Opinion ID: 2584087
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The issue of whether Moses waived his physician-patient privilege is properly considered by this court.

Text: Moses contends that this court should decline to consider the prosecution's waiver argument, inasmuch as it was raised for the first time on appeal in oral argument before the ICA. As a general rule, if a party does not raise an argument at trial, that argument will be deemed to have been waived on appeal; this rule applies in both criminal and civil cases. See State v. Ildefonso, 72 Haw. 573, 584, 827 P.2d 648, 655 (1992) (Our review of the record reveals that [the defendant] did not raise this argument at trial, and thus it is deemed to have been waived.); State v. Hoglund, 71 Haw. 147, 150, 785 P.2d 1311, 1313 (1990) (Generally, the failure to properly raise an issue at the trial level precludes a party from raising that issue on appeal.); Association of Apartment Owners of Wailea Elua v. Wailea Resort Co., Ltd., 100 Hawai'i 97, 107, 58 P.3d 608, 618 (2002) (Legal issues not raised in the trial court are ordinarily deemed waived on appeal.). However, this rule is not absolute. First, the prosecution is the appellee and therefore does not have the burden of proving that the trial court erred. See, e.g., Territory v. Kobayashi, 25 Haw. 762, 766 (1921) (We necessarily approach a case with the assumption that no error has been committed upon the trial and until this assumption has been overcome by a positive showing the prevailing party is entitled to an affirmance.). See also Hawai'i Rules of Appellate Procedure, Rules 28(b)(7) and 28(c) (1998) (requiring that the appellant's opening brief provide a detailed outline of all arguments on appeal, but only requiring the appellee's answering brief to respond to those points from appellant's brief that are controverted on appeal). The general rule prohibiting new arguments on appeal prevents appellants from presenting new legal theories as to why they should have prevailed at trial. In this case, however, the party raising the new argument is the appellee; rather than making a new argument as to why it is entitled to relief, the prosecution is instead putting forth additional reasons why the circuit court's ruling was correct. Consideration of the appellee's argument in this situation is appropriate, even though not raised before the circuit court, because the appellee never had the need to raise such an argument before the circuit court: the prosecution never needed to argue that Moses had waived his physician-patient privilege because the circuit court rejected Moses's contention that the report was privileged. [4] Had the circuit court ruled that the report was privileged, and had the prosecution thereafter failed to argue waiver, this court would not allow the prosecution to raise this argument on appeal. However, because the prosecution had no need to raise this argument in the circuit court, this court will not bar the prosecution from raising the issue on appeal. Second, this court will consider new arguments on appeal where justice so requires. For example, in Fujioka v. Kam, 55 Haw. 7, 514 P.2d 568 (1973), this court agreed to consider an argument, not raised in the circuit court, that a statute was unconstitutional: It is the general rule that an appellate court should only reverse a judgment of a trial court on the legal theory presented by the appellant in the trial court .... However, we have also said that the rule is not inflexible and that an appellate court may deviate and hear new legal arguments when justice requires. We also stated that in the exercise of this discretion an appellate court should determine whether the consideration of the issue requires additional facts, whether the resolution of the question will affect the integrity of the findings of fact of the trial court; and whether the question is of great public import. 55 Haw. at 9, 514 P.2d at 570 (internal citations omitted). Fujioka was a civil case, but the analysis is the same in criminal cases. See State v. Ildefonso, 72 Haw. at 584-85, 827 P.2d at 655 (1992) (declining to hear a constitutional challenge not raised before the circuit court, but recognizing that this court has addressed issues raised for the first time on appeal where the constitutionality of the statute is of great public import and justice required that we consider the issue). Again, given that the prosecution had no need to raise this argument before the circuit court, this court will not bar the prosecution from raising the issue on appeal.