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OPINION
LANKFORD, Presiding Judge.
In this direct appeal we decide whether a trial court may aggravate a sentence based on its finding that a special harm to society resulted from the crime because it was committed by a police officer. We affirm the sentence.
Richard G. Elliget, a City of Mesa police officer, pled guilty to two offenses: sexual exploitation of a minor, a class 2 felony, and facilitation to commit sexual conduct with a minor, a class 3 felony and dangerous crime against children. The plea agreement stipulated that the court would place Elliget on lifetime probation for the sexual exploitation charge and, for the facilitation charge, would order Elliget incarcerated for a term left to the court’s discretion. The trial judge sentenced Elliget to the maximum 14 year term.
Elliget phrases the issue differently. Although he makes a single claim, he objects to the sentencing procedure on two separate grounds. First, he asserts that the trial court improperly aggravated his sentence by inferring from his good record as a police officer that he knew his action was wrong. Second, he claims that the facts do not support the trial court's reliance on a particular statutory aggravating factor. We address the arguments in that order. The answers to those claims require us to determine the real issue in this case: whether the special consequences resulting from a crime being committed by a police officer may be considered in aggravation. We hold that those special consequences can be used in aggravation.
I.
Elliget' claims that the trial court aggravated his sentence by inferring from his relatively good record as a police officer and his good citizenship prior to the crimes that he knew the wrongfulness of his conduct. He argues that the court’s reliance on these considerations violated State v. Just, 138 Ariz. 534, 551, 675 P.2d 1353, 1370 (App. 1983).
This case differs from Just. In Just, the trial court inferred from a civilian defendant’s exemplary life prior to his crime that the defendant knew the difference between right and wrong. Based on that inference, the trial court aggravated the sentence. We held it improper to use a defendant’s prior exemplary life to infer that the defendant knew the wrongfulness of his criminal conduct and to aggravate the sentence based on that inference. 138 Ariz. at 551, 675 P.2d at 1370. That analysis, we said, would lead to the implausible conclusion that those with a criminal history should not receive an aggravated sentence because they might not appreciate the wrongfulness of their conduct. That result also would punish an otherwise exemplary life.
The trial court’s remark that Elliget claims to violate Just must be viewed in context. The court articulated the factors it used to aggravate Elliget’s sentence only after a lengthy discussion of “a number of matters [it] reviewed] in arriving at a sentencing decision in this case.” The judge began by noting that he had originally considered rejecting the plea agreement because Elliget deserved a more severe sentence than that permitted for the reduced crimes to which he pled guilty, but, after considering the interests of the victims and a psychologist’s report, he had changed his mind. In his preliminary remarks, the judge also stated that “to determine what sentence would be fair to the victims, to the community, and to [the defendant]” he would place great weight on the fairness of the plea agreement in light of the “inevitable consequence of spending the—most of the rest of your adult life behind bars.” The judge voiced disagreement with certain portions of the defendant’s sentencing memorandum. The court also reproached defendant as follows:
It is a class 2 felony, one of the most serious felony classifications that we have under the law, which I know that you understand as a police officer.
* * # * * #
You not only betrayed your oath as a police officer, but your responsibilities as a parent.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ # . #
These are acts—these acts are even more serious because as a police officer you well knew the consequences of the type of conduct that you were engaging in.
As a police officer you’ve been given the power and the responsibility to enforce the laws of the community. You carried with you at all times the potential of making life and death decisions, decisions affecting the liberty, decisions affecting accusations and arrests of individuals in the community.
I think the community does expect that those who take an oath such as you have to honor and respect it and that when you do not, public confidence in law enforcement can be shaken. And in the absence of appropriate punishment for those who have committed the offense that you have,
I think public confidence can continue to érode in our law enforcement agencies.
Your conduct violated laws which this state has reserved some of its severest punishments for, again as you know as a law enforcement officer.
Rather than seek help, knowing the damage that you were causing to these children, and the enormous penalties that you faced if you were caught, you proceeded in your reckless exploitation of these children[s’] lives.
Elliget claims the judge’s next remark evidences the error of aggravating the sentence based on defendant’s prior good conduct:
I have considered all of the factors in this case that—as I have relayed to your attorney. I think that it must be recognized by the Court that your service as a law enforcement officer was apparently exemplary. There seems to be little dispute that you had a successful career as a police officer. You also served in the military. You served in the Army Airborne. You had a distinguished career. You have maintained steady employment. For all appearances in the community you were an upstanding and outstanding citizen.
But as this event no doubt made clear to you, all of the good of a lifetime could be swept away in a moment of reckless decision making. And I think that you are competent to make the decisions that you made. And they carried with them, as you know as a police officer, enormously punitive consequences.
The above quoted language does not demonstrate a violation of Just for three independent reasons. First, the context reveals that the court recognized Elliget’s “apparently exemplary” conduct prior to these crimes as one of the few factors in Elliget’s favor. The judge merely pointed out that the conduct he engaged in can eviscerate the good work of a lifetime. Nothing indicates the judge viewed Elliget’s otherwise good life as an aggravating factor.
Second, although the trial judge found that Elliget knew the serious consequences of his conduct, he did not infer that knowledge from Elliget’s prior good record as a police officer or citizen. He inferred that knowledge, quite logically, from Elliget’s knowledge and experience as a police officer, without regard to whether that record was good or bad. Therefore, the concern we expressed in Just—that otherwise exemplary conduct would be used to infer that a defendant understood the wrongfulness of his conduct—is not implicated here.
Third, unlike the trial court in Just, the court here did not use Elliget’s awareness of the wrongfulness of his conduct in aggravation. Following his preliminary remarks, the judge clearly articulated the factors actually used in aggravation. He made the following specific reference to the sentencing statute, AR.S. section 18-702(D), relying on three of its provisions:
And looking at the aggravating circumstances versus the mitigating circumstances in this case, I find that there are aggravating circumstances, other than simply being vindictive towards you.
I find that under 13-702 that Factor Number 8 [section 13-702(D)(8) ] certainly applies, if not by the strict letter of the law, then certainly by the interpretation of the spirit of that factor. And that is that you were a public servant, you violated the . oath to serve the law in this state when you were sworn in as a law enforcement officer.
Factor Number 9 [section 13-702(D)(9) ]: The emotional harm caused to the victim in this case. She is under the supervision of a physician. She is in counseling.
Factor 13 [section 13-702(D)(13) ]: Which Mr. Jones referred to as a catch-all phrase. I find that your case, your situation, which is clearly unique, as a police officer committing offenses, sexual offenses against children, that the sentence in this case will act as a deterrent to others in the community, and particularly law enforcement officers, who must understand that the community will not tolerate this type of sexual exploitation by anyone in the community, and particularly law enforcement officers who are sworn to uphold the law.
Athough the judge considered a wealth of information, the actual aggravating factors are those found in the three specific references expressed, not in the judge’s preliminary discussions; Elliget’s knowledge of the wrongfulness of his conduct was not mentioned. In contrast to Just, the court here did not use awareness of the wrongfulness of his conduct to aggravate the sentence. As a result, whether the judge improperly inferred such awareness from defendant’s prior good life is not an issue here. The sentencing procedure did not violate State v. Just.
II.
However, the trial court did err by aggravating the sentence under AR.S. section 13-702(D)(8). A court cannot aggravate a sentence under that provision unless “[a]t the time of the commission of the offense, the defendant was a public servant and the offense involved conduct directly related to his office or employment.” AR.S. § 13-702(D)(8) (emphasis added). The court may impose the aggravated sentence “only if the circumstances alleged to be in aggravation ... of the crime are found to be true by the trial judge ... and factual findings and reasons in support of such findings are set forth on the record at the time of sentencing.” AR.S. § 13-702(C) (Supp.1992); e.g., State v. Rodriguez, 126 Ariz. 104, 107, 612 P.2d 1067, 1070 (App.1980).
The trial court made no factual finding that Elliget’s conduct was directly related to his employment as a public servant. It did not find, for example, that Elliget’s crimes were facilitated by his authority as a police officer. Without such a finding, reliance on AR.S. section 13-702(D)(8) to aggravate the sentence was error.
However, this error did not affect the sentence. As quoted above, the judge’s finding of an aggravating factor under section 13-702(D)(8) was also found aggravating under section 13-702(D)(13), the so-called “catchall” clause. A.R.S. section 13-702(D)(13) permits the court to consider as aggravating “[a]ny other factors which the court may deem appropriate to the ends of justice.” AR.S. § 13-702(D)(13) (Supp.1992).
The. judge found breaking a public oath to uphold the law aggravating under section 13-702(D)(8), but then acknowledged that section 13-702(D)(8) might not apply “by the strict letter of the law,” and immediately made specific reference to section 13-702(D)(13). Referring to the latter section, the judge found that the community will not tolerate defendant’s type of conduct, especially by law enforcement officers “who are sworn to uphold the law.”
Because the same aggravating circumstance improperly considered under section 13-702(D)(8) was also considered under section 13-702(D)(13), we are certain that the improper reliance on section 13-702(D)(8) did not affect the sentence. The judge would have imposed the same sentence without reference to the improper section. See generally Just, 138 Ariz. at 551, 675 P.2d at 1370 (remand required when judge relied on improper aggravating factor); State v. Thurlow, 148 Ariz. 16, 20, 712 P.2d 929, 933 (1986) (resentencing required when record unclear whether judge considered a proper mitigating factor). Thus, the propriety of Elliget’s aggravated sentence ultimately turns on whether aggravation was proper under section 13-702(D)(13).
III.
We now consider whether, under the “appropriate to the ends of justice” catch-all clause of section 13-702(D)(13), the trial court may properly consider as aggravating the special injurious consequences to the community resulting from this crime being committed by a police officer. We find that it may.
“Any factor appropriate to the ends of justice” is a broad concept in our sentencing scheme. The Legislature has granted wide discretion to trial courts in determining what is an appropriate aggravating circumstance. State v. Meador, 132 Ariz. 343, 348, 645 P.2d 1257, 1262 (App.1982). “It is hard to formulate language that would grant a wider range of discretion than [A.R.S. section 13-702(D)(13) ].” Id. In State v. Risco, 147 Ariz. 607, 712 P.2d 454 (App.1985), we defined the catch-all phrase for mitigation, A.R.S. section 13-702(E)(5). We said that “factors ... appropriate to the ends of justice” for mitigation should be construed similarly to the dictionary definition of mitigation and consistently with the specific mitigating factors listed in A.R.S. section 13-702(D)(1)~ (4). 147 Ariz. at 612, 712 P.2d at 459.
We follow that approach for the catch-all clause in aggravation. “Aggravation” is “[a]ny circumstance attending the commission of a crime ... which increases its guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences____” Black’s Law Dictionary 60 (rev. 5th ed. 1979). The specific factors listed in section 13-702(D)(1)-(12) are consistent with that definition. And “factors ... appropriate to the ends of justice” in section 13-702(D)(13) should be construed similarly. See Risco, 147 Ariz. at 612, 712 P.2d at 459. In State v. Romero, we recognized that “[a]ll of the factors mentioned in [section 13-702(D) ] relate to something about the background or character of the defendant or the circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime.” 173 Ariz. 242, 244, 841 P.2d 1050, 1052 (App.1992). Therefore, the “appropriate to the ends of justice” clause in section 13-702(D)(13) can include any factor that relates to the character or background of the defendant or the circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime that increase the crime’s guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences.
Here, the court found that defendant had taken an oath as a police officer to uphold the law, and violated that oath, and that such misconduct undermined public confidence in law enforcement, justifying an aggravated sentence to deter similar conduct.
Breaching a public oath and undermining public confidence in law enforcement can increase a crime’s “guilt or enormity.” Further, undermining public confidence in law enforcement can increase a crime’s “injurious consequences.” See State v. Weil, 507 So.2d 16, 17 (La.App.1987) (for crime not directly related to police officer’s employment, court found it aggravating that defendant “had abused the public trust afforded officers of the peace”). The trial court acted within its discretion under A.R.S. section 13-702(D)(13) in aggravating the sentence.
