Court Opinion

ID: 9614126
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:22:45.592427+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:33.769280
License: Public Domain

McDEVITT, Justice,
dissenting:
I am unable to subscribe to the majority opinion reversing the trial court.
Upon remand to the trial court from the initial appeal, that court entered a Memorandum Decision and Comprehensive Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
In the ten pages of detailed analysis, thoughtful evaluation, and legal reasoning of the trial judge, the majority has found a single grammatical usage which it finds objectionable. The majority concludes that this one deviation from what it considers to be approved English, demonstrates that the trial judge did not place the burden of proof on the proper party. There is SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE in the record before the court to support the conclusions of the trial court however it may be described or characterized. The “substantial evidence” test is now replaced by the majorities Syntax review, a moving target at best.
The majority seems motivated by the argument that the trial court’s result would provide the lessor with a substantial “windfall.” There is evidence that the lessee did spend substantial sums on “drilling, surveying, permits, environmental studies and marketing.” How these acts, all undertaken by lessee for the benefit of the lessee which remain the property of the lessee and which would have to be done anew by any subsequent lessee, constitute a “windfall” to the lessor escapes me.