Court Opinion

ID: 9702087
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:54:08.041154+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:33.600174
License: Public Domain

LESLIE, Judge
(dissenting).
I also respectfully dissent and concur with the dissent of my brother, Judge Crip-pen, and the able reasoning he has advanced in support of that dissent. In addition, I voice my concern over an en banc procedure utilized by this court, which in my opinion is flawed because it is contrary to statute, violates the fundamental rights and expectations of the litigants, and invites serious question as to how thoroughly and completely a panel of 15 judges, without each being furnished individual copies of briefs of the parties, and without each participating in the give and take of the oral arguments, can or should be allowed to overrule the judgment of the original panel assigned to hear and review a case. In my opinion that function belongs exclusively to the Supreme Court and not to an expanded panel of this court not contemplated by law. I elaborate and expound more fully as follows:
The enabling act for the court of appeals provides:
Each case should be submitted to a panel of at least three judges. The decision of a majority of judges to which it is submitted shall be the decision of the court.
Minn.Stat. § 480A.08, subd. 1 (1986). This case was submitted to a panel of three judges. These judges reached a unanimous conclusion to affirm the trial court.
There is no evidence in chapter 480A or in its legislative history that proponents of the court of appeals envisioned a two-level intermediate appellate system, a procedure providing that a panel decision would be the subject of debate and voting by some or all of the other members of the court. To the contrary, it is evident in the language of the statute that panels of the court were to act autonomously.
In addition, I note that the procedure employed in this case involves an action by all of the judges of the court to withdraw submission of a case from one panel and submit the case to an enlarged panel. The judges of the court do not have and should not have the authority to decide whether or not a case should be submitted to a particular panel. Only the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, who is empowered by statute to exercise general administrative authority over the court, is empowered to determine the manner of submission of cases to panels. See Minn.Stat. § 480A.03, subd. 2 (1986) (administrative authority vested in Chief Judge, subject to the authority of the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court).
Finally, it is legally significant that the judges of this court have taken upon themselves the reconsideration and decision in the case without providing for reargument by counsel. The appellate rules provide:
Except in exigent circumstances, the oral arguments should be heard in the Court of Appeals before the full panel to which the case has been assigned.
Minn.R.Civ.App.P. 134.08. This case was argued before the panel to which the matter was duly submitted. All of the members of that panel studied briefs in the case furnished by counsel. The rights of litigants are put at risk by a procedure whereby a decision of the court is determined through debate and voting on a trial court action which has not been fully argued to all of the participating judges.
What explains the occurrence of the procedure employed in this case? In 1983, before the initial membership of this court was fully constituted, the first appointees to the court adopted an internal rule providing for resubmission of cases by the court sitting en banc. Minn.Ct.App.Internal R. 4.5 (1983). It is evident to me that this rule is in conflict with the enabling act for the court, and that we are prohibited as a matter of law from following the procedure permitted by the rule.
Much has been said and written on the need and the peril in attempting an en banc *530procedure for decisions of a state’s intermediate appellate court. On the one hand, it is desirable to avoid inconsistent decision-making of the intermediate court; a lawyer’s prediction of an appellate decision should not depend upon the makeup of the appellate panel. Nevertheless, it is equally evident that an en banc procedure may adversely affect the rights of litigants, usurp the proper appellate role of the supreme court, and become “ineffective,” “wasteful” and “counter-productive” for a court with a large number of judges. See P. Carrington, D. Meador, and M. Rosenberg, Justice On Appeal, 162 (1976). Certainly, for a court such as ours, sorely overloaded, large and growing larger, we ought not endanger the integrity of a usual and customary review procedure with an exhausting and potentially divisive process of internal debate and reconsideration of our own decisions. These observations concern policy matters to be decided by the legislature, and I submit the legislature has spoken quite unequivocably on the issue. It is evident to me that that wise decision for autonomous work of panels is fully supported by policy considerations on the subject.
In summary, I believe the process employed in the review of this case is a matter of great importance, not only to the people of this state generally, but also to the bench and bar in particular. As the law presently stands, respondents are entitled to contend that the decision of the trial court, affirmed by the panel to which this case was initially submitted for review, represents the law of the case.