Court Opinion

ID: 9538564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:37:47.311536+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:58.931607
License: Public Domain

BOYLE, Justice
dissenting.
I am unable to concur in the majority decision and respectfully dissent. Although I intend to be bound by the holding of the lead opinion in future cases involving the issues presented here, I feel it necessary to register my dissent because the instant case presents extraordinary circumstances which justify the district court’s discretionary actions in opening the August *1681, 1991 written order. In my view, this is one of those occasions when the time requirements of the Rules should be construed liberally, as directed by the mandatory language in I.R.C.P. 1(a), “... to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.”
The issues presented on this appeal are two-fold. The first is whether the trial court erred in opening the order granting a new trial more than fourteen days after entry of judgment, and secondly, whether the trial court erred in ruling to deny the motion for new trial. Under the unique and unusual circumstances of this case, I am of the opinion that the trial court did not err in either respect.
The majority opinion correctly sets forth the chronology of the procedural motions and orders presented before the trial court, however, for purposes of my dissent the following dates are significant. On July 17, 1989, the trial court orally granted defendants’ motion for new trial. Two days later on July 19, 1989, the plaintiffs filed their motion requesting the trial court to reconsider its order granting a new trial. On August 1,1989, the trial court entered a written order granting a new trial based on juror misconduct.
On August 25, 1989, a telephonic conference was held on plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration which the trial court denied. In addition, the trial court at that time also denied a Rule 60(b) motion asserted on the grounds of newly discovered evidence. However, according to the clerk’s minutes of the August 25, 1989 hearing, the trial court orally advised the parties that he was sua sponte opening the August 1, 1989 order which had granted defendant a new trial. Unfortunately, a transcript of that hearing is not before us. Notwithstanding the absence of a reporter’s transcript, the minutes of the August 25, 1989 hearing clearly state that the trial court advised the parties that he was opening the order granting a new trial. Further evidence of the trial court’s intent in opening the August 1, 1989 order is manifest in the November 13, 1989 order wherein it is stated “[o]n August 25, 1989, the Court denied plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration but reopened the order granting a new trial on the court’s own motion for the purpose of additional argument so as to prevent manifest injustice.” (Emphasis added.)
It was not until September 5, 1989, that the first notice of appeal was filed. At the August 25, 1989 hearing, ten days before any appellate proceedings were commenced, the trial court recognized the potential error and advised the parties that he had opened the August 1, 1989 order. At the time the first notice of appeal was filed on September 5, 1989, the original motion for new trial was pending before the trial court as a result of its sua sponte motion opening the order granting a new trial. Idaho Appellate Rule 13(b) expressly allows a trial court to “[r]ule upon any motion for new trial” (emphasis added), even after the filing of a notice of appeal. Accordingly, there was no error.
Notwithstanding my interpretation of the applicable rules governing the procedural posture of this case, there are portions of the majority opinion with which I agree. First, it is settled beyond dispute that “there shall be no motion for reconsideration of an order of the trial court entered on any motion filed under Rule [ ] ... 59(a).” See I.R.C.P. 11(a)(2)(B); I.A.R. 13; Hells Canyon Excursions, Inc. v. Oakes, 111 Idaho 123, 721 P.2d 223 (Ct.App.1986). I likewise agree with the majority that once an appeal is perfected the trial court is generally divested of jurisdiction to take any further action in the case, H & V Engineering v. Board of Professional Engineers, 113 Idaho 646, 747 P.2d 55 (1987); First Security Bank v. Neibaur, 98 Idaho 598, 570 P.2d 276 (1977); Hells Canyon Excursions, Inc. v. Oakes, 111 Idaho 123, 721 P.2d 223 (Ct.App.1986), as obviously qualified by I.A.R. 13(b). It is also well established that a trial court once having ruled on a motion for new trial ordinarily does not have jurisdiction to reconsider that decision, Spivey v. District Court, 37 Idaho 774, 219 P. 203 (1923); I.R.C.P. 11(a)(2)(B), and that I.R.C.P. 60(b)(6) was not intended to allow the trial court to reconsider the legal basis for its original decision granting or denying a motion for *169new trial. First Bank & Trust v. Parker Bros., 112 Idaho 30, 730 P.2d 950 (1986). However, in my view, the trial court’s opening of the order in the instant action was not based on, or in violation of, any of the foregoing principles and was not in the form of a motion for reconsideration, which is clearly prohibited under Rule 11(a)(2)(B). Rather, the trial court recognized that juror misconduct was not shown to be a valid reason for granting a new trial and, exercising his inherent power to correct an injustice, simply opened or vacated the August 1, 1989 order.
Although the trial court does not state whether it was relying on any particular rule of procedure or other legal authority, it is clearly stated in the memorandum decision and order of November 13, 1989, that the trial court reopened the order granting a new trial on its own motion to “prevent manifest injustice.” Clearly, the trial court was relying upon its inherent power to correct errors and prevent an injustice.
The United States Supreme Court recently had the opportunity to reassert the importance of the trial courts’ inherent powers in their roles as “Courts of justice.” In Chambers v. Nasco, Inc., — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 115 L.Ed.2d 27 (1991), the Supreme Court stated:
It has long been understood that “[cjertain implied powers must necessarily result to our Courts of justice from the nature of their institution,” powers “which cannot be dispensed within a Court, because they are necessary to the exercise of all others.” For this reason, “Courts of justice are universally acknowledged to be vested, by their very creation, with power to impose silence, respect, and decorum, in their presence, and submission to their lawful mandates.” These powers are “governed not by rule or statute but by the control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases.”
Id., Ill S.Ct. at 2132 (citations omitted).
