Court Opinion

ID: 9628232
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:13:30.37504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:01.041188
License: Public Domain

WHITE, J.,
Dissenting and Concurring.- — I concur with the majority’s holding that when this court “reversed” the order of the trial court of December 17, 1954, excluding the bond premium as an item of cost on appeal, and ordered the trial court to determine the necessity of the bond, such action by this court was, in legal effect, a reversal of the trial court’s judgment. (47 Cal.2d 469 [ 304 P.2d 7].) I dissent, however, from the further holding that when this court “reversed” the trial court’s determination of a lack of necessity, and again remanded the matter to the trial court for further proceedings this was but a modification of the trial court’s subsequent judgment. (51 Cal.2d 346, 352 [333 P.2d 10].) In order to reach what the majority now feel this court should have accomplished at that time we cannot, in effect, modify our judgment at this late date. But the majority has done just that in holding that when we said “reversal” we intended “modification.” This holding is squarely in conflict with Cowdery v. London etc. Bank, 139 Cal. 298 [73 P. 196, 96 Am.St.Rep. 115], as will hereinafter appear.
In those cases wherein this court has held that interest properly runs from the date of the original entry of a judgment later modified, resort has heretofore been made to language of modification, rather than reversal. In Barnhart v. Edwards, 128 Cal. 572 [61 P. 176], relied on by the majority, it appears *447at page 574 that the remanding order there under consideration was as follows: ‘ ‘ The order denying a new trial Avill thereupon be affirmed. Judgment Avill then be entered in accordance with the findings thus corrected.” In Beeler v. American Trust Co., 28 Cal.2d 435 [170 P.2d 439], also relied on by the majority, it appears that it had been provided in the remanding clause as follows: “In accordance with the vieAvs above expressed, the judgment is modified by striking therefrom the figures $477.88, and inserting in their place the figures $907.88, and as so modified, the judgment is affirmed. ’ ’ (See Beeler v. American Trust Co., 24 Cal.2d 1, 29 [147 P.2d 583].) In the case now engaging our attention this court provided in the remanding clause that “. . . the order is reversed with directions to the trial court to allow the premiums on said bond as a cost on appeal.” (Supra, 51 Cal.2d 346, 352.) Manifestly this remand set aside the existing judgment and required the trial court to enter a new and different judgment.
Unless the doctrine of stare decisis is to be consigned to the limbo of forgotten legal principles, then the decision herein is foreclosed by this court’s prior decision in Cowdery v. London etc. Bank, supra, 139 Cal. 298. As stated in the majority opinion it appears in that case that it had been adjudged on appeal from an earlier decision that an order and a deficiency judgment in a foreclosure action “be, and the same hereby are, reversed, and the ease remanded, with directions that the trial court enter judgment in accordance with the views herein expressed.” (London etc. Bank v. Bandmann, 120 Cal. 220 [52 P. 583, 65 Am.St.Rep. 179].) The views expressed in the opinion in the latter case required the entry of a new deficiency judgment in a lesser amount than the original judgment. The trial court purported to comply with the mandate by entering an order that the original judgment “be modified and reduced to the sum of $2,526.50, by deducting from said deficiency judgment the sum of $1,047.84 . . . .” It was held in the Cowdery ease that by employing the language of reversal this court unequivocally ordered the judgment set aside; that there was thereafter no judgment outstanding; that the purported attempt to modify such a judgment was of no force and effect because there was no judgment to modify; and that a foreclosure sale made thereunder was vacated by the reversal.
