Court Opinion

ID: 9842044
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-22 20:12:29.656284+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:27.466226
License: Public Domain

Justice Rehnquist,
concurring in the result.
I agree that the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be reversed. That court set aside factual findings of the District Court without having found them to be clearly erroneous as required by Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. I disagree, however, with the Court’s determining for itself that the findings of the District Court were not clearly erroneous. I think in the usual case this is a question best decided by the courts of appeals, who have a good deal more experience with the application of this principle than we do, and I see no reason to make an exception in this case.
I also assume, correctly I hope, that the Court’s discussion of appellate review of trial court findings in bench trials, ante, at 855, is limited to cases in which the appellate court has not found the trial court findings to be “clearly erroneous.” United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U. S. 364 (1948), upon which the Court relies, establishes the authority of a reviewing court to make its own findings, contrary to those of the trial court, where it has determined the latter to be “clearly erroneous.”
I agree with the Court that these cases should be remanded to the Court of Appeals to review the District Court’s dismissal of respondent’s claims under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act and its state-law claims.