Court Opinion

ID: 9537176
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:13:46.962867+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:09.576025
License: Public Domain

CAMERON, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. I do not believe it is necessary to send this matter back to the trial court for a redetermination of facts and issues that the trial court has already made. I do not believe that the trade was invalidated retroactively by the 1987 initiative. The *113trade was approved by the Council prior to 1 January 1989, and that was all that was necessary to exempt it from voter approval. Whether there was a specifically enforceable contract between the City and Gosnell Development Corporation is a separate, and unrelated, question. I agree with the trial court that the initiative did not affect the already authorized trade. I believe, as the trial court found, that the “deal was done” prior to 14 January 1987, and it cannot now be undone by the 1987 initiative. I would affirm the decision of the trial court.
I agree with the majority that in applying the principles to the facts, the legal principle is easy to formulate but difficult to apply. We need not do that. The trial court has already done that and I find no abuse of discretion or incorrect application of the law to the facts. I would deny the petition for special action.
MOELLER, J., joins in Justice CAMERON’s dissent.