The majority seek to distinguish the Cowdery case on the ground that the trial court’s judgment in that case did not involve the question of interest, whereas in the instant ease the *448judgment does. This is a completely unrealistic approach to the problem. The question here, as in the Cowdery case, is whether a trial court’s judgment continues in existence after appeal and decision thereon by an appellate court. If so, then it is conceded that interest runs from the date of the original entry of the judgment. On the other hand if the effect of the appellate decision is to set the trial court’s judgment aside and require the entry of a new and different judgment, then interest thereon runs only from the date of entry of such later judgment. The majority recognize that once the nature and effect of the appellate decision is resolved the award of interest naturally follows. The basic and fundamental question for determination then is not whether the prevailing party is entitled to interest on the judgment, but whether the original judgment remains in effect after an appellate decision thereon. On this issue it is the nature of the appellate decision which is determinative, not the nature of the action in the trial court. While it can be said that the Cowdery case dealt with foreclosure and deficiency judgments, and that the instant case dealt with costs on appeal and interest thereon, the distinction is one without a difference. We are dealing with judgments in both eases, and the majority recognize that the award of costs on appeal is in itself a judgment. More specifically we are dealing in both instances with the effect on the existence of these judgments of an appellate decision which purports to “reverse” each judgment. Finally, the legal effect of the remand is identical in each ease. As the majority point out as the sole ground for their holding that the reversal was in reality a modification, all that was required of the trial court on remand in the instant case was to include a sum of money which originally should have been included in the judgment. But the legal effect of the decision in the Cowdery case is the same. There all that was required by the remand was that the trial court exclude a certain sum of money which should have been excluded in the first instance. Nevertheless this court held in the Cowdery case that the action taken on appeal could not be deemed a modification. From the foregoing it is manifest that for purposes of the decision which must be made herein the Cowdery case is on all fours.
As pointed out in the Cowdery ease the significance of an appellate court’s language in remanding a matter cannot be ignored. The issue as stated by the court in that case was “Whether or not a reversal of a decree of foreclosure, with directions to the court below to enter a judgment in conformity *449with the opinion of the appellate court, vacates the decree and affects a sale made under it, where the only change ordered was the deduction of about one thousand dollars from the sum declared due. ...” (Cowdery v. London etc. Bank, supra, 139 Cal. 298, 301.) In resolving this issue, the court stated: “The legal effect of the order of the supreme court was to reverse and vacate the judgment, and not merely to modify it. Upon a decision of the supreme court that there was material error in the action of the court below, that court may direct the character of the subsequent proceedings in the lower court, and its mandate will vary according to its views as to the proper course to be pursued. It may conclude not to reverse the judgment, but to modify it, by eliminating some portion, or by adding something to it, leaving the remaining part of the judgment below to stand affirmed and in full force and effect from the date of its original entry or rendition; or it may reverse the judgment, which means to entirely vacate it, and may remand the cause for a new trial • or if a new trial is not necessary, it may upon the reversal remand it, with directions to the lower court to enter a particular judgment. To reverse is ‘to overthrow; set aside; make void; annul; repeal; revoke, as, to reverse a judgment, sentence, or decree’ (Century Dictionary), or, ‘to change to the contrary, or to a former condition’ (Standard Dictionary). . . . The distinction between a reversal of a judgment and an affirmance with a modification is too marked and radical to justify us in disregarding it. The decision of the court as to the form of its judgment or mandate, and as to what shall be the future proceedings in the court below, is a part of its duty generally, and particularly under section 957 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and as such it is presumed to have received the same consideration as any other feature in the case. We are bound to assume that this court in this ease acted advisedly and deliberately, and had good reason for ordering a reversal rather than a modification and affirmance. The part of the order directing the entry of a new judgment related solely to the proceedings after the reversal and the return of the case to the court below, and was not intended to, nor could it, change the reversal to a mere modification. Neither can the fact that it may now appear to us that the same result could have been reached by a modification justify this court in now changing the effect of the mandate.” (Cowdery v. London etc. Bank, supra, 139 Cal. 298, 303-304.)
I am persuaded that we should not depart from the seasoned *450and sound principles enumerated in the Cowdery case. Trial judges, members of the bar and litigants as well, are entitled to rely upon the fact that when an appellate tribunal directs a reversal it ‘ ‘ acted advisedly and deliberately, and had good reason for ordering a reversal rather than a modification and affirmance” (Cowdery v. London etc. Bank, supra, 138 Cal. 298, 304), rather than be required to delve into the uncertain realm of speculation that must necessarily follow the abandonment of established rules of interpretation.
Prom the foregoing it necessarily follows that upon the reversal of that portion of the judgment retaxing costs relating to the bond premium, and until the entry of the judgment of January 20, 1959, ordering that the bond premium be included as an item of costs on appeal, there was no judgment in being upon which interest on the bond premium might run.
The issue with which we are concerned in the instant case is a simple one — did this court mean what it said when it reversed the order in Stockton Theatres, Inc. v. Palermo, supra, 51 Cal.2d 346, 352? Assuming that it did, I would affirm the order of the trial court allowing costs, and the order denying the motion to vacate and enter a different judgment.
Schauer, J., and Me Comb, J., concurred.