Legal Definitions - coram nobis

Coram Nobis (Latin for "before us")

A coram nobis is a legal petition, or a formal request, asking a court to correct its own previous judgment due to a critical factual error that was not known or discoverable at the time of the original trial. It is a rare and extraordinary remedy, typically used when a fundamental mistake of fact, if known earlier, would have prevented the judgment from being issued.

It is important to understand that a coram nobis is not used to correct legal errors, to introduce evidence that could have been presented at trial, or to challenge a judgment based on new legal theories. Instead, it focuses solely on factual errors that were genuinely unknown and outside the control of the parties during the original proceedings, and which are so significant that they undermine the fairness or validity of the original judgment.

• Example 1: A Criminal Conviction Based on Mistaken Identity
  • Imagine a person convicted of a serious crime, such as armed robbery, largely based on eyewitness testimony. Years after their conviction, new, irrefutable evidence emerges – perhaps a previously undiscovered security camera footage from a different location – that definitively places the convicted individual far away from the crime scene at the exact time it occurred. This footage was not available or discoverable during the original trial.
  • In this situation, the convicted person could file a petition for coram nobis with the original trial court. They would argue that the court's judgment was based on a fundamental factual error (mistaken identity regarding their presence at the crime scene) that was unknown at the time of trial and, if known, would have led to a different outcome. The petition asks the same court to review and potentially overturn its own judgment based on this critical, newly discovered factual information.
• Example 2: A Civil Judgment Based on Misunderstood Property Ownership
  • Consider a civil lawsuit where a court issued a judgment declaring a specific individual as the sole owner of a valuable piece of land, based on property records presented at trial. Years later, a previously lost and undiscoverable deed surfaces, clearly showing that the land was actually co-owned by another party through a trust agreement that predated the records used in the trial. This deed was not known to any party or discoverable through reasonable diligence during the original proceedings.
  • The co-owner could petition the original court for a coram nobis. They would assert that the court's judgment was founded upon a critical factual error regarding the true ownership of the property, an error that was genuinely unknown at the time of the trial. The petition seeks to have the court re-examine its own judgment in light of this newly revealed, dispositive factual evidence that would have fundamentally altered the original ruling.