In sum, the maximum sentence does not rest on any improper factor. The reliance on section 13-702(D)(8) was error, but the error was harmless because the same circumstances were properly found aggravating under section 13-702(D)(13). Therefore, the judge acted within his discretion in imposing the maximum term. We affirm the sentence.
KLEINSCHMIDT and O’MELIA, JJ., concur.
NOTE: The Honorable MICHAEL J. O’MELIA, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge, was authorized to participate in the disposition of this matter by the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court pursuant to Ariz. Const, art. VI, § 3.
. Sexual exploitation of a minor carries a presumptive sentence of 7 years, a minimum sentence of 5.25 years, and a maximum sentence of 14 years. A.R.S. §§ 13-3553, 13-701(0(2), 13-702(B).
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OPINION
EHRLICH, Presiding Judge.
In this opinion, we address a narrow issue regarding the bifurcated trial of an offense enhanced by the allegation of a prior felony conviction: Whether evidence admitted during the “guilt phase” of the trial later may be considered by the jury to determine whether the defendant was convicted of the alleged prior felony. We hold that consideration of such evidence is proper.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In October 1988, John Howard Ketchum was tried on an indictment charging him with one count of possession and one count of transportation of narcotic drugs for sale, class 2 felonies. During the guilt phase of the trial, the prosecutor elicited from an arresting officer Ketehum’s birthdate, his Social Security number and the fact that Ketchum stated that he was born in Arkansas. After guilty verdicts were returned, the state’s allegation of a prior felony conviction was tried to the same jury. In his closing statement, the prosecutor referred to evidence documenting a 1971 felony conviction for second-degree burglary from Sacramento County, California. The prosecutor argued:
[Yjou will note on here that it identifies a person ... known as John Wesley Ketchum. That person was born in Arkansas, and if you will recall what I asked Officer Hall, ... the defendant said that he was bom in Arkansas.
He gave a Social Security number. It’s the same Social Security number as this person.
He also gave a date of birth, and that’s the same date of birth as this person.
Ketehum’s trial counsel made no objection to this argument. The jury determined that Ketchum had been convicted of the California offense. Ketehum’s convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal. State v. Ketchum, 1 CA-CR 89-082, Memo. Dec. at 10 (App. June 5, 1990).
Ketchum filed a notice of post-conviction relief in October 1994. Ariz. R. Crim. P. (“Rule”) 32. Among other claims, he asserted that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to object to this reference of the prosecutor, during closing argument in the trial of the prior felony conviction, to identification testimony admitted during the guilt phase of the trial. The trial court summarily dismissed the claim and Ketchum petitioned for review.
DISCUSSION
A trial court may summarily dismiss a petition for post-conviction relief only if it determines that no “material issue of fact or law [exists] which would entitle [the petitioner] to relief under this rule____” Rule 32.6(c). In contradistinction, in order to receive an evidentiary hearing, the petitioner must present a “colorable claim” — one which, if true, could have changed the outcome in the trial court. State v. Watton, 164 Ariz. 323, 328, 793 P.2d 80, 85 (1990). An appellate court will reverse a trial court’s summary dismissal only if it affirmatively appears that there was an abuse of the trial court’s discretion. Id. at 325, 793 P.2d at 82.
To raise a colorable claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, the petitioner must allege (1) the deficient performance of counsel in that his counsel’s actions fell below the objective standards of representation measured by prevailing professional norms and (2) that his. counsel’s deficient performance resulted in prejudice to him. State v. Rankovich, 159 Ariz. 116, 122, 765 P.2d 518, 524 (1988). A court need not address both parts of the test if the petitioner makes an insufficient showing on one. Id.
We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s summary dismissal of Ketchum’s claim. Because the prosecutor’s reference to testimony admitted during the guilt phase of the trial was proper, Ketchum’s counsel did not render deficient performance by failing to object.
The statute guiding the analysis of the enhancement of a sentence by proof of a prior conviction, former Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. (“A.R.S.”) section 13-604(K) (1989), does not directly address Ketchum’s claim. The relevant criminal rule, Rule 19.1(b), is similarly silent. However, both the statute and the rule imply that guilt-phase testimony may be relevant to determining the existence of the prior conviction since each provision dispenses with proof of the conviction if it has been “admitted.” That is, “[i]f the defendant admits the prior conviction during testimony at the trial, the court may, without submitting the matter to the jury, find that the allegation of prior conviction is, in fact, true.” State v. Gilbert, 119 Ariz. 384, 385, 581 P.2d 229, 230 (1978). If the testimony of the defendant at the guilt phase of trial can be dispositive of the allegation of a prior conviction, it is reasonable to conclude that other evidence admitted during the guilt phase, like the identification evidence at issue here, should be available to the jury regardless whether it is offered again during the trial of the prior conviction.
We note that A.R.S. section 13-703(0 (Supp.1996), governing capital sentencing, expressly authorizes the court to consider evidence which was admitted in the guilt phase of trial. This provision states: “Evidence admitted at the trial, relating to ... aggravating or mitigating circumstances, shall be considered without reintroducing it at the sentencing proceeding.”
Allowing the same jury to consider evidence that it heard before rendering its guilty verdict is not inconsistent with the purpose of a bifurcated trial, which is to protect “the defendant from having the fact of a prior conviction prejudice him in the determination of his guilt or innocence of the crime charged.” Gilbert, 119 Ariz. at 385, 581 P.2d at 230. Cases cited by Ketchum in support of his argument that the guilt phase and prior-conviction trial are separate proceedings do no more than acknowledge that purpose. See State v. Kiper, 181 Ariz. 62, 69, 887 P.2d 592, 599 (App.1994); State v. Jacobson, 18 Ariz.App. 538, 540, 504 P.2d 69, 71 (1972), vac., 110 Ariz. 70, 515 P.2d 27 (1973). It may be wise that a jury be insulated from the existence of a prior conviction when it determines the defendant’s guilt in order that it not convict the defendant because he is a “bad person.” See Ariz. R. Evtd. 404. However, this proposition does not somehow imply that, reciprocally, properly-admitted evidence from the guilt phase of the trial may not be considered during the trial of the prior conviction. Cf. Gilbert, 119 Ariz. at 385, 581 P.2d at 230 (fact that the same jury has determined the defendant’s guilt does not render it incapable of fairly determining the truth of an allegation of a prior conviction). Absent clear direction in the rule or statute, we find no reason to erect a barrier to the jury’s subsequent consideration of relevant evidence simply because it was admitted during the guilt phase of the trial.
The only two cases from other jurisdictions addressing this issue support the same conclusion. In People v. Elmore, 225 Cal.App.3d 953, 275 Cal.Rptr. 315, 317 (1990), the California appellate court rejected the argument that the defendant’s trial testimony could not be used to support a finding by the trial court that he had served a prison sentence for a prior conviction. Noting that the defendant failed to offer any authority for the argument that the evidence had to be admitted during the trial of the prior conviction, the court properly said: “To preclude the court from considering evidence properly before it during another part of the trial would be unnecessarily rigid and would hamper, rather than further, the interests of justice.” Id.
Similarly, in Knuckles v. State, 549 N.E.2d 85, 88 (Ind.App.1990), the court rejected a claim that evidence admitted during the guilt phase could not be considered by the jury determining the existence of prior felonies.
Evidence admitted during the guilt phase is before the fact finder during the habitual offender phase; in addition, other evidence, inappropriate during the guilt phase, is presented. Much of the evidence introduced in the guilt phase is immaterial because it is not relevant to the limited issues in the habitual offender phase. Accordingly comment or argument based upon that evidence is improper. However, evidence of the date the underlying offenses were committed does not fall within this classification. That evidence, offered during the guilt phase, is material; it obviously is relevant; and it is appropriate to consider that evidence in resolving the issues in the habitual offender phase.
Id. (citation omitted).
We grant review of the petition and deny relief.
VOSS and SULT, JJ., concur.
. In pertinent part, the statute provided:
The penalties prescribed by this section shall be substituted for the penalties otherwise authorized by law if the previous conviction ... is charged in the indictment or information and admitted or found by the trier of fact____ Before the trial on the charge of the previous conviction ... the charge of previous conviction ... shall not be read to the jury.
A parallel provision is currently codified in A.R.S. section 13-604(P) (Supp.1996). It requires that the allegation of a prior conviction be found true by the court rather than by the trier of fact.
. This rule provides:
b. Proceedings When Defendant is Charged With Prior Convictions. In all prosecutions in which a prior conviction is alleged, unless such conviction is an element of the crime charged, the procedure shall be as follows:
(1) The trial shall proceed initially as though the offense charged were a first offense. When the indictment, information or complaint is read all reference to prior offenses shall be omitted. During the trial of the case no instructions shall be given, reference made, nor evidence received concerning prior offenses, except as permitted by the rules of evidence.
(2) If the verdict is guilly, the issue of the prior conviction shall then be tried, unless the defendant has admitted the prior conviction.
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OPINION
MARTONE, Justice.
¶ 1 A jury found Cota guilty of unlawful transfer of marijuana, a class three felony. We reverse because a transferee cannot transfer to himself or herself.
i.
¶ 2 This is a drag case. Police saw Santiago Cota and Kevin Loomer talking on a street corner in Tucson. Cota walked across the street into De Anza Park while Loomer waited behind. Police watched as Cota approached Ronda Shulark. Cota handed Shulark two dollars. In return, Shulark placed a small amount of marijuana, the equivalent of two to three cigarettes, into Cota’s bandana. Cota then walked back across the street to where Loomer stood. Shulark, Cota, and Loomer were each indicted for one count of unlawful sale of marijuana, and one count of unlawful transfer of marijuana — both class three felonies.
¶ 3 The state argued that Cota bought the marijuana from Shulark in order to sell it to Loomer. At the close of all the evidence, however, the trial court directed a verdict in favor of Loomer on both counts. The court concluded that no evidence linked Loomer to a transfer and that Loomer did not have the requisite mental state to establish a sale. The court also directed a verdict in favor of Cota on the sale count. It concluded that no evidence established the elements of a sale or the requisite mental state.
¶4 Thus, while Cota could have been a transferor to Loomer, the dismissal of Loom-er from the case forced the state to shift its theory. Left only with the transfer from Shulark to Cota, the state now argued that Cota was an accomplice of Shulark in the transfer of the marijuana to himself. The court gave an accomplice instruction. The jury found him guilty and the court sentenced Cota to a mitigated term of 3.5 years. Cota appealed.
¶ 5 The court of appeals affirmed. State v. Cota, No. 2CA-CR 96-0068, Mem. Dec. at 1 (Jan. 23, 1997). We granted review to decide whether a recipient can be guilty of transferring marijuana to himself or herself.
II.
¶ 6 A. Under A.R.S. § 13-3405(A)(4) it is unlawful to knowingly transfer marijuana. A.R.S. § 13-3401(31) defines “transfer” to mean “furnish, deliver or give away.” To “deliver” is the “actual, constructive or attempted exchange from one person to another....” A.R.S. § 13-3401(7)(Supp.l997).
¶ 7 Transfer by its nature implies movement from one person to another. As a matter of logic, a transferee who receives something simply does not furnish, deliver or give away the item at the same time it is received. To suggest that one could be one’s own transferor ignores the plain meaning of section 13-3405(A)(4). Had the legislature wanted to include a recipient, it could have expressly included such conduct. Because the offense is defined as a “transfer” it would distort its plain meaning to impose liability on the recipient.
