Opinion ID: 1888691
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: lenrd's cross-appeal

Text: First, the LENRD has cross-appealed from the district court's order overruling its first motion for summary judgment. Except when adverse parties have each moved for summary judgment and the trial court has sustained one of the motions, the denial of a motion for summary judgment is an interlocutory order, not a final order, and therefore is not appealable. Farmers & Merchants Bank v. Grams, 250 Neb. 191, 548 N.W.2d 764 (1996). Thus, the LENRD's cross-appeal is without merit, as the denial of its first motion for summary judgment constitutes an interlocutory order and not a final, appealable order. Second, the LENRD and the City argue that Strom is barred by the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel from raising the issue of the payment of just compensation for a governmental taking or damage for public use because Strom could have raised the issue in the hearing before the district court wherein the court ordered Strom to comply with the LENRD's conservation plan. However, neither the LENRD's nor the City's motion for partial summary judgment in the instant case sought relief on the grounds of res judicata or collateral estoppel. Instead, both motions are based solely on the LENRD's and the City's claims that the LENRD's actions were a valid exercise of the police power conferred upon the LENRD by the statutes of the State of Nebraska. In sustaining the motions, the district court did not specify the grounds upon which the motions were sustained. Even though the LENRD's amended answer raised the issue of collateral estoppel as a bar to Strom's action, the LENRD's motion for partial summary judgment, filed on January 26, 1995, specifically requested summary judgment on the issue of whether the action of [the LENRD] requiring [Strom] to alter his real estate was a valid exercise of the police power conferred upon [the LENRD] by the Statutes of the State of Nebraska. In Slagle v. J.P. Theisen & Sons, 251 Neb. 904, 560 N.W.2d 758 (1997), a trial court granted the separate motions of the defendants for summary judgment in an automobile accident case based on (1) a statute exempting the defendants from liability and (2) a finding that the plaintiff was contributorily negligent in excess of 50 percent as a matter of law. In reversing the trial court's decision, we noted that neither defendant's motion for summary judgment requested a ruling by the trial court as to the plaintiff's alleged contributory negligence. We concluded that absent such a request in the motion for summary judgment, the trial court could not and should not have ruled on the issue of contributory negligence. Id. Likewise, in the instant case, both the City and the LENRD specifically requested relief on the issue of whether the action requiring Strom to alter his farmland was a valid exercise of the police power. The district court did not specify any other grounds upon which the motions were sustained, and the record is silent as to the arguments that were made or the briefs that were filed in the lower court. Since the City and the LENRD requested relief based on specific grounds, and the record is otherwise silent, we have to assume that the trial court did not rule, and should not have ruled, on the issues of res judicata or collateral estoppel. See id. Although an appellate court is not precluded from raising the issue of res judicata sua sponte, we note that it is infrequently done, Dakota Title v. World-Wide Steel Sys., 238 Neb. 519, 471 N.W.2d 430 (1991), and that there are not sufficient reasons to do so in the instant case. For this reason, and because issues not presented to or passed on by the trial court are ordinarily not appropriate for consideration on appeal, we decline to consider the res judicata or collateral estoppel issues in the present appeal.