Court Opinion

ID: 9659831
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:55:46.012425+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:11.984040
License: Public Domain

ROBERT L. BROWN, Justice, dissenting. I write to underscore a disturbing trend in this court and that is the number of cases we are sending back for rebriefing. That number has increased dramatically in the last two years and is on track in 2009 to exceed the number of rebriefings ordered in 2008. No doubt sloppy preparation by counsel for appellants has caused most of these returns. But I fear, based on today s decision, that my court has become far too strict in its application of the abstract rule, and particularly the addendum rule set out in Supreme Court Rule 4 — 2(a)(8), and has gone far beyond what that rule requires. In doing so, we have crafted yet another procedural pitfall for the appellate lawyer, which in my judgment is largely unnecessary. We have also increased the cost of appeals due to the extra legal work required and caused delay in the resolution of these cases, Let me hasten to add that I have been a part of sending these cases back for | arebriefing, and so it is not my intention to disparage the court. Nevertheless, this case highlights the fact that we have become too strict in applying our rules. The core problem, and the essence of my dispute today with other members of this court, is whether a particular response to a motion is “a pleading.” Secondly, I raise the question of whether a response needs to be included in the addendum when the issues raised in that absent response can be determined from other motions and replies in the brief, the abstract of the hearing, or the order of the court. In the instant case, the absent response is a response to motion for summary judgment. The rule relied on in the per curiam provides that our addendum shall include copies “of the order, judgment, decree, ruling, letter opinion ... along with any other relevant pleadings, documents, or exhibits essential to an understanding of the case .... ” Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 4-2(a)(8) (2008) (emphasis added). That rule is in-apposite to these facts. A response to a motion for summary judgment is not a pleading. Ark. R. Civ. P. 7(a); David Newbern & John J. Watkins, 2 Arkansas Practice Series: Civil Practice and Procedure § 11:1 (4th ed.). It has never been this court’s requirement in our rules that every motion and response before the trial judge be included in the addendum. That is the reason we adopted the rule in 2001 to require other relevant pleadings “essential to an understanding of the case.” In re Modification of the Abstracting System—Amendments to Supreme Court Rules 2-3, 4-2, 4-3, and 4-4, 345 Ark. App’x 626, 627 (2001) (“The recurring theme in the comments and at the heart of the Committee’s proposal was the need for appeals to be decided on the merits.”). 11flThe reason for that is obvious. As appellate judges, we need only have what is essential to our understanding of those issues before us on appeal, not every motion and response. It is equally important for us to know that the issues and arguments raised to us on appeal were raised to the trial judge. In certain cases, that can be determined from the order or judgment or even from a listing of those issues and arguments in a reply, as occurred in the instant case.1 We go too far, however, when we require every motion and response to be included in the addendum. But that is the direction in which this court is going. It almost behooves an appellate attorney now to abstract all hearings and the complete trial and to include every pleading, motion, response, and brief in the addendum to protect himself or herself from a rebriefing order. The per curiam issued by my court today avoids any analysis or explanation for why the absent response is essential to our appeal. What follows is a point-by-point explanation of why the addendum and supplemental addendum pass muster and present issues ripe for our review in this case. • Appellant Bryan did not include his amended complaint, which added a claim against Cotter and Gassville for breach of implied warranty. However, that In claim is not an issue in this appeal and need not be. included in the addendum. • The first issue on appeal relates to whether the statute of limitations begins to run at the time of occurrence or discovery. Though appellant Bryan’s response to appellee Grubbs, Hoskyn’s motion for summary judgment is not in either addendum, appel-lee Grubbs, Hoskyn spends seven pages in its reply to that response describing what was in the response and responding to it. See supplemental addendum pp. 33-39. By anyone’s measure, that sufficiently describes the response and tells us what was argued to the trial judge. In short, appellee Grubbs, Hoskyn cured that omission. . Furthermore, appellant Bryan argued its position to the trial judge at the hearing, and that argument is abstracted in pages 1 through 7. • The next issue on appeal relates to exculpatory language found in the contract at issue in provisions SC 26 and SC 7, on which appellee relies. Appellant Bryan’s counsel, at abstract page 16, alludes to both special conditions. But more importantly, appellee Grubbs, Hoskyn’s reply to appellant Bryan’s response details Bryan’s arguments regarding provisions SC 26 and SC 7 and then responds to those arguments. See supplemental addendum pp. 70-78. • Regarding quantum, meruit, the supplemental addendum does include appellant Bryan’s complaint, which fully describes Bryan’s claim for quantum meruit relief. See supplemental addendum p. 8. The cities and Garver also refer to | ^Bryan’s quantum me-ruit claim and argue against it at the summary-judgment hearing. See abstract p. 16. I firmly believe that it is the obligation of this court to decide eases when the essence of what was before the trial judge has been abstracted and placed in the addendum. Our emphasis should be on analyzing whether an absent response is essential to an appeal when it has been adequately described in another motion or reply or the order, rather than automatically ordering rebriefing with the added expense and delay that occasions. We did the correct analysis recently, as the per curiam acknowledges, in affirming summary judgment when the motion for summary judgment was not included in the addendum and we decided the motion was not essential. See Bryant v. Hendrix, 375 Ark. 200, 289 S.W.3d 402 (2008). We should do the same analysis in every case for an absent motion or response. Clearly, we did not do an analysis in the case at hand. Again, motions and responses are not pleadings. What the opinions today illustrate is the need to amend our Supreme Court Rules, and specifically Rule 4 — 2(a)(8), to detail precisely what needs to be included in the addendum. The per curiam says individual orders for rebriefing from the court have referred to absent motions and responses in addition to “relevant pleadings.” But Rule 4-2(a)(8) does not require that. Perhaps, more importantly, we need to explain to the bar, in light of today’s per curiam, that even though other motions, replies, and the order in the case may describe the issues raised to the trial court, that is not enough. This court wants all filings, including 11sbriefs and an abstract of the hearing that touch and concern the issues before this court, to be included in the abstract and addendum, even though that information can be gleaned from other filings. Without such amendments to our rules, the orders for rebriefing will continue to mushroom (there have already been twelve since last August), and confusion will persist. For all of these reasons, I respectfully dissent.  . This court has stated on numerous occasions that we can go to the record to affirm a circuit court order or judgment even when the pertinent pleadings, motions, and documents are not abstracted or placed in the addendum. See, e.g., Allen v. Allison, 356 Ark. 403, 155 S.W.3d 682 (2004). That principle begs the question of when going to the record to affirm could be invoked if all essential pleadings, motions, and documents necessary for our review must be either abstracted or placed in the addendum on the front end in order for the briefs to be compliant with our rules. At the very least, this is another area that must be clarified by this court.