Court Opinion

ID: 9857049
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 07:13:15.218287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:55.864097
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
There is a distinction between this case and Sines v. Blaser, 100 Idaho 50, 592 P.2d 1367 (1979), in that Paseoe did learn of the judgment entered against him prior to the expiration of the time in which to take an appeal. The real issue, then, is whether the party Paseoe may properly be penalized because his attorney perceived, and correctly so, that he was entitled to first pursue the various remedies which the rules of civil procedure make available in the trial court.
A litigant’s right to his remedies in the trial court is just as important, if in fact not more so in some instances, as his right of appeal. Some remedies simply are not available at the appellate level without having been first sought in the trial court. The philosophy of Sines v. Blaser clearly requires that a litigant who has been victimized by the clerk’s failure to serve the notice of entry of judgment should be given that relief which saves to him all of the rights and remedies which he would have had had the clerk performed the duties required by the rule. Any judicial action which does not achieve that result is intolerable, falling way short of fulfilling the requirement of the very first rule of our rules of civil procedure which declares that “They shall be liberally construed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.” Rule 1, I.R. C.P.
*422This Court today should be guided by a recent decision of the nation’s highest tribunal, Harris Truck Lines v. Cherry Meat Packers, 371 U.S. 215, 83 S.Ct. 283, 9 L.Ed.2d 261 (1962), which Pascoe in his brief urges upon us as controlling authority by virtue of which he is entitled to our decision on the merits of his appeal.
This same case, Harris Truck Lines, was mentioned but held inapplicable in our recent decision in Wheeler v. McIntyre, 100 Idaho 286, 596 P.2d 798 (1979). In Wheeler the Court’s opinion, authored by Justice McFadden, pointed out that the record in that case failed to show how or when the untimely trial court motions, made subsequent to the entry of judgment, were called to the trial court’s attention. In the case before us, however, it is clear and beyond any dispute that Pascoe’s counsel immediately brought the motions to the attention of the trial court.1 Not only is this so, but Pascoe’s counsel at the same time moved for, and was granted a stay of all further proceedings until the motions were briefed, argued, and disposed of.
In this case, unlike Wheeler, the trial court did not state that he was denying the motions for untimeliness, and the record is clear that the motions were heard and determined on the court’s view of their merit or lack thereof, both parties submitting thorough briefing and afforded the opportunity for supplementing their briefs— which each did. In the order which the court prepared is the statement:
“This judge, after studying said motions, all briefs and affidavits supplied by counsel on the subject, and the records and files in the above-entitled case, orders as follows: . . . ”
Having denied Pascoe’s motions, the order of the court then proceeded to set aside the stay order.
In Harris Truck Lines the Circuit Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, dismissed an appeal as untimely filed on a holding that an extension of the appeal time allowed by order of the U. S. District Court had been improperly allowed. Harris Truck Lines, Inc. v. Cherry Meat Packers, Inc., 303 F.2d 609 (7th Cir. 1962). The Supreme Court reversed. That decision is significant in two aspects, one of which is that the nation’s highest court, which only hears approximately 150 cases a year out of almost 5,000 which are urged for hearing, was disposed to hear and determine a case involving only the correct and fair application of rules of procedure.
To the point in this case, the Supreme Court there showed that it would be concerned with the great hardship to a party who relies upon the trial court’s ruling that it has jurisdiction, while there is still time to appeal, and then suffers a reversal of that ruling. In other words, in the case before us, it is mathematically computable that Pascoe’s motions which would have tolled the running of his appeal time were untimely made, but it is clear from the record that the trial court apparently did not so believe, and instead heard the motions on the merits — and at the same time stayed further proceedings until the matter was briefed and determined. •
By the time the court ruled, the time had expired in which to appeal from the judgment itself, putting Pascoe in a position of great hardship — that is, unless it be held that the trial court’s entertaining and disposition of untimely motions together with the entry of a stay order had the effect of extending the time in which to appeal from the judgment.
Harris Truck Lines was followed and applied by the Supreme Court in a case *423presenting a situation identical to that now before us. In Thompson v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 375 U.S. 384, 84 S.Ct. 397, 11 L.Ed.2d 404 (1964), Thompson filed out-of-time motions following the entry of a final and appealable order. On denial of his motions, Thompson appealed to the circuit court of appeals, only to have his appeal dismissed on the basis that his post-trial motions were untimely and did not toll the running of the time for appeal.