¶ 8 Moreover, the relevant statutes distinguish between the separate crimes of “transfer,” on the one hand, and “possession,” on the other. See A.R.S. § 13-3405(A)(1) (Supp.1997)(possession or use); A.R.S. § 13-3405(A)(4) (Supp.l997)(transfer or sale). Possession, in contrast to transfer, requires only that the defendant exercise control over the drug, have knowledge of the drug’s presence, and know that the substance is in fact marijuana. State v. Murphy, 117 Ariz. 57, 61, 570 P.2d 1070, 1074 (1977). In short, one who receives marijuana for personal use commits the offense of “possession.”
¶ 9 The premise is that one who transfers marijuana is guilty of more objectionable conduct than one who buys it. For example, the possession (not for sale) of less than two pounds of marijuana is a class six felony, A.R.S. § 13-3405(B)(1), while the transfer of marijuana is a class three felony, A.R.S. § 13-3405(B)(10). The harsher penalty for transfer shows that the statutes distinguish between a transferor and a possessor-user. To treat the drug recipient as a drag transferor would blur the distinction.
¶ 10 B. Nor can a recipient be an accomplice to a transferor of marijuana to himself or herself. An accomplice is a person
who with the intent to promote or facilitate the commission of an offense:
1. Solicits or commands another person to commit the offense; or
2. Aids, counsels, agrees to aid or attempts to aid another person in planning or committing the offense.
3. Provides means or opportunity to another person to commit the offense.
A.R.S. § 13-301 (1989). Whether a recipient is an accomplice depends upon whether the recipient could have been “informed against or indicted for the same offense” of which the transferor is accused. State v. Broadfoot, 115 Ariz. 537, 539, 566 P.2d 685, 687 (1977). In order for one to be an accomplice, “[t]he aider or abettor must stand in the same relation to the crime as the criminal, approach it from the same angle, touch it at the same point.” Baumgartner v. State, 20 Ariz. 157, 161, 178 P. 30, 32 (1919)(holding that a purchaser is not an accomplice to the seller in an unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor); see also State v. Martin, 74 Ariz. 145, 151, 245 P.2d 411, 415 (1952)(person giving a bribe cannot be accomplice to crime of receiving a bribe from oneself); State v. Chitwood, 73 Ariz. 161, 167, 239 P.2d 353, 357 (1951), modified on other grounds, 73 Ariz. 314, 240 P.2d 1202 (1952) (gambler could not be accomplice to one who operates the gambling house); State v. Kuhnley, 74 Ariz. 10, 19-20, 242 P.2d 843, 849 (1952) (thief cannot be accomplice to offense of knowingly receiving stolen goods); State v. Miller, 71 Ariz. 140, 146, 224 P.2d 205, 209 (1950) (minor could not be an accomplice to one contributing to his own delinquency); State v. Green, 60 Ariz. 63, 68, 131 P.2d 411, 413 (1942)(prostitute could not have been tried for receiving the earnings of a prostitute from herself); Reser v. State, 27 Ariz. 43, 45, 229 P. 936, 936 (1924) (one guilty of larceny cannot also be adjudged guilty of the offense of receiving the property stolen, “for the simple reason that he cannot receive it from himself’).
¶ 11 Courts elsewhere have held that a purchaser cannot be an accomplice of a seller or transferor of drugs under similar statutes. See United States v. Baker, 10 F.3d 1374, 1418 (9th Cir.1993) (holding that a recipient of a drug delivery cannot be convicted of distribution under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)); People v. Freytas, 157 Cal.App.2d 706, 321 P.2d 782, 788 (1958); Sobrino v. State, 471 So.2d 1333, 1335 (Fla.Ct.App.1985); State v. Stokoe, 224 Mont. 461, 730 P.2d 415, 417-18 (1986); State v. Utterback, 240 Neb. 981, 485 N.W.2d 760, 770 (1992); Tellis v. State, 84 Nev. 587, 445 P.2d 938, 940 (1968); State v. Dwyer, 172 N.W.2d 591, 596 (N.D.1969); State v. Frederickson, 92 Or.App. 223, 757 P.2d 1366, 1367-68 (1988); Robinson v. State, 815 S.W.2d 361, 363-64 (Tex.App.1991); State v. Berg, 613 P.2d 1125, 1126 (Utah 1980); State v. Morris, 77 Wash.App. 948, 896 P.2d 81, 83 (1995); Wheeler v. State, 691 P.2d 599, 601-02 (Wyo.1984).
¶ 12 These and other cases establish an exception to the general law of complicity. One who would otherwise be guilty as an accomplice because of assistance or encouragement, is not guilty
where the crime is so defined that participation by another is inevitably incident to its commission. It is justified on the ground that the legislature, by specifying the kind of individual who was guilty when involved in a transaction necessarily involving two or more parties, must have intended to leave the participation by the others unpunished____ Thus, under this exception ... a purchaser is not a party to the crime of illegal sale____
2 W. LaFave & A. Scott, Substantive Criminal Law § 6.8(e) at 165-66 (1986) (citations omitted). The cases distinguish between the actions of the transferor and the transferee, finding that “the buyer is not aiding the ‘selling act’ of the seller and the seller is not aiding the ‘buying act’ of the buyer.” Wheeler, 691 P.2d at 602; see also 1 C. Torcía, Wharton’s Criminal Law § 38 at 202 (14th Ed.1978). We agree.
¶ 13 While Shulark and Cota’s separate acts were part of a single transaction, they did not aid each other in committing their separate crimes. Cota’s act of receiving was the converse of Shulark’s act. The receipt was not in aid of the transfer, but instead was the separate crime of possession. Accordingly, we hold that a recipient of a transfer of marijuana cannot be guilty of unlawful transfer to himself or herself either under the transfer statute or through accomplice liability.
¶ 14 C. Because of our resolution of the transfer issue, Cota’s other arguments are moot. Nevertheless, the issue of whether the trial court should reinstruct the jury on the elements of the charged offense at the close of all the evidence bears comment. In light of our decision in State v. Johnson, 173 Ariz. 274, 842 P.2d 1287 (1992), at a minimum, we believe it is the better practice for the trial court to reinstruct the jury on the elements of the charge at the close of all the evidence, either before or after argument. See Rule 19.1(a)(8), Ariz. R.Crim. P.
III.
¶ 15 The trial court erred in denying Cota’s motion for directed verdict on the transfer count. We vacate the memorandum decision of the court of appeals. We set aside the judgment of conviction and remand to the superior court for entry of judgment of acquittal.
ZLAKET, C.J., JONES, V.C.J., and FELDMAN and MOELLER (Retired), JJ., concur.
. A number of statutes unambiguously provide that acquisition or receipt is unlawful activity. See, e.g., A.R.S. § 13-3701(A) (Supp.1997) (unlawful use of food stamps includes the transfer, acquisition, or possession of food stamps); A.R.S. § 13-2317(A) (Supp.1997) (money laundering includes the acquisition, transfer or receipt of racketeering proceeds); A.R.S. § 13-2103 (Supp.1997) (receiving anything of value from unauthorized use of credit card is criminal offense); A.R.S. § 13-1802(A)(Supp.l997)(one who controls or obtains stolen property is guilty of theft).
|
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OPINION
KLEINSCHMIDT, Judge.
The charges in this case arose out of events that occurred when two police officers attempted to stop a car for expired license plates. The driver of the car refused to stop. The officers pursued until the car did stop, and the driver, the Defendant, fled on foot until one of the officers forced him to the ground. The Defendant refused to be handcuffed, squirming and tucking his arms underneath his body. He also shouted to bystanders to get the officer off his back. Several people in the crowd approached the officer and someone threw a beer bottle which shattered and sprayed glass on the officer. The Defendant and the crowd were subdued with pepper spray, and when other officers arrived, the Defendant was taken into custody.
The Defendant was charged with unlawful flight, a class five felony, and with resisting arrest, a class six felony. The jury found him not guilty of unlawful flight and guilty of resisting arrest. This appeal followed.
THE DEFENDANT’S RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL WAS NOT VIOLATED
The Defendant contends that his right to a speedy trial was violated. The Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure require that a Defendant be tried within 120 days from the date of his initial appearance or within 90 days from the date of his arraignment, whichever is greater. Ariz. R.Crim. P. 8.2(c).
Both parties filed notices of change of judge as to different judges assigned to the case. The legal question the case poses is whether the time required to reassign the case when the State files a notice of change of judge is excludable when calculating the last day for trial under Rule 8. The record is incomplete and confusing as to when the parties exercised their notices of change of judge and when the case was reassigned pursuant to those notices. It appears that both the attorneys and several of the judges involved were laboring under various mistakes of fact when they addressed this issue. We explain this confusion in more detail in the appendix to this decision so we need not elaborate on it here. The Defendant’s argument, based on assumptions he has made about the sequence of events, is that he was denied a speedy trial because the delay occasioned by the State’s exercise of its right to file a notice of change of judge was erroneously found to be excludable time under Rule 8. We disagree with the Defendant on that point, and we affirm.
Rule 8.4(d) provides that “[djelays resulting from continuances in accordance with Rule 8.5” are excluded from the calculation of the speedy trial time. Rule 8.5(b) provides that a court may grant a continuance beyond the original speedy trial time limits “upon a showing that extraordinary circumstances exist and that delay is indispensable to the interests of justice.”
In this case, the State .had the right, equal to the Defendant’s, to request a change of judge. Ariz. R.Crim. P. 10.2; see State v. Barnes, 118 Ariz. 200, 208, 575 P.2d 830, 833 (1978) and Farr v. Superior Court, 114 Ariz. 485, 486, 562 P.2d 365, 366 (1977). To refuse to exclude time under these circumstances would nullify that right. In addition, the absence of key court personnel is an extraordinary circumstance for purposes of Rule 8.5. State v. Schaaf, 169 Ariz. 323, 328, 819 P.2d 909 (1991); see also State v. Lukezic, 143 Ariz. 60, 70, 691 P.2d 1088, 1098 (1984) (stating that illness of trial judge justified exclusion of reasonable time from speedy trial period where accused asserted no demonstrable prejudice). Thus, the brief time necessary to reassign the case was excludable under Rule 8 because it was in the interest of justice to procure a judge to preside over the case. The Defendant has not demonstrated any prejudice, and the continuance of the trial to December 4 did not violate his right to a speedy trial.
THE DEFENDANT’S ACTIONS CONSTITUTED THE CRIME OF RESISTING ARREST
The crime of resisting arrest is defined as the following:
A. A person commits resisting arrest by intentionally preventing or attempting to prevent a person reasonably known to him to be a peace officer, acting under color of such peace officer’s official authority, from effecting an arrest by:
1. Using or threatening to use physical force against the peace officer or another; or
2. Using any other means creating a substantial risk of causing physical injury to the peace officer or another.
Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (“A.R.S.”) § 13-2508 (emphasis added). The Defendant forcibly resisted being handcuffed which was an attempt to prevent the officer from taking him into custody. The crowd, at the Defendant’s behest, also intervened with the same purpose and in a manner that created a risk of injury to the officer. All of this clearly supports the conviction for resisting arrest.
THE TRIAL COURT DID NOT ERR IN ALLOWING THE STATE’S PREEMPTORY CHALLENGE OF AN HISPANIC MEMBER OF THE JURY PANEL
During jury selection, the Defendant, relying on Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), raised a challenge to the State’s use of a preemptory strike to remove an Hispanic woman from the panel of prospective jurors. Batson held that the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution limits the right to exercise preemptory challenges by prohibiting the exclusion of people from jury service solely on account of their race. Batson established a three-step test for determining whether a constitutional violation has occurred: (1) The party opposing the strike must make a prima facie showing that the strike was made on the basis of race; (2) if the requisite showing is made, the burden shifts to the one who made the strike to articulate a race-neutral explanation for the strike; and (3) if the proponent of the strike articulates a race-neutral reason, the trial court must decide whether the one who challenges the strike has carried the burden of proving purposeful discrimination. Id. at 97-98, 106 S.Ct. at 1723-24.
