Court Opinion

ID: 9733656
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:13:10.363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:43.157948
License: Public Domain

Andre Layton Roaf, Judge, dissenting. I agree with the dissenting judges as to the reversal of this case on direct appeal, and concur in that portion of the dissenting opinion of Judge Griffen. However, although I would likewise affirm on cross-appeal, I would do so on a different basis. First, I do not agree with the opinion of the other dissenting judge that Oak Hill Manor v. Arkansas Health Serv. Agency, 72 Ark. App. 458, 37 S.W.3 681 (2001), was wrongly decided. However, I would not dismiss this appeal based on Oak Hill Manor. Here, no one has taken responsibility for entry of an order some four years after the trial court indicated that it would grant summary judgment, and neither counsel was apparently aware that the four-year-old order had been entered. While this case is factually similar to Oak Hill Manor, it differs in several significant respects. In Oak Hill Manor, the trial court received the order in question and promptly signed and filed it. In later entering a duplicate order, the trial court acknowledged the factual developments and concluded that it had signed and sent the order to be entered by the clerk and that no copies were sent to counsel. Second, I note that the holding in Oak Hill Manor does not necessarily preclude relief under Rule 60(c)(3) for misprisions of the clerk, as in that case appellee sought relief under a separate provision of Rule 60. Third, the majority acknowledges in its footnote that “there is nothing to show that these irregularities were the fault of the clerk, rather than of the trial judge and the postal service.” I agree with the majority that we do not know whether it was the fault of the clerk. In fact, a hearing was apparently never held on this issue. And in that regard, our case differs from Oak Hill Manor, where the facts surrounding the filing of the order were at least considered by the court and consequently presented to this court for our consideration. Certainly, in our case, appellees would not have complained below about the failure to have a hearing and establish who bore the fault because they were accorded the relief they sought from the trial court. By reversing and dismissing the appeal, the majority has in essence, without knowing what happened below, determined that appellant would not be entitled to relief under Rule 60(c)(3). For four years after the trial court announced its decision, there was no order on record for appellant to discover, through diligence or otherwise, and there is no explanation in the record as to how these events transpired. It could very well have been due to misprision of the clerk, as the other dissenting judge suggests. Accordingly, I would affirm on cross-appeal rather than dismiss this appeal. Hart, J., joins.