Court Opinion

ID: 9717111
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:58:25.325948+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:51.310662
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, dissenting in part, affirming in part. First, I note the court of appeals certified this case to us suggesting there may be a conflict in our case law. The court of appeals refers to our recent case of $735 in U.S. Currency v. State, 364 Ark. 526, 222 S.W.3d 209 (2006) where we said that a party appealing from a non-jury trial could not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence if he had not properly renewed his directed-verdict motion at the close of the plaintiff s evidence. The court of appeals suggests the holding in the $735 in U.S. Currency case is inconsistent with this court’s long-settled rule that a party in a non-jury trial who makes no directed-verdict motion does not waive his or her right to question the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal. See Oates v. Oates, 340 Ark. 413, 10 S.W.3d 861 (2000); FirstBank v. Keeling, 312 Ark. 441, 850 S.W.2d 310 (1993) (citing Bass v. Koller, 276 Ark. 93, 632 S.W.2d 410 (1982)). In these cases, the court held that in a bench trial, it is not necessary to move for a directed verdict in order to appeal on the basis of insufficiency of the evidence. See also Ark. R. Civ. P. 50(a) which provides, “in non-jury cases a party may challenge the sufficiency of the evidence at the close of the opponents’ evidence by moving either orally or in writing to dismiss the opposing party’s claim for relief and the motions may also be made at the close of all of the evidence and in every instance the motion shall state the specific grounds therefore.” In sum, while a party is not required to make a directed verdict to preserve an insufficiency of the evidence issue on appeal, a party may do so. For example, a party defendant may move to test the plaintiffs evidence at the close of plaintiffs case for the procedural purpose of determining whether the plaintiff has met the burden of establishing a primafacie case, with that question to be resolved by the trial court as a matter of law. Certainly a defendant may feel compelled to challenge a plaintiff s case forthwith if the defendant is confident plaintiff has failed to meet his or her burden of proof. See Wilson Safety Products v. Eschenbrewer, 302 Ark. 228, 788 S.W.2d 729 (1990). If the party’s motion is overruled, the defendant may elect to stand on his motion or go forward with the production of additional evidence, in which case the party defendant waives any further reliance upon the former motion. Therefore, their sufficiency challenge is not preserved for appellate review. In other words, a party defendant does not have to move for a directed verdict in order to preserve a sufficiency challenge for appeal; however, if the defendant does move for a directed verdict, which is denied, and the defendant goes forward, the defendant must renew his motion for directed verdict or the issue is waived. In the instant case, the defendants/respondents chose to move for a directed verdict to dismiss the State/petitioner’s complaint for a forfeiture. The trial court denied the motion and the defendants did not renew their motion for directed verdict at the close of all of the evidence, and the court granted the State’s petition for forfeiture. Because the defendants failed to preserve their sufficiency-of-evidence issue, I would affirm. The majority’s suggestion that $735 in U.S. Currency is anyway inconsistent with our prior case law is just plain wrong. Simply stated, our recent case is factually and procedurally different. Imber, J., joins this opinion.