Rule 82.Findings and Conclusions by the Court; Judgment on Partial Findings

Rule 82 is short but decides how much of a trial court's reasoning a party is entitled to see -- and how much of it an appellate court can review.

The request has to come first

If requested before trial, the court must make separate findings of fact and conclusions of law. They may be stated orally on the record after the close of evidence, or appear in an opinion, minute entry or memorandum of decision. Judgment is then entered under Rule 78. The court is not required to state findings on a motion unless these rules provide otherwise.

The timing is the whole point. A party who waits until after an adverse ruling to ask why has asked too late.

Two protections for the losing party

A party may contest the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the findings whether or not that party requested findings, objected to them, or moved to amend them. No preservation step is required to argue on appeal that the evidence did not support what the court found.

And the standard of review is stated in the rule: findings of fact must not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, with due regard to the trial court's opportunity to judge the credibility of witnesses. The same standard Rule 72(h) applies to a family law master's findings.

Amended or additional findings

On motion filed not later than 25 days after entry of judgment, the court may amend or make additional findings and amend the judgment accordingly. That deadline may not be extended by stipulation or court order, except as Rule 4 allows -- the same rigidity as the Rule 83 and Rule 85 deadlines. The motion may be combined with a Rule 83 motion, which is worth noting because Rule 84 expressly forbids combining a clarification motion with one under Rule 83.

Two other provisions

A master's findings and conclusions become the court's to the extent adopted. And where a party has been fully heard on an issue and the court finds against them, the court may enter judgment on partial findings against that party on any claim or defense that can only succeed with a favorable finding on that issue -- supported by findings and conclusions if section (a) required them.

Finally, the parties may submit a matter on an agreed statement of facts they sign and file, and the court must decide on that statement unless it finds it insufficient.