Court Opinion

ID: 9548691
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:07:00.9583+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:19:17.694293
License: Public Domain

RUSSON, Justice,
concurring in the result:
I write separately only to express my disapproval of the majority’s advisory opinion. After concluding that the agreement and addendum gave Keller a license, not a leasehold interest, the majority states, “For the benefit of the bench and bar, we think it useful to address whether the forcible entry statute would apply if Keller had had a valid leasehold interest.” Because no leasehold interest exists in this case, the issue as to whether the forcible entry statute applies to leasehold interests is not ripe for review. I see no reason to depart from our sound judicial *109policy against rendering advisory opinions. See Stewart v. Utah Public Serv. Comm’n, 885 P.2d 759, 784-85 (Utah 1994) (Howe,' J., dissenting) (“[I]t is not the province of this court ‘to exercise the delicate power of pronouncing a statute unconstitutional in abstract, hypothetical, or otherwise moot cases’ such as the one now before us.” (quoting Hoyle v. Monson, 606 P.2d 240, 242 (Utah 1980))); Olson v. Salt Lake City School Dist., 724 P.2d 960, 962 n. 1 (Utah 1986) (“This court will not issue advisory opinions.”); Justheim v. Division of State Lands, 659 P.2d 1075, 1077 (Utah 1983) (where question is not ripe for adjudication, court’s function is not to render advisory opinions); Black v. Alpha Fin. Corp., 656 P.2d 409, 410-11 (Utah 1982) (“Judicial policy dictates against our rendering an advisory opinion.”); Merhish v. H.A. Folsom & Assoc., 646 P.2d 731, 732 (Utah 1982) (“[Sjtrong judicial policy against issuing advisory opinions dictates that courts refrain from adjudicating moot questions.”); State v. Kallas, 97 Utah 492, 504, 94 P.2d 414, 424 (1939) (refusing to address constitutionality of statute where determination not relevant to party’s rights).
Having disqualified himself, Justice Stewart does not participate herein; District Judge Bryce K. Bryner sat.