Court Opinion

ID: 9785558
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 22:13:05.166431+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:29.859095
License: Public Domain

*922J. JONES, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the Court’s legal analysis of the issues presented on appeal in this case. I disagree, however, with the conclusion reached in Part III.C. — that Esser Electric did not adequately bring its grounds for opposing the summary judgment to the district court’s attention. Under the circumstances presented, where Esser Electric’s counsel specifically identified the complaint as the basis for opposing the summary judgment, the district court should have looked at the entire complaint and noticed the verification page.
During the hearing on the motion for summary judgment, the district court inquired of Esser’s counsel, “Now, it’s your position this morning that you’re entitled to rely upon your pleading?” Counsel responded, “That’s correct, Your Honor.” In its ruling on the motion, the court noted, “At oral argument, Esser explicitly relied upon its pleadings to support its opposition to Lost River’s motion for summary judgment.” The memorandum opinion does not indicate whether the judge noticed the complaint contained a verification clause but a fair reading of the opinion would indicate that the court appeared to be of the view that opposition to a summary judgment must be by way of affidavits or depositions. The court seems not to have been aware that a properly verified complaint can be the source of facts upon which a summary judgment can be opposed. Sherer v. Pocatello School Dist. No. 25, 143 Idaho 486, 490, 148 P.3d 1232, 1236 (2006) (factual allegations in a verified complaint sufficient to raise genuine issue in summary judgment proceeding).
Here, the district court was obviously aware of the complaint, as demonstrated by the colloquy at the summary judgment hearing, as well as six footnote references to the complaint in the court’s memorandum opinion granting summary judgment. The complaint was only four pages long. Had the district court cheeked to ensure that Esser had properly demanded a jury trial, it would have noticed the verification clause, as both were located on page 4. The district court erred either in believing the complaint to be unverified or in believing something more than the verified complaint was required to oppose the motion for summary judgment.
This is not a ease where counsel opposing summary judgment failed to specifically highlight his pleading as the basis for opposing the summary judgment. Nor is it the case, as sometimes happens, where the verification occurs in a later affidavit. The complaint was identified as the basis for opposing the summary judgment, the district court made numerous references to the complaint, and the court should have examined the entire complaint.