Court Opinion

ID: 9624802
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:18:04.357104+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:54.763857
License: Public Domain

BURNETT, Judge,
specially concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion on each of the substantive issues discussed. However, I write separately to comment on the procedural question of whether trial judges should articulate the legal rules or principles upon which their decisions are based.
The Court correctly notes that I.R.C.P. 52(a) does not impose such a requirement. It directs judges only to make findings of fact and to state conclusions of law. In reality, however, judicial decision-making is a three-step process: (1) finding the facts, (2) identifying pertinent legal rules or principles, and (3) drawing conclusions by application of those rules or principles to the facts found. Rule 52(a) is silent regarding the critical middle step.
The correctness of a conclusion of law depends upon the validity of the rule or principle employed. If a rule or principle is not identified, the decision-making process lacks a legal foundation. Moreover, if a rule or principle is identified in the judge’s mind but not articulated in his decision, the legal foundation of the decision is obscure. When such a decision is appealed, the reviewing court must undertake the awkward task of inferring the judge’s analysis from the conclusions stated and then determining whether the inferred analysis is correct.
This appellate double-clutching can be avoided, and the legal reasoning of trial court decisions can be sharpened, if judges articulate the rules or principles employed in reaching conclusions of law. Many of our best trial judges already perform this function, either in the conclusions of law themselves or in memorandum decisions. The time has come to require, not merely to encourage, this salutary practice. I respectfully urge our Supreme Court’s civil rules committee to give the matter careful consideration.