Nature and Purpose
A petition for relief from judgment, order, or other proceeding is a remedy available under Rule 38 of the Rules of Court. Its purpose is to provide relief to a party who has been prevented from taking an appeal or filing a motion for new trial or reconsideration due to fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence. It is considered a last available remedy.
Grounds for Petition
The specific grounds for a petition for relief are fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence. These grounds must have been of such a nature that they prevented the party from taking an appeal or filing a motion for new trial or reconsideration. Fraud, in this context, refers to extrinsic fraud, which prevents a party from having their day in court or presenting their case.
Timing for Filing
A petition for relief must be filed within a specific timeframe:
- It must be filed within sixty (60) days after the petitioner learns of the judgment, final order, or other proceeding.
- It must also be filed not more than six (6) months after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken. Both periods are strict and must be complied with.
Scope and Applicability
The petition for relief applies to judgments, final orders, or other proceedings. It is not generally applicable to interlocutory orders in the Regional Trial Courts. The remedy is not available in appeals from municipal or metropolitan trial courts to the Regional Trial Court.
Petition Requirements
The petition must be verified. It must be accompanied by affidavits. These affidavits should demonstrate:
- The fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence relied upon.
- The facts constituting the petitioner's good and substantial cause of action or defense. An affidavit of merits is typically essential, unless the ground for relief (e.g., lack of jurisdiction) makes it unnecessary.
Effect on Execution
The filing of a petition for relief does not automatically stay the execution of the judgment, order, or other proceeding. A restraining order is required to prevent execution pending resolution of the petition.
Relationship with Other Remedies
A petition for relief is available when the prescribed periods for filing a motion for new trial or reconsideration or taking an appeal have expired because the party was prevented from doing so by the specified grounds (fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence).
It is distinct from a petition for annulment of judgment (Rule 47). A petition for annulment is a remedy available when the remedies of new trial, appeal, motion for reconsideration, and petition for relief were unavailable through no fault of the petitioner. Grounds for annulment are extrinsic fraud (if Rule 38 was not availed) or lack of jurisdiction.