Both parties and the judge seem to have assumed that the first step in the Bat-son analysis, a prima facie showing that the strike was exercised on the basis of race, had been satisfied. They proceeded to the second step, and the prosecutor gave the following reason for the challenge:
[A]s she [The prospective juror] rose and addressed the Court with regard to the board of questions that the Court asked her to, made no eye contact with the State’s attorney, yet her body language and eye contact was made, quite frankly, with defense counsel and the defendant. And there was absolutely no movement toward the State’s counsel, which that body language alone indicated to the State’s counsel, for various reasons, that the preemptory strike should be exercised towards [the prospective juror].
The trial court allowed the strike, finding that the prosecutor’s explanation was race-neutral and that she had not engaged in purposeful discrimination.
The Defendant argues that the trial court erred because it did not follow the rule laid down by our supreme court in State v. Cruz, 175 Ariz. 395, 857 P.2d 1249 (1993), that when “the state offers a facially neutral, but wholly subjective, reason for a preemptory strike, it must be coupled with some form of objective verification before it can overcome the prima facie showing of discrimination.” Id. at 399, 857 P.2d at 1253.
We reject the Defendant’s argument because after Cruz was decided, the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 115 S.Ct. 1769, 131 L.Ed.2d 834 (1995), reinterpreted Batson in a way that eliminates the Cruz requirement. Purkett held that at step two of the Batson analysis, all that is necessary is for the proponent of the strike to offer a race-neutral reason for the strike. Id. at 768, 115 S.Ct. at 1771. The explanation need not be persuasive or plausible. Id. If a discriminatory intent is not inherent in the reason offered, the explanation will be deemed race neutral. Id. The matter then proceeds to the third step, where the opponent of the strike has the burden of proving that the reason given for the strike is a pretext for purposeful discrimination. Id. It is at this stage that the implausibility of the explanation may be considered in determining whether the explanation is pretextual. Id.
The objective verification requirement laid down in Cruz related to the step two determination of whether the proponent had a race-neutral reason for exercising the strike. Cruz is based on the assumption that the race-neutral reason must relate to the case to be tried and be plausible. Whether Purkett is viewed as changing Batson or merely clarifying it, that inquiry into plausibility has been eliminated, and with it, so has the Cruz requirement of objective verification. Division Two of this Court reached the same conclusion in State v. Harris, 184 Ariz. 617, 911 P.2d 623 (1995).
Our conclusion is bolstered by the fact that the three out-of-state cases that Cruz relied on in formulating the objective verification requirement are no longer good law in the states where they were decided. See Goode v. Shoukfeh, 943 S.W.2d 441, 445 (Tex.1997), abandoning sub silentio, Smith v. State, 790 S.W.2d 794 (Tex.App.1990); Melbourne v. State, 679 So.2d 759, 763-64 (Fla.1996), abandoning sub silentio, Hill v. State, 547 So.2d 175 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1989); Gilchrist v. State, 340 Md. 606, 667 A.2d 876 (1995) (Chasanow and Bell, JJ., concurrence), approved in Ball v. Martin, 108 Md.App. 435, 672 A.2d 143, 150 (1996), abandoning, Chew v. State, 317 Md. 233, 562 A.2d 1270 (1989).
We have considered whether the Cruz objective verification requirement can apply at step three of the Batson analysis when the trial court determines whether the explanation for the strike is pretextual. While conscientious trial judges will always look for objective signs to verify subjective explana tions, we do not believe that we can mandate that the trial judge’s conclusions always be based on objective verification. We have found no case decided after Purkett that transports the objective verification requirement to step three of the Batson inquiry. More important, we believe that to mandate objective findings at any step of the Batson inquiry would be incompatible with Purkett. It is now clear that the burden never shifts away from the opponent of a preemptory strike to prove that it was exercised for a discriminatory reason.
The judgment of conviction and sentence imposed are affirmed.
RYAN, P.J., and EHRLICH, J., concur.
APPENDIX
The original last day for speedy trial purposes was November 26, 1996. On November 21,1996, defense counsel filed a notice of change of judge as to Judge Linda Scott pursuant to Ariz. R.Crim. P. 10.2. The Defendant has consistently argued that the case was re-assigned to Pro Tern Judge Kenneth Skiff on November 25, 1996, and concedes that the time from November 21 to November 25 was excluded from the Rule 8 time limits because it was occasioned on behalf of the Defendant. After the Defendant noticed Judge Scott, the State noticed Judge Skiff. Both the State’s notice and the minute entry show that this was done on November 22. That being the case, it was a mistake to attribute all the time between November 21 and November 25 to the Defendant. In any event, after adding these four days to the last day, the new last day became November 30, 1996. Because this was a Saturday, the last day for speedy trial purposes became December 2,1996.
The matter is complicated by the fact that after the State filed its notice as to Judge Skiff, the case was reassigned to Judge Peter D’Angelo. For reasons that do not appear in the record, on November 26, Judge D’Angelo transferred the case back to the case transfer coordinator. Judge D’Angelo, again for reasons that do not appear in the record, attributed all the delay to the Defendant and excluded all time from November 26, 1996 through December 3, 1996 from the Rule 8 calculation and found the new last day to be December 4,1996.
The matter was transferred to Judge Bernard Dougherty who held a hearing on December 4 on the Defendant’s motion to dismiss for denial of speedy trial. Judge Dougherty recognized that any delay occasioned by the State’s notice could not be attributed to the Defendant, but he accepted the Defendant’s apparently mistaken assertion that the case had been assigned to Judge Skiff on November 25. Judge Dougherty denied the motion to dismiss and began trial on December 4.
It is possible, given all the confusion, that even if the delay occasioned by the State filing a notice of change of judge is excluded, the Rule 8 deadline had passed before December 4. If that is true, any argument the Defendant might have made with respect to it has been waived. See State v. Killian, 118 Ariz. 408, 577 P.2d 259 (App.1978).
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OPINION
RYAN, Judge.
¶ 1 This appeal examines the limits set by the Free Exercise and Establishment of Religion Clauses of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution on a civil court’s authority to decide an employment dispute between a priest and his church and diocese. We must also decide whether a civil court must abstain from enforcing an ecclesiastical court’s judgment authorizing an award of damages to a priest. We hold that a civil court cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, decide a dispute between a church and its priest concerning the church’s termination of a priest’s employment. We also hold that a civil court can enforce a diocese’s judgment authorizing an award of damages to a priest, as long as enforcement of that award does not entangle the court in matters of church doctrine.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 In 1990, Ratko Dobrota, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, fled to Canada to escape persecution in the former Yugoslavia. Upon arrival, Father Dobrota contacted the Serbian Orthodox New Gracanica Metropolitanate Diocese of America and Canada (“Diocese”) to request assistance and employment. The Diocese sent Father Dob-rota to Phoenix to conduct services at the St. Nicholas Free Serbian Orthodox Church (“Church”). In February 1991 the Church asked the Diocese to appoint Father Dobrota its priest. The Diocesan Bishop appointed Father Dobrota as the Church’s temporary priest. The Church agreed to pay him a salary of $800 a month, plus provide health insurance, a furnished apartment with utilities included, and a paid annual vacation, as required by the Diocese’s constitution.
¶ 3 Under the Diocese’s constitution, the Diocesan Bishop appoints and removes temporary priests. Each priest is responsible only to the Diocesan Bishop for failing to fulfill his clerical duties. In May 1994, however, Nikolas Klipa, the president of St. Nicholas Church, terminated Father Dobro-ta’s employment with the Church. Klipa told Father Dobrota he was no longer allowed to enter the Church buildings or conduct services there and asked him to vacate the parish rectory by June 15.
¶ 4 When Father Dobrota and his wife refused to leave the rectory, Klipa had the air conditioning unit disabled and the water and telephone service disconnected. Klipa filed two actions in justice court seeking removal of the Dobrotas from the rectory but the justice of the peace dismissed both actions. Klipa then called the police to assist in removing the Dobrotas from the property claiming that they were trespassing. Forced to leave, the Dobrotas were unable to take their personal belongings at that time. When they got their belongings back about three months later, they discovered that some of their property had been taken from the boxes in which it had been packed— allegedly by Klipa and other church members.
¶ 5 The Diocesan Ecclesiastical Court met and determined that the Church had not observed the rules of the Church or the Diocese’s constitution. It ordered the Church to pay Father Dobrota the amount of money it owed him from the date of his illegal termination to October 1, 1994 — the date on which the Diocesan Bishop released him from his duties as temporary priest. The Ecclesiastical Court also ordered the Church to return to Father Dobrota the articles that had disappeared from his belongings. The Ecclesiastical Court did not set the amount due Father Dobrota, nor did it determine the value of the missing belongings.
¶ 6 The Church did not pay Father Dob-rota as ordered and it did not return his belongings. Father Dobrota and his wife then filed a complaint in superior court alleging breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and other torts against the Diocese and the Church. They alleged that the Church and Diocese breached the contract by refusing to pay Father Dobrota’s salary, cutting off utilities to the parish house, forcing them out of the house, and taking their personal belongings. They further alleged that his contract with the Church was governed by the constitution and bylaws of the Diocese. The Dobrotas sought damages arising from the breach of the contract, an order requiring defendants to return their personal belongings or an award for loss of the belongings, and punitive damages.
¶ 7 The Diocese filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the superior court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over Father Dobrota’s complaint because his claims involved ecclesiastical matters. The Diocese asserted that its constitution provided Father Dobrota his only means of seeking redress. The Church joined in the motion.
¶ 8 The superior court ruled that, under the contract between the parties, the parties were bound to resolve any dispute concerning Father Dobrota’s employment under the constitution, rules, and regulations of the Diocese. The court also noted that it would not sit as a court of appeals from the Ecclesiastical Court nor hear claims under state or federal labor statutes.
¶ 9 The superior court further found that the Ecclesiastical Court had made a partial determination of Father Dobrota’s rights. It had determined that Father Dobrota had been wrongfully terminated and that he had lost some property, but it had not yet set forth the amount of damages. The trial court ruled that it had subject matter jurisdiction to enforce a judgment ordered by the Ecclesiastical Court because it could do so without interfering with the free exercise of religion or inquiring into church doctrine. The court concluded, however, that Father Dobrota was required to exhaust his remedies with the Ecclesiastical Court before he could ask the superior court to enforce or execute upon a judgment. Because the Ecclesiastical Court had not set the amount of damages, the trial court concluded it did not have the authority to hear Father Dobrota’s claims. Accordingly, the court dismissed Father Dobrota’s complaint without prejudice.
¶ 10 Father Dobrota appealed from the judgment in favor of the Diocese and the Church. The Diocese filed a cross-appeal from the judgment. We have jurisdiction under Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated section 12-2101(B).
DISCÚSSION
¶ 11 We first address the parties’ challenges to the subject matter jurisdiction of the trial court. The Diocese argues that because the First Amendment to the United States Constitution precludes a civil court from inquiring into ecclesiastical matters, the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over any of Father Dobrota’s claims. It maintains that employment disputes concerning clergy are inherently ecclesiastical and thus not subject to review by a civil court.
¶ 12 At the outset we note that sometimes courts have used the word “jurisdiction” imprecisely. Here we use jurisdiction to mean a court’s “authority to do a particular thing.” See Taliaferro v. Taliaferro, 186 Ariz. 221, 223, 921 P.2d 21, 23 (1996). A civil court obviously has the authority to adjudicate the types of claims in Father Dob-rota’s complaint. The issue presented is whether the doctrine of ecclesiastical abstention, Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. 696, 709, 96 S.Ct. 2372, 2380, 49 L.Ed.2d 151 (1976), requires the court to abstain from deciding these claims.
