Opinion ID: 2116540
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: 6. Right to Open Court

Text: Lotter also asserts that the ex parte communication should have been preserved on the record pursuant to article I, § 13, of the Nebraska Constitution, which provides that [a]ll courts shall be open, and every person ... shall have a remedy by due course of law, and justice administered. However, as we stated in Pullen v. Novak, 169 Neb. 211, 215-16, 99 N.W.2d 16, 21 (1959): Article I, § 13, of the Constitution of the State of Nebraska does not create any new rights but is merely a declaration of a general fundamental principle. It is a primary duty of the courts to safeguard this declaration of right and remedy but, where no right of action is given or remedy exists under either the common law or some statute, this constitutional provision creates none. The remedy for failure to preserve ex parte communications is recusal of the trial judge, which was waived in the instant case.