§ 25-2001.District court; power to vacate or modify judgments or orders.

Section 25-2001 is the anchor provision of Article 20 and functions as Nebraska’s counterpart to a Rule 60(b) motion for relief from judgment in federal practice, though the mechanics differ in important ways. Subsection (1) extends a district court’s inherent power to vacate or modify its own judgments and orders — a power every court already holds while a case remains within its term — to the period after the term ends, on the same grounds, so long as the party files a motion within six months after the judgment or order was entered. Subsection (2) makes clear that none of this limits a district court’s separate equitable power to set aside a judgment as an equitable remedy; that independent avenue survives alongside the statutory scheme.

Subsection (3) handles pure clerical mistakes and oversights differently still. A court can correct a clerical mistake in a judgment, order, or other part of the record, or an error arising from oversight or omission, by a nunc pro tunc order at any time — on its own initiative or on a party’s motion, after whatever notice the court orders. That power reaches into the appeal itself: the mistake can be corrected before the case is submitted to the appellate court, and even afterward with the appellate court’s leave.

Subsection (4) supplies the enumerated grounds that give this section its practical bite: mistake, neglect, or omission of the clerk, or irregularity in obtaining the judgment or order; fraud practiced by the successful party in obtaining it; newly discovered material evidence that could not have been found with reasonable diligence before trial or in time to move for a new trial; erroneous proceedings against an infant or a person of unsound mind whose condition does not appear in the record; the death of a party before judgment; unavoidable casualty or misfortune that kept a party from prosecuting or defending the case; and taking judgment on a warrant of attorney for more than was due when the defendant was not summoned or otherwise legally notified. Each of those seven grounds carries its own procedure — sections 25-2002 through 25-2008 spell out how to bring the claim, what has to be shown, and how long a party has to act.

The two tracks run on different clocks and through different mechanics. Subsection (1)’s general motion has to be filed within six months, while a proceeding built on one of the seven subsection (4) grounds proceeds by complaint and summons under section 25-2002 and carries its own two-year limitations period under section 25-2008. A party weighing whether to vacate an old judgment needs to know which track fits the facts, since the deadlines and the paperwork required are not the same.