Friday, October 07, 2005

Supremes dismiss petition for further review when attorney failed to attach $50 filing fee; holds new fee is jurisdictional. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-103 (Reissue 2004) Petitioning parties received warning letters of the new filing fee. Robertson v. Rose, 270 Neb. 466 Filed October 7, 2005. No. A-04-449.. This matter is before us on a petition for further review filed by Benjamin D. Rose, appellee. Because we conclude the petition was not timely filed, the petition is dismissed. This is a motor vehicle accident negligence case in which Veronica R. Robertson, appellant, sued Rose. Following a jury verdict in favor of Rose, the district court for Box Butte County denied Robertson's motion for new trial. Robertson appealed. On July 22, 2005, the Nebraska Court of Appeals, in a memorandum opinion, reversed the judgment of the district court which had denied Robertson's motion for a new trial. The Court of Appeals remanded the cause for a new trial.As noted in the clerk's letter to Rose, § 33-103.01 was amended by L.B. 348, § 6, effective July 1, 2005, to provide in relevant part: "At the time of filing a petition for further review to the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeals, there shall be paid to the clerk the sum of fifty dollars as a docket fee in lieu of any other filing fees." Further, Neb. Ct. R. of Prac. 2F(1) (rev. 2002) was amended June 15, 2005, to provide in relevant part: As of July 1, 2005, pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-103 as amended by L.B. 348, § 6, a docket fee of $50 shall be paid to the Clerk of the Supreme Court at the time of the filing of the petition for further review. This docket fee shall be waived for an indigent person who has been granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal by the trial court. In a like manner, the payment of the $50 fee to docket a petition for further review is now mandated by § 33-103 and is therefore deemed jurisdictional. See, also, rule 2F(1). A petition for further review, albeit tendered to the clerk within 30 days after the Court of Appeals has issued its decision, is not properly filed unless and until the required docket fee is timely paid.

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