Court Opinion

ID: 9549546
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:20:28.327317+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:28.118881
License: Public Domain

Thompson, C. J., and Zenoff, J.,
dissenting:
1. The majority opinion rests upon a false premise — that the failure to timely file the judgment somehow affected the substantial rights of the parties. Indeed, not one word is written to suggest that the omission caused prejudice or infected the fairness of the trial. In the context of this case it cannot seriously be urged that the late filing bears jurisdictional significance. This is not an Osman v. Cobb, 77 Nev. 133, 360 P.2d 258 (1961), situation where the judge attempted to decide a case when he was no longer judge. Here, the case was tried, submitted, studied, and decision prepared and signed by the judge during his term of office. Filing of the judgment did not occur until a few days after his term expired. The delay in filing may have been due to the fact that the judge lived and worked outside of the judicial district in which the case was tried. He was forced to send his judgment from Elko to Minden for filing during the busy holiday season. In any event, he had fully completed his judicial work before the end of his term. All that remained was the ministerial act of filing the judgment. Babcock v. Wolf, 28 N.W. 490 (Iowa 1886).
The rule of harmless error commands that we are not to pay attention to this kind of non-jurisdictional omission unless the substantial rights of the parties are affected. NRCP 61.1 We are not to exalt form over substance. This case is particularly suited to the rule since the so-called “error” is not traceable to conduct by the court or counsel, but is, instead, a fortuitous occurrence.
2. Formal findings of fact were not made in this case. *531Here, as in Heidtman v. Nevada Ind. Comm’n, 78 Nev. 25, 368 P.2d 763 (1962), and Poe v. La Metropolitana Co., 76 Nev. 306, 353 P.2d 454 (1960), the court prepared a short memorandum of decision expressing its views. Rule 52(a) allows this to be done. Although the decision is not as complete as we would like to have it, we are not thereby given license to condemn it and declare prejudice, without first reviewing the entire record to ascertain whether the judgment finds support in the evidence. The record in this case may be read to support the judgment. Therefore, the failure to write a detailed decision must be deemed harmless. Indeed, the majority opinion does not suggest how, or in what manner the short decision affected the result of this case or the substantial rights of the parties. To order the parties to start over again for omissions of the kind presented in this case harms the judicial process. We would affirm the judgment.

 NRCP 61 reads: “No error in either the admission or the exclusion of evidence and no error or defect in any ruling or order or in anything done or omitted by the court or by any of the parties is ground for granting a new trial or for setting aside a verdict or for vacating, modifying or otherwise disturbing a judgment or order, unless refusal to take such action appears to the court inconsistent with substantial justice. The court at every stage of the proceeding must disregard any error or defect in the proceeding which does not affect the substantial rights of the parties.”