¶ 13 The First Amendment guarantees that both individuals and churches have the “power to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.” Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, 344 U.S. 94, 116, 73 S.Ct. 143, 154, 97 L.Ed. 120 (1952). Ecclesiastical decisions are generally protected from government interference; “civil courts are bound to accept the decisions of the highest judicatories of a religious organization of hierarchical polity on matters of discipline, faith, internal organization, or ecclesiastical rule, custom, or law.” Milivojevich, 426 U.S. at 713, 96 S.Ct. at 2382. “[Wjhere religious organizations establish rules for their internal discipline and governance, and tribunals for adjudicating disputes over these matters, ‘the Constitution requires that civil courts accept their decisions as binding upon them.’” Crowder v. Southern Baptist Convention, 828 F.2d 718, 724 (11th Cir.1987), quoting Milivojevich, 426 U.S. at 725, 96 S.Ct. at 2388.
¶ 14 The interaction between a church and its pastor is an essential part of church government. Simpson v. Wells Lamont Corp., 494 F.2d 490, 493 (5th Cir.1974). In particular, “a minister’s employment relationship with his church implicates ‘internal church discipline, faith, and organization, all of which are governed by ecclesiastical rule, custom, and law.’ ” Lewis v. Seventh Day Adventists Lake Region Conf., 978 F.2d 940, 942 (6th Cir.1992) (quoting Hutchison v. Thomas, 789 F.2d 392, 396 (6th Cir.1986)). Thus, civil courts must abstain from deciding ministerial employment disputes or reviewing decisions of religious judicatory bodies concerning the employment of clergy, “because such state intervention would excessively inhibit religious liberty.” Id.; see generally Milivojevich, 426 U.S. at 709, 96 S.Ct. at 2380 (setting forth the abstention doctrine). Accordingly, “secular courts will not attempt to right wrongs related to the hiring, firing, discipline or administration of clergy.” Higgins v. Maher, 210 Cal.App.3d 1168, 1175, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757 (1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1080, 110 S.Ct. 1135, 107 L.Ed.2d 1040 (1990).
¶ 15 The First Amendment prohibits civil adjudication of Father Dobrota’s breach of contract claim because his claim challenges Church decisions involving the hiring and firing of its clergy. Review of Father Dobrota’s contract claims would have involved the trial court in matters of “internal church discipline, faith, and organization.” Lewis, 978 F.2d at 942. Thus, the trial court correctly dismissed these contract claims.
¶ 16 Our resolution of the Diocese’s challenge to the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction makes it unnecessary for us to resolve Father Dobrota’s claim that he had not knowingly contractually limited himself to bringing his claims only before the Diocese’s Ecclesiastical Court. Even if Father Dobrota did not expressly agree to submit his claims to the Diocese, as he now argues, he would still be precluded from submitting the question of the propriety of his termination to a civil court. As noted above, a pastor’s employment implicates internal church discipline, faith, and organization; thus, civil court authority over a church employment dispute inhibits religious liberty and is barred by the First Amendment. Lewis, 978 F.2d at 942. “[0]ne who enters the clergy forfeits the protection of the civil authorities in terms of job rights.” Higgins, 210 Cal.App.3d at 1175, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757. Therefore, regardless of whether Father Dobrota knowingly gave up his right to have his claims litigated in a civil court, the only forum available to consider his breach of contract claim was the Diocese’s Ecclesiastical Court.
¶ 17 Father Dobrota also raised tort claims concerning the conduct of Klipa in allegedly stealing the Dobrotas’ belongings and cutting off their utilities. By limiting Father Dobrota to proceeding solely before the Ecclesiastical Court, the trial court impliedly determined that it could not review these claims. We agree.
¶ 18 Under similar factual circumstances, the California Court of Appeals abstained from resolving a priest’s tort claims because his claims were too intimately connected with matters of Church discipline to allow civil review. Higgins, 210 Cal.App.3d at 1176, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757. In Higgins, the priest alleged that the bishop, and other officials in the church hierarchy, improperly suspended him from his position and published confidential details of his psychiatric treatment and false accusations against him. Id. at 1172-73, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757. He pleaded the torts of invasion of privacy, defamation, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Id. at 1175, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757.
¶ 19 In concluding it could not hear the priest’s claims, the Higgins court determined that the acts complained of were “part and parcel” of the bishop’s administration of his ecclesiastical functions. Id. at 1175-76, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757. Although the court agreed that torts such as battery, false imprisonment or conversion could not be perpetrated by a church upon its members with impunity, it held that the torts alleged by the priest were “too close to the peculiarly religious aspects of the transaction to be segregated and treated separately — as simple civil wrongs.” Id. at 1176, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757. The Higgins court explained that because the torts occurred as “inseparable parts of a process of divestiture of priestly authority,” it would not subject the church to civil court proceedings on the tort claims. Id.
¶ 20 In comparing this ease with Higgins, we conclude that the alleged actions of cutting off the Dobrotas’ utilities and taking their belongings were inseparable parts of the process of divesting Father Dobrota of his priestly authority. While the alleged acts may have been improper, they occurred as Klipa attempted to remove the Dobrotas and their belongings from the Church premises after the Church terminated Father Dobrota. Furthermore, the Ecclesiastical Court has dealt with the issue of the missing property and ordered its return to Father Dobrota. Therefore, we conclude that the rule of ecclesiastical abstention precludes the trial court from hearing Father Dobrota’s tort claims.
¶ 21 However, on the questions of what amounts the Church owes Father Dob-rota for unpaid salary and benefits and his missing property, we conclude that the trial court incorrectly found that it could not decide those matters.
¶22 As noted above, the general rule is that civil courts must abstain from deciding disputes arising between a church and its clergy. In limited circumstances, however, religious bodies are subject to the authority of civil courts. Because churches, including their local congregations and hierarchy, exist and function within the civil community, “they are as amenable as other societal entities to rules governing property rights, torts and criminal conduct.” Higgins, 210 Cal.App.3d at 1170, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757 (citing Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. 679, 80 U.S. 679, 732-33, 20 L.Ed. 666 (1871)). See also Minker v. Baltimore Annual Conf. of United Methodist Church, 894 F.2d 1354, 1360 (D.C.Cir.1990) (First Amendment does not immunize church from all temporal claims made against it); United Methodist Church v. White, 571 A.2d 790, 795 (D.C.App.1990) (church is not above the law and may be held liable for valid contracts). When civil or property rights are involved, courts may entertain disputes within religious organizations even if some ecclesiastical matters are incidentally involved. Higgins, 210 Cal. App.3d at 1174, 258 Cal.Rptr. 757. Such disputes, however, cannot be heard by a civil court if the court must resolve underlying controversies over religious doctrine and practice in order to decide the ease. Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Mem’l Presbyterian Church, 393 U.S. 440, 449, 89 S.Ct. 601, 606, 21 L.Ed.2d 658 (1969).
¶ 23 Setting the amount of Father Dobrota’s damages in conformity with the ecclesiastical decision would not constitute a review of that decision, nor would it involve deciding issues of ecclesiastical doctrine or belief. The doctrine of ecclesiastical abstention does not apply where the dispute can be resolved without inquiry into religious law or polity. Barnes v. Outlaw, 188 Ariz. 401, 404, 937 P.2d 323, 326 (App.1996) review granted on cross appeal on different issue, May 20, 1997; Paul v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Soc. of New York, 819 F.2d 875, 878 n. 1 (9th Cir.1987). The court may decide the dispute if the methods of resolution avoid entanglement in questions of ecclesiastical doctrine or belief. Crowder, 828 F.2d at 722.
¶24 The Ecclesiastical Court determined that Father Dobrota is entitled to his salary and benefits from the time the Church terminated his employment until October 1, 1994. Setting this amount would only involve computation of Father Dobrota’s salary and the value of his housing, utilities, benefits and unpaid vacation time. That the court might have to examine church documents concerning what compensation was promised and previously paid to Father Dob-rota would not preclude this inquiry. A court may “interpret provisions of religious documents involving property rights and other nondoctrinal matters as long as the analysis can be done in purely secular terms.” Minker, 894 F.2d at 1358 (citing Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595, 600-01, 99 S.Ct. 3020, 3024, 61 L.Ed.2d 775 (1979)). Certainly, analyzing church records to determine the amount of salary and benefits paid to Father Dobrota could be done in purely secular terms, particularly where the Ecclesiastical Court already specified the period of time for which payment should be made. Setting the value of Father Dobrota’s property would require an economic analysis that the civil court is capable of undertaking without involving itself in Church doctrine. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court can decide these computation issues.
¶ 25 The Diocese argues that civil court enforcement of judgment against the Church would require the court to inject itself into an inter-church property dispute. It maintains that the First Amendment prohibits enforcement of such a judgment. We disagree.
¶26 As noted above, a civil court may decide a church and clergy dispute if the methods of resolving it avoid questions of ecclesiastical doctrine or belief. See Crowder, 828 F.2d at 722. In general, the determination of money damages arising from a breach of contract does not create an excessive entanglement in ecclesiastical matters. See Minker, 894 F.2d at 1360. Because the Ecclesiastical Court has decided that the Church must pay past compensation and benefits to Father Dobrota, the calculation of the amount would not entangle the superior court in any matter of ecclesiastical doctrine or belief. Therefore, we conclude that the First Amendment does not prohibit the trial court from determining the amount due to Father Dobrota and entering a judgment on which he can execute.
¶ 27 Father Dobrota also argues that the trial court erred in ruling that he had not fully exhausted his claims with the Ecclesiastical Court. We agree.
¶ 28 Article 55 of the Diocesan constitution provides that decrees of the Ecclesiastical Court are final 30 days after delivery unless appealed. Neither party appealed the decree ordering the Church to pay Father Dobrota’s back salary and benefits and to return his property.
¶ 29 At oral argument on the motion for summary judgment, the Diocese’s counsel stated that the remedies provided to Father Dobrota under the Diocese’s constitution had been exhausted. Also, the Diocese cited to no provision of its constitution, or other document, that would allow it to determine the amount of damages or enforce an award. In fact, the Church represented in its answering brief that because Father Dobrota has been defrocked by the Diocese, “the matter has been concluded as far as the Diocese is concerned.”
¶ BO We will adopt the parties’ construction of a contract unless the construction is contrary to the express terms of the contract. Associated Students of the Univ. of Arizona v. Arizona Bd. of Regents, 120 Ariz. 100, 104-05, 584 P.2d 564, 568-69 (App. 1978). Here, because the parties believe Father Dobrota has exhausted his remedies with the Ecclesiastical Court, and nothing in the Diocese’s constitution is contrary to this view, we accept their characterization of-the status of his claims. Having exhausted Diocesan remedies, Father Dobrota is entitled to seek a judgment from the trial court setting forth those damages. The court may determine the amount of his damages and enter an appropriate judgment.
CONCLUSION
¶31 The trial court correctly concluded that it must abstain from deciding Father Dobrota’s breach of contract and tort claims against the Church and the Diocese. The court also correctly ruled that it could enforce the judgment entered by the Ecclesiastical Court. The court erred, however, in concluding that Father Dobrota had not exhausted his remedies with the Diocese. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment dismissing Father Dobrota’s breach of contract and tort claims, but reverse that part of the judgment that refuses Father Dobrota’s request to determine the amount of his damages and enter judgment. The case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
EHRLICH and PATTERSON, JJ., concur.
. Mrs. Dobrota died on October 16, 1996.
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OPINION
BRAMMER, Judge.
Pursuant to a plea agreement, petitioner was convicted in 1995 of attempted unlawful transfer of a narcotic drug. He was sentenced to the presumptive term of three and one-half years’ imprisonment. He then filed a petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to Rule 32, Ariz.R.Crim.P., 17 A.R.S., claiming the trial court improperly refused to grant him 227 days of presentence incarceration credit against his sentence. This petition for review followed the trial court’s summary dismissal of the Rule 32 petition.
