Opinion ID: 1280959
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of the Gublers' Constitutional Right to a Jury Trial

Text: My inability to join the Court's opinion is primarily premised on a philosophical dissatisfaction with the denial of a plaintiff's right to take his or her case to a jury, often viewed as a constitutional right to which all the people of Idaho are supposedly entitled. Instead of taking that course, which was proper in light of abundant Idaho case law precedent, the district court yielded to the urging of defense counsel and entered an order, in midstream of an ongoing trial, directing a verdict in favor of the defense. [5] Having participated in Stoner v. Turner [6] as involved counsel, it has been well understood for over forty years that the policy of the Idaho Supreme Court has been, and hopefully will be, to foster the determination of legal controversies with the goal of administering justice. The plaintiff, Stoner, was granted a monetary judgment by default against the defendant on March 21, 1950, and, although it does not appear in the reported opinion, executed on his judgment which was satisfied on the sale of defendant's equipment. The district court entered an order denying a defense motion to set aside the default judgment; the motion was based on the then available grounds of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. Idaho Code § R 5-905. That order of denial was appealed. This Court in a unanimous opinion reversed and remanded with directions to set aside the default judgment, and to allow the defendant to answer. What is of significance in Stoner is that those five justices, Chief Justice Givens and Justices Taylor, Porter, Thomas, and Keeton, took pains to fully explain the roots of their decision: The object of statutes and rules regulating procedure in the courts is to promote the administration of justice. Those statutes and rules which fix the time within which procedural rights are to be asserted are intended to expedite the disposition of causes to the end that justice will not be denied by inexcusable and unnecessary delay. But, except as to those which are mandatory or jurisdictional, procedural regulations should not be so applied as to defeat their primary purpose, that is, the disposition of causes upon their substantial merits without delay or prejudice. Stoner, 73 Idaho at 121, 247 P.2d at 471 (emphasis added). Almost twenty years later this Court was confronted with another appeal which flowed from a district court's dismissal of an appeal taken to it from a magistrate court. Bunn v. Bunn, 99 Idaho 710, 587 P.2d 1245 (1978). The district court's dismissal was predicated on Mrs. Bunn's motion alleging that Mr. Bunn had failed to diligently prosecute his appeal in that Mr. Bunn had not paid the court reporter the estimated fee for transcription. This Court reversed the order of dismissal, noting that: It has long been judicial policy in Idaho that controversies be determined and disposed of each on its own particular facts and as substantial justice may require. The exercise of judicial discretion should tend to bring about a judgment on the merits. Perry v. Perkins, 73 Idaho 4, 245 P.2d 405 (1952); Dellwo v. Petersen, 34 Idaho 697, 203 P. 472 (1921). See 5 Am.Jur.2d Appeal and Error § 906. The California District Court of Appeal, Second District, in Brown v. Guy, 167 Cal. App.2d 211, 334 P.2d 67, 69-70 (1959), said: `There is, of course, a strong public policy in favor of hearing appeals on their merits and of not depriving a party of his right of appeal because of technical noncompliance where he is attempting to perfect his appeal in good faith.' Accord, Lundy v. Lakin, 89 Cal. App.2d 849, 202 P.2d 369 (Cal. 1949). In addressing the effect of noncompliance with procedural statutes and rules, the Court in Stoner v. Turner, 73 Idaho 117, 121, 247 P.2d 469, 471 (1952), said: The object of statutes and rules regulating procedure in the courts is to promote the administration of justice. Those statutes and rules which fix the time within which procedural rights are to be asserted are intended to expedite the disposition of causes to the end that justice will not be denied by inexcusable and unnecessary delay. But, except as to those which are mandatory or jurisdictional, procedural regulations should not be so applied as to defeat their primary purpose, that is, the disposition of causes upon their substantial merits without delay or prejudice. Such philosophy again found expression in the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 1, as first promulgated, stated the following, which continues in the rule as now amended: These rules govern the procedure in the district, probate and justices' courts in the state of Idaho in all actions and proceedings of a civil nature whether cognizable as cases at law or in equity, with the exceptions stated in particular rules and in rule 81. They shall be liberally construed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding. Rule 1, I.R.C.P. (Emphasis added.) A `determination' of an action within the meaning of Rule 1 is meant to be