2004 Minnesota Statutes

     487.23 Pleading, practice, procedure and forms in civil 
  actions. 

    Subdivision 1.    General.  Pleading, practice, 
 procedure and forms in civil actions shall be governed by Rules 
 of Civil Procedure for county courts which shall be adopted by 
 the Supreme Court.  Until the rules become effective, such 
 matters are governed by the rules for municipal courts and rules 
 promulgated from time to time by the supreme court or by the 
 statutes governing the district court insofar as the rules 
 promulgated by the supreme court do not contain any applicable 
 provision.  The provisions of sections 487.01 to 487.38 relating 
 to pleading, practice, and procedure in civil actions shall be 
 effective as rules of court until modified or superseded by the 
 rules hereafter adopted by the Supreme Court.  Rules or 
 statutory provisions modified or superseded by the Rules of 
 Civil Procedure for county courts adopted by the Supreme Court 
 shall be of no effect in any county court from and after the 
 effective date of said adopted rules. 

    Subd. 1a.    Conciliation court forms.  The Supreme 
 Court shall prescribe by rule forms for use in all the 
 conciliation courts of the state.  The forms prescribed shall be 
 uniform so that forms supplied by one conciliation court may be 
 used in any other conciliation court of the state. 

    Subd. 2.    Court rules.  The court may adopt rules 
 governing pleading, practice, procedure, and forms for civil 
 actions which are not inconsistent with the provisions of 
 sections 487.01 to 487.38, the rules for county courts 
 promulgated by the Supreme Court, or governing statutes. 

    Subd. 3.    Notes of issue; demand for jury trial; waiver 
 of jury trial.  (a) A party desiring to place a civil cause 
 upon the calendar for trial after issue is joined shall serve a 
 note of issue on all other parties and file it with the court 
 administrator, with proof of service within ten days after 
 service.  The note of issue shall state whether the issues are 
 of law or fact, whether trial by jury is demanded or waived, and 
 the name and address of the respective counsel. 

    (b) If any other party to the action desires a trial by 
 jury when none is demanded in the note of issue served upon the 
 party, the party shall serve a demand for trial by a jury on all 
 other parties to the action and file it with the court 
 administrator, with proof of service, within ten days after the 
 note of issue was served upon the party. 

    (c) If a jury is not demanded at the time and in the manner 
 provided in sections 487.01 to 487.38, all parties waive trial 
 by jury.  Jury trial may be waived also in the manner provided 
 by rule 38.02 of the rules for municipal courts promulgated by 
 the Supreme Court and rules promulgated by the Supreme Court 
 from time to time for county courts. 

    Subd. 4.    Five-sixths verdict.  In all civil cases, 
 after six hours of deliberation, the agreement of five-sixths of 
 any jury is a valid verdict.  The deliberation of the jury 
 commences when the officer taking charge of the jury has been 
 sworn.  The court administrator shall enter that time in the 
 administrator's records. 

    Subd. 5.    Costs allowable.  In all civil actions, 
 costs and disbursements allowed in county court shall be the 
 same as is provided for costs and disbursements in like actions 
 in the district court. 

    Subd. 6.    New trial or other determination.  In civil 
 actions, the court may: 

    (a) grant a new trial to all or any of the parties and on 
 all or part of the issues; 

    (b) grant a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict 
 or notwithstanding that the jury has disagreed and been 
 discharged; 

    (c) open the judgment if one has been entered; 

    (d) take additional testimony in a case tried without a 
 jury; 

    (e) make amended findings of fact and conclusions of law 
 and direct entry of an amended judgment; 

    (f) correct clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other 
 parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or 
 omission; or 

    (g) relieve a party or a party's legal representative from 
 a final judgment, order or other proceeding. 

    Subd. 7.  Repealed, 1973 c 679 s 38 

    Subd. 7a.    Lien of judgment.  Every judgment of the 
 county court requiring the payment of money shall be docketed by 
 the court administrator of county court upon the entry thereof.  
 From the time of such docketing the judgment shall be a lien, to 
 the amount unpaid thereon, upon all real property in the county 
 then or thereafter owned by the judgment debtor, except that no 
 judgment rendered in conciliation court shall become a lien upon 
 real estate until docketed in county court.  Such judgment shall 
 survive, and the lien thereof continue, for the period of ten 
 years next after its entry, and no longer.  No judgment, except 
 for taxes, shall be docketed until the judgment creditor, or the 
 creditor's agent or attorney, shall have filed with the court 
 administrator an affidavit, stating the full name, occupation, 
 place of residence, and post office address of the judgment 
 debtor, to the best of affiant's information and belief; and, if 
 such residence be within an incorporated place having more than 
 5,000 inhabitants, the street number of both the judgment 
 debtor's place of residence and place of business, if the 
 judgment debtor has one, shall be stated.  If the court 
 administrator shall violate this provision, neither the judgment 
 nor the docketing thereof shall be invalid, but the court 
 administrator shall be liable to any person damaged thereby in 
 the sum of $5. 

    Subd. 7b.    Obtaining and filing transcript.  Any 
 person who holds a judgment for an amount exceeding $10, 
 exclusive of interest and costs, may obtain from the court 
 administrator a certified transcript of the judgment and may 
 file the transcript in the office of the court administrator of 
 the district court.  If a transcript is given, the court 
 administrator of the county court shall note that part on the 
 record of the judgment and shall not thereafter issue a writ of 
 execution of the same judgment. 

    Subd. 7c.    Control of judgment by district court.  
 Upon the filing and docketing of the certified transcript the 
 judgment thereafter is exclusively under the control of the 
 district court and may be enforced by its process as though 
 originally rendered by the district court. 

    Subd. 7d.    Outstanding writ of execution.  The court 
 administrator shall not issue a certified transcript while a 
 writ of execution is outstanding on the judgment. 

    Subd. 8.    Writs of replevin, attachment and execution.  
  Writs of replevin, attachment and execution may be issued in 
 accordance with the practice and procedure for those writs in 
 district court, but a judge rather than a sheriff or police 
 officer shall approve all bonds requiring approval. 

    Subd. 9.    Satisfaction of execution.  When a writ of 
 execution has been delivered to an officer for enforcement, any 
 person indebted to the judgment debtor may pay the amount of the 
 debt, or as much of it as will satisfy the execution, to the 
 officer holding the writ and the receipt of that officer 
 reciting the facts when filed with the court administrator shall 
 be sufficient authority for the court administrator to discharge 
 or satisfy the debt or as much of the debt as is paid, which the 
 court administrator shall do forthwith upon the filing of such 
 receipts. 

    Subd. 10.    Garnishment.  Proceedings against 
 garnishees may be instituted in the same manner as in the 
 district courts of the state. 

    HIST: 1971 c 951 s 23; 1973 c 679 s 16-22; 1974 c 542 s 1; 
 1977 c 175 s 1; 1986 c 444; 1Sp1986 c 3 art 1 s 82; 1987 c 346 s 
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