Petitioner was arrested and jailed on the instant drug charges on April 21, 1995. Bond was set at $2,200 but was never posted. At the time of his arrest, petitioner was on probation from a 1992 conviction for attempted sexual assault. As a result of the drug arrest, the state filed a petition to revoke probation in the assault case. Ultimately petitioner pled guilty in the drug ease to one count of attempted unlawful transfer, admitted the allegation in the revocation petition, and was sentenced in both cases on September 26, 1995. He received concurrent, presumptive five-year prison terms on two counts in the assault case, with credit for 227 days of presentence incarceration. Pursuant to the plea agreement in the drug case, his presumptive three-and-one-half-year sentence was made concurrent with his sentences in the assault case. However, because there was a probation hold on petitioner while he was in jail between April 21 and September 26, the court refused to grant any presentence incarceration credit in the drug case, finding that “all 227 days spent in custody were spent pursuant to CR-35671 only, and the defendant could not have been released in CR-49176 under any circumstances.”
We disagree. Whether petitioner “could ... have been released ... under any circumstances” is not the appropriate inquiry. Section 13-709(B), A.R.S., provides: “All time actually spent in custody pursuant to an offense until the prisoner is sentenced to imprisonment for such offense shall be credited against the term of imprisonment otherwise provided for by this chapter.” Thus, the issue is whether petitioner was incarcerated “pursuant to” the instant drug charges, even though he was also subject to a probation hold in connection with the probation revocation petition. We find that he was.
In State v. Brooks, 161 Ariz. 177, 777 P.2d 675 (App.1989), Division One of this court held that a defendant in custody on both a new charge and a petition to revoke probation on previous charges is entitled to presentence incarceration credit as to each sentence when concurrent sentences are imposed. See also State v. De Passquallo, 140 Ariz. 228, 681 P.2d 380 (1984), and State v. Cruz-Mata, 138 Ariz. 370, 674 P.2d 1368 (1983). As the court stated in De Passquallo:
It is true that while in the Maricopa County Jail [awaiting trial on Arizona charges] he was receiving credit against his federal sentence, but we find this to be irrelevant. Petitioner was in jail in Arizona to stand trial for the crimes he committed in Arizona, and is entitled to credit against his Arizona sentence for this presentence custody. 140 Ariz. at 229, 681 P.2d at 381.
Similarly, here, petitioner was arrested and jailed on the drug charges. He did not post bond and was never released on those charges. Although the drug charges formed the sole basis for revoking his probation, subjecting petitioner to a probation hold in the assault case, he was, nonetheless, being held pursuant to the drug offense from the time of his arrest on April 21 until his sentencing in both cases on September 26, 1995. We conclude, therefore, that the trial court erred in denying petitioner presentence incarceration credit in this case.
On the record before us, there is no indication how the 227 days of presentence incarceration credit in the assault case were computed, since the period from petitioner’s April 21 arrest through his September 26 sentencing is 159 days. We therefore grant the petition for review and grant relief, but remand the case to the trial court to determine the correct amount of presentence incarceration credit to which petitioner is entitled.
DRUKE, C.J., and FLOREZ, J., concur.
. This is the factual basis on which State v. San Miguel, 132 Ariz. 57, 643 P.2d 1027 (App.1982), is distinguished from the instant case. In San Miguel, the defendant was released on his own recognizance on the new offense, but continued to be held without bond on the petition to revoke probation.
|
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OPINION
GERBER, Judge.
Donna Baca (“Baca”) appeals from the Department of Economic Security (“DES”) Ap peals Board’s Decision upon Review affirming the Board’s prior finding that Baca’s husband, Atenogenes Baca (“Atenogenes”), was a member of her household whose resources would be included for determining food stamp eligibility. For the reasons set forth, we affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Baca applied to DES for food stamps for a household consisting of herself, her three children, and a family friend who was living in her home at the time. Baca did not list her husband, Atenogenes, on the application. DES requested additional information from Baca regarding the income and resources of Atenogenes. Baca informed DES that she was unable to fully comply with this request and that she and Atenogenes were not “together.” A DES investigator, however, concluded that Atenogenes did five at Baca’s home. DES then denied Baca’s request for food stamps, stating that her resources exceeded the maximum allowable under the food stamp program.
Baca appealed this denial of benefits and a hearing was conducted. Following testimony from the DES investigator, Baca, and Baca’s sister, the hearing officer upheld the denial of food stamps to Baca’s household due to excess resources. The hearing officer found that a 1995 Chevrolet Astro van jointly purchased by Baca and Atenogenes should be counted toward Baca’s household. At the hearing, DES’s representative indicated that the sole basis for the Agency’s conclusion of excess resources was the household’s ownership of this van.
Baca then appealed to the DES Appeals Board. The Board set aside the hearing officer’s decision because of incomplete findings of fact, reasoning and conclusions of law. The Board concluded that the hearing officer had erred in failing to fully analyze whether Atenogenes was a member of Baca’s household under 7 C.F.R. 273.1(a) and whether the van was an inaccessible resource under Arizona DES Food Stamp Manual 70-302.11(A)(5). However, the Board made its own finding that, under the facts presented at the hearing, Atenogenes was living with Baca and therefore was a member of her household. As a result, the value of the jointly-owned van was includable for the household. The Board remanded for further investigation of the equity value of the van and for reprocessing of Baca’s application with Atenogenes being considered a member of Baca’s household.
Baca then filed a Request for Review, challenging the portion of the Board’s decision that found that Atenogenes was a member of Baca’s household. The Board affirmed its decision upon review, and Baca timely appealed to this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated section 41-1993 (Supp.1997).
DISCUSSION
Baca argues that the Appeals Board misapplied federal law in concluding that Atenogenes was a member of her household for purposes of food stamp eligibility. On appeal, this court is free to draw its own conclusions in determining if the Board properly interpreted the law; however, the Board’s interpretation of statutes and DES regulations is entitled to great weight. See Capitol Castings v. Arizona Dept. of Economic Sec., 171 Ariz. 57, 60, 828 P.2d 781, 784 (App.1992). In addition, we view the evidence in a light most favorable to upholding the Board’s decision and “will affirm that decision if it is supported by any reasonable interpretation of the record.” Prebula v. Arizona Dept. of Economic Sec., 138 Ariz. 26, 30, 672 P.2d 978, 982 (App.1983).
Under the federal food stamp program, eligibility for receipt of food stamps is determined by a “household,” rather than an individual basis. See 7 U.S.C.A. §§ 2013(a) (1988) and 2014 (Supp.1997). Entitlement to and amounts of benefits are determined by. the number of persons in a household and by the income and resources of household members. A “household” is generally defined as an individual who lives alone or “a group of individuals who live together and customarily purchase food and prepare meals together for home consumption.” 7 C.F.R. § 273.1(a)(l)(i) and (iii) (1996). Spouses who live together are presumed to customarily purchase food and prepare meals together, even if they do not do so. 7 C.F.R. § 273.1(a)(2)(i)(A). Baca does not dispute that Atenogenes is her spouse. Therefore, it is presumed that he is a member of her household, for food stamp eligibility purposes, if he “lives with” her.
Neither federal nor state statutes or regulations define the term “living together.” Congress delegated to the United States Secretary of Agriculture the authority to decide how to define the term “living together.” 7 U.S.C.A. § 2013(c). The Secretary has not defined the term, but has stated that the determination of which individuals are living together should be decided through “the application of a reasonable judgment based on the circumstances of a particular living arrangement.” 47 Fed.Reg. 52,328-01 (1982); see also Robinson v. Block, 869 F.2d 202, 213 (3rd Cir.1989).
In its first decision, the Board concluded that, based on the facts in this case, Atenogenes lived with Baca and therefore -was a member of her household for food stamp eligibility purposes. Baca, however, contends that, in its second decision affirming the first, the Board recanted its finding that Baca and Atenogenes lived together when it stated as follows:
The greater weight of the credible evidence in the ease establishes that the Claimant’s husband was a member of the household. Although counsel contends that the Federal Regulations do not define “living together”, it is not necessary in the Food Stamp program, as in some assistance programs; it is necessary only to establish that the husband was part of the household. In this case, even if the Claimant and her husband were not “living together”, the overwhelming weight of the credible evidence in the case establishes that, for Food Stamp purposes, the Claimant’s husband was a member of the Claimant’s household.
Baca claims that the Board’s reasoning is circular and misstates relevant law. She contends that the Board ignored the critical threshold issue whether the two spouses actually lived together and summarily concluded that Atenogenes was a member of Baca’s household.
DES admits in its brief that the Board’s statement that “living together” is not necessary for determination of inclusion in a household for food stamp eligibility purposes seems contrary to federal law. We agree. However, the Board on review specifically affirmed its prior decision which clearly found that Baca and Atenogenes were living together.
Even if the Appeals Board did misstate the law in its decision on review, this court will affirm if it nonetheless reached the right result. See Orr v. Arizona Dept. of Economic Sec., 158 Ariz. 181, 185, 761 P.2d 1085, 1089 (App.1988). We conclude that there was sufficient evidence to support the Board’s original finding that Baca and Atenogenes were living together.
It was undisputed by Baca that she and Atenogenes together bought the house in which she and the children lived at the time of her food stamp application. She testified that he moved out of the house when they separated more than four years prior to the application. However, she admitted that he came to the house to see his two children every day between three and nine o’clock and stayed until one or two o’clock in the morning. He sometimes took the children out for meals. He spent most Friday nights and some Saturday nights at the house. Baca told Atenogenes’ employer that she and Atenogenes were living together so that the employer would stop withholding child support payments from his check. Atenogenes regularly picked up his mail from the house. Some of his clothes were in a closet in the house. Baca and Atenogenes owned two vehicles together. Additionally, Atenogenes listed Baca’s P.O. Box or street address as his own address with his employer, on the home mortgage, on his driver’s license and on at least two vehicle liens. Baca had explanations for many of the above facts and admitted into evidence statements from various people stating that she and Atenogenes were not living together. However, the Board nevertheless could have reasonably concluded from the facts that Baca and her husband were living together at the time she applied for food stamps.
The decision of the Appeals Board is affirmed.
FIDEL, P.J., and THOMPSON, J., concur.
. In order to be eligible for food stamps, the maximum allowable resources of all members of the household must not exceed $2000. Arizona DES Food Stamp Manual 70-301.01.
. Although the hearing officer attributed the Astro van to Baca’s household, he did not clearly find that Atenogenes was living with Baca and was therefore a member of her household. Even if Atenogenes was not considered a member of Baca’s household, the jointly purchased Astro van would be a resource of Baca’s household unless it was inaccessible to her. See 7 C.F.R. § 273.8(d) (1996); Arizona DES Food Stamp Manual 70-301.05.A. Although this issue is not raised on appeal, Baca contends that the facts clearly support a finding that the vehicle was not accessible to her. If Atenogenes was a member of Baca’s household, the van would be a resource of the household regardless of its accessibility to Baca.
. This provision of the manual states that a resource with an equity value of less than $1,000 is considered an inaccessible resource.
. Baca contends that the Board inexplicably disregarded her evidence. However, the record demonstrates that the Board acknowledged Baca’s preferred evidence. The Board noted that the short, handwritten statements submitted by Baca in which various parties stated without elaboration that she and Atenogenes were not living together were not entitled to much probative weight. It was within the Board’s discretion to weigh the evidence.
|
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OPINION
FELDMAN, Justice.
¶ 1. The court of appeals set aside an Industrial Commission award and decision for reimbursement under A.R.S. § 23-1065(C). Special Fund Div. v. Industrial Comm’n (Burrell), 189 Ariz. 162, 939 P.2d 795 (App.1997). We granted review to clear up confusion in a number of court of appeals cases by deciding whether a written record establishing the existence of a pre-hiring disability, coupled with contemporaneous oral testimony regarding the nature of the disability, was sufficient to establish the employer’s knowledge required under § 23-1065(C). We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. Const, art. 6, § 5(3)' and A.R.S. § 12-120.24; see also Rule 23(c)(3), Ariz.R.Civ.App.P.
