Court Opinion

ID: 9513539
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:37:23.910865+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:53.985997
License: Public Domain

*271NEUMANN, Justice,
concurring specially.
[¶ 32] I agree with the result reached by the majority. I write separately because I do not agree with the majority’s analysis.
[¶ 33] The majority, at ¶ 1, characterizes the parties’ alleged agreement as a “contract to share proceeds of a winning lottery ticket.” In fact the agreement, as alleged, is something more. According to the allegations, Donald Hawkinson purchased a lottery ticket on his own, before there was any agreement among the parties. Allegedly, Hawkinson then proposed that Clyde Meyer purchase additional lottery tickets, and Hawkinson would exchange a partial interest in the ticket he already held in return for a partial interest in the tickets Meyer would purchase. In other words, it is alleged that Hawkinson proposed he and Meyer each sell and purchase, transfer and receive, partial interests in chances to participate in the lottery in exchange for other partial interests in chances to participate in the lottery. It is alleged that Meyer accepted the proposal.
[¶ 34] According to the pleadings, this agreement was made in Manitoba, not North Dakota. The majority discusses the hypothetical legality of the parties’ agreement, under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-28-02(2), but only because of its relevance as an indicator of public policy. I agree with the majority that the agreement would probably violate N.D.C.C. § 12.1-28-02(2) if it had been made in North Dakota. I respectfully disagree with the majority as to the relevance of this hypothetical violation. In my opinion, the hypothetical legality under North Dakota law is relevant because the Canada Criminal Code has a provision similar to N.D.C.C. § 12.1-28-02(2), and in my opinion the agreement is similarly prohibited under Canadian law.
[¶ 35] Under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-28-02(2)(a), it is a class A misdemeanor to “[s]ell, purchase, receive, or transfer a chance to participate in a lottery, whether the lottery is drawn in state or out of state, and whether the lottery is lawful in the other state or country.” Under section 206(1) of the Canada Criminal Code,
Every one is guilty of an indictable of-fence ... who
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(b) sells, barters, exchanges or otherwise disposes of, or causes or procures, or aids or assists in, the sale, barter, exchange or other disposal of, or offers for sale, barter or exchange, any lot, card, ticket or other means or device for advancing, lending, giving, selling or otherwise disposing of any property by lots, tickets or any mode of chance whatever;
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[¶ 36] In my opinion, the alleged agreement between Meyer and Hawkinson would violate section 206(l)(b) of the Canada Criminal Code. I therefore disagree with the dissent’s position characterizing the alleged agreement as “wholly lawful in Canada, where it was entered.”
[¶ 37] The trial court did not decide the legality of the agreement in Manitoba. This Court generally decides only issues that have been thoroughly briefed and argued with a ruling by the court below. See, e.g., Midwest Cas. Ins. Co. v. Whitetail, 1999 ND 133, ¶ 17, 596 N.W.2d 341. However, this Court will not set aside a correct result merely because the trial court assigned an incorrect reason, if the result is the same under the correct law and reasoning. Mandan Educ. Ass’n v. Mandan Pub. Sch. Dist. No. 1, 2000 ND 92, ¶ 8, 610 N.W.2d 64.
[¶ 38] We cannot enforce a contract with unlawful consideration. See N.D.C.C. *272§ 9-05-04 (providing that unlawful consideration renders a contract void). Although the trial court unnecessarily, in my opinion, used a public policy analysis for the basis of its decision, it nevertheless reached the correct result in concluding the agreement had an unlawful object and was not enforceable. Because this agreement would violate the Canada Criminal Code and would therefore be unenforceable in a Manitoba court, I would affirm the trial court’s judgment of dismissal.
[¶ 89] Willliam A. Neumann.