Court Opinion

ID: 9543544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:46:25.068375+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:34.202274
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
specially concurring:
Once again the validity of McNabb v. Brewster, 75 Idaho 313, 272 P.2d 298 (1954), is questioned by the Court. In order to properly understand McNabb, it is only necessary to observe the distinctions between the terms ‘burden of proof,’ ‘burden of persuasion,’ and ‘burden of producing evidence.’
The term ‘burden of proof’ subsumes the two distinct procedural problems of ‘burden of persuasion’ and ‘burden of producing evidence.’ Cole-Collister Fire Protection District v. City of Boise, 93 Idaho 558, 569, 468 P.2d 290, 301 (1970); Harman v. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., 91 Idaho 719, 721, 429 P.2d 849, 851 (1967); G. Bell, Handbook of Evidence for the Idaho Lawyer 215 (2d ed. 1972); McCormick on Evidence § 336 (2d ed. 1982); Thayer, The Burden of Proof, 4 Harv.L.Rev. 45 (1890). As stated in one text:
‘In its strict sense, the term [burden of proof] denotes the duty of establishing the truth of a given proposition or issue by such a quantum of evidence as the law demands in the case in which the issue arises, whether civil or criminal. In a secondary sense the term “burden of proof” is used to designate *32the obligation resting upon a part to meet with evidence a prima facie case created against him — that is, the duty of proceeding with evidence at the beginning, or at any subsequent stage, of the trial in order to make or meet a prima facie case. The burden of proof in this secondary sense means, in short, the necessity of going forward with the evidence, and it is sometimes expressed by the term “burden of evidence.” ’ (Footnotes omitted.) 29 Am. Jur. Evidence § 123 (1967).
Thus, although the term ‘burden of proof’ can be used interchangeably with the other two terms because it incorporates them both, such use often leads to confusion. As noted by one commentator, ‘[w]hile the bulk of the decisions in Idaho treat the two burdens as one and fail to make the differentiation ...' [i]t would seem that a careful demarcation between the two burdens would make the Idaho decisions of greater value as guides to the lower courts.’ Bell, supra at 216-17. Although this Court has made the distinction in the past, e.g., Cole-Collister Fire Protection District v. City of Boise, 93 Idaho 558, 569, 468 P.2d 290, 301 (1970); Harman v. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., 91 Idaho 719, 721, 429 P.2d 849, 851 (1967), a reading of McNabb and the authorities relied on there shows that the Court in McNabb failed to specifically make the distinction between the burden of producing evidence and the burden of persuasion.
In McNabb the Court quoted in apparent approval the Supreme Court of California in Sparks v. Mendoza, 83 Cal.App.2d 511, 189 P.2d 43 (1948), for the proposition that a parent-child proposition that an inter vivos gift from the parent to the child is fraudulent, ‘shifting the burden of proof to the grantee to show fairness and good faith in the transaction____’ (Emphasis added.) 75 Idaho at 320, 272 P.2d at 302, quoting 189 P.2d at 45.
The California court in Sparks relied on, among other cases, Johnson v. Clark, 7 Cal.2d 529, 61 P.2d 767 (1936), as authority for the statement quoted in McNabb that it is the burden of proof which shifts. The court in Johnson made the following statements: ‘the burden is cast upon the part who has gained the advantage to show fairness and good faith in all respects____ The burden is cast upon defendant to allege and prove the fairness of the transaction.’ (Emphasis added.) 61 P.2d at 769-70. The other cases relied on by the court in Sparks held that it was the burden of producing evidence which shifted. In fact, in Sparks itself the court went on in a later paragraph to note that upon the arising of the presumption of fraud and undue influence, ‘[t]he burden was therefore cast upon plaintiff to show that the transaction was free from fraud and undue influence, and in all particulars fair.’ (Emphasis added.) 189 P.2d at 45.
It becomes apparent that the California courts in cases relied on by McNabb were interchangeably using ‘burden of proof and ‘burden of producing evidence,’ but in so doing they were aware that they were not shifting the burden of persuasion. Although the Court in McNabb did not discuss this matter, it did quote Campbell v. Genshlea, 180 Cal. 213, 180 P. 336 (1919), for the proposition that where a parent-child relationship exists, ‘a strong presumption of confidential relation arises which would place upon the beneficiary in the transaction the burden of showing fairness in dealing____’ (Emphasis added.) 75 Idaho at 320, 272 P.2d at 302, quoting 180 P. at 341. Properly understood, the California court’s view of the legal effect of the presumption involved is compatible with our recent holding in Gmeiner v. Yacte, 100 Idaho 1, 8, 592 P.2d 57, 64 (1979), and, although the distinction was not specifically set forth in McNabb, McNabb should henceforth be read as standing for the proposition that it is the burden of going forward sufficiently to dispel the presumption which shifts — not the burden of persuasion.
Ordinarily the distinction between the burden of proof and the burden of going *33forward ought not to be troubling. Where a fiduciary relationship is established, it behooves the allegedly fraudulent grantee to put on enough of a case to dispel any presumption. The burden of proof (more aptly, the burden of persuasion) remains on the party alleging the fraud, but in most cases both parties will have produced evidence and burden of proof (burden of persuasion) comes into play only when the evidence is in equipoise. See generally Cole-Collister Fire Protection District v. City of Boise, 93 Idaho 558, 563-64, 468 P.2d 290, 295-96, 301 (1970).