends, any motion to alter or amend under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) was due by June 10, 1997.
. Following Wilschinsky, we treat separately situations where a patient receives an injection of powerful medications on an outpatient basis.
. Lovelace alleged that Arlene's awareness of Eddie’s threats relieved Lovelace of any duty to warn Arlene or Loretta. Appellant has not argued to this court that Arlene’s awareness is insufficient to impute the same state of mind to her daughter. Thus, although it is unclear how New Mexico would resolve this issue,
see Rider v. Albuquerque Pub. Sch.,
