Can I Get the Judge to Reconsider Their Order?

In short, yes, you can file to get the judge to reconsider their motion. The first requirement is timelines. Under Section 1008(a) states that the motion must be filed within 10 days after service upon the party of written notice of entry of the order. If you file outside of 10 days, the courts consider that the failure to timely file a motion to reconsider is jurisdictional, which means they don’t have the power to even consider your request if you are too late.

A Motion for Reconsideration needs to include two items:

1. A Notice of Motion form: an application form which includes your detailed declaration, and it is a good idea to provide legal authorities. Assuming you meet the deadline you will find that Judges don’t like to be asked to reconsider their decisions except for really good reason, and do not appreciate parties that simply are unhappy with the outcome and want to take another shot at it. They apply the technical rules technically to avoid changing their rulings, which makes some sense in terms of court efficiency because in litigation one side is almost always unhappy with the outcome and would like to reargue the matter.
2. You must establish that you have discovered “new or different facts or law.” The “new law” situation is rare and does not mean that you just discovered that you quoted the wrong legal authorities to the Court and so now have “new” ones to present; it is intended to cover situations where the law changes or is clarified by statute or case decision in a way that would caused the Court to make a different decision.

Motions to Reconsider can be very technical and are very time sensitive. If you are a father in Orange, Riverside, or San Bernardino Counties, call “The Fathers Rights Attorney” at 951-482-7517 today to explore your options.