Court Opinion

ID: 9723228
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:08:01.476721+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:45.706283
License: Public Domain

Clinton, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. This court has said many times that a plain, clear, and unambiguous statute is not subject to construction by the court, but must be accepted as it reads. In this case the statute is clear and unambiguous and needs no interpretation. What the majority has done here is to use legislative floor discussion to create an ambiguity where none existed and then, in the guise of construction, rewrite the statute.
The effect of the court’s “interpretation” is to strike from the statute the words “under any contract entered into after February 26,1975.” There is nothing in section 79-1254, R. R. S. 1943, with which those words conflict so as to create an ambiguity and there is nothing in any other related statute which creates any conflict or ambiguity. On what basis does the court perform the surgery? It does it on the ground that the Legislature really did not intend that the stricken words be in the statute and it does this solely on the basis of what one legislator *571said about the “purpose” of the 1975 amendment to section 79-1254, R. R. S. 1943, and, as I will later show, it does this on the basis of a misreading of the legislative discussion.
The majority at no point in its opinion tells us wherein the ambiguity lies. It does not, because it cannot. There is no ambiguity. The majority opinion simply announces that there is an ambiguity, then looks to the legislative floor discussion for some peg upon which to hang its pronouncement.
As the majority opinion points out, previous to the 1975 amendment the statute contained no provision relative to a probationary period. The entire floor discussion of which the opinion makes mention pertained to the question of whether a provision for a probationary period should be made retroactive. In order that it not be retroactive, that is, in order that the probationary period not apply to contracts previously entered into, it inserted the words: “Except for the first two years of employment under any contract entered into after February 26, 1975 . . . .” The phrase, “under any contract entered into after February 26, 1975,” had the plain effect of exempting contracts entered into prior to February 26, 1975. That is, under the first sentence of the portion of the statute quoted in the majority opinion, such contracts could not be terminated except upon the notice required by statute and for just cause shown. It could have no other effect or purpose, for without those words the statute would plainly mean just what the majority now says it means, that is, the probationary period of 2 years applies to all contracts entered into before or after February 26, 1975.
The legislative discussion between the three Senators as quoted in the opinion is itself unambiguous and supports the literal language of the statute. Apparently the majority siezes upon the last seven words of Senator Simpson, to wit, “who would have time beyond that length,” and attributes to them *572some ambiguity. Let us examine that premise. Those words cannot refer to contracts of employment where 2 years of service have already been completed. They can only refer to the contracts entered into on or before February 26, 1975, but as to which 2 years employment would not be completed until after that date. The Senator’s language could not possibly apply to cases where 2 years employment was already completed. The language of the statute itself forecloses that. In short, the floor conversation between the legislators does not even support the court’s conclusion as to what the legislators intended. Quite the opposite.
The first sentence quoted in the majority opinion provides for automatic renewal of the yearly contract of all contracts except those entered into after February 26, 1975, unless terminated by notice and for just cause. The next sentence quoted provides that the first 2 years “of the contract” shall be a probationary period and may be terminated without just cause. The antecedent to which the words “of the contract” in the latter sentence refer are the contracts which the preceding sentence excepts, that is, those entered into after February 26, 1975. There is no other antecedent to which it can refer. The only contracts for which there needed to be an exception were those where the first 2 years of employment overlapped February 26, 1975. The Legislature made that exception. This court wipes it out. Incredible!
The action of the majority in this case is, to my mind, the most dangerous precedent in statutory construction ever rendered by this court. If the precedent is followed in the future, any isolated phrase uttered by one legislator can be used as a scalpel to excise a provision this court deems unwise, unjust, or simply undesirable, or to change what, in this court’s opinion, ought to have been done some other way.
White, C. Thomas, J., joins in this dissent.