In the Supreme Court Thompson claimed:
“[T]hat he relied on the Government’s failure to raise a claim of untimeliness when the motions were filed and on the District Court’s explicit statement that the motion for a new trial was made ‘in ample time’; for if any question had been raised about the timeliness of the motions at that juncture, petitioner could have, and presumably would have, filed the appeal within 60 days of the entry of the original judgment, rather than waiting, as he did, until after the trial court had disposed of the post-trial motions.” 375 U.S. at 386, 84 S.Ct. at 398.
Admittedly the district court in the case under review did not make an explicit statement that the post-judgment motions were made on time, but the act of entering the stay order coupled with the fact that the motions were heard and determined on the merits was the equivalent of an explicit statement. The trial court here, no less than the trial court in Wheeler, was an able trial judge of many years experience, and well able to and would have expressed himself in language leaving no doubt, had he concluded that he was obliged to dismiss the motions as untimely filed. On the contrary, he did not do so, and let the stay order stand until he had resolved the pending motions. Made aware of the court clerk’s failure to mail out notice of entry of judgment, it is only logical to reason that he concluded that time in which to appeal and/or file post-judgment motions was tolled until actual knowledge of entry of judgment was somehow given. Such certainly is the teaching of respectable authority, Hill v. Hawes, 320 U.S. 520, 64 S.Ct. 334, 88 L.Ed. 283 (1944) where the Supreme Court said:
“It is true that Rule 77(d) does not purport to attach any consequence to the failure of the clerk to give the prescribed notice; but we can think of no reason for requiring the notice if counsel in the cause are not entitled to rely upon the requirement that it be given. It may well be that the effect to be given to the rule is that, although the judgment is final for other purposes, it does not become final for the purpose of starting the running of the period for appeal until notice is sent in accordance with the rule.” (Emphasis added) 320 U.S. at 523, 64 S.Ct. at 336.
Pascoe’s case is enough identical to Thompson, that the jurisdictional issue could be decided simply by borrowing from Thompson this passage:
“Here, as there, petitioner did an act which, if properly done, postponed the deadline for the filing of his appeal. Here, as there, the District Court concluded that the act had been properly done. Here, as there, the petitioner relied on the statement of the District Court and filed the appeal within the assumedly new deadline but beyond the old deadline. And here, as there, the Court of Appeals concluded that the District Court had erred and dismissed the appeal.” 375 U.S. at 387, 84 S.Ct. at 398-399.
Thompson was followed in Vine v. Beneficial Finance Company, 374 F.2d 627 (2d Cir. 1967), wherein the court observed that the district judge there also “did receive and keep the motion sub judice some two weeks before deciding it on the merits . . . .” Id. at 632. As noted in Wheeler, there was a stipulation in Vine, but, as we all know, parties cannot stipulate a court into jurisdiction which it does not have. The holding of Vine was that “under these circumstances” the notice of appeal could reasonably be withheld until the motion was decided. No valid reason has been advanced why the Court today should hesitate to follow these cases. We should not seek *424out technicality in order to avoid hearing Pascoe’s appeal.
“It has long been judicial policy in Idaho that controversies be determined and disposed of each on its own particular facts and as substantial justice may require. The exercise of judicial discretion should tend to bring about a judgment on the merits. Perry v. Perkins, 73 Idaho 4, 245 P.2d 405 (1952); Dellwo v. Peterson, 34 Idaho 697, 203 P. 472 (1921). See 5 Am.Jur.2d Appeal and Error § 906. The California District Court of Appeal, Second District, in Brown v. Guy, 167 Cal.App.2d 211, 334 P.2d 67, 69-70 (1959), said: ‘There is, of course, a strong public policy in favor of hearing appeals on their merits and of not depriving a party of his right of appeal because of technical noncompliance where he is attempting to perfect his appeal in good faith.’ Accord, Lundy v. Lakin, 89 Cal.App.2d 849, 202 P.2d 369 (Cal.1949).” Bunn v. Bunn, 99 Idaho 710, 711, 587 P.2d 1245, 1246 (1978).
Before the rehearing was granted in this cause, and before Sines v. Biaser and Wheeler v. McIntyre were announced, Justice Bakes and I were unable to agree with an earlier and now withdrawn opinion which summarily held Pascoe’s appeal untimely. The admonition of Rule 1, the persuasion of Hill v. Hawes, supra, and the facts of this case caused us to write that a denial of Pascoe’s right to appellate review of the summary judgment entered against him worked a miscarriage of justice. We then pointed out the conclusions which necessarily follow from the adoption of the original Federal Rule 77(d), which was in effect when that rule came before the Supreme Court of the United States in Hill v. Hawes, supra, and was later amended— which amendment this Court deliberately chose not to adopt.
The original Federal Rule 77(d), which was in- effect in 1944, read as follows:
“(d) NOTICE OF ORDERS OR JUDGMENTS. Immediately upon the entry of an order or judgment the clerk shall serve a notice of the entry by mail in the manner provided for in Rule 5 upon every party affected thereby who is not in default for failure to appear, and shall make a note in the docket of the mailing. Such mailing is sufficient notice for all purposes for which notice of the entry of an order is required by these rules; but any party may in addition serve a notice of such entry in the manner provided in Rule 5 for the service of papers.”
This rule was interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States in Hill v. Hawes, and the pertinent passage is hereinabove set forth.
The actual holding of the Supreme Court in Hill was that the district court had not abused the discretion granted to it by Rule 60 when it entered a new judgment, notice of which was sent in compliance with the rules. However, the court’s opinion also interpreted Rule 77(d) as tolling the effective date of the entry of judgment until the clerk sent the required notice. Thereafter the following sentence was added to the federal rule in 1946, effective March 19, 1948:
“Lack of notice of the entry by the clerk does not affect the time to appeal or relieve or authorize the court to relieve a party for failure to appeal within the time allowed, except as permitted in Rule 73(a).”
The Federal Rules Advisory Committee explained the 1948 amendment as follows:
“Rule 77(d) as amended makes it clear that notification by the clerk of the entry of a judgment has nothing to do with the starting of the time for appeal; that time starts to run from the date of entry of judgment and not from the date of notice of the entry. Notification by the clerk is merely for the convenience of litigants. . It would, therefore, be entirely unsafe for a party to rely on absence of notice from the clerk of the entry of a judgment, or to rely on the adverse party’s failure to serve notice of the entry of a judgment.” 5 F.R.D. 492, quoted in 12 Wright & Miller, § 3084.
When this Court adopted the Federal Rules in 1958, it did not include the lan*425guage contained in the 1946 amendment to the Federal Rules, but adopted the pre-1946 rule. The adoption of Rule 77(d) without including the final sentence added by the 1948 amendment can only be said to stand for the approved application of the pre-1946 Rule 77(d) consistent with that of the United States Supreme Court in Hill v. Hawes, supra. The effect of that additional sentence added by the 1946 amendment on the overall impact of Federal Rule 77(d) had been clearly spelled out by the United States Supreme Court and the Federal Rules Advisory Committee a decade prior to the adoption of the new Idaho rules, and this Court assuredly acted advisedly in adopting I.R.C.P. 77(d) in 1958 without that sentence. It cannot but be concluded that Rule 77(d) of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure, prior to its amendment effective October 1, 1976, which added the final sentence which the Federal Rule added in 1946, tolls the time for running of the appeal when it is established that the clerk has failed to serve a notice of the entry of the judgment in accordance with the rules requirement.
It is absolutely within the spirit and intendment of the rules that in this case (and there are not likely to be any others in view of the present state of our Rule 77(d)) that Pascoe’s time for appealing did not commence running until his timely post-judgment motions were disposed of, which motions in turn could not be held untimely until more than ten days elapsed after either receiving notice of entry of final judgment, or actual knowledge that judgment had been entered.
Moreover, as earlier pointed out, and that which the Court’s opinion does not discuss, the trial court did not rule that any of Pascoe’s post-judgment motions were untimely, but, on the contrary, entertained the motions and ruled on the merits. It is reasonable to conclude that the trial court acceded to the views of the Supreme Court in Hill v. Hawes, supra, that the ten day time period would not commence until the clerk sent out notice in compliance with Rule 77(d), or the parties received actual knowledge of the entry of the judgment. Where Johnston has not cross-appealed m order to assign as error the entertaining and disposition of the motions by the trial court on the merits we fear that the Court goes much too far in now holding at the appellate level that the motions were untimely, bringing into play the fairness doctrine of Harris Truck Lines and Thompson, above discussed.
The unchallenged and unrefuted affidavit of Pascoe’s counsel tells the tale of how judgment came to be entered without Pascoe’s being informed in time to meet the ten day limit in which post-judgment motions are to be made:
“That your affiant received a copy of the Memorandum Decision issued by the Court in the above entitled action and was awaiting notification of the entry of the summary judgment and the order denying defendant’s motion for extension of time with the intention of filing on behalf of the defendant a motion for new trial or in the alternative for an amendment of the judgment under Rule 59(a) of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure and a motion to vacate judgment under Rule 60(b) of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure.
“That your affiant was never notified of the entry of the aforesaid summary judgment and order and first became aware of the entry of said judgment and order when he was advised by the defendant that the Sheriff of Owyhee County, Idaho, had levied execution on certain property alleged to be owned by the defendant;
“That your affiant was informed of this fact by the defendant on or about April 11, 1975; that subsequent thereto, your affiant obtained from the Clerk of the above entitled Court a copy of said Judgment and Order on the 16th day of April, 1975;
“That although the plaintiff in the above entitled action filed his cost bill with the above entitled Court on March 18,1975, a copy thereof was not served on the defendant or his attorney as required by *426Rule 54(d)(5) of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure.” 2
Johnston’s then counsel3 supplied the remainder of the tale, wherein he urged upon the trial court that the fault lay elsewhere than with him:
“There is a claim that defendant was not aware of the entry of Judgment, this, however, is not through the fault of the Plaintiff. The Defendant and his counsel admittedly knew of the Court’s Memorandum Decision and should have anticipated the entry of Judgment and protected themselves.” (Emphasis added)
It is the very philosophy advanced in the last sentence of the above quotation which is wholly unacceptable, if our rules of civil procedure are to be applied as they have been and should be. For 20 years now the practice of law in this state has been under the guidance and direction of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure.
As of the effective date of November 1, 1958, when a final judgment was entered in any of our district courts, it became the duty of the clerk thereof “to serve a notice of the entry by mail upon every party thereby affected who is not in default for failure to appear.” Hill v. Hawes, supra, is respectable authority for holding that Pascoe’s post-judgment motions were timely filed when filed within ten days of actual knowledge that judgment had been entered.
In Commercial Credit Corporation v. United States, 175 F.2d 905 (8th Cir. 1949), the court there made this statement which portrays the policy and philosophy which has heretofore been the trademark of this Court:
“The notice required by this rule was not given and neither plaintiff nor his counsel knew of the entry of the findings, conclusions or forfeiture judgment until after the time for appeal had expired. Claimant had a statutory right to appeal but an appeal could, of course, not be perfected until judgment had been entered. Counsel were, we think, warranted in assuming that the clerk would perform his duty and serve notice of entry of judgment or order in this case as provided by Rule 77(d). In this view of the situation claimant was deprived of its statutory right of appeal without any fault or neglect on the part of itself or its counsel. This rule had the force and effect of law. Courts favor the right of appeal where appeal is allowed by statute.” (Emphasis added) Commercial Credit Corp. v. United States, supra, 175 F.2d at 907
The compiler’s note to Rule 77(d), I.R. C.P., for all of these many years has stated that which the bar has properly considered to be the effect of the rule:
“Contrary to the Kentucky and Minnesota rules that make notification by the clerk merely a convenience in the case of all orders and judgments, and thus make the duty of the parties mandatory to watch the record, this rule apparently conditions notice upon the action of the clerk.”
To Johnston’s contention that Pascoe’s counsel should have anticipated the entry of judgment and protected himself, a ready answer is that this is neither Minnesota nor Kentucky, but Idaho, where hopefully fair play is the order of the day.
