Court Opinion

ID: 9590174
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:52:13.887202+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:30.449051
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J.
I concur in the judgment of affirmance because I can see no escape from the proposition that the record in this case presents a factual situation as to the reasonableness of the ordinance here in question upon which reasonable minds might differ. Such being the case it cannot fairly or honestly be said as a matter of law that as applied to plaintiff’s property the ordinance is so unreasonable as to constitute an arbitrary and unconstitutional exercise of the police power by the defendant.
I have heretofore given expression to my views with respect to the validity of zoning ordinances enacted by city councils and boards of supervisors which arbitrarily and unreasonably limit and restrict the use of private property under the guise that such limitation and restriction constitute a reasonable exercise of the police power. See County of San Diego v. McClurken, 37 Cal.2d 683, 692 [234 P.2d 972] ; Clemons v. City of Los Angeles, 36 Cal.2d 95, 107 [222 P.2d 439] ; Ayres v. City Council of Los Angeles, 34 Cal.2d 31, 43 [207 P.2d 1, 11 A.L.R.2d 503]; Lockard v. City of Los Angeles, 33 Cal.2d 453, 468 [202 P.2d 38, 7 A.L.R.2d 990] ; Wilkins v. City of San Bernardino, 29 Cal.2d 332, 345 [171 P.2d 542],
In the McClurken, Lockard and Wilkins cases, supra, the trial court had held the zoning ordinance in each of said cases unconstitutional as applied to the property there involved and this court by a bare majority reversed the trial court notwithstanding the record contained overwhelming evidence that the ordinance in each of said cases was so arbitrary and unreasonable as to seriously impair the value of the property affected by the ordinance. In the Wilkins case the trial judge viewed the premises. This is likewise true in the case at bar. It has been repeatedly held that the observations of a trial judge in viewing the premises or scene of the controversy is evidence in the case upon which findings may be based (Neel v. Mannings, Inc., 19 Cal.2d 647 [122 P.2d 576] ; Gates v. McKinnon, 18 Cal.2d 179 [114 P.2d 576] ; Ethel D. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 219 Cal. 699 [28 P.2d 919] ; People v. Milner, 122 Cal. 171 [54 P. 833] ; Gastine v. Ewing, 65 Cal.App.2d 131 [150 P.2d 266] ; *897MacPherson v. West Coast Transit Co., 94 Cal.App. 463 [271 P. 509] ; Vaugham v. County of Tulare, 56 Cal.App. 621 [205 P. 21]).
Notwithstanding this circumstance a bare majority of this court held that the findings that the enforcement of the ordinance would be oppressive, confiscatory and an unreasonable restriction on plaintiff’s property rights were not supported by the evidence.
At page 352 of my dissent in the Wilkins case, supra, I stated: “The effect of the majority opinion in this case is to commit to the legislative body the solution of all questions of both fact and law which arise when a zoning ordinance is attacked for unreasonableness in its application to certain property unjustly affected thereby. This is contrary to the rule which has been uniformly followed in the prior decisions of this court hereinabove cited and discussed. The decision of the trial court is in accord with these decisions and should therefore be affirmed.” In the Lockard case, supra, the majority of this court stated at page 462: “The findings and conclusions of the trial court as to the reasonableness of a zoning ordinance are not binding on an appellate court if the record shows that the question is debatable and that there may be a difference of opinion on the subject. The appellate courts looks beyond such determinations and consider in some detail the basic physical facts appearing in the record, such as the character of the property of the objecting parties, the nature of the surrounding territory, the use to which each has been put, recent trends of development, etc., to ascertain whether the reasonableness of the ordinance is fairly debatable.” In my dissent in that case I stated at page 473: “In essence, what the majority opinion holds is this: That the validity of such an ordinance depends upon whether four members of this court think it is reasonable as applied to plaintiffs’ property, they being the judges of both fact and law. Such being the case, the function of the trial court is that of a mere referee to hear the evidence and make his recommendation which has no binding effect as a factual determination. This is indeed a new and unique legal philosophy of law without constitutional or statutory postulate.”
In every zoning case which has come before this court since I have been a member of it, I have taken the position that the law should be that the determination of the reasonableness of zoning ordinances as applied to private property is a *898question of fact to be determined by the trial court and if its determination is supported by sufficient competent evidence, such determination is binding upon an appellate court the same as in other cases where factual situations are involved. It has been my position that under the Constitution and laws of this state, fact finding powers are, reposed in juries and trial judges and that where factual determinations are made by juries and trial judges upon sufficient competent evidence and no error has been committed prejudicial to the party against whom such determination is made, the appellate courts of this state are bound by such determinations as such courts have no fact finding powers and their only function is to determine issues of law; that an issue of fact becomes an issue of law only where no fact is left in doubt, and no deduction or inference can be drawn in support of an issue that the court can say, as a matter of law, that the issue has not been established. And even where the facts are undisputed, if reasonable minds might draw different conclusions from the evidence the issue is one of fact to be determined by the trier of fact. This is the traditional rule which has been followed by this court since its institution in 1850 with the exception of the past two or three years when this court has assumed the role of a fact finding tribunal both in zoning ordinance cases and many other cases (see dissenting opinion in Gray v. Brinkerhoff decided June 30, 1953, ante, pp. 180, 186 [258 P.2d 834]).
As stated at the beginning of this opinion the record in this case presents a factual situation as to the reasonableness of the ordinance here involved, as applied to plaintiffs’ property, upon which reasonable minds might differ, the trial judge viewed the premises and made findings to the effect that the ordinance as applied to plaintiffs’ property was and is reasonable. In view of this state of the record and the law as it has been declared by this court, I can see no escape from the affirmance of the judgment.