Title: Millard v. Mitchell Bros. Truck Lines
Citation: 492 P.2d 783
Docket Number: N/A
State: Oregon
Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court
Date: January 19, 1972

492 P.2d 783 (1972)
James Arthur MILLARD, Jr., Appellant,
v.
MITCHELL BROS. TRUCK LINES, an Oregon Corporation, and Rudolph Walter Thies, Respondents.

Supreme Court of Oregon, In Banc.
Submitted October 18, 1971, On Motion to Dismiss Appeal.
Decided January 19, 1972.
Tooze, Powers, Kerr, Tooze &amp; Peterson, Portland, for the motion.
Vernon Cook, Gresham, contra.
Submitted October 18, 1971, On Respondents' Motion to Dismiss Appeal.
DENECKE, Justice.
The respondents filed a motion to dismiss appellant's appeal because appellant failed to include in his notice of appeal a designation of the portions of the proceeding to be included in the record and a statement of points on which the appellant intends to rely.
Prior to September 1971, ORS 19.074 provided:
ORS 19.029 provided:
ORS 19.023(3) provided:
We have held that these statutes do not make the filing of a notice of appeal "accompanied by the designation required by ORS 19.074" jurisdictional. We held that we acquired jurisdiction despite the fact that the notice of appeal was not accompanied by a designation. Gordon Creek Tree Farms v. Layne, 230 Or. 204, 358 P.2d 1062, 368 P.2d 737 (1962).
Oregon Laws 1971, ch. 565, § 6, p. 993, amends ORS 19.029 to read as follows:
The amendment has eliminated the various separate documents such as designation of record, etc., and requires that all be included in the notice of appeal.
The respondents contend that because the amendments added the designation of record and a statement of points to the list of items to be included in the notice of appeal, the inclusion of the designation and statement was made jurisdictional. We hold to the contrary and, therefore, we have the power to excuse appellant's failure to include such matters in his notice of appeal.
The legislative history of these amendments clearly indicates that the inclusion of the designation of record and a statement of points was not intended to be jurisdictional.
The 1971 amendments enlarging the requirements for the notice of appeal were instituted in Senate Bill 66. The bill states it was introduced "at the request of the Attorney General." The bill was prepared by the Attorney General's office. The Attorney General prepared an extensive memorandum in support of the bill. The memorandum was entitled, "Expediting Disposition of Criminal Appeals in Oregon."
One of the principal proposals to expedite appeals was to speed up the preparation of the transcripts by the court reporters. Under the heading, "B. Recommended changes," the memorandum states:
The 1971 amendments enacted this proposed procedure. The notice of appeal shall contain the designation of record. Ch. 565, § 23, provides in criminal cases that the notice of appeal shall be served upon, among others, the trial court reporter. ORS 19.029(3), as amended, provides that the reporter shall transcribe that part of the proceeding designated. ORS 19.078 provides that the court reporter shall file the transcript within 30 days after the filing of notice of appeal. As the memorandum states, the inclusion of the designation of record in the notice of appeal and the requirement of service on the reporter were to notify the reporter promptly what part of the transcript was desired and then to place upon the reporter the onus of seeing that the transcript was promptly prepared and filed.
This history demonstrates that the legislation was intended to "eliminate some of the procedural red tape which surrounds designation and preparation of the record." The legislature did not intend to change the rule of Gordon Creek Tree Farms v. Layne, supra (230 Or. 204, 358 P.2d 1062, 368 P.2d 737), that the failure to file a designation of record was not a jurisdictional defect.
Because of the legislative intent as regards these amendments, the correctness of our decision in Stiehl v. Greene, 93 Or.Adv. Sh. 1161, 491 P.2d 1183 (1971), is not in issue.
Motion to dismiss denied.