a determination of the controversy on the merits-not a termination on a procedural technicality which serves litigants not at all. A determination entails a finding of the facts and an application of the law in order to resolve the legal rights of the litigants who hope to resolve their differences in the courts. The `liberal construction' of the rules required by Rule 1, while it cannot alter compliance which is mandatory and jurisdictional, will ordinarily preclude dismissal of an appeal for that which is but technical noncompliance. Bunn, 99 Idaho at 711-12, 587 P.2d at 1246-47 (emphasis in original). Our opinion noted as to the factual circumstances that Mrs. Bunn did not contend that she in any way had been prejudiced; that some of Mr. Bunn's delay was attributable to an appendectomy; and that Mr. Bunn had indeed acted promptly in all but one instance. In addition, we measured the circumstances of the Bunn delay against the circumstances of the Stoner delay, and described the latter as, a short delay thereafter on the part of the attorneys, but the total delay was not unreasonable. Bunn, 99 Idaho at 712, 587 P.2d at 1247. Turning again to Bunn: By contrast, the district court here, in dismissing the appeal, stated only that the lapse of time, June 8 until July 29, was `too much time,' and did not address the question of any prejudice to Mrs. Bunn occasioned by the delay. Nor does it appear that any consideration was given to the imposition of lesser sanctions, such as withholding of costs. Nor did the court express itself on the point that the very motion which led to the dismissal was the first expression of an insistence that the appeal be moved along. The statement of the court that June 8, 1977, was a deadline for payment of the estimated fee is indicative that the court felt that anything less than strict compliance with the 5-day rule necessitated a dismissal. At oral argument, counsel representing Mrs. Bunn stated that her position would be the same had the delay been one of only 15 days, as against 49. We do not see the rule as being that demanding. Rather, repeating what the Court said in Stoner, supra, we continue to believe that rules which regulate procedure in the courts, other than those which are mandatory and jurisdictional, `should not be so applied as to defeat their primary purpose....' Id. Just recently this Court, acting upon the work product and recommendation of a committee of members of the Idaho Bar, adopted and promulgated a complete new set of appellate rules governing appeals to this Court from district courts. The previous rules and statutes which had long served vexatious to the bar were narrowed to but one jurisdictional rule, the timely filing of the notice, thus continuing the earlier philosophy of Idaho jurisprudence which recognizes that rules of procedure are designed to promote the disposition of causes upon their substantial merits. Bunn, 99 Idaho at 712-13, 587 P.2d at 2147-48 (emphasis in original and added). For similar holdings, see Miller v. Miller, 96 Idaho 10, 523 P.2d 827 (1974), and McNett v. McNett, 95 Idaho 59, 501 P.2d 1059 (1973). With knowledge of Idaho's jurisprudence being so thoroughly steeped in the belief that courts sit to do justice and that litigants are not to be ousted from their day in court on the basis of technical defects in procedure or technical procedural violations, and that civil actions seeking redress or remuneration are to be resolved by a determination on their merits rather than a termination on procedural technicality, one can only wonder that of five justices, why four are willing to put out of mind the illustrious opinions issued by earlier equally illustrious courts which have preceded us, and to ignore the main precept of this very Court's Rule 1(a): These rules shall be liberally construed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding. I.R.C.P. 1(a) (emphasis added). It cannot be seriously asserted by anyone that the Gublers' civil action has been determined on its merits. The opinion for the Court does not contend that it has been so decided. Rather, the Court's opinion recognizes it has not been decided on the merits. The jury which had been selected was not allowed to decide (1) whether the defendant doctor was causally negligent, and (2) whether the applicable standard of medical practice was established to take that issue to the jury. The district court in its written memorandum decision and order which denied the Gublers' motion for a new trial commented on many aspects of the trial, none of which included why the plaintiffs' action could not have been terminated without prejudice. The district court did in that aforementioned decision and order seek to temper the harshness of its ruling by stating that plaintiffs' counsel was provided with a limited period of time to provide Dr. Tune with an opportunity to contact Dr. Groberg. These efforts were unsuccessful. That is true. Equally true, as the record reflects, the allotted time was only fifteen minutes, and that was begrudgingly given. The court went on to suggest that ten minutes would be preferred.