Coney v. Farmers State Bank

Dissenting Opinion

White, J.

The fundamental juridical question before us on this motion is the extent to which courts should tolerate deviation by attorneys from established rules of procedure without penalizing the client for the deviation. Some procedural uniformity must be maintained in every court, else confusion will render adjudication impossible. But to require overly strict adherence to arbitrary rules often is merely to permit judges to close cases without deciding controversies.

Appellate tribunals must, and do, make two basic demands of litigants who seek to correct alleged errors of…