Court Opinion

ID: 9513258
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:33:23.667793+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:47.885939
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
dissenting.
[¶ 20] Because I would dismiss this appeal as untimely, I respectfully dissent.
[¶ 21] The majority opinion concludes the sworn affidavit of mailing of the district court’s finding and order of December 14, 1995 to Towne on January 16, 1996, does not “equate with actual notice” of entry of the order that Towne belatedly moved to vacate and then appealed, citing Thorson v. Thor-son, 541 N.W.2d 692 (N.D.1996). Without giving any effect to that notice, the majority concludes Towne’s right to appeal began much later. I disagree.
[¶22] In my opinion, Thorson is not a satisfactory precedent, nor stare decisis. I adhere to my special concurrence in Thorson and adapt and adopt here the most pertinent of my reasons given there:
“Except as otherwise provided in these rules, every order required by its terms to be served, ... and similar paper shall be served upon each of the parties.” NDRCivP 5(a). “Whenever under these rules service is required or permitted to be made upon a party represented by an attorney, the service must be made upon the attorney unless service upon the party is ordered by the court.” NDRCivP 5(b). “Service upon the attorney [or upon a party] must be made by ... mailing a copy to the attorney [or party] at the attorney’s [or party’s] last known address_” Id. “Service by mail is complete upon mailing.” Id. “Proof of service under this rule may be made as provided in Rule 4 or by certificate of an attorney showing that the attorney has made service pursuant to subdivision (b).” NDRCivP 5(f). “An affidavit of mailing required by this rule must state that a copy of the ... order of court, or other paper to be served was deposited by the affiant, with postage prepaid, in the United States mail and directed to the party shown in the affidavit to be served at the party’s last reasonably ascertainable post office address, showing the date and place of depositing_” NDRCivP 4(k). The affidavit ] of service by mailing in this case literally eompl[ies] with the rules and prove[s] service of notice.
Service is notice, and notice is knowledge. It is presumed that “a letter duly directed and mailed was received in the regular *900course of the mail,” though it “may be contradicted by other evidence.” NDCC 31-11-03(24). When the law prescribes mail notice as a method of giving information, the receipt of a letter containing the information is conclusive proof of knowledge. Mund, v. Rambough, 432 N.W.2d 50, 54 (N.D.1988) (quoting Brown v. Otesa, 80 N.W.2d 92, 99 (N.D.1956)). Here, ... [Towne] does not contest that [he] received the order[ ] in the mail. See State v. Tini-nenko, 371 N.W.2d 762 (N.D.1985).... In my opinion, the judge’s secretary’s affidavit of service by mail proves effective notice under the rules as much as one by a lawyer’s secretary.
Moreover, the majority’s decision that the affidavit of mailing was not “actual notice,” because the notice was not “served by the prevailing party upon the adverse party” under NDRCivP 77(d), ignores the Code definition of “actual notice”: “Actual notice shall consist in express information of a fact.” NDCC 1-01-23. Here, the record shows that [Towne] had “express information” that the order[ ] had been entered by the trial court, and [he] therefore had “actual notice.”
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In any event, form should not control function. It really should not matter where the notice comes from, as long as the record clearly shows the notice was given. See NDCC 1-01-12 (“Where a form is prescribed, deviations therefrom not affecting the substance or calculated to mislead does not vitiate the form used.”). To make a formalistic distinction that it is okay for the court to give the notice if the prevailing attorney asks it to do so, as in Lizakowski v. Lizakowski, 307 N.W.2d 567 (N.D.1981), but not if the court does it on its own initiative, as here, has nothing to do with the fact that the [appellant] received notice. Here, the record shows, through a secretary’s affidavit, that copies of the order[ ] were mailed to [Towne], and the statutory presumption says [he] received [it]. That is all our rules require. I believe it is enough here.
541 N.W.2d at 697-98. I respectfully dissent because I would dismiss the appeal as untimely.
[¶ 23] NEUMANN, J., concurs.