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I. INTRODUCTION
Do motions to reconsider even exist in Tennessee? Although the phrase itself is not found in the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, the substance behind the phrase is undoubtedly recognized in Rules 54.02,1 59.04,2 and 60.02.3 These three rules, however, on their face, do not apply to the numerous other situations where an issuing trial court reconsiders and revises its previously entered order. As such, this note discusses the intended situations that Rules 54.02, 59.04, and 60.02 were created to address. Furthermore, in light of the apparent limited nature of these rules, this note addresses the other situations in which a court may reconsider its order despite the lack of a rule permitting reconsideration.
This note also responds to the somewhat confusing state of these motions in Tennessee legal practice. As an example of the precarious nature of these motions, the Tennessee Court of Appeals stated the following: "Regrettably, some lawyers continue to call their Tenn. R. Civ. P. 59.04 motions 'motions to reconsider' despite our repeated warnings of the confusion this practice causes."4 Accordingly, this note attempts to reconcile the Tennessee courts' apparent rejection of the motion to reconsider phraseology with the courts' continued acceptance of the substance behind these improperly-styled motions.
It is important to preface this discussion of motions to reconsider by noting that two legitimate, yet conflicting, interests surround these motions. On one hand, motions to reconsider should be allowed in the interest of justice and fairness. Ideally, in order to insure that justice is served, an order or judgment entered by a trial court should be based on all relevant evidence and applicable law. If it is brought to the court's attention that other relevant evidence should be considered or that the applicable law has changed, a court should be able to change its order or judgment in accordance with this new evidence or newly applicable law.
Competing with this ideal image of justice and fairness in the court system is judicial efficiency. Based on the court system's limited number of resources-most importantly, money and time-a court's decision must enjoy some characteristic of finality. The conclusiveness of a court's ruling encourages lawyers to either present all discoverable evidence and relevant law in a timely manner or suffer...