Court Opinion

ID: 9883289
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 01:39:38.096082+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:22.474648
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE LEAPHART,
dissenting.
I dissent. The Court concludes that the filing of a cross appeal is jurisdictional. In reaching that conclusion, the Court cites a number of our decisions in which we have held that, in order to preserve an issue for review on appeal, a party must file a notice of appeal or notice of cross appeal. E.g. Neumann v. Rogstad (1988), 232 Mont. 24, 29, 757 P.2d 761, 765. I agree that in order to raise an issue not raised by the appellant, the respondent must file a notice of cross appeal. The issue here, however, is not whether the respondent must file a *516notice of cross appeal but, rather, whether this Court has the power to extend the time for filing that notice.
I adhere to the view that when the appellant files a notice of appeal, jurisdiction over the entire case passes to the appellate court. The Court’s conclusion that we do not obtain jurisdiction over the entire case, but only over those issues addressed in the appeal, ignores the fact that an appellant is not required to specify issues in his notice of appeal. The notice of appeal need only name the party taking the appeal and the order or judgment appealed from. Rule 4(c), M.R.App.P. The issues are only defined when the appellant’s brief is filed, well after jurisdiction has passed. “When a notice of appeal has been filed, jurisdiction passes from the District Court and vests in the Supreme Court.” Powers Mfg. Co. v. Leon Jacobs Enter. (1985), 216 Mont. 407, 411, 701 P.2d 1377, 1380. Once the appellate court acquires jurisdiction over the entire case, the filing of a cross appeal becomes a matter of practice or procedure subject to the court’s discretion to suspend the rules when justice so requires. See Texport Oil Co. v. M/V Amolyntos (2d Cir. 1993), 11 F.3d 361, 366; Bryant v. Technical Research Co. (9th Cir. 1981), 654 F.2d 1337, 1341-42.
Although Rule 5(c), M.R.App.P., allows the district court to extend the time for filing a notice of appeal, it does not address the filing of a notice of cross appeal. In the absence of an applicable rule, and given that jurisdiction over the entire case passes from the trial court to the appellate court upon the filing of the notice of appeal, I would hold that the request for an extension was properly filed with this Court and that, under Rule 3, M.R.App.P, we had discretion to determine whether or not good cause existed to suspend the time limit.