Court Opinion

ID: 9600453
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:27:20.286168+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:52.570437
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
The opinion of the district judge is more persuasive than the majority opinion. The latter says “see Loomis, Inc. v. Cudahy, 104 Idaho 106, 656 P.2d 1359 (1982).” I have seen Loomis v. Cudahy and do not think that Idaho litigants in general are quite ready for it. In particular, I remember that there, as here, the provision for arbitration in the place of litigation was not a product of a meeting of the minds of the parties, but flowed from an innocuous appearing paragraph buried in a printed form contract, the form being provided by the American Institute of Architects.
Counties, however, do not fit into the category of litigants in general, but are a species all their own. Claims against a county arising out of contracts should be processed in accordance with the statutory provisions. If I.C. § 31-604 should be amended, that amendment should come from the legislature, and not from the Court. Now the Court, however, seems all too willing to subvert longstanding Idaho statutory and case law any time the legislature adopts a uniform act — sometimes with drastic results. See Loomis v. Cudahy, supra, 104 Idaho at 112, 656 P.2d at 1365 (Bistline, J., dissenting); Whitworth v. Krueger, 98 Idaho 65, 558 P.2d 1026 (1978) (Bistline, J., dissenting). It would be interesting indeed to see if an Idaho legislature would knowingly enact a statutory provision which does away with exclusive district court jurisdiction of county claims in favor of arbitration.