Dept. of Human Servives v. M. M. R.

A court has the inherent authority to set aside a judgment for extrinsic fraud only, which “consists of acts not involved in the fact finder’s consideration of the merits of the case." Wimber v. Timpe, 109 Or App 139 (1991).

Mother appealed an order that denied her motion to set aside a judgment to terminate her parental rights to her daughter. Mother assigned error to the dismissal of the appeal. On appeal, Mother contended that the court is within its inherent authority to grant the motion. In response, DHS contended that the appeal is moot and moved to dismiss. A court has the inherent authority to set aside a judgment for extrinsic fraud only, which "consists of acts not involved in the fact finder’s consideration of the merits of the case". Wimber v. Timpe, 109 Or App 139 (1991). The court held that her motion to set aside was rejected because Mother’s allegations were pertaining to intrinsic fraud because Mother alleged that the caseworker made false statements and the trial afforded her the opportunity to contest those statements.

Appeal dismissed.