Court Opinion

ID: 9507918
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:26:25.680328+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:25.426557
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE MORRISON
concurs as follows:
I believe that this Court has jurisdiction to hear the appeal against Major Muffler Centers, Inc. I would affirm the jury verdicts against both defendants.
The interesting aspect of this case is that the appellate issues concerning Major Muffler are not treated for the reason that the “majority” opinion finds Major Muffler’s appeal to be defective and finds this Court has no jurisdiction. In fact, only three justices have so voted. Three justices have determined that this Court does have jurisdiction. One justice takes no position on jurisdiction but has stated that he would affirm the verdict against both defendants. By casting his vote with respect to the substantive questions he has impliedly voted for jurisdiction. We, therefore, have four votes cast on the merits of the Major Muffler appeal while there are only three votes determining that Major Muffler did not vest jurisdiction in this Court.
The position authored by Justice Weber is a minority position on jurisdiction. The three signatories have a right to maintain this position and not vote on the merits. However, this means there are two votes to affirm the verdict against Major Muffler and two votes to reverse. Since the law mandates an affirmance absent a majority to reverse, the verdict must be affirmed.
I would rather see all members vote on the merits rather than stand on their minority jurisdictional position. At least then the parties would feel the case was treated on the merits by the whole Court and the case would have some precedential value.