Court Opinion

ID: 9604024
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:13:14.597323+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:18.063184
License: Public Domain

GORDON, Justice
(dissenting):
I must respectfully dissent. The majority concedes that the Board of Supervisors *569has the right to challenge the order of the Presiding Judge on the basis that his actions in entering the order are unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious and states that this challenge could have been made by the Board of Supervisors applying for relief under Rule 4(e) of the Rules of Procedure for Special Actions. In this case the Presiding Judge sought the special action, and the Board of Supervisors in its response filed in this Court alleged that the Presiding Judge was acting in an unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious manner in appointing Mrs. LaPrade. Further, the Board of Supervisors requested an adversary hearing in its pleadings which the majority suggests would have been available to it if it had been the one first to seek this relief.
I feel that the issue of whether the Presiding Judge was acting in an unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious manner in making the appointment was properly before this court on the pleadings.
A master could have been appointed under Rule 4(e), Rules of Procedure for Special Actions, to hold this adversary hearing, to hear all competent evidence from both sides, and to make findings of whether in his opinion the actions of the Presiding Judge under this evidence were in fact unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious. In that hearing, the Board of Supervisors would be required to carry the burden of making a clear showing that Mrs. LaPrade’s appointment was not “necessary”. After receipt of these findings this Court could either accept or reject them, and determine whether the Presiding Judge’s actions are unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious.
No time schedule or preferred sequence of Special Action filings has been previously postulated by this Court on this issue. In the absence of these guidelines, I would not deprive the Board of Supervisors of its right to an adversary hearing.