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Mulcaire v. Cottonwood (CA1 7/26/10)

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The question in this attorney-fee dispute is whether Mulcaire “prevailed” in its mandamus action. The court concludes that it didn’t but did.

Mulcaire, a contractor, lost a bid for a City of Cottonwood job and sued to force a rebid. The City then fired the winning bidder and announced that it would do the work itself – in part to avoid this lawsuit – and moved to dismiss the case as moot. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court instead found that Mulcaire would have won had the City not already rescinded the winning contract. It entered what purported to be a judgment on the merits in Mulcaire’s favor even though no relief was granted. That of course makes no sense – a mandamus that doesn’t mandate anything – except to set up what came next: a judgment awarding Mulcaire its fees.

The prevailing party in a statutory mandamus is entitled to fees (12-2030). The City appealed the fee award, arguing that Mulcaire hadn’t prevailed. (It didn’t appeal the “merits” award, since it won the award against it, so that nonsense is not on review.)

The Court of Appeals – after examining the nature of mandamus, the legislative history, and other fee statutes – concludes that to get fees you have to get an actual mandamus, i.e., an order requiring the government to do something. Which Mulcaire didn’t.

Except that it wins anyway. The court says that a party “cannot by its own voluntary conduct ‘moot’ a case and deprive a court of jurisdiction.” For this it cites two cases; one it can’t have read since that case says nothing about mootness, the other comes closer to supporting the City than Mulcaire. Anyway, the court says, not awarding fees here would “undercut the . . . purpose” of the statute that the court has just said doesn’t support an award here. And mandamus is equitable and there are “unique circumstances” in this case and – well, you know the routine. The opinion affirms the fee award.

So what was the basis of the trial court’s fee award? Its inherent equitable power? What about the cases saying fee awards are statutory? Why does the court think the Legislature enacted the statute in the first place?

Some courts that invoke “equitable principles” actually show some grasp of them. Others use the phrase as code for “we can do anything we want.” We report, you decide.

(link to opinion)

American Asphalt v. CMS, L.L.C. (7/1/11)

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This little opinion is important and the court has gone out of its way to issue it.

American sued CMS in Maricopa County. The court issued a 150-day order; American did not move to set (because of a mix-up involving change of counsel); the court dismissed. American, after moving unsuccessfully under Rule 60(c), appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reverses.

For those outside Maricopa County, a 150-day order says that if there is no appropriate activity a case will, without further notice, go inactive on date X and be dismissed on date Y. The catch is that Rule 38 requires written notice when the case goes inactive. American argued that the 150-day notice, issued long before then, didn’t comply with it. The Supreme Court agrees.

But American loses anyway. The judgment of dismissal was not void ab initio (since the trial court had jurisdiction to enter it, albeit wrongly) and since notice is only one factor under 60(c). The court remands, “in an excess of caution,” signaling the trial court to change its order to say that the 150-day order was not the dispositive factor.

In other words, the only reason the court took this case was to tell the counties that “local practices must comport with and cannot supplant the rules of civil procedure.” The appellate courts have had to say this several times in the last fifteen years or so, all part of the ongoing war with the bureaucrats (with which we include some judges) in Maricopa and, to a lesser extent, Pima counties. This isn’t the only thing these counties have done (and still do) to end-run rules of procedure they’ve decided they don’t like but don’t want to bother trying to change in the proper, legal way. And when told that they can’t make it the rule to not follow the rules they started making it the “policy” instead and had to be told – actually had to be told in an appellate opinion – that that isn’t right, either (Jonah T 1999). (Note that the quote given above is careful to use the word “practices.”) Not that it did any good, as they have had to be told these things again since then (e.g, Ballinger 2004) and as we could point to polices right now that exist for the very purpose of nullifying rules.

Perhaps that context explains the court’s decision to allow the Committee on the Superior Court – a part of the Judicial Council – to appear as an amicus in this matter. That’s presumably also why the court treats with apparent respect a hairsplitter of an argument it would laugh you out of court for. And why it is quite delicate toward the 150-day order (“we do not disapprove of Maricopa County’s 150-Day Order, which provides useful advance notice to counsel”). How a subcommittee of a court committee can be an independent party in a judicial proceeding is unexplained but the point was apparently to let some trial judges get their two cents in. The problem is that the Judicial Council, despite the varied views of its individual members, is a creature of the court. No doubt the court is its own best friend but to advise itself by letting a part of itself dress up like a party before it and argue against real litigants is troubling. If this goes on there eventually won’t be room for real amici, or for lawyers, or for anybody else.

(link to opinion)

Craig v. Craig (6/29/11)

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This reviews a Court of Appeals opinion we blogged here. You can read the facts and issues there. Justice Hurwitz [edited; “Judge” in original; sorry, that’s a measure of how old-fashioned we are, so old fashioned that few now will know why it means we’re old-fashioned] tells us – in a typically brief, no-nonsense opinion — that “The majority below . . . had it right.” Smith means what it says, Engel was correct, Barassi is limited to its facts. You can’t appeal while a time-extending motion is pending, no matter who filed it.

Both parties wanted their issues heard on the merits, though, so the opinion then tells them and the trial court how to go about setting up new appeals. In an ideal world this would go without saying; in the one we live in appellate courts know they should say such things in detail, to avoid further mangling of the case or of the law.

(link to opinion)