Court Opinion

ID: 9495790
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:10:25.082864+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:12.091306
License: Public Domain

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I join the judgment and, with the reservation expressed here, the opinion of the court.
I doubt the prudence of expressing, in what is admittedly dicta, a view on the appropriate degree of deference owed the *288interpretation of the trial judge who approved the settlement agreement. As my colleagues note, the issue is not entirely free from doubt, and resolution is not necessary to the decision in this case. All too often, dicta of this sort is treated as a settled principle in later cases, a result incompatible with our doctrines of stare decisis and precedent and often a destructive force in our collegial deliberations.
Here, my colleagues take the precaution of labeling the discussion as dicta and noting explicitly that it is not a controlling element in our decision today. It will be the responsibility of future panels to heed that cautionary language.
In all other respects, I join my colleagues’ fíne analysis of the problem before us.