Delaware reargument: five days from the opinion, and the clock runs from a different event than every other motion
Delaware procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Delaware's post-judgment motions all run on ten days, with one exception — and the exception is both the shortest and the only one measured from a different starting point.
Reargument is five days, and it runs from "the filing of the Court's opinion or decision". Every other motion in Rule 59 runs from entry of judgment.
Those two events are often not the same day. A decision issued on the fifth and a judgment entered on the twelfth gives you a reargument deadline that expired before the judgment existed.
The five days
Del. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 59(e):
Rearguments. A motion for reargument shall be served and filed within 5 days after the filing of the Court's opinion or decision. The motion shall briefly and distinctly state the grounds therefor. Within 5 days after service of such motion, the opposing party may serve and file a brief answer to each ground asserted in the motion. The Court will determine from the motion and answer whether reargument will be granted. A copy of the motion and answer shall be furnished forthwith by the respective parties serving them to the Judge involved.
| Deadline | 5 days after the filing of the opinion or decision |
| Content | "briefly and distinctly state the grounds" |
| Answer | 5 days after service of the motion |
| Decided on | the motion and answer — no argument as of right |
| Also required | furnishing a copy forthwith to the Judge involved |
Because the period is under eleven days, Rule 6(a) excludes intermediate weekends and holidays, so five days means five business days. That is the only relief in the timetable.
Two procedural points people lose.
Brevity is prescribed, not advised. The motion states grounds "briefly and distinctly"; the answer is a "brief answer to each ground". This is not a briefing schedule.
Copies go to the judge directly. Both sides must furnish their papers "forthwith" to the Judge involved, on top of filing.
The ten-day motions
Everything else in Rule 59 runs from entry of judgment.
| Motion | Deadline |
|---|---|
| New trial — 59(b) | 10 days after entry of judgment, or after rendition of the verdict where Rule 58 defers entry |
| Court's own initiative — 59(c) | 10 days after entry |
| Alter or amend a judgment — 59(d) | 10 days after entry |
Rule 59(d) is the entire subdivision: "A motion to alter or amend the judgment shall be served and filed not later than 10 days after entry of the judgment."
Rule 59(b) carries the briefing structure for a new trial motion, and it turns on whether affidavits are attached:
| Motion | with a brief and affidavit, if any, stating grounds "briefly and distinctly" |
| Answer, no affidavits with the motion | short answer to each ground within 10 days, with a brief if desired |
| Answer, affidavits with the motion | answer, opposing affidavits and brief within 10 days |
| That period | extendable by up to 10 more days, by the Court for good cause or by written stipulation |
| Reply affidavits and brief | within 10 days of the opposing papers, same extension available |
So an affidavit-supported motion opens a three-stage exchange, each stage ten days and each extendable by ten more — by stipulation alone, without troubling the Court.
The Court then "shall determine from the motion, answer, affidavits and briefs, whether a new trial shall be granted or denied or whether there shall be oral argument on the motion." Argument happens only if the Court wants it.
None of these can be extended
Rule 6(b) allows the Court to enlarge most periods — before expiry for cause shown, afterwards on excusable neglect — but excludes a list, and Rule 59 is on it. The Court "may not extend the time for taking any action under Rules 50(b), 52(b) [omitted], 59(b), (d) and (e), 60(b), except to the extent and under the conditions stated in them."
| Rule 59(b), (d), (e) | not extendable |
| The only flexibility | the answer and reply periods inside 59(b), which the rule itself allows to be extended |
Read carefully, the bar falls on the motion deadlines, not on the responsive stages that Rule 59(b) expressly makes extendable.
Rule 60(b) is also on the no-extension list — but Delaware's Rule 60(b) states no deadline of its own, so there is nothing there to enlarge. See setting aside a Delaware default judgment.
Which motion to bring
The three have different targets, and the choice usually decides itself.
Reargument (59(e)) addresses a decision — you say the Court overlooked something or misapprehended the law or facts in what it wrote. It is available as soon as the opinion is filed, before any judgment exists.
Alter or amend (59(d)) addresses the judgment — its terms, its arithmetic, what it awards.
New trial (59(b)) addresses the trial — available "for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in the Superior Court". In a bench trial, Rule 59(a) also lets the Court "open the judgment, take additional testimony, amend findings of fact and conclusions of law or make new findings and conclusions, and direct the entry of a new judgment".
Where the complaint is a clerical slip rather than a decision, none of these is needed. Rule 60(a) lets the Court correct clerical mistakes "at any time", on its own initiative or on motion.
The Court may act on its own
Rule 59(c):
On initiative of Court. Not later than 10 days after entry of judgment the Court of its own initiative may order a new trial for any reason for which it might have granted a new trial on motion of a party. After giving the parties notice and an opportunity to be heard on the matter, the Court may grant a motion for a new trial, timely served, for a reason not stated in the motion. In either case, the Court shall specify in the order the grounds therefor.
Two powers. The Court may order a new trial on its own within ten days of entry. And it may grant a party's timely motion "for a reason not stated in the motion" — after notice and an opportunity to be heard.
In both cases it must "specify in the order the grounds therefor".
That second power is worth knowing when you are opposing. A motion is not confined to the grounds its author chose, so an answer addressed only to those grounds may not be the end of the exposure.
Filing does not stop enforcement
A Rule 59 motion does not suspend the judgment. Rule 62(b) allows a discretionary stay pending a Rule 59, Rule 60 or Rule 50 motion, "on such conditions for the security of the adverse party as are proper" — and Delaware's automatic stay is only ten days from entry.
The practical sequence is to file the motion and the stay application together, inside those ten days. See enforcing a Delaware money judgment, which also covers the six-month security available on some default judgments.
Where this connects
For the case itself, see the Delaware motion to dismiss and Delaware summary judgment — where cross motions are deemed a stipulation to decide the case on the papers, which is a decision reargument may be aimed at.
For how the short periods are counted, see Delaware discovery deadlines, which sets out Rule 6's under-eleven-days rule and the three-day mail allowance.
How Delaware compares
| Delaware | Hawaii | Kentucky | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New trial | 10 days | 10 days | 10 days | 28 days |
| Alter or amend | 10 days | 10 days | 10 days | 28 days |
| Reargument as a separate motion | yes, 5 days | no | no | no |
| Measured from the opinion, not the judgment | yes | — | — | — |
| Extendable | no | some not | — | no |
| Answer periods extendable by stipulation | yes, 10 days | — | — | — |
| Court may grant on an unpleaded ground | yes, after notice | — | — | yes |
A short checklist
- Diary the opinion date separately from the judgment date. Reargument runs from the opinion.
- Five days means five business days — Rule 6(a) excludes weekends under eleven days.
- Keep it short. The rule asks for grounds stated briefly and distinctly, and an answer in five days.
- Send a copy to the Judge involved, as well as filing.
- Do not plan on an extension. Rule 6(b) forbids enlarging the 59(b), (d) and (e) deadlines.
- Use the stipulated extension where it exists — the answer and reply stages of 59(b) allow ten more days.
- File a Rule 62(b) stay request with the motion. The automatic stay is ten days.
- If it is a clerical error, use Rule 60(a) instead — available at any time.
Where these rules live
- Del. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 59 — New trials and rearguments
- Del. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 60 — Relief from judgment or order
- Del. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 6 — Time
- Del. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 62 — Stays by trial court and on appeal
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice.