Court Opinion

ID: 9844095
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:57:38.734718+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:27.875908
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD,.Justice
(dissenting).
Dissent is a part of the American scene, but its exercise on the appellate court level ordinarily occurs only when a Justice’s sense of outrage overcomes his sense of inertia.
If plaintiff had been in almost any other type of employment, he would have had available remedies under workmen’s compensation law. Since his employment was agricultural in nature, he must litigate under the old doctrines of negligence, contributory negligence, assumption of risk, etc.
Seven and a half years ago plaintiff’s arm was severed in an accident while he was working for defendants. Since that time he has gone through a trial and two appeals to this Court attempting to recover damages. The jury at trial awarded plaintiff a verdict of $29,417.15, but under the ruling of the trial court, which is sustained by the majority opinion here, he must again go to trial and probably-appear again in this Court. I believe this case illustrates one of the deficiencies a litigant occasionally encounters in our system of “justice” and also an anachronism in our so-called jury system.
Shortly after the litigation was initiated a motion for summary judgment was filed by defendant. The motion was granted by the trial court, a judgment of dismissal entered, and an appeal taken to this Court. That opinion is reported as Deshazer v. Tompkins, 89 Idaho 347, 404 P.2d 604 (1965). The decision reviewed all of the issues presented, including negligence, contributory negligence, failure of the employer to furnish safeguards on machinery, assumption of the risk, knowledge of special risk and exceptions thereto, time within which employer should repair defects in machinery and promises of employer to repair as excusing otherwise contributory negligence and ■ assumption of the risk. That'earlier opinion of this Court correctly concluded that- such questions become questions of law only when the facts are undisputed and the only reasonable view of them is. that the conduct of the injured party contributed to his injury and that he did not act as a reasonably prudent person would have acted under the circumstances. See also Foster v. Thomas, 85 Idaho 565, 382 P.2d 792 (1963); Otts v. Brough, 90 Idaho 124, 409 P.2d 95 (1965); and Fawcett v. Irby, 92 Idaho 48, 436 P.2d 714 (1968). The decision then remanded the cause for trial on the merits.
At trial, and as stated by the majority opinion, almost every issue was hotly disputed and controverted. The only view that can be gained from the record is that, a verdict for either the plaintiff or defend-ants would be sustained by the evidence.. This conclusion is supported by the action of the trial court when it denied the mo-*273tion of defendants for a judgment n. o. v. That action of the trial court is affirmed by the majority opinion and I concur therein.
Defendants moved for a new trial which was granted by the trial court. That action is affirmed by the majority opinion and I respectfully dissent therefrom. The trial court in granting a new trial stated only:
“1. That the evidence introduced at the trial of this case is insufficient to justify the verdict * * *.
“2. That the verdict rendered by the jury is contrary to the law, the instructions given by the Court to the jury and the evidence produced at the trial.”
The majority opinion states:
“In the present case there is such a serious conflict in the evidence that the record could be considered as sufficient to support a judgment for either party.”
I contend, and the majority opinion agrees, that the trial court was clearly erroneous in his conclusion that the evidence was insufficient to justify the verdict. The majority opinion, however, states that we must sustain the action of the trial court although it was clearly erroneous. I suggest that such a result finds no support in either logic or common sense.
The .trial court also tells us that the verdict is contrary to the instructions given to the jury by the court. It would serve no purpose to set out the instructions at length herein. They are voluminous and cover some 33 pages in the transcript. They deal with every aspect and issue of law and fact raised at the trial and in my judgment are substantially correct. Implicit throughout the instructions, as in any controverted case, is the theory that the case is to be decided by the jury in favor of either the plaintiff or the defendants. The court issued special instructions regarding the measure of damages to be applied if the jury found the plaintiff to be entitled to a verdict. Neither party complains of the sufficiency of the instructions or points to all or any one of them as being erroneous. Thus, the trial court’s statement that the verdict is contrary to the instructions is not sustained by the record and is erroneous.
