Opinion ID: 2360655
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the majority's unwarranted intervention

Text: ¶ 7 In Maule v. Independent School Dist. No. 9 of Tulsa County, 1985 OK 110, ¶ 7, 714 P.2d 198, we held the union and the employer to stipulations entered defining the bargaining unit on grounds that parties to a contract are bound by the stipulated terms thereof. In White v. Amoco Prod. Co., 1985 OK 55, ¶ 8, 704 P.2d 470, Niemeyer v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 1990 OK 32, ¶ 12, 789 P.2d 1318, and Mehdipour v. State ex rel. Dept. of Corrections, 2004 OK 19, ¶ 5 n. 9, 90 P.3d 546, not only did this Court not sua sponte raise issues not presented to the trial court on appeal, but also we refused to allow the parties to engage in the activity. In Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. Grand River Dam Auth., 1986 OK 20, ¶ 17 n. 11, 720 P.2d 713 and Tulsa County Budget Bd. v. Tulsa County Excise Bd., 2003 OK 103, ¶ 18 n. 31, 81 P.3d 662, we refused to issue advisory opinions. Furthermore, in Tulsa County, the Court acknowledged that it was bound by the record presented for review. Inexplicably, the author of each of the above cited cases is the same Justice authoring the majority opinion here. ¶ 8 Here, the majority ignores the teachings of all these causes. It throws out stipulations that the parties and the trial court agreed were determinative of the issue to be decided. The majority decides the cause on an issue which was never presented to the trial court and which it raises sua sponte. Finally, it issues an advisory opinion on an issue which can be found nowhere in the record presented either to the trial court or on appeal. The practical result of adopting the majority opinion is to overrule all the cases cited in ¶ 5 to the extent that they conflict with today's pronouncement.