Court Opinion

ID: 9731712
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:55:49.737015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:20.743253
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree with the conclusion of the majority that the order granting a new trial should be reversed. The rule is an elementary one that the power to grant a new trial does not rest upon statute, but is inherent in the trial court except as limited by statute. 39 AmJur., New Trials, § 4; Larsen v. Johnson, 43 S.D. 223, 178 N.W. 876; Houck v. Hult, 58 S.D. 181, 235 N.W. 512. Statutes regulating new trials will not be construed to abridge the inherent power of the court when they *132manifest no intention to do so, but merely to regulate the rights of parties litigant. Annotation: 48 A.L.R. 362. This is Comparable to statutes regulating proceedings for vacating judgments. Thus, in Purinton v. Purinton, 41 S.D. 125, 169 N.W. 236, this court held that statutes governing the rights of parties litigant to move for the opening of a judgment did not abridge the inherent power of the court to vacate a judgment and permit trial on the merits where the judgment was entered through misapprehension of the trial judge. The statutory provisions requiring application for new trial to be in writing in my opinion evidence no intention to limit the power of the court.
The state’s attorney was present and resisted the motion for new trial, but made no objection to the form of the application. The court had jurisdiction over both the parties and the subject matter. Though the application for new trial was not in conformity to statutory provisions governing proceedings for new trial, the irregularity was not jurisdictional. If timely objection had been made, the state no doubt could then have asserted error and would have been entitled to have the order set aside. The state, however, should not now for the first time be heard to complain that the application for new trial was not in writing. See Western Casualty & Surety Co. v. Lash, 67 S.D. 139, 290 N.W. 316, 127 A.L.R. 969. The irregularity in my opinion was waived.
SMITH, P. J., concurs in this dissent.