The trial court lastly tells us that the verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence produced at trial. The earlier decision of this Court, the action of the trial court in ruling on the motion for judgment n. o. v., and the record itself militate against the trial court’s conclusion that the verdict is contrary to the law. The majority opinion disposes of the trial court’s conclusion that the verdict is contrary to the evidence produced at trial. There is then no conclusion but that the trial court committed error in granting a new trial. The majority opinion, however, states that such is not an abuse of discretion and that we must sustain the trial court in his order granting a new trial since a trial court may set aside a jury verdict if it fails to render substantial justice. This the majority opinion holds in spite of the admonition in National Produce Distributors, Inc. v. Grube, 78 Idaho 33, 297 P.2d 284 (1956); Sanchotena v. Tower Co., 74 Idaho 541, 264 P.2d 1021 (1953), and cases cited therein, that,
“If the court in the order granting a new trial expressly states the grounds upon which' it is granted, this court on appeal will determine the appeal upon the issue of whether the particular ground stated would justify the granting of the motion.’’
We arrive finally at the real crux of this case which exemplifies a broader issue. What function does a trial judge perform after a jury has rendered a verdict on the basis of highly conflicting evidence which will support a verdict for either plaintiff or defendants? May the trial judge, as the majority states, in effect, reverse the action of the jury solely because of a “gut reaction” that the verdict did not render “substantial justice” or is “contrary to the evidence as a whole?” Or on the other *274hand, is the jury truly the trier of the facts ?
The case of Blaine v. Byers, 91 Idaho 665, 429 P.2d 397 (1967), cited by the majority opinion, involves the denial of a motion for new trial and an appeal from such denial. This Court has said many times in the past that a different standard is used in reviewing the granting of a motion for a new trial as contrasted with the reviewing of the denial of a motion for new trial. Grimm v. Harper, 84 Idaho 220, 370 P.2d 197 (1962) ; Say v. Hodgin, 20 Idaho 64, 116 P. 410 (1911); Hall v. Johnson, 70 Idaho 190, 214 P.2d 467 (1950) ; Warren v. Eshelman, 88 Idaho 496, 401 P.2d 539 (1965) ; and Rosenberg v. Toetly, 93 Idaho 135, 456 P.2d 779 (1969), all constitute a line of cases indicating that the trial judge is possessed of extremely broad discretion in acting as a thirteenth juror who was entitled to override the verdict of the other jurors if he conceives that justice has not been done.
On the other hand, the cases of Baldwin v. Ewing, 69 Idaho 176, 204 P.2d 430 (1949) ; National Produce Distributors v. Grube, 78 Idaho 33, 297 P.2d 284 (1956); Checketts v. Bowman, 70 Idaho 463, 220 P.2d 682 (1950), and the dissenting opinion in Sanchotena v. Tower Co., supra, all indicate that the jury is to determine the weight of the evidence, assign credibility or noncredibility to the testimony of witnesses, thereupon reach a verdict, and that the trial courts acting upon motions for new trials should not substitute their judgment for that of a jury. Indeed the trial court in the case at bar, in Instruction No. 28, told the jury:
“What are facts and has been proved are wholly questions for the jury to decide. * *
“The jury is the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence and of the facts which have been proved. It is your right to determine from the appearance of the witnesses on the stand,- their- manner of testifying, their apparent candor or honesty or the lack thereof, which witnesses are more worthy of credit and to give weight accordingly.” - -
Such indeed is strange language in the light of the majority opinion.
A further dilemma facing a trial court in ruling on a motion for a new trial is the “substantial justice” language of the first line of cases hereinabove mentioned as contrasted with the language of I.C. § 10-602, which sets forth the grounds upon which a new trial may be granted. It is sufficient to say that nowhere in said statute is a trial judge authorized to grant a new trial on the basis that the verdict rendered is against the weight of the evidence or that substantial justice has not been accomplished.
We may conclude that in the instant case the trial court clearly erred in granting a new trial upon the basis or grounds stated in its order. The majority opinion, however, states that the decision of the trial court must be affirmed on the supposed ground that substantial justice has not been done. No statutory authority exists therefor. If we are to believe that the jury is the trier of facts in civil cases, the majority opinion is erroneous. The majority opinion states that no right is denied the plaintiff in this action since he will have another trial. I suggest that after seven and one-half years in litigation the plaintiff will see little value in that conclusion. If he retains enough stamina and faith in our system of justice, he will continue to litigate and may ultimately prevail. Perhaps more than anything else, this case demonstrates the great truth contained in that simple statement, “justice delayed is justice denied.”
McQUADE, J., concurs herein.