Court Opinion

ID: 9775251
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:51:53.985905+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:24.026622
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. I disagree with the majority for two reasons. First, I think the decision deprives the appellants of their right to a jury trial as guaranteed by the Constitution of the State of Arkansas. I further disagree because I do not think that Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 42, provide for a bifurcation of the different allegations of a single trial. Constitution of Arkansas, Art. 2 § 7 states: The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, and shall extend to all cases at law, without regard to the amount in controversy;.. . Certainly it cannot be argued that appellants did not claim damages from the appellees in the complaint which was filed herein. They have been denied the right of a jury trial in their claim for damages. The chief evil resulting from the severance of the liability claim from the damage claim is that it is likely to cause the jury to be prone to generally find in favor of the defendant in order to prevent a second trial on the damages. Therefore, it seems to me that in most cases it would deny a plaintiff the right of a true consideration of his lawsuit. Rule 42 (a) states: When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, it may order a joint hearing or trial of any or all of the matters in issue in the actions; it may order all the actions consolidated; and it may make such orders concerning proceedings therein as may tend to avoid unnecessary costs and delays. Section (b) of the rule has been correctly stated in the majority opinion. In my opinion, the plain meaning of this rule is to allow separation of different actions or consolidation of different actions. Nowhere in the language may it reasonably be said that a court has the right to split a cause of action without the consent of the parties. The reporter’s notes to Rule 42 indicate that little change is expected in the actions by the court as a result of the adoption of this rule. The note further states, generally speaking, consolidation of cases is normally permitted for convenience and economy in judicial administration and not to merge claims into a single cause or change parties’ rights. The many notes and annotations on decisions under prior law all dealt with claims of different parties, and nowhere in my research am I able to determine that a tort action has ever been presented in a bifurcated trial without the consent of the parties. Adkisson, C.J., and Hays, J., join in this dissent.