Court Opinion

ID: 9844998
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:13:23.080664+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:49.380545
License: Public Domain

BAKES, Justice,
concurring specially:
I believe the majority opinion of Justice McFadden properly resolves the issues presented in this case. However, the dissent suggests that the result reached here is inconsistent with our decision in Ellis v. Butterfield, 98 Idaho 644, 570 P.2d 1334 (1977). I write to emphasize that the difference in outcome between that case and this one is not due to any variation in the law applied in the two cases, but to a difference between the facts cognizable on appeal.
Although in his dissenting opinion Justice Bistline finds this case “essentially indistinguishable” from Ellis, this observation reflects a failure to recognize the most significant fact which an appellate court must consider on appeal, i. e., the decision of the trial court. In this regard the two cases were vitally different. In this case the trial court awarded restitutionary relief to the vendees, implicitly finding that without such relief the contractual forfeiture provision would operate as an impermissible penalty. By contrast, the trial court in Ellis found, based upon the evidence before it,1 that the liquidated damage provision of the Ellis-Butterfield contract “is neither inequitable nor unreasonable.” See Ellis v. Butterfield, 98 Idaho at 649, n. 5, 570 P.2d at 1339, n. 5. In effect, the trial court found that the clause was a reasonable approximation of the vendor’s damages and therefore was not an unenforceable penalty. Both in Ellis and in the case now before us the findings of the trial court were supported by substantial evidence. In neither case could it be said that the findings made below were clearly erroneous, the standard for reversal established by I.R.C.P. 52(a). Therefore, from the vantage point of an appellate court, these two cases were factually very different, and to find them to be “essentially indistinguishable” is, in effect, to retry them on appeal.
Although Justice Bistline’s dissenting opinions in Ellis and in this case purport to attack the rule of law applied in Ellis, what they are actually doing is retrying the facts in the Ellis case. In so doing, they violate the long standing rule that findings of the trial court which are supported by substantial evidence will be upheld on appeal regardless of what the appellate court might think the result ought to have been.
“It has long been the settled rule of this Court that where the findings of the trial court are supported by substantial and competent, though conflicting, evidence, such findings will not be disturbed on appeal. Riley v. Larson, 91 Idaho 831, 432 P.2d 775 (1967); Meridian Bowling Lanes, Inc. v. Brown, 90 Idaho 403, 412 P.2d 586 (1966); I.R.C.P. 52(a); Jones v. Big Lost River Irrigation District, 93 Idaho 227, 459 P.2d 1009 (1969). The trial judge is the arbiter of conflicting evidence; his determination of the weight, credibility, inferences and implications thereof is not to be supplanted by this Court’s impressions or conclusions from the written record. Meridian Bowling Lanes, Inc. v. Brown, supra.” Thompson *109v. Fairchild, 93 Idaho 584, 587, 468 P.2d 316, 319 (1970).
The generally accepted scope of appellate review with respect to a trial court’s findings of fact was described well by Judge Sanborn in Cleo Syrup Corp. v. Coca-Cola Co.:
“This Court, upon review, will not retry issues of fact or substitute its judgment with respect to such issues for that of the trial court. [Citations omitted.] The power of a trial court to decide doubtful issues of fact is not limited to deciding them correctly. [Citations omitted.] In a non-jury case, this Court may not set aside a finding of fact of a trial court unless there is no substantial evidence to sustain it, unless it is against the clear weight of the evidence, or unless it was induced by an erroneous view of the law. [Citations omitted.]” 139 F.2d 416, 417-18 (8th Cir. 1943), cert. denied, 321 U.S. 781, 64 S.Ct. 638, 88 L.Ed. 1074 (1944), quoted in 5A Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 52.03[1], at 2621-22 (2d ed. 1948).
It is well to remember that although “trial judges may be mistaken as to facts, appellate judges are not always omnicient.” Orvis v. Higgins, 180 F.2d 537, 542 (2d Cir. 1950) (Chase, J., dissenting). Too frequently this truth has been overlooked by this Court. See, e. g., Jenkins v. Agri-Lines Corp.,-Idaho-,-P.2d-(1978) (Bakes, J., dissenting), petition for rehearing granted April 20, 1978; Lyons v. Industrial Special Indem. Fund, 98 Idaho 403, 565 P.2d 1360 (1977) (Bakes, J., dissenting). The dissenting opinion in this case adds impetus to this unfortunate trend.

. Not all of the facts relied upon by the dissenting opinion in Ellis were the result of evidence admitted or stipulated at trial. In fact, no witnesses appeared for the vendee-EUises at the trial. Their proof consisted of eight exhibits (A through H) which the parties agreed constituted their proof. The vendor was the only witness for the defense and he testified only that the value of the property “as of now” (the date of trial) was $20,000, an increase of only $2,768 since the inception of the contract 7'/2 years before. The $15,000 of principal and interest which the vendees paid during the contract, when compared to the 7‘/2 years (90 months) of possession which they had enjoyed up to the time of trial, would have constituted less than $200 per month rental — not an unreasonable amount, as the trial court found.