Rule 59.New trial; altering or amending a judgment.

A court may grant a new trial on any or all issues, for any party, on grounds like an irregularity depriving a party of a fair trial, jury or prevailing-party misconduct, unpreventable accident or surprise, newly discovered evidence, excessive or insufficient damages, legal errors at trial, a verdict driven by passion or prejudice, or a verdict or judgment unsupported by the evidence or contrary to law. After a nonjury trial, the court has extra options: it can vacate an entered judgment, take additional testimony, revise or add findings and conclusions, and enter a new judgment. A motion for a new trial, along with any supporting affidavits, must be filed within 15 days after judgment — a deadline that generally can't be extended by agreement or court order — and the court itself can order a new trial on its own within that same window, or grant a motion on grounds the party didn't raise, so long as it gives notice and a chance to be heard first. A new trial, when granted, is limited to the issues found to be in error if those issues are separable from the rest of the case.

When damages are the problem, the court can conditionally grant a new trial unless the disadvantaged party accepts a court-designated damages figure within a set time; accepting the figure deems the new-trial motion denied, while not accepting it deems the motion granted, all without any further written order. A party that accepts a reduced or increased damages figure can still cross-appeal and challenge the court's damages ruling if the other side appeals, and that earlier acceptance stays in effect unless the appeal's outcome requires otherwise. Separately, when judgment was entered against a defendant served only by publication who never appeared, that defendant can seek a new trial within a year by showing good cause, though execution isn't stayed unless the defendant posts a bond double the judgment's value. No more than two new trials may be granted to the same party in one action, absent jury misconduct or legal error, and any order granting a new trial or altering a judgment must specify its grounds with particularity.