The issue in Chambers was the inherent power of a court to impose sanctions outside the rules, even though the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure already provided several methods for imposing sanctions. In allowing a trial court to exercise its inherent powers, the United States Supreme Court noted that its “prior cases have indicated that the inherent power of a court can be invoked even if procedural rules exist which sanction the same conduct.” Id. at 2135. Therefore, while a court should ordinarily rely on the rules rather than its inherent power, “if in the informed discretion of the court, neither the statute nor the rules are up to the task, the court may safely rely on its inherent power.” Id. at 2136.
Although the issue in Chambers was the inherent power of a trial court to impose sanctions and fees, the legal analysis is analogous and applicable in the action presently before us. While the United States Supreme Court in Chambers was discussing the inherent powers of the federal courts, state courts are also vested with inherent powers. Indeed, as courts of general jurisdiction, state courts are at least as well armed as the federal courts to ensure that justice occurs within the walls of the courtroom.
This Court has long recognized that Idaho’s courts are imbued with the inherent powers necessary to “achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases,” id. at 2132 (quoting Link v. Wabash R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630-31, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 1389, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962)), even when a rule or statute existed to accomplish the same task. In State ex rel. Evans v. Click, 102 Idaho 443, 631 P.2d 614 (1981), we unanimously upheld the inherent power of a district court to create and then later modify and broaden a lien to ensure that its order was complied with. While the Court recognized that the court's imposition of a lien “in effect replaced the security requirement for a bond,” id. at 450, 631 P.2d at 621, we did not invalidate the court’s action simply because a statute could have been used to accomplish the same function as the lien. Rather, it was “our conclusion that such action was within the inherent power of the court to insure compliance with not only the intent of the statute but also its own related orders.” Id.
*170Not only may a court rely on its inherent powers when “neither the statute nor the rules are up to the task,” Chambers, 111 S.Ct. at 2142, we have also recognized that a court has inherent power to modify its judgment even when the time periods set forth in the procedural rules have expired. In a case clearly analogous to the situation before us today, this Court allowed a trial court to amend its judgment even though the appeal period had expired and the judgment had become final. St. John v. O’Reilly, 80 Idaho 429, 333 P.2d 467 (1958). In upholding the exercise of the trial court’s inherent power, this Court reasoned in St. John that the party disadvantaged by the amended decision was not prejudiced because they were able to test the validity of the court’s amended judgment on the merits in their appeal.
This is precisely the same situation that exists in the present case. Defendant Parke was not prejudiced by the district court’s reconsideration of its original order because he could still raise the merits of his claim of jury misconduct on appeal. In my view, the district court’s exercise of its inherent power to reopen the order granting a new trial did not prejudice either party. As such, the exercise of its inherent power had only beneficial results by relieving the injustice created for Syth and retaining Parke’s ability to raise their argument on the merits before this Court. Certainly, I do not suggest unfettered exercise of inherent powers. Rather, it is obvious that such implied powers must be exercised sparingly, with caution and limited in application to those highly unusual and unique circumstances where the ends of justice would be served.3 In my view, such is the case before us.
In addition to inherent powers allowing the action of the trial court, the intent and scope statement set forth in I.R.C.P. 1(a) clearly provides that “[tjhese rules shall be liberally construed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.” In this action a jury trial had been conducted resulting in a verdict. Subsequent to the verdict, an issue was raised concerning juror misconduct. Initially, on August 1, 1989, a new trial was granted, however, that decision was subsequently considered to be incorrect and the trial court announced twenty-four days later on August 25, 1989, that the prior order was being opened. Obviously, that was more than the fourteen days allowed in Rule 59(b), (c) and (d). However, in my view, I.R.C.P. 1(a) and the inherent powers vested in the courts in the furtherance of justice in unusual and limited circumstances, provide the basis for the trial court’s action in this instant case.
Having concluded that the district court did not err in opening the order granting a new trial, we come to the second issue of whether the district court erred in denying the motion for a new trial. A review of the jurors’ affidavits in the record before us demonstrates to my satisfaction, as it apparently did to the district judge, that juror misconduct did not occur. Therefore, I conclude that the district court correctly reopened the case and denied the motion for a new trial.
The fundamental question raised is whether we will require the parties and the district judge to be bound to a decision granting a new trial that clearly appears to be erroneous. In my opinion, under these unusual, narrow and unique circumstances, we should uphold and affirm the decision of the district judge which acknowledged error in its prior order and took steps to correct that error without the unnecessary expense and delay of a new trial or an appeal. It appears illogical to me to grasp tightly to the inflexible time requirements of Rule 59(a), (c) and (d) particularly when the clear error was quickly identified by the trial court and corrected. We are not faced with a delay of months or years. Rather the trial court immediately recog*171nized the erroneous ruling within days and, acting under the auspices of I.R.C.P. 1(a), took the necessary corrective action to open the order by exercising its inherent power.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
BISTLINE, J., concurs.

. Other cases have also recognized a court’s inherent power. In Fisher v. Fisher, 84 Idaho 303, 371 P.2d 847 (1958), this Court acknowledged that while a consent decree must conform to the agreement of the parties, it is nevertheless still subject to the inherent powers of the court. See also Feustel v. Stevenson, 119 Idaho 698, 809 P.2d 1177 (Ct.App.1991), wherein our Court of Appeals affirmed modification in 1988 of a 1978 judgment as an action "within the court's inherent power to enforce judgments.” 119 Idaho at 700, 809 P.2d at 1179. In addition, I.C. § 1-1603 has vested broad powers in the courts to ensure justice.