Cessna v. CHU-R & T, INC.

57 P.3d 936, 185 Or. App. 39, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 1753
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 13, 2002
Docket0002-01682; A114205
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 57 P.3d 936 (Cessna v. CHU-R & T, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cessna v. CHU-R & T, INC., 57 P.3d 936, 185 Or. App. 39, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 1753 (Or. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

*41 HASELTON, P. J.

Defendant appeals from the trial court’s denial of its motion to dismiss plaintiffs notice of appeal and request for a trial de novo following court-annexed arbitration, ORS 36.425(2)(a), and from the trial court’s denial of defendant’s concurrent request that the court direct the clerk of the court to enter the arbitrator’s decision and award as a judgment pursuant to ORS 36.425(3). Defendant argues that the trial court erred in concluding that ORCP10 C operated to extend the 20-day limitation under ORS 36.425(2)(a) for filing a notice of appeal and request for trial de novo following the filing of the arbitration decision and award. We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

The pertinent procedural facts are undisputed. In February 2000, plaintiff filed an action against defendant for negligence, and the matter was subsequently referred to court-annexed arbitration. The arbitration hearing occurred ón January 12, 2001. On January 25, 2001, the arbitrator mailed his decision and award to the clerk of the circuit court, along with proof of service of that decision and award on both parties. See ORS 36.425(1). 1 On January 26, 2001, the clerk of the cotut received the arbitrator’s submission, and the decision and award was filed on that date. Also on January 26, plaintiff received his service copy of the decision and award.

On February 16,2001 — 21 days after the filing of the arbitration award with the clerk of the court — plaintiff filed his notice of appeal and request for trial de novo of the action. Defendant subsequently moved to dismiss the notice of appeal and request for trial de novo as untimely under ORS 36.425(2)(a), which provides, in part:

“Within 20 days after the filing of a decision and award with the clerk of the court under subsection (1) of this section, a party against whom relief is granted by the decision *42 and award or a party whose claim for relief was greater than the relief granted to the party by the decision and award, but no other party, may file with the clerk a written notice of appeal and request for a trial de novo of the action in the court on all issues of law and fact.”

Defendant concurrently requested that the trial court direct the clerk to enter the arbitrator’s decision and award as a final judgment pursuant to ORS 36.425(3) because plaintiff had failed to file his notice of appeal and request for trial de novo within 20 days of the filing of the arbitration decision and award. ORS 36.425(3) provides:

“If a written notice is not filed under subsection (2)(a) of this section within the 20 days prescribed, the clerk of the court shall enter the arbitration decision and award as a final judgment of the court, which shall have the same force and effect as a final judgment of the court in the civil action and may not be appealed.”

Plaintiff responded by contending that, because the arbitrator had mailed the service copies of the arbitration decision and award to the parties, the 20-day limitation of ORS 36.425(2)(a) and (3) was supplemented and extended by operation of the “three-day mailing rule” of ORCP 10 C, which provides:

“Except for service of summons, whenever a party has the right or is required to do some act or take some proceedings within a prescribed period after the service of a notice or other paper upon such party and the notice or paper is served by mail, 3 days shall be added to the prescribed period.”

Thus, plaintiff reasoned, he had up to 23 days to file his notice of appeal and request for trial de novo and, because he had filed on the twenty-first day, that filing was timely. Defendant countered that ORCP 10 C was inapposite because

“ORCP 10 C * * * applies only to time periods which begin to run from the date of service of a document. The twenty-day time period to file a Request for Trial De Novo after an arbitration, however, begins to run from the date the award is filed (not from the date the award is served).” 2

*43 (Emphasis in original.)

The trial court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss, concluding that ORCP 10 C applied and, in this case, extended the 20-day limitation of ORS 36.425(2)(a). In so ruling, the trial court implicitly, but necessarily, also denied defendant’s concomitant request that the clerk be directed to enter the arbitration decision and award as a final judgment pursuant to ORS 36.425(3).

Before the matter proceeded to trial de novo, defendant appealed from the trial court’s order. From the record before us, it appears that there have been no subsequent proceedings in the trial court — that is, that this appeal is, effectively, in an interlocutory posture. Given that posture, this court sua sponte raised the question of appellate jurisdiction and ordered defendant, as appellant, to show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed. Defendant responded with a comprehensive memorandum, in which it contended, in part, that the trial court’s order was appealable under ORS 19.205(2)(a) as an order “which in effect determines the action or suit so as to prevent a judgment or decree therein.” 3 In an order dated September 5, 2001, this court, by order of the Chief Judge, determined that the order was appealable under ORS 19.205(2)(a).

On appeal, defendant reiterates its argument that ORCP 10 C is inapposite because the limitation period of ORS 36.425(2)(a) is triggered by the filing of the arbitration decision and award, while ORCP 10 C pertains to, and is triggered by,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 P.3d 936, 185 Or. App. 39, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 1753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cessna-v-chu-r-t-inc-orctapp-2002.