Opinion ID: 2634494
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Marshaling Requirement

Text: ¶76 In order to challenge a court's factual findings, an appellant must first marshal all the evidence in support of the finding and then demonstrate that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the finding even when viewing it in a light most favorable to the court below. Wilson Supply, 2002 UT 94 at ¶ 21. Where a trial court's rulings on highly fact-dependent issues are challenged, this court grants broader than normal discretion to the trial court. See State v. Pena, 869 P.2d 932, 936-38 (Utah 1994); see also Soter's, Inc. v. Deseret Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 857 P.2d 935, 939-42 (Utah 1993) (recognizing waiver to be a factually sensitive issue requiring the trial court's exercise of discretion in applying the law to facts). As a result, where the legal standard is extremely fact-sensitive, the appellant has the duty to marshal the evidence. See In re Estate of Beesley, 883 P.2d 1343, 1347-49 (Utah 1994). This duty requires an appellant to marshal all the evidence in favor of the facts as found by the trial court and then demonstrate that even viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the court below, the evidence is insufficient to support the findings of fact. Id. (quoting Saunders v. Sharp, 806 P.2d 198, 199 (Utah 1991)). ¶77 More recently, the Utah Court of Appeals explained that in order to properly discharge the duty of marshaling the evidence, the challenger must present, in comprehensive and fastidious order, every scrap of competent evidence introduced at trial which supports the very findings the appellant resists. Neely v. Bennett, 2002 UT App 189, ¶ 11, 51 P.3d 724 (emphasis omitted). This does not mean that the party may simply provide an exhaustive review of all evidence presented at trial. Id. ¶ 12 n.1. Rather, appellants must provide a precisely focused summary of all the evidence supporting the findings they challenge. Id. This summary must correlate all particular items of evidence with the challenged findings and then convince us that the trial court erred in the assessment of that evidence to its findings. W. Valley City v. Majestic Inv., Co., 818 P.2d 1311, 1315 (Utah Ct. App. 1991). What appellants cannot do is merely re-argue the factual case they presented in the trial court. Oneida/SLIC v. Oneida Cold Storage & Warehouse Inc., 872 P.2d 1051, 1053 (Utah Ct. App. 1994). ¶78 The process of marshaling is thus fundamentally different from that of presenting the evidence at trial. The challenging party must temporarily remove its own prejudices and fully embrace the adversary's position; he or she must play the devil's advocate. Harding v. Bell, 2002 UT 108, ¶ 19, 57 P.3d 1093. In so doing, appellants must present the evidence in a light most favorable to the trial court, Utah Med. Prods., Inc. v. Searcy, 958 P.2d 228, 232 (Utah 1998), and not attempt to construe the evidence in a light favorable to their case. In re Estate of Bartell, 776 P.2d 885, 886 (Utah 1989). Appellants cannot merely present carefully selected facts and excerpts from the record in support of their position. Oneida, 872 P.2d at 1053. Nor can they simply restate or review evidence that points to an alternate finding or a finding contrary to the trial court's finding of fact. Wilson Supply, 2002 UT 94 at ¶ 22. Furthermore, appellants cannot shift the burden of marshaling by falsely claiming that there is no evidence in support of the trial court's findings. Id. This would inappropriately force an appellee to marshal the evidence in order to refute an appellant's assertion of the absence of evidence. Id. In sum, to properly marshal the evidence the challenging party must demonstrate how the court found the facts from the evidence and then explain why those findings contradict the clear weight of the evidence. Oneida, 872 P.2d at 1054. ¶79 The purpose of this rigorous and strict requirement is to promote two interrelated court objectives: efficiency and fairness. Id. at 1053. A proper marshaling of the evidence promotes efficiency by avoiding retrying the facts and by assisting the appellate court in its decision-making and opinion writing. Id. It promotes fairness by requiring that the appellants bear the expense and time of marshaling the evidence rather than putting the appellee in the precarious position of performing the appellant's work at considerable time and expense. Id. at 1053-54. This deference to a trial court's findings is based on and fosters the principle that appellants rather than appellees bear the greater burden on appeal. Id. at 1053. ¶80 If the marshaling requirement is not met, the appellate court has grounds to affirm the court's findings on that basis alone. Wilson Supply, 2002 UT 94 at ¶ 26. If appellants have failed to properly marshal the evidence, we assume that the evidence supports the trial court's findings. Utah Med. Prods., 958 P.2d at 233.