SANDRA CABRINA JENKINS, Judge.
Finding that the trial court was without authority to set aside the April 21, 2015 judgment or reinstate the March 19, 2015 judgment, we vacate the trial court's order and reinstate the April 21, 2015 judgment.
Plaintiff, Lauren Condon, filed suit against Carol Logan and her automobile insurance provider, United Services Automobile Association, (collectively, defendants) for damages allegedly resulting from an automobile accident on March 25, 2011. On that date, plaintiff alleges that she was driving her vehicle, a 2002 Honda Accord, on the Pontchartrain Expressway when Carol Logan, while driving her 2002 Toyota Highlander, struck the rear of plaintiff's vehicle. Plaintiff alleges that Mrs. Logan was operating her vehicle in a negligent manner thereby causing the automobile accident. Plaintiff further alleges that evidence of Mrs. Logan's negligence is supported by the fact that Mrs. Logan was issued a traffic citation for "following too closely" by the New Orleans Police Department. As a result of the accident, plaintiff allegedly sustained personal injuries for which she sought damages from defendants.
In their answer to plaintiff's petition, defendants denied that there was a collision between Mrs. Logan's vehicle and plaintiff's vehicle or that Mrs. Logan was negligent in the operation of her vehicle.
On January 30, 2015, plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability. In the motion, plaintiff stated that during the course of discovery plaintiff's counsel made multiple, unsuccessful attempts to take the sworn deposition of Mrs. Logan. Then, on or around October 15, 2014, plaintiff's counsel was informed by defendants' counsel that Mrs. Logan had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and would be unable to testify in a deposition or at trial. Based on the information provided by defendants' counsel, plaintiff argued that Mrs. Logan would be unable to offer testimony contradicting plaintiff's allegations regarding the accident and defendants could produce no other witness with personal knowledge of the accident who could provide any countervailing testimony. Plaintiff further argued that defendants could not rebut the presumption of fault against Mrs. Logan who breached her duty of care by following too closely.
In opposition to plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment, defendants filed the affidavits of Mrs. Logan's husband, Fred Logan, and her physician, Dr. Shibu Varguhese, and a written, signed statement from Mrs. Logan that was contained within the police accident report from March 25, 2011.
In reply to defendants' opposition and the exhibits filed in support thereof, plaintiff filed a motion to strike the two affidavits, the police accident report, and the written statement of Mrs. Logan. Plaintiff argued that none of the documents offered in opposition to the motion for partial summary judgment complied with the requirements of La. C.C.P. art. 967.
Following a hearing on March 13, 2015, the trial court granted plaintiff's motion to strike defendants' exhibits and granted plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on liability, declaring that Mrs. Logan struck plaintiff's vehicle and she was solely at fault for causing the accident. The trial court's March 19, 2015 judgment granting plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment was designated as final for purposes of an appeal.
On March 20, 2015, defendants filed a motion for new trial and argued that plaintiff's deposition testimony, filed in support of plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment, created a genuine issue of material fact as to Mrs. Logan's liability. Defendants also submitted the affidavit of Officer Ryan Fanguy who authored the March 25, 2011 accident report and attested to Mrs. Logan's denial of the collision on that date. In consideration of defendants' motion, the trial court granted defendants' motion for new trial in open court on March 27, 2015,
On April 7, 2015, the trial court again heard arguments on plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment and motion to strike defendants' exhibits. Following the hearing, the trial court's April 21, 2015
On May 21, 2015, plaintiff filed a timely supervisory writ with this Court seeking review of the trial court's April 21, 2015 judgment. On the same date, in consideration of plaintiff's writ, this Court requested a per curiam from the trial court. In response, on May 22, 2015, the trial court signed and submitted to this Court an order setting aside and vacating its April 21, 2015 judgment denying plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment and reinstating its March 19, 2015 judgment granting plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment. Based on the trial court's May 22, 2015 order, plaintiff filed a motion to withdraw her supervisory writ from this Court's consideration. On May 26, 2015, this Court granted plaintiff's motion to withdraw the writ application.
In consideration of the trial court's May 22, 2015 order setting aside and vacating its April 21, 2015 judgment and reinstating its March 19, 2015 judgment granting plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability, defendants filed a timely motion for suspensive appeal, which the trial court granted. Defendants' timely appeal followed.
