Court Opinion

ID: 7584347
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-29 06:34:04.799306+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:24:33.963248
License: Public Domain

My reading of Rule 53, Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure, does not provide for, nor permit, all domestic relations cases to be heard by a full-time master/referee.
 "(b) Reference. A reference to a master shall be the exception and not the rule. In actions to be tried . . . without a jury, save in matters of account and of difficult computation of damages, a reference shall be made only upon a showing that some exceptional condition requires it."
The use of masters is to aid judges in the performance of specific judicial duties and not to displace the court.LaBuy v. Howes *Page 973 Leather Co., 352 U.S. 249, 77 S.Ct. 309, 1 L.Ed.2d 290 (1957), reh'g. denied, 352 U.S. 1019, 77 S.Ct. 553, 1 L.Ed.2d 560
(1957).
This case, not being properly before the referee whose findings were the basis for the trial court's actions, should be reversed and remanded for a trial de novo.
Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
 ON APPLICATION FOR REHEARING