Nature of Motion to Resettle Explained

In dismissing the appeal from the denial of a motion to resettle or clarify, the Third Department explained the nature of a motion to resettle and some aspects of motions to reargue and renew:

Petitioner’s motion was one to resettle and/or clarify Supreme Court’s prior judgment regarding back pay. Such a motion is designed “not for substantive changes [in, or to amplify a prior decision of, the court], but to correct errors or omissions in form, for clarification or to make the [judgment] conform more accurately to the decision” … .  Such  motions  rest on  the inherent power  of courts to  “‘cure mistakes,  defects  and  irregularities that  do  not  affect substantial rights of [the] parties'” Here, petitioners’ motion  sought, unsuccessfully, to amplify and substantively amend, not merely to clarify, Supreme Court’s prior judgment  … Under established precedent, no appeal lies from the “‘denial of a motion to resettle [or clarify] a substantive portion of an order'” … .Moreover, even were we to view petitioners’ motion as one to reargue, which Supreme Court indicated would have been untimely (see CPLR 2221 [d] [3]), the motion was not “identified specifically as such” (CPLR  2221  [d] [1]), as required, and, in any event, no appeal lies from the denial of a motion to reargue ….  The motion likewise was not denominated as one seeking renewal (see CPLR 2221 [e] [1]) and was not based upon “new facts” or “a change in the law” (CPLR 2221 [e] [2]).  Accordingly, the appeal must be dismissed.  Matter of Torpey v Town of Colonie, 515902, 3rd Dept, 6-6-13