FACTS
¶ 2. In May 1988, Wayne O. Burrell (“Claimant”) applied for a position as a serviceman with St. Charles Co., a manufacturer of kitchen cabinets. On his Application for Employment, Claimant indicated he could lift over fifty pounds, did not suffer from any physical, mental, or emotional limitations that would limit his ability to lift, served in the U.S. Army from 1969-80, and had a “service related disability.” In explanation of the disability, Claimant wrote “wounded in combat Nam.” In a Pre-Employment Information Form, Claimant indicated he served in Vietnam, was a disabled veteran, and did not have any mental or physical handicaps.
¶ 3. St. Charles’ human resources manager, Randal Dickason, interviewed Claimant, discussed the nature and extent of his disability, and hired him. At the hearing in this case, Claimant testified he informed Dickason at the interview that his service disability was post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”), and as a result, he needed to work outside of the manufacturing plant and away from people. When asked whether he recalled a similar conversation with Claimant, Dickason replied, “Yes. Well, I don’t recall the exact words. I remember that he did not want to work in the high volume production environment in the kinds of deadlines that were required in the manufacturing plant.” Dickason testified that he learned about Claimant’s helicopter crash while in military service and his bad back, but accepted Claimant’s statement that he could do the lifting required of a serviceman. Dickason stated that he learned Claimant had a service-related disability from the application form and his subsequent pre-employment discussion with Claimant.
¶ 4. In October 1992, Claimant sustained an industrial back injury at St. Charles and filed a workers’ compensation claim. The carrier (“Liberty Mutual”) closed the claim with permanent impairment and applied for reimbursement from the Special Fund Division (“Fund”) for Claimant’s preexisting PTSD pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-1065. The Fund stipulated that Claimant’s PTSD qualified for reimbursement under § 23-1065(C)(3)(n). The only contested issue was whether Liberty Mutual could satisfy the “written records” requirement of § 23-1065(C)(2), which requires that the employer “establish[] by written records” that it had knowledge of the impairment when the employee was hired.
¶ 5. The administrative law judge awarded reimbursement, stating:
Although the applicant’s written records were not a model of clarity, the answers alerted the employer to the existence of the mental impairment. In spite of the impairment, the employer hired and retained the applicant and accommodated the post traumatic stress disorder.
The award was affirmed on administrative review, and the Fund brought a special action in the court of appeals.
¶ 6. The court of appeals set aside the award. The majority held that oral testimony acquired contemporaneously with written records of a disability cannot serve to satisfy the written records requirement to establish an employer’s knowledge of a claimant’s preexisting disability as required by § 23-1065(C)(2). Special Fund Div. (Burrell), 189 Ariz. at 162, 939 P.2d at 795. Thus the interview between Dickason and Claimant was irrelevant for purposes of determining whether § 23-1065(0 had been satisfied. The majority concluded that the written records only established “the employer’s knowledge of an impairment other than the one on which the apportionment claim is based” and thus set aside the award. Id. at 165, 939 P.2d at 798.
¶ 7. Judge Fidel dissented, arguing that when a general reference to disability is provided in the written record, oral evidence demonstrating that the employer inquired and learned of the specific disability in question will satisfy § 23-1065(0(2). He reasoned that the written record established the employer’s knowledge of Claimant’s general service-related disability and that the employer contemporaneously inquired and learned of Claimant’s specific PTSD disability, thus satisfying § 23-1065(0(2). Id. at 167, 939 P.2d at 800. (Fidel, J., dissenting).
DISCUSSION
¶ 8. The underlying purpose of the •Workers’ Compensation Act is to compensate an employee for lost earning capacity and thus prevent the worker from becoming a public charge during periods of disability. Mail Boxes v. Industrial Comm’n, 181 Ariz. 119, 888 P.2d 777 (1995). Thus, in determining the amount of compensation to be awarded a disabled employee, consideration is given to preexisting injuries as well as the industrial incident. See § 23-1044(D). Compensation for the entirety of a worker’s disability is intended to save a disabled worker from destitution that would result from being only partially compensated for total lost earning capacity. Arthur Larson, Larson’s Worker’s Compensation Law § 59.31(a) (1992). Therefore, an employer who hires an individual with preexisting injuries assumes the risk of compensating that employee for such preexisting injuries should the employee suffer an additional permanent physical impairment. See A.R.S. § 23-1065. Historically, this potential outcome resulted in severe employer discrimination toward disabled workers. Professor Larson explains that as “soon as it became clear that a particular state had adopted a rule requiring an employer to bear the full cost of total disability for loss of the crippled worker’s remaining leg or arm, employers had a strong financial incentive to discharge all handicapped workers who might bring upon them this kind of aggravated liability.” Larson, supra § 59.31(a).
¶ 9. To remedy that situation, all states have adopted some form of second injury fund that ameliorates the employer’s burden in such cases. Id.; see also Special Fund Div. v. Industrial Comm’n (Morin), 182 Ariz. 341, 345, 897 P.2d 643, 647 (App. 1994) (citing State Compensation Fund v. Hams, 26 Ariz.App. 9, 10, 545 P.2d 971, 972 (1976)). In Arizona, § 23-1065 provides that when certain requirements are met, the employer or insurance carrier and the Fund share liability for the injured employee’s disability. § 23-1065(0(4). Thus, § 23-1065 serves the important remedial purpose of promoting “the hiring of handicapped workers by relieving the employer of increased compensation liability resulting from the combination of preexisting impairments and industrial injuries.” Country Wide Truck Serv. v. Industrial Comm’n, 181 Ariz. 410, 411, 891 P.2d 877, 878 (App.1994); see also Schuff Steel Co. v. Industrial Comm’n, 181 Ariz. 435, 443, 891 P.2d 902, 910 (App.1994). Generally, we construe remedial statutes liberally to achieve the special purpose underlying the legislation. E.g., Royall v. Industrial Comm’n, 106 Ariz. 346, 348, 476 P.2d 156, 158 (1970).
¶ 10. One of the prerequisites for an employer to be reimbursed by the Fund is that the “employer establish[] by written records that the employer had knowledge of the permanent impairment at the time the employee was hired____” § 23-1065(0(2). The fundamental purpose of the written records requirement is to condition the Fund’s liability in conformity with the remedial purpose of the legislation. Since the rationale behind the legislation is to negate the impact of the prior injury on the employer’s hiring or retention decision, the written records requirement extends Fund liability only to those cases in which the employer was aware of the injury. See, e.g., Country Wide, 181 Ariz. at 412, 891 P.2d at 879 (“the inquiry should be whether the impairment is such that an employer who knew of it and its extent would more likely than not significantly consider it when making a decision to hire or retain the employee.”). Our court of appeals has also observed that the written records requirement serves the purposes of protecting against spurious or collusive claims on the one hand and obviating the necessity of litigating whether the employer had such knowledge on the other hand. Transporting Renewable Resources, Inc. v. Industrial Comm’n, 185 Ariz. 543, 917 P.2d 272 (App. 1996). However, we emphasize that the “writing requirement is merely evidentiary, and must be sensibly construed so as not to defeat the statute’s larger remedial purpose.” Special Fund (Burrell), 189 Ariz. at 165, 939 P.2d at 798 (Fidel, J., dissenting) (emphasis added) (citations omitted). The larger purpose, of course, is to promote the hiring of disabled or handicapped workers. We therefore interpret the statute in the manner that best carries out the legislative purpose. E.g., Ohlmaier v. Industrial Comm’n, 161 Ariz. 113, 115, 776 P.2d 791, 793 (1989).
¶ 11. While this case is the first occasion we have had to interpret § 23-1065(0, the court of appeals has considered the written records requirement a number of times. We briefly review those decisions here as they illustrate that in light of the Fund’s basic purpose, the proper inquiry pertains to the employer’s pre-employment knowledge of the specific preexisting injury, and a written record is only an evidentiary condition. In Fremont Indemnity Co. v. Industrial Commission, for example, the court held that a written record that merely demonstrates employment without mention of the employer’s knowledge of the employee’s disability is insufficient. 182 Ariz. 405, 408, 897 P.2d 707, 710 (App.1995). In Schuff Steel, the court held that a written record that demonstrates the employer’s knowledge of a different, non-qualifying disability is insufficient. 181 Ariz. at 445, 891 P.2d at 912. In another ease, the court held that a written record demonstrating that the employer learned of the past disability only after the industrial injury occurred is insufficient. Special Fund Div. v. Industrial Comm’n (Pete King Corp.), 184 Ariz. 363, 367-68, 909 P.2d 430, 434-35 (App. 1995). We observe that none of these cases presents the situation in which the employer clearly knew of the relevant disability at the time of making the hiring or retention decision. Absent the Fund’s existence, this, of course, is the time when the prior disability would provide a financial incentive to discriminate against the employee. Thus, each of those cases held the written records requirement was not satisfied.
¶ 12. On the other hand, the court of appeals has held that a record does suffice when it demonstrates that the employer knew of an employee’s prior surgery that may have left some degree of physical impairment even though the record did not disclose that the employer knew of the actual disability or limitation attributable to the surgery. Special Fund Div. (Morin), 182 Ariz. at 347, 897 P.2d at 649; Country Wide, 181 Ariz. at 412-13, 891 P.2d at 879-80. Despite the absence of written evidence of the employer’s knowledge of a specific disability, the records in these cases were enough to put an employer on notice of potential prior injury and, absent the Fund’s existence, would have provided a financial incentive to not hire the employee. Thus the court in Special Fund Div. (Morin) reasoned that the employer had knowledge of the applicant’s impairment because the general injury references in the written record were “the type of injuries that permit an inference that [the] employer knew of applicant’s preexisting impairment and decided to hire her despite the fact that she might have difficulty in performing her tasks ... and presented some potential for reinjury. ” 182 Ariz. at 347, 897 P.2d at 649 (emphasis added).
¶ 13. The clearest example that the written records requirement is only evidentiary in nature and the employer’s knowledge controls is Transporting Renewable Resources, in which the court of appeals held that the written records requirement was satisfied by stipulation even though there had been no written record at all. 185 Ariz. at 544-45, 917 P.2d at 273-74. The court found the statutory purpose of employer knowledge satisfied because the Fund stipulated that the employer knew of the prior disability at the time of hiring. The court of appeals went so far as to state that “the Special Fund should stipulate when, as here, the employer’s knowledge cannot be reasonably doubted.” Id. at 545, 917 P.2d at 274 (emphasis added). The court grounded its analysis in the remedial purpose of the law, reasoning that although the statute “literally requires a written record in every case, a literal interpretation elevates form over substance and frustrates the remedial purpose of the statute. Literal interpretation, in short, leads to a result ‘such as cannot be contemplated the Legislature intended____’” Id. (quoting Garrison v. Luke, 52 Ariz. 50, 56, 78 P.2d 1120, 1122 (1938)).
¶ 14. Without commenting on the propriety of the court’s ultimate conclusion on the facts in Transporting Renewable Resources, we note that in the present case, the Fund contends that testimony about a verbal inquiry made contemporaneously with the written record cannot be used to establish the employer’s knowledge of the prior injury. The Fund submits that the plain language of the statute compels that result, and the court of appeals reasoned that any change ought to be left to the legislature. See Special Fund Div. (Burrell), 189 Ariz. at 165, 939 P.2d at 798. We disagree. While the statute does not expressly permit testimonial supplementation of written records, neither does it expressly prohibit such evidence. Nowhere does the text of the statute require that an employer’s knowledge be established exclusively by written records. The statute clearly establishes legislative policy — to encourage the hiring of handicapped and disabled employees. We are left to interpret and apply the statute.
