Court Opinion

ID: 9537645
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:20:48.958141+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:52.189947
License: Public Domain

McFarland, J.,
dissenting: I join the dissent of Schroeder, C.J. Additionally, I see no legitimate reason for the majority' to require a new trial. This was a bench trial. No error of any kind in the trial itself has been found by the majority. Rather, the majority finds the trial court utilized the wrong standard of proof in reaching its ultimate decision as the finder of fact. If there were an error (which I do not believe there was), it occurred on “square ten.” There is no reason to send the case back to “square one” and the same constitutes a waste of the litigants’ time and money and judicial manpower.
There is a full transcript of this bench trial available to the trial court in refreshing its recollection of the evidence. If the trial court does not believe this is adequate, it can order a new trial. I *1038see no reason to require the trial judge to sit through another trial of a case which he formerly heard; which is without error, and then apply the different standard of proof. The majority should remand with directions to apply the specified standard of proof to the evidence.