Court Opinion

ID: 9758232
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:17:00.650248+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:48.303006
License: Public Domain

Terry Crabtree, Judge, concurring. I agree that this case must be affirmed because it is the law that the time for taking appeals from district court begins to run on the day a docket entry is made. That a docket entry denotes the rendering ofjudgment is perhaps owing to the relative informality associated with district court proceedings. However, I perceive an inherent unfairness in this rule where no provision is made for the litigants to be given notice that a mere docket entry has been made and that the time for appeal is running. I am thus somewhat sympathetic to appellants’ confusion where, as here, the district court also entered a formal judgment, and it was the only judgment about which they received notice. I consider this rule a trap for the unwary, and the rule should be changed so that the time for appeal begins to run when a written order is entered rather than when it is noted on the docket.