Rule 62.Stays by trial court and on appeal

Rule 62(a) builds in a short breathing period: except as the rule otherwise states, no execution can issue on a judgment and no proceedings to enforce it can be taken until 10 days after its entry. Beyond that automatic window, Rule 62(b) gives the Court discretion to stay execution or enforcement, on whatever conditions it sets for the adverse party's security, while a motion for a new trial or to alter or amend a judgment under Rule 59 is pending, while a motion for relief from a judgment or order under Rule 60 is pending, or while a motion for judgment in accordance with a directed verdict under Rule 50 is pending.

Rule 62(c) addresses appeals coming up from a lower court. In that setting, the Superior Court may, on the appellant's motion, stay execution on the judgment being appealed, and it can condition that stay on the appellant posting a supersedeas bond with surety or making a cash deposit sufficient to cover the judgment plus interest and court costs. Rule 62(d) then points to the governing framework for supersedeas and stays pending appeal more broadly: Article IV, Section 24 of the Delaware Constitution and Supreme Court Rule 32.

Rule 62(f) adds a statutory backstop — a judgment debtor is entitled to a stay of execution wherever a statute accords one, independent of anything else in Rule 62. And Rule 62(h) closes the loop with Rule 54(b): when the Court has entered a final judgment on fewer than all the claims or parties under Rule 54(b)'s conditions, it may stay enforcement of that judgment until a later judgment or judgments are entered, and it can set whatever conditions are needed to secure the benefit of the stayed judgment for the party who holds it.