The adoption of the Federal Rules into the Idaho practice was not wholly without some opposition and some doubting afterthoughts — at least among some practitioners of the state. While proponents for adoption were heard to urge that the former code provisions governing civil procedure were inadequate in discovery processes, the underlying theme then promulgated was that lawsuits would be more open, and would be heard, and won or lost on their merits — much as code pleading, in its time, had been an improvement on the earlier common law system. Overall, after 20 years, but for a few complaints, the *427“federal” rules have been accepted, and a majority of today’s practitioners in Idaho have known nothing else. One of these rules has been Rule 77(d), which met with universal approval of the practicing bar, and with good reason. While in pre-“federal” rule days it was almost unheard of for an attorney to accomplish the entry of a judgment without sending a copy to adverse counsel either before or after entry, there always was the possibility that this could happen, and it was a bothersome worry. With the adoption of Rule 77(d), it was thereafter required of the practitioner only that he alert his office to watch for the notice of entry from the clerk’s office. Rule 77(d), to the practitioner, meant that there was removed from the practice of law the unwelcome but always possible element of chance, surprise, and sometimes outright chicanery.
We mention also that additional circumstances of this case militate strongly against holding Pascoe’s post-judgment motions untimely. Unrefuted is Pascoe’s statement that he was not sent a copy of the proposed judgment, and he was not sent a copy of the cost bill. One such inadvertence might be excused; two, however, and both totally unexplained in this case, serve to create grave misgivings where the Court is bent on not giving Pascoe the same relief that was given in Sines v. Blaser, and that which the nation’s highest tribunal said was obtainable in Hill v. Hawes, supra.
We add also that the practice, both before and after the adoption of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure, was understood to require that a copy of any communication to a court, or judge thereof, be sent to adverse counsel. Whether this was a local rule, or a general matter of ethics is not important; the point is that it was so.
Rule 5(a), I.R.C.P., provides:
“[Ejvery pleading subsequent to the original complaint . . ., every written notice, appearance, demand, offer of judgment, designation of record on appeal, brief and memorandum of law, and similar paper shall be served upon each of the parties affected thereby, . .” (Emphasis added)
In conclusion, it is readily seen that the Court’s opinion is a retreat from the recent holding in Sines v. Blaser. There is no valid reason for not protecting a litigant’s right to his post-judgment motions where the failure of the court’s clerk to perform a rule-created duty has caused the time in which to move to expire without the litigant being made aware that judgment has been entered. Indeed, neither Johnston nor the Court advance any reason — whether valid or not. When one considers that there is a good chance that a litigant will somehow gain actual knowledge of entry of judgment in the 60 day period of time before the appeal deadline is passed, and then considers that there are only 10 days (shortened by one or more intervening weekends) in which to gain actual knowledge in order to then make timely post-judgment motions, one cannot help but wonder if the trial bar will be appalled at the opinion the Court hands down today. It is indeed a giant step backward from the liberal judicial philosophy we recently extolled as still extant in Bunn v. Bunn, supra.
Moreover, it should.be noted that Sines v. Blaser, which the Court declines to follow today, was not at all the pronouncement of any innovative doctrine, but merely a restatement of the time-tested holding of Andrus v. Irick, 87 Idaho 471, 394 P.2d 304 (1964) wherein a unanimous court in a well written opinion said in a case where the neglect and fault was not that of the clerk or adverse counsel but that of the movant’s own attorney:
“. . .we are of the view that the trial court did not err in setting aside the original judgment and entering a subsequent judgment, when failure to move earlier to set it aside was occasioned by the fault or neglect of the plaintiff’s counsel. This conclusion is reached even though the effect of such determination by a trial court is to extend the time for appeal. Defendant’s cross-appeal is not well taken.” (Emphasis added) 87 Idaho at 477, 394 P.2d at 307.
