Court Opinion

ID: 9770005
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 15:10:36.607962+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:09.838578
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION
PRESLAR, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent and would grant a rehearing and reverse, and in the interest of justice, remand this case on the issue of good cause for failure to file the plaintiff’s claim within the statutory six-month period. As indicated in the majority opinion, the date on which the claim was filed was stipulated by the parties outside the presence of the jury. The jurors never knew that date, yet were called upon to determine if good cause existed for failure to file up until such date. The period of time in which claims must be filed is no mere technicality, but is the public policy of the State as declared by legislative enactment. It is the established law that good cause for failure to file a claim must be shown to exist up to the time of filing. The existence of good cause up until the claim was filed was a controverted ultimate fact issue. The date of actual filing not being in evidence, the jury could not make a determination of that issue. This was a vital and necessary issue, and I see no way to avoid the deficiency in the evidence — oversight though it may be. It is, however, such a situation as requires another trial rather than rendition, in my opinion.