Opinion ID: 1679212
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: To What Extent May this Court Make Its Findings of Fact?

Text: Appellant Rizzo makes much of the fact that members of the Bolivar County Election Commission dissented and filed separate findings of fact from those made by the special judge. He argues that this Court is not bound by the facts below, and indeed does not have to give the normal deference given the findings of fact by a trial court since there were dissenters. Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-933 (Supp. 1987) provides: Within three (3) days after judgment rendered, unless a longer time not exceeding four (4) additional days be granted by the trial judge, the contestant or contestee, or both, may file an appeal to the Supreme Court upon giving a cost bond in the sum of Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00), together with a bill of exceptions which shall state with appropriate fullness the point or points of law at issue with a sufficient synopsis of the facts to fully disclose the bearing and relevancy of the said points of law, the said bill of exceptions to be signed by the trial judge, or in case of his absence or refusal, or disability, by two (2) disinterested attorneys, as is provided by law in other cases of bills of exception. If the findings of fact have been concurred in by all the commissioners in attendance, provided as many as three (3) of the commissioners are and have been in attendance, the facts shall not be subject to review on appeal, and the bill of exceptions shall not set up the evidence upon which the facts have been determined. But if not so many as three (3) of the commissioners are and have been in attendance or if one or more of the commissioners dissent, a transcript of the testimony may be filed with the bill of exceptions, or within such short time thereafter as the Supreme Court may allow, and the Supreme Court, upon a review thereof, may take such finding upon the facts as the evidence requires; giving only such consideration as the court may think warranted to the presumption of correctness of the conclusions of the trial judge. The appeal shall be immediately docketed in the Supreme Court and referred to the court en banc upon briefs without oral argument, unless the court shall call for oral argument, and shall be decided at the earliest possible date, as a preference case over all others, and such judgment shall be entered and certified as the trial tribunal should have entered and certified, with the same effect as had such judgment been entered by the trial tribunal and no appeal had been taken therefrom. [emphasis added] However, the Legislature evidently favored the findings of the special judge over those of the commissioners. Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-931 (Supp. 1987) provides: When the day for the hearing has been set, the circuit clerk shall issue subpoenas for witnesses as in other litigated cases, and he shall also issue a summons to each of the five (5) election commissioners of the county, unless they waive summons, requiring them to attend said hearing, throughout which hearing the said commissioners shall sit with the judge or chancellor as advisors or assistants in the trial and determination of the facts, and as assistants in counts, calculations and inspections, and in seeing to it that ballots, papers, documents, books and the like are diligently secured against misplacement, alteration, concealment or loss both in the sessions and during recesses or adjournments; the judge or chancellor being, however, the controlling judge both of the facts and the law, and to have all the power in every respect of a chancellor in term time; and the tribunal shall be attended by the sheriff, and clerk, each with sufficient deputies, and by a court reporter. The special tribunal so constituted shall fully hear the contest or complaint de novo, and the original contestant before the party executive committee shall have the burden of proof and the burden of going forward with the evidence in the hearing before the special tribunal. The special tribunal, after the contest or complaint shall have been fully heard anew, shall make a finding dictated to the reporter covering all controversial material issues of fact, together with any dissents of any commissioner, and thereupon, the trial judge shall enter the judgment which the county executive committee should have entered, of which the election commissioners shall take judicial notice, or if the matter be one within the jurisdiction of the State Executive Committee, the judgment shall be certified and promptly forwarded to the Secretary of the State Executive Committee, and in the absence of an appeal, it shall be the duty of the State Executive Committee forthwith to reassemble and revise any decision theretofore made by it so as to conform to the judicial judgment aforesaid; provided that when the contest is upon a complaint filed with the State Executive Committee and the petition to the court avers that the wrong or irregularity is one which occurred wholly within the proceedings of the state committee, the petition to the court shall be filed in the circuit or chancery court of Hinds County and, after notice served, shall be promptly heard by the circuit judge or chancellor of that county, without the attendance of commissioners. [emphasis added] Among the members of the tribunal, then, the special judge is the controlling judge of both the facts and the law, though the commissioners sit as advisors to the determination of facts. Neither statute contemplates what occurs when a majority of the commissioners dissent, but § 23-15-931 seems to suggest that the special judge is the true trier of facts. Under § 23-15-933, this Court may make its own findings based on the evidence, giving only such presumption to the correctness of the special judge's findings as warranted. Rizzo suggests that, upon independent review of the facts as developed below, we should, in effect, adopt the findings of the dissenting election commissioners. This we decline to do. The proof at the hearing was conflicting. The special judge was in a position to judge the credibility of the witnesses before him. We work from a cold record, and with the additional limitation that the record is only a bill of exceptions, not a transcript. The reasons for deferring to the special judge in this instance are obvious. The Legislature seemingly took notice of the fact that an objective fact finder, one removed from the political turmoil surrounding the election, is necessary in election contests. Here we have the additional factor that one of the election commissioners dissenting to the special judge's findings had a direct interest in the outcome and should have been removed from the tribunal. Finally, the commissioners also took the opportunity in their findings to chastise the democratic executive committee for its management of the primary election. Thus, it appears the election commissioners had an additional axe to grind in this case. Under these circumstances, we cannot say the findings of the special judge were erroneous. Despite the well intentioned efforts of appellant's counsel, we do not make additional or supplemental findings along the lines of the findings suggested by the dissenting members of the Bolivar County Election Commissioners. We adopt the findings of the special judge.