Before addressing the merits of the appeal, we briefly address this Court's appellate jurisdiction in this matter. We note that the trial court's May 22, 2015 order was not designated as a final judgment. The record reflects that defendants filed a motion to designate it as a final judgment but the trial court signed the order as moot on May 29, 2015, having previously signed the order granting defendants' motion for suspensive appeal on May 27, 2015. Despite the trial court's failure to designate the May 22, 2015 order as a final judgment, the March 19, 2015 judgment reinstated by the order was designated as a final judgment in accordance with La. C.C.P. art. 1915 B.
Turning to the merits of the appeal, defendants argue that the trial court acted without legal authority when it issued the May 22, 2015 order setting aside the April 21, 2015 judgment and reinstating the March 19, 2015 judgment that was previously set aside by the granting of defendants' motion for new trial. We agree.
In this case, the trial court set aside and vacated its March 19, 2015 judgment granting plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on liability when it granted defendants' motion for new trial. The granting of a new trial has the effect
After the trial court rendered and signed its April 21, 2015 judgment denying plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment, the trial court had no authority on its own motion to recall, modify, or set aside that judgment. "It is well settled under our jurisprudence that a judgment which has been signed cannot be altered, amended, or revised by the judge who rendered the same, except in the manner provided by law." Bourgeois v. Kost, 02-2785, p. 7 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/20/03), 846 So.2d 692, 696; see also Bates v. City of New Orleans, 13-1153, pp. 13-14 (La. App. 3/26/14), 137 So.3d 774, 784. Although a trial court may order a new trial on its own motion, thereby setting aside a judgment, the procedural device of a motion for new trial is applicable only to final judgments. See Magallanes v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co., 09-0605, pp. 3-4 (La. App. 4 Cir. 10/14/09), 23 So.3d 985, 988; Carter v. Rhea, 01-0234, p. 5 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/25/01), 785 So.2d 1022, 1025. In addition, a trial court only has authority to grant a new trial, recall, modify or set aside a judgment within the time delays allowed for filing a motion for new trial. Horton v. Mayeaux, 05-1704, pp. 5-6 (La. 5/30/06), 931 So.2d 338, 341; South Louisiana Bank v. White, 577 So.2d 349, 350 (La.App. 1st Cir.1991); see also La. C.C.P. art. 1974 (providing in pertinent part, "the delay for applying for a new trial shall be seven days, exclusive of legal holidays" from the notice of judgment).
In this case, however, the trial court on its own motion reconsidered its April 21, 2015 judgment denying plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment — an interlocutory judgment — more than one month after signing the judgment. A judgment denying a motion for summary judgment is an interlocutory, nonappealable judgment "that is not susceptible to being certified by a trial court as final for purposes of immediate appeal under La. C.C.P. art. 1915." Barber v. Russell, 08-1366, p. 2 (La.App. 4 Cir.4/1/09), 9 So.3d 1033, 1034, quoting Clark v. Legion Ins. Co., 02-2487, p. 6 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/23/03), 853 So.2d 684, 687; see Crutchfield v. City of New Orleans, Dept. of Parks and Parkways, 05-1485, pp. 1-2 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/17/06), 932 So.2d 731, 732; Nalty v. D.H. Holmes Co., Ltd., 99-2826, p. 6 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/27/00), 775 So.2d 695, 698. When a motion for summary judgment has been denied, the proper procedure for obtaining a reconsideration of that interlocutory judgment is for the moving party to re-urge the motion itself by re-filing it prior to trial.
Defendants also assign as error the trial court's granting of partial summary judgment on the issue of liability and the trial court's refusal to declare Mrs. Logan as unavailable to testify. Both of these determinations are part of the trial court's March 19, 2015 judgment. As explained above, the March 19, 2015 judgment has been set aside. Once the trial court granted the motion for new trial, this Court was thereby prohibited from reviewing the original judgment on the merits. See Wilson, 635 So.2d at 1176. This Court is limited to reviewing the judgment entered after the new trial. Id. In this case, however, neither defendants or plaintiff seek review of the trial court's April 21, 2015 judgment denying plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment; moreover, we do not have appellate jurisdiction over an interlocutory judgment denying a partial motion for summary judgment. See Barber, supra. Thus, we need not address defendants' remaining assignments of error.
For the reasons stated above, we vacate the trial court's May 22, 2015 order and reinstate the trial court's April 21, 2015 judgment denying plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment and granting in part and denying in part plaintiff's motion to strike defendants' exhibits.