Court Opinion

ID: 9634365
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:09:29.273361+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:26.927501
License: Public Domain

Peck, J.,
concurring. In the recent case of Davis v. Manning, 143 Vt. 311, 465 A.2d 1352 (1983), I filed a concurring opinion expressing concern with the Court’s failure to address the issue of the right of assistant judges to overrule the presiding judge on questions of law.
The issue is before us once more in the instant case; the opinion acknowledges that the question below was one of law. Once again, however, we have based our decision on other *457grounds. I concur with the result, and I agree further that the Court is not obligated to reach its conclusion on a different basis, however desirable it might be to do so, if it is not necessary. Nevertheless, the “side judge” issue is a recurrent one; it must be addressed some day. With the issue raised once more in this case, I am disappointed that we have elected again not to get this troublesome question behind us. I would prefer to have done so.