*428Observe also the similarity that Andrus v. Irick bears to the statement of the Supreme Court in Hill v. Hawes, wherein the actual holding was identical, to-wit: to sustain the procedure of utilizing a Rule 60 motion to preserve appeal rights where the same would be otherwise cut off by the malfunction of the court’s clerk. Just as this Court in Sines v. Blaser followed the teaching of Andrus v. Irick, the federal courts, under the holding of Hill v. Hawes, and notwithstanding the subsequent 1948 amendment hereinabove discussed, have utilized Rule 60(b) in order to mitigate the harsh results which otherwise flow from an unyielding application of amended F.R.C.P. 77(d). In a recent ease, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals held:
“We believe that a trial court may vacate and re-enter a judgment under Rule 60(b) to allow a timely appeal when neither party has actual notice of the entry of judgment, when the winning party is not prejudiced by the appeal, and when the losing party moves to vacate the judgment within a reasonable time after he learns of its entry.”
Expeditions Unlimited Aquatic Enterprises, Inc. v. Smithsonian Institute, 163 U.S.App.D.C. 140, 142, 500 F.2d 808, 810 (D.C.Cir.1974). This approach has won acceptance in other circuit courts as well. See Radack v. Norwegian America Line Agency, Inc., 318 F.2d 538 (2d Cir. 1963); Braden v. University of Pittsburgh, 552 F.2d 948 (3d Cir. 1977); Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. USAFORM Hail Pool, Inc., 523 F.2d 744 (5th Cir. 1975); Smith v. Jackson Tool & Die, Inc., 426 F.2d 5 (5th Cir. 1970). If the federal courts, even in the face of the express language of F.R.C.P. 77(d), feel free to draw upon the broad equitable powers granted them under Rule 60(b) in order to prevent injustice and to enable parties to perfect their appeals, certainly this Court was correct in doing so in Sines v. Blaser, 98 Idaho 435, 566 P.2d 758 (1977), given Idaho’s deliberate refusal to adopt the harsh federal amendment.
The Court, were it to deign to hear Pascoe’s appeal on the merits, might well be hard pressed to affirm the summary judgment. Its opinion mentions Pascoe suffered a money judgment against him in an action on a promissory note, and it mentions that Johnston then brought a second action which had for its purpose to make assets allegedly Pascoe’s available for satisfaction of the money judgment — in excess of $16,-000. Unmentioned is that Johnston’s counsel allowed a dismissal of this second action, which was not illogical in view of Pascoe’s bankruptcy proceeding initiated while the money judgment was totally unsatisfied and the fraudulent conveyance action at issue but untried. Unmentioned is that notice of the bankruptcy proceeding was sent to Johnston in care of the very attorney who had obtained the money judgment and was engaged in the second suit seeking its satisfaction.4
Notwithstanding such a state of facts Johnston, the owner of a $16,000 judgment, by affidavit claimed that he had not received notice and had no actual knowledge of the bankruptcy proceeding. The attorney who represented him in those suits signed an affidavit which did not deny receipt of the bankruptcy notice and did not state that such notice and the information therein contained was not conveyed to his client. It stated only that he was not Johnston’s legal representative in the bankruptcy proceeding.5
The issue we should be deciding today is whether the trial court erred in not considering that the record before him raised at least an inference that Johnston had been made aware of Pascoe’s bankruptcy proceeding. A secondary issue is whether or not it was error for the court below to cut off as it did Pascoe’s attempt to present direct evidence on that issue — evidence which he was later able to obtain after being cut off — relief from which he also sought on his post-judgment motions.
BAKES, J., concurs.

. Pascoe’s motions were filed on April 18, 1975, accompanied by a comprehensive brief; filed at the same time was Pascoe’s motion for a stay, with a proposed order. The court signed the stay order on April 22, and it was filed on April 23rd. On April 29, Johnston’s counsel filed an objection to Pascoe’s motions, including the motion for stay, which had already been entered. His objection was supported by a filed brief. By counsel’s stipulation and court order Johnston’s counsel on May 27th filed a supplemental memorandum, followed in turn by counsel for Pascoe filing a reply memorandum. The trial court then ruled by order signed July 7, and filed on July 8, the order being captioned ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTIONS AND ORDER REVOKING STAY OF PROCEEDINGS.

. See Note 1 for a recounting of the alacrity with which Pascoe’s counsel moved upon gaining actual knowledge of the entry of default.

. Mr. Eismann first appeared for Johnston during the pendency of the appeal, not having been of counsel in any of the trial court proceedings between Johnston and Pascoe.

. See statement in note 3.

. See statement in note 3.