Court Opinion

ID: 9569080
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:10:25.640819+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:22:13.277574
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Chief Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur in the judgment that the case must be remanded for findings of fact and conclusions of law to be made by the trial judge. This is so because the law requires the court to do so “upon request of any party made prior to such ruling.” OCGA § 9-11-52 (a). The statute uses the word “shall.” The statutory requirement is an instance of procedural due process, designed not only to assure that the court as the sole factfinder and law applicator had an evidentiary basis for its understanding of the facts but also to allow appellate review of its legal conclusions applied to those facts. The latter is discernible by the appellate court, when there is a jury trial, from the court’s charge on the law. Spivey v. Mayson, 124 Ga. App. 775, 776 (186 SE2d 154) (1971), describes other purposes as well.
In this instance there was a sufficient request, as a matter of law, as is evident from the discussions of the court and the parties and their actions thereafter. In this regard, the case differs from Burks v. First Union Mtg. Corp., 209 Ga. App. 41 (1) (432 SE2d 822) (1993), and Cage v. Chase Home Mtg. Corp., 212 Ga. App. 861 (1) (443 SE2d 504) (1994), where no request was made. Here the court erred in finding, as it did in its order denying defendant Gold Kist’s motion for reconsideration of the order denying Gold Kist’s post-judgment motion, that “[t]he record does not reflect a request by either party for the Court to enter Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law prior to the entry of the Court’s ruling.”
As evidenced by the consolidated pre-trial order, the parties planned to try the case before a jury. At the commencement of trial, at the request of plaintiffs, it was decided to proceed with a bench trial. The parties did retain the original designation that the case was to be reported. This, like findings of fact and conclusions of law, are necessary ingredients for an appeal. Carole Lyden Smith Enterprises v. Mathew, 193 Ga. App. 320, 321 (2) (387 SE2d 577) (1989).
At the conclusion of the lengthy trial, and after a recess, the parties announced the time table “we discussed earlier, and some stipulations” regarding the submission of exhibits and “an index, for inclusion in the clerk’s records.” The parties agreed and announced when their “post-trial briefs and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law” would be submitted, which was agreeable with the court.
In accordance with the schedule, both sides submitted extensive proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law together with their respective arguments, and Gold Kist filed “Responses to Plaintiffs’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.”
*430Decided March 4, 1996.
Alston & Bird, Jay D. Bennett, Richard R. Hays, K. David Steele, for appellant.
Gibson & Spivey, Douglas L. Gibson, for appellees.
The judgment was issued on July 14, and within two weeks Gold Kist by motion sought the absent findings and conclusions, stating that it had “requested” them so that their issuance was “mandatory” pursuant to Gold Kist’s right as provided in OCGA § 9-11-52 (a). It pointed out that the nature of the case, that is, its complexity, multiple parties, and amount of money involved, and the ramifications of an unexplained judgment, confirmed the necessity for the request in the first place.
OCGA § 9-11-52 (a) provides for stated fact findings and legal conclusions. The parties agreed to submit proposed ones reflecting the view of the evidence which each side desired the court to take. The court approved of this procedure and acted upon it, except that it did not set out its findings or conclusions. Although the legal issue of the sufficiency of the request could have been easily avoided by an express and direct oral recitation or written demand by Gold Kist, the record is clear that the request was impliedly made before the judgment was filed. There is little doubt that, had the judgment been for defendant, plaintiffs would be here on the same issue, with the same arguments.
I agree with the majority that a formal request should be made, to obviate the risk of failure and to preclude the wasteful consumption of judicial time and parties’ monetary resources.