Court Opinion

ID: 9662668
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:14:59.340029+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:41.201152
License: Public Domain

Annabelle Clinton Imber, Justice, concurring. I concur with the majority that this case must be reversed and remanded in order for the trial court to set out specific findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 52. However, I write separately because I disagree with the implication in the majority opinion that Rule 23 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure requires that such findings and conclusions be made. Rule 23 lays out the six requirements for class certification in Arkansas: (1) numerosity; (2) commonality; (3) typicality; (4) adequacy; (5) predominance; and (6) superiority. In no place does Rule 23 require a trial court to make any sort of specific findings of fact or conclusions of law. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Rule 23 merely requires the trial court to come to the conclusion that the six requirements are met. Simple conclusory statements, as were made in this case, would have met the requirements of Rule 23 in certifying the class in this case. Rule 52, on the other hand, does require the trial court to make specific findings of fact and conclusions of law if requested on motion of a party. Rule 52(a) provides that these findings and conclusions will be made in the trial court’s class-certification order if requested prior to the order being issued, and 52(b) provides for the motion to be made within ten days of the order being issued, upon which the trial court may amend its findings of fact and conclusions of law to make them more specific or to make additional findings and conclusions. Mega Life & Health Ins. Co. v. Jacola, 330 Ark. 261, 954 S.W.2d 898 (1997) points out that Rule 52, not Rule 23, governs the issue of when a trial court must make specific findings of fact and conclusions of law upon request of a party. Rule 23 is mentioned only to reference that those findings and conclusions required by Rule 52 should specify how the trial court found the six class-certification requirements were met. Today’s majority opinion could be read as implying that all class-certification orders must have specific findings of fact and conclusions of law, based on Rule 23 alone. Such an implication would nullify the need for Rule 52 motions. Because it is Rule 52, and not Rule 23, that governs whether or not a trial court must make specific findings of fact or conclusions of law in class-certification orders, I must respectfully disagree with the majority on this point. As the Rule 52 requests were in fact made in this case, the class-certification order must be reversed and remanded for entry of specific findings of fact and conclusions of law that should specify how the Rule 23 requirements have been met.