Court Opinion

ID: 9662196
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:02:35.243636+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:37.711482
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.
(concurring). I join the court’s opinion. I write separately, as I have previously, to comment on a recurring problem in appellate practice, namely, when review is granted by this court, how appellate counsel and this court should handle issues presented to the court of appeals and not decided by that court. See State v. Serebin, 119 Wis. 2d 837, 863, 869, 350 N.W.2d 65 (1984) (Abrahamson, J. concurring; Steinmetz, J. concurring in part and dissenting in part).
In this case, the court of appeals on October 19, 1982, decided only one issue among several. On review, this court on July 1, 1983, reversed the decision of the court of appeals on that one issue and remanded the cause for determination of the remaining issues. State v. McConnohie, 113 Wis. 2d 362, 375, 334 N.W.2d 903 (1983).
On remand to the court of appeals, there were no further briefs by the parties and no oral argument. This procedure was to be expected. The parties had already submitted briefs to the court of appeals on all the issues they wished to raise. Although the parties could have sought permission to file additional briefs on remand, they did not. The court of appeals has, in several cases, refused to grant permission to file additional briefs. *77No oral argument at the court of appeals would be expected on remand.
After the court of appeals issued its second decision on November 11, 1983, the state then sought review in this court of that second decision. We granted review. The parties filed additional briefs in this court and argued the case before this court.
As a result of remanding the remaining legal issues to the court of appeals, instead of deciding the issues ourselves, we delayed the final resolution of the case to November, 1984, and created additional work for the litigants, the court of appeals and this court.
If on review the issues have been briefed either in this court or in the court of appeals and the parties are willing to rely on their briefs, I would prefer, in the interest of judicial economy, speedy resolution of appeals, reduced costs to the litigants, and finality of decisions, that this court decide the issues left unresolved by the court of appeals.