Opinion ID: 1129643
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: should the court answer the certified question as a matter of comity?

Text: It is argued that, putting aside questions of constitutionality, this court ought to answer the certified question in promoting an advance in judicial administration and as a matter of comity. But, despite the traditional good will and high esteem in which our brothers of the federal judiciary are here held and recognizing the high judicial purpose governing the certifying of the question, it is obvious that considerations of comity or judicial administration ought not be allowed to override basic constitutional limitations. The idea of comity is an appealing one but I think requires no further comment. But whether the certification statute, if constitutional, constitutes a step forward in judicial administration is to my mind very doubtful. Two states have certification procedure statutes which have been held valid under their respective constitutions. In re Richards, 223 A.2d 827 (Me., 1966); Sun Ins. Office v. Clay, 133 So.2d 735 (Fla., 1961). See Addendum. But the delays, expense and uncertainties inherent in that procedure evidenced by the cases in which the statutes were invoked provide neither an impressive basis for recommending the statute as a matter of comity between courts nor as a practical expedient to promote the prompt dispatch of judicial business. Incidentally, I think these cases supply us with little assurance that the statute in issue here is a constitutional exercise of legislative power under the state constitution, either. See Addendum. The majority opinion suggests that the certification statute will usher in a new era of efficiency and speed up the now ponderous and sometimes seemingly immobile processes of the law, but this idea seems hardly borne out by the experiences cited. If there ever was a way in which to delay a case as it moves slowly through the courts, in my opinion, it would be the very procedure whereby at one stage the case comes to a halt in the federal system, moves over into the state system to await docketing, briefing, hearing, writing, filing of the opinion and petition for rehearing and then moves back again into the system of origin to take its place on the judicial conveyor for resumption of proceedings in the federal system. I think a reading of all cases cited in the majority opinion and commonsense as well will demonstrate that the certification procedure is a dilatory one and in the long run compounds the very delays it is claimed to help curtail and magnifies the uncertainties it is claimed to eliminate. It seems to me also that the majority opinion overlooks another deficiency engendered by the statute. What will happen in those cases where this court has actually changed the law of this state, or feels obliged to do so? Will this court be obliged to adhere to the old rules because it has solemnly promised the federal judiciary that the law is as declared in the answer to the certified question? Examples of marked changes in the law as declared by this court come readily to mind: In Siragusa v. Swedish Hosp., 60 Wn.2d 310, 373 P.2d 767 (1962), we departed from a long-held rule and modified the assumption of risk doctrine in ruling that that doctrine had no application to an employee or servant when the master or employer was negligent in creating a dangerous condition. Or, in another case, had we certified to a federal court in 1952 that a paying patient in a charitable hospital could not recover from the hospital for the negligence of a hospital nurse, would we, in 1953, have been in a position to strike down the virtual immunity from tort liability theretofore applicable to charitable hospitals as was done in Pierce v. Yakima Valley Memorial Hosp. Ass'n, 43 Wn.2d 162, 260 P.2d 765 (1953)? Or, in Pederson v. Dumouchel, 72 Wn.2d 73, 431 P.2d 973 (1967), would this court have been free to adopt new standards of due care in the practice of medicine and change the long-held rule from medical standards of the community to standards of practice in essence for the state at large? There are, of course, other examples of changes in the law as declared by this court engendered by experience, reason and changing conditions in our society. When this court is compelled to answer a certified question as to the state of the law, is it free to answer what the law is, is in the process of becoming, should be, or in the future will likely become? Consideration of these questions alone should rule out the certification statute if it depends on comity or policy. Accordingly, I would conclude that Laws of 1965, ch. 99, p. 1302, the Federal Court Local Law Certificate Procedure Act, RCW 2.60, is unconstitutional because (1) it purports to expand the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court beyond the powers granted it in the constitutions of the State of Washington and the United States, (2) it subjects the Supreme Court to regulation by the legislature beyond permissible procedural and purely remedial enactments and amounts to a trespass upon the judicial power by the legislative power, and (3) it imposes a function upon the Supreme Court which is not a true exercise of judicial power, but, on the contrary, calls upon this court to render decisions in the nature of advisory opinions and requires the court to entertain nonjusticiable controversies. WEAVER and McGOVERN, JJ., concur with HALE, J.