I received an unfavorable ruling in a case and then my reconsideration motion was denied as well, is it legally possible that the judge could see the light and reverse his ruling on his own and does he have the power to do so?

20 November 2025

Yes, the judge has the power to undo his ruling, at least until an appeals court takes jurisdiction.  However, it is very unlikely it would happen.

In the case of Anyaosah v. Copart of Connecticut, Inc the Massachusetts appeals court found that a judge had the power to vacate and reverse his own decision allowing a defendant’s motion for summary judgment and put the case back on the docket to proceed.  106 Mass. App. Ct. 213, 217 (2025).  In other words, the judge dismissed the case, then reversed his decision and resumed the case and let it proceed.  It was 56 days between the judge’s first decision dismissing the case and the one reversing that decision and letting the case go forward.

The defendant argued the applicable rule, rule 60(b), only permitted a judge to change his ruling upon a motion by a party and that he couldn’t do it on his own sua sponte.  But the appeals court rejected that argument stating that the language in the rule did not deprive the trial court of its inherent authority to act in the interest of justice in a rare situation where justice was not being served.

Another issue that was raised, likely because it related to the judgment of the case, is whether the aggrieved party should have been given the opportunity to be heard on the matter.  In this particular case, apparently there was a hearing where the judge expressed his mistake.  But the aggrieved party did not obtain and submit a transcript of the hearing to the appeals court, therefore the appeals court found that based on what it had before it, there was not an adequate record to find there was inadequate opportunity to be heard.

Overall and in general, a judge is almost always going to be permitted to change his decision as the common sense principle exists that a society should always be allowed to right prior wrongs and injustices.  However, once an appeals court dockets an appeal, the trial court generally loses jurisdiction over the case pertaining to a judgment, so I would not think a trial judge could reverse a decision at that stage. Farnum v. Mesiti Development, 68 Mass. App. Ct. 419, 423 (2006)(recognizing trial judge is divested of jurisdiction over judgment once appeal docketed but distinguishing motion for sanctions under section 6F of chapter 231.)

It is interesting to explore and debate the extent of legal powers and possibilities.  Leaving these items aside, on a practical note, based on the author’s experience, it is unrealistic to expect a judge to change his ruling sua sponte.  This is so even when it may seem obvious there was a mistake made.  So, once a ruling is made, quell your hopes of it changing and look into what you can do to appeal it.