Court Opinion

ID: 9531782
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:14:28.776772+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:34.806835
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
If I were an editor employed to write headnotes for West Publishing Company, I would synopsize the holding of the Court’s opinion thusly:
“On appeal to the district court from an administrative decision in a contested case, the district court’s review, pursuant to I.C. § 67-5215, is limited to the record before the agency except in cases in which procedural irregularities before the agency are alleged.”
And if I were an Associate Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court and read the Court’s opinion without having read the briefs of the parties I would concur in that holding. However, having reviewed the briefs of counsel it seems to me that the opinion hinges on a procedural matter not raised by either party on appeal, and that the issues raised on appeal have not been addressed. Appellant designated these as the issues:
“1. Does inadequacy of title render Ordinances 19 and 20 invalid?
“2. Does the possibility that Ordinance No. 20 and the changes in Ordinance 19 were never published invalidate them?
“3. Does the fact that no zoning map was ever enacted invalidate Ordinance Nos. 19 and 20?
“4. Is the emergency moratorium void because the Commissioners made no statement in writing or otherwise as to the reasons for adopting it?
“5. Can the county Commissioners refuse to approve a proposed subdivision without city approval, where the city has jurisdiction?”
Respondents’ statement of the issues was basically the same.
If I am in error in believing that the Court has disposed of the appeal without addressing the issues which the parties thought were controlling, I concur in the Court’s opinion. If I am not in error, then I dissent, remaining of the conviction that, other than on jurisdictional grounds, a party is not entitled to prevail on appeal on an issue which was not assigned as error. The Court often does otherwise, but it is an improper practice, and was not always so in Idaho.