Court Opinion

ID: 9593663
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:23:46.625224+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:21.786543
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Justice,
specially concurring:
I concur in the result reached in the opinion of Justice Huntley. This special concurrence is for the purpose of demonstrating that a correct reading of prior Idaho cases harmonizes them with the granting of a jury trial on the legal claims of Steed. I also wish to clarify how I believe this ease should proceed procedurally after remand.
IDAHO CASES SUPPORT JURY TRIAL FOR COMPULSORY LEGAL COUNTERCLAIM TO FORECLOSURE ACTION
Art. 1, § 7 of the Idaho constitution was interpreted early in the history of this state to guarantee a jury trial to a mortgagor asserting a compulsory legal claim against a mortgagee who then brought a foreclosure action. In Stevens v. Home Savings and Loan Assn., 5 Idaho 741, 51 P. 779 (1898), this Court ruled that mortgagors were entitled to a jury trial on the issues of fact raised in their suit to recover a statutory penalty against the mortgagee, even though the mortgagee had sued to foreclose the mortgage. Mortgagors had brought their action first, and the mortgagee had followed with a foreclosure action. As in the present case, the two cases were consolidated for trial. This Court held that the foreclosure suit was a compulsory counterclaim to the suit of mortgagors. In my opinion the ruling guaranteeing mortgagors a jury trial is directly applicable to this case. I am unable to accept a rule that would defeat the right to a jury trial on a mortgagor’s legal claims because the mortgagee reached the courthouse first.
The code of civil procedure adopted by the Idaho territorial legislature in 1881 contained the following provisions:
Sec. 237. The answer of the defendant shall contain:
2. A statement of any new matter constituting a defense or counter claim.
Sec. 238. The counter claim mentioned in the last section must be one existing in favor of a defendant and against a plaintiff, between whom a several judgment might be had in the action, and arising out of the following causes of action:
1. A cause of action arising out of the transaction set forth in the complaint as the foundation of the plaintiff’s claim, or connected with the subject of the action;
*252Sec. 239. If the defendant omit to set up a counter claim in the cases mentioned in the first subdivision of the last section, neither he nor his assignee can afterwards maintain an action against the plaintiff therefor.
C.C.P.1881, §§ 287, 238, and 239.
These provisions became part of the laws of this state at the time of statehood and continued to be part of our code until 1975, when they were repealed because they were in conflict with the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure. R.S., R.C., & C.L. §§ 4183, 4184, and 4185; C.S., §§ 6694, 6695, and 6696; I.C. §§ 5-612, 5-613, and 5-614; 1975 Idaho Sess.Laws, eh. 242, § 1. Compulsory counterclaims are now^ governed by I.R.C.P. 13(a).
This Court stated shortly after Stevens, that art. 1, § 7 of our constitution simply secures the right to jury trial “as it existed at the date of the adoption of the constitution.” Christensen v. Hollingsworth, 6 Idaho 87, 93, 53 P. 211, 212 (1898). This has continued to be the rule applied by this Court down to the present. Rudd v. Rudd, 105 Idaho 112, 666 P.2d 639 (1983). It is clear to me that at the time our constitution was adopted, a mortgagor asserting a compulsory counterclaim based on a claim at law was entitled to a jury trial on the issues of fact raised in the counterclaim. The ruling in Stevens is clear evidence of this.
Cases decided shortly following Stevens echoed this basic principle. In Robertson v. Moore, 10 Idaho 115, 124, 77 P. 218, 221 (1904) this Court stated that a mortgagor who asserted a counterclaim for damages in a suit for foreclosure would have been entitled to a jury trial on the counterclaim if a timely demand for a trial by jury had been made. This was dicta but a clearly correct statement of the law. The counterclaim in Robertson was a compulsory counterclaim under the statutes that existed at that time. Likewise, in Sandstrom v. Smith, 12 Idaho 446, 449, 86 P. 416, 416 (1906) this Court stated in passing that the parties had a right to have a jury trial on a “cross-action” for damages brought against the plaintiff in a lien foreclosure suit.
Later cases decided by this Court on this issue have failed to distinguish compulsory counterclaims from permissive counterclaims. Dover Lumber Co. v. Case, 31 Idaho 276, 170 P. 108 (1918) purported to overrule Robertson and Sandstrom. The counterclaim in Dover was clearly permissive under the statutes then in force. The counterclaim asked for “damages by reason of [mortgagee’s] breach of an alleged agreement modifying the original contract.” 31 Idaho at 281, 170 P. at 109. The statutes provided that a counterclaim “arising upon contract and existing at the commencement of the action” was not compulsory. R.S., R.C., & C.L. §§ 4184 and 4185. Similarly, in the three other cases that are cited for the proposition that Steed is not entitled to a jury trial on the legal claims contained in his action, permissive and not compulsory counterclaims were involved. Johnson v. Niichels, 48 Idaho 654, 284 P. 840 (1930), (counterclaim for breach of lease); Fogelstrom v. Murphy, 70 Idaho 488, 222 P.2d 1080 (1950), (cross-complaint for wrongful appointment of receiver); and Anderson v. Whipple, 71 Idaho 112, 227 P.2d 351 (1951), (cross-complaint for refusal to endorse checks for crops grown on the land that was the subject of the equitable action).
The trial court ruled that Steed’s claims were compulsory counterclaims. Therefore, Steed is entitled to a jury trial on any legal issues raised by Steed in his counterclaims.
JURY TRIAL SHOULD PRECEDE JUDGMENT IN FORECLOSURE ACTION
On remand the trial court may be concerned about how to proceed on the issues that are to be tried to a jury in relation to the issues to be tried to the court. The Iowa Supreme Court has wrestled with this question and has concluded that the trial court should defer entry of judgment in the foreclosure proceedings until after determination of the counterclaim. Hedinger v. Herweh, 239 Iowa 1146, 34 N.W.2d 202, 203 *253(1948); Folkner v. Collins, 249 Iowa 1141, 91 N.W.2d 545, 547 (1958). A similar procedure should be followed here.