Arizona Court of Appeals Division One Holds That Grant of Partial Summary Judgment is Not Appealable under A.R.S. § 12-2101(F).

Plaintiff Santa Maria filed a complaint, in response to which Defendant Najera answered and counterclaimed.  Thereafter, Najera moved for summary judgment on some of Santa Maria’s claims.  When Santa Maria filed no response to the summary judgment motion, the Superior Court entered partial summary judgment on those claims in favor of Najera.  Santa Maria then filed a Rule 59 motion for new trial as to the claims on which summary judgment was entered against him.  The court denied the Rule 59 motion and Santa Maria appealed that denial.

The Court of Appeals, citing a lack of appellate jurisdiction, dismissed the appeal.  Harmonizing A.R.S. § 12-2101(F), with other authorities discouraging the piecemeal resolution of appeals, the Court explained that an otherwise non-final order, such as the partial summary judgment at issue here, was not rendered appealable simply because Santa Maria filed a Rule 59 motion.  The Court specifically pointed to its prior decision in Mezey v. Fioramonti, 204 Ariz. 599 (App. 2003) disapproved on other grounds by Bilke v. State, 206 Ariz. 462  (2003), as supporting its conclusion that, in the absence of Rule 54(b) language designating the partial summary judgment as final, a grant of partial summary judgment is not appealable under Section 12-2101(F).

Judge Johnsen authored the opinion in which Judge Swann and Judge Norris concurred.