Court Opinion

ID: 9655448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:10:54.86056+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:18.593755
License: Public Domain

CARTER, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur in the result but for reasons different from those of the majority.
The issue of federal law presented in the present litigation is not a legal issue for the court but an issue of operative fact to be determined by the trier of fact. This is nonetheless so because the trier of fact is a jury. Juries should be permitted to determine issues of operative fact involving law in the same manner as issues involving medicine or other scientific data, i.e., by expert testimony in the case.
It is not the role of the judge in such cases, either in trial or on appeal, to conduct independent legal research on the issue of operative fact. The judge’s role is simply to determine whether there is sufficient conflict in the relevant and material evidence to present a jury issue. The evidence in the present case concerning this issue of operative fact was conflicting, and the district court did not err in submitting the case to the jury.