¶ 15. Given the liberal construction appropriate for this remedial statute, the general purpose of the Fund, and the specific but narrow purpose of the written records requirement, we believe the Fund’s interpretation of the statute is too restrictive. The blanket exclusion of testimonial supplementation tends to impair the statutory purpose of the Fund. When, upon receiving written but general notice of an employee’s preexisting injury, an employer contemporaneously seeks verbal explanation and learns of the relevant prior injury or disability, it has a strong financial disincentive to hire. The Fund’s existence as a source of compensation removes that disincentive. The court of appeals’ holding imposes a rigid “no testimonial supplementation” rule that strengthens the disincentive the legislature sought to remove. Employers, especially small business films, will often short-cut the descriptions required by forms produced by governmental bureaucracy.'' Insofar as possible, the statutory requirements should be interpreted to further the legislative policy and in a manner comporting with the realities of business practice.
¶ 16. We note that several other jurisdictions with similar written records requirements have reached substantially the same result. See, e.g., Gilbane Co. v. Poulas, 576 A.2d 1195, 1196 (R.I.1990) (written records requirement only requires that the employer have knowledge at time of hire, and cannot be construed to require written records at time of hire); U.S. Pipe & Foundry Co. v. Caraway, 546 S.W.2d 215 (Tenn.1977) (written records requirement satisfied when records corroborate personnel director’s oral testimony that employer was aware of handicaps).
¶ 17. Moreover, the specific purposes of the written records requirement do not necessitate a per se rule. As noted, the written records requirement protects against spurious or collusive claims and obviates the necessity of litigating whether the employer had such knowledge. See, e.g., Transporting Renewable Resources, 185 Ariz. 543, 917 P.2d 272. Credible testimony, offered in conjunction with written indicia, may establish the employer’s knowledge as well as written records. And permitting testimonial supplementation that conclusively explains general written references to disabilities or injures will not, we think, seriously increase litigation. The only purpose of the written records requirement that even arguably supports a per se exclusion of testimonial supplementation is that of preventing “spurious or collusive claims.” Id. We think, however, that the complete foreclosure of testimonial supplementation is more medicine than the patient needs. We doubt that employee and employer will often collude to implicate the Fund. Further, our administrative law judges are more than capable of weighing the credibility of testimony and evaluating whether the employer has met its burden of demonstrating that it possessed the requisite knowledge at the requisite time.
¶ 18. Having determined that oral testimony may supplement written records to satisfy § 23 — 1065(C)(2), the question remains whether the written record and oral testimony in this case were sufficient. The writing in question disclosed that Claimant had a service-related disability attributable to being wounded in Vietnam. A disability may be physical, mental, or both. While the employer was apprised of Claimant’s general disability by the written record, supplemental oral evidence provided knowledge of Claimant’s specific limitations. The employer’s knowledge of Claimant’s specific disability was “establish[ed] by supplemental oral evidence that [the employer] inquired about and undertook to accommodate the claimant’s specific limitations.” Special Fund Div. (Burrell), 189 Ariz. at 166, 939 P.2d at 799. This quantum of proof satisfied the written records requirement of § 23-1065(C)(2).
CONCLUSION
¶ 19. We hold that the written records requirement may be satisfied by contemporaneous testimonial explanation of general written references to a disability. Accordingly, we vacate the court of appeals’ opinion and reinstate the administrative law judge’s award.
ZLAKET, C.J., JONES, V.C.J., and JAMES MOELLER, (Retired), and MARTONE, JJ., concur.
. During the hearing process, Liberty Mutual submitted a 1986 Veterans Administration ("VA”) decision rating Claimant with a 30 percent disability for PTSD. According to the decision, Claimant was in a helicopter crash in Vietnam in 1970; was awarded a Purple Heart and other medals; had back surgery in 1983; was diagnosed with PTSD in 1984; and his PTSD symptoms included sleep disturbance, withdrawal, and stunted social abilities. No evidence was presented to establish that a copy of the decision was on record in St. Charles’ files.
. A.R.S. § 23-1065(C) provides in pertinent part: In claims involving an employee who has a preexisting physical impairment which is not industrially-related and, whether congenital or due to injury or disease, is of such seriousness as to constitute a hindrance or obstacle to employment or to obtaining reemployment if the employee becomes unemployed, and the impairment equals or exceeds a ten per cent permanent impairment evaluated in accordance with the American Medical Association guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment, and the employee thereafter suffers an additional permanent impairment not of the type specified in § 23-1044, subsection B, the claim involving the subsequent impairment is eligible for reimbursement, as provided by subsection D of this section, under the following conditions:
1. The employer in whose employ the subsequent impairment occurred or its carrier is solely responsible for all temporary disability compensation to which the employee is entitled.
2. The employer establishes by written records that the employer had knowledge of the permanent impairment at the time the employee was hired, or that the employee continued in employment after the employer acquired such knowledge.
3. The employee’s preexisting impairment is due to one or more of the following:
(n) Psychoneurotic disability following treatment in a recognized medical or mental institution.
(Emphasis added.)
. Neither party sought review by this court.
|
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OPINION
ZLAKET, Chief Justice.
¶ 1 On November 18, 1991, police discovered the body of 65-year-old Thelma Younkin in her room at Yuma’s Post Park Motel. She had been strangled, most likely by means of the oxygen tube she regularly used to assist her breathing. There were bite marks on her breasts and face, her right earlobe had been bitten off, and a tooth was discovered beneath the body. The victim’s vaginal area was extensively bruised and lacerated, and the medical examiner detected evidence of semen. Fecal matter was found on her legs, around the bathroom sink, and on a washcloth.
¶ 2 Defendant Bobby Lee Tankersley became a suspect early in the investigation. He lived at the same motel and was seen entering Thelma’s room on the night of the murder. Police learned that the defendant had argued earlier that day with the victim’s daughter, who warned him to leave her family alone. He allegedly replied, “I will get you before you get me.” Immediately following discovery of the body, a police officer observed that the defendant was “rather buoyant and exhibiting laughter and exuberant behavior.” He “was in a party mood” and “seemed to be nervous, pacing back and forth” — conduct that the officer considered “inappropriate for the circumstances.”
¶ 3 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) analysis established that Tankersley could not be eliminated as the source of a hair recovered from fecal matter on the sink. Additionally, a forensic odontologist testified it was “highly probable” that defendant had bitten the victim’s left breast, and another said that his teeth “matched” the bite marks. Saliva with H antigens, of which the defendant is a secretor, was found in the bite wounds.
¶ 4 Following a jury trial, Tankersley was convicted of first degree murder and sexual assault. The trial judge sentenced him to death for the homicide and to a consecutive aggravated term for the assault. Defendant appeals from both convictions and sentences. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. Const, art. VI, § 5(3); A.R.S. § 13-4031; Ariz. R.Crim. P. 26.15 and 31.2(b).
DNA EVIDENCE
¶ 5 Defendant challenges the admission of DNA evidence derived from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. He does not attack the scientific theory of PCR, but rather its application to crime scene evidence. Defendant also asserts that the techniques and procedures used by the lab in this case are not generally accepted as capable of producing valid, reliable results. Finally, he questions whether the prosecution laid a proper foundation for the evidence.
¶ 6 PCR differs significantly from restriction fragment length polymorphis (RFLP), the technique approved in State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 577 & n. 17, 858 P.2d 1152, 1180 & n. 17 (1993), and used in State v. Boles, 188 Ariz. 129, 131-32, 933 P.2d 1197, 1199-1200 (1997); State v. Hummert, 188 Ariz. 119, 122-24, 933 P.2d 1187, 1190-92 (1997); and State v. Johnson, 186 Ariz. 329, 330, 922 P.2d 294, 295 (1996). Its admissibility is an issue of first impression for this court. A detailed description of the PCR technique can be found in George F. Sensabaugh & Cecilia von Beroldingen, The Polymerase Chain Reaction: Application to the Analysis of Biological Evidence, in Forensic DNA Technology 63-82 (Mark A. Farley & James J. Harrington eds.1991). See also Kary B. Mullís, The Unusual Origin of the Polymerase Chain Reaction, Sci. Am., Apr. 1990, at 56. We attempt only a brief overview here to provide a foundation for our legal analysis.
¶ 7 PCR is a process for reproducing a short segment of DNA millions of times, making it possible to analyze minute or degraded samples. National Research Council, The Evaluation of Forensic DNA Evidence 69-70 (1996) [hereinafter 1996 NRC Report ]. First, the extracted DNA is combined with a mixture of polymerase and “all of the building blocks necessary for DNA replication.” Kamrin T. MacKnight, The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR): The Second Generation of DNA Analysis Methods Takes the Stand, 9 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 287, 305 (1993). The product is then heated in a “thermal cycler,” which causes the double-stranded DNA to separate (denature) into two single strands (like splitting a ladder down the middle). Id.; see also Thomas M. Fleming, Annotation, Admissibility of DNA Identification Evidence, 84 A.L.R.4th 313, 319 (1991). When the solution cools, primers bind (anneal) to complementary base sequences on the single-stranded templates. Sensabaugh & Von Beroldingen, supra, at 64. Next, polymerase starts the synthesis of new DNA strands (extension) by assembling nucleotide building blocks that are complementary to the template strands. MacKnight, supra, at 305. As a result, two double-stranded segments of DNA, identical to the original, are created. The process is repeated, and with each new cycle, the DNA doubles in size. Sensabaugh & Von Beroldingen, supra, at 64. Once a sufficient amount of the targeted DNA has been produced, a profile or typing can be done. Id. at 66.
¶ 8 PCR is only an amplification process and does not directly analyze DNA. To do that, a genetic marker typing test must be used. Id. The test employed in the present case was the AmpliType DQ-alpha kit by Cetus Corporation. This kit, in analyzing the DQ-alpha gene, had the capability of detecting six alleles, termed 1.1,1.2,1.3, 2, 3, and 4. P. Sean Walsh et al., Report of the Blind Trial of the Cetus AmpliType HLA Dqa Forensic Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Amplification and Typing Kit, 36 J. Forensic Sci. 1551, 1552 (1991). Each individual has two alleles that are either the same (e.g., 1.2,1.2) or different (e.g., 1.2, 4). See People v. Lee, 212 Mich.App. 228, 537 N.W.2d 233, 250 (1995), appeal denied, 453 Mich. 884, 554 N.W.2d 12 (1996).
¶9 To identify a specimen’s DQ-alpha profile, short DNA segments that detect specific alleles, called “probes,” are fixed to a nylon membrane at a particular location. 1996 NRC Report, supra, at 71-72; see also Scientific Evidence, supra, at 327 (for definition of probe). The amplified DNA is again denatured and then flooded over the membrane. A chemical reaction occurs wherever the sample DNA finds its complementary probe, causing a blue dot to appear at that location. The positions of the dots indicate the specimen’s DQ-alpha genotype. MacK-night, supra, at 306-07. This procedure is known as “reverse dot blotting.” National Research Council, DNA Technology and Forensic Science 42 (1992) [hereinafter 1992 NRC Report ].
¶ 10 Once this genotype is determined, it is compared to the DNA profile of the crime suspect. If the two are different, the person is excluded. If they “match,” then the suspect is a possible source of the specimen, and questions arise regarding frequency of the genotype in the population.
¶ 11 In this ease, hairs found on the bathroom sink and on a washcloth, as well as blood samples from the defendant and the victim, were sent to Forensic Science Associates (FSA) for PCR DQ-alpha testing. Of the hair samples, only a single strand had sufficient root material from which DNA could be extracted. Testing revealed that defendant’s genotype was 1.1, 2, while the victim’s was 2, 4. The lab then determined that the hair’s profile was 1.1, 2, thus eliminating the victim as a source but not excluding the defendant. Dr. Edward Blake, who owns and operates FSA, testified that 1.1, 2 occurs in about four percent of the Caucasian population.
¶ 12 Before trial, the court conducted an extensive Frye hearing, admitting more than eighty publications on PCR technology. The state called two witnesses: Dr. Blake and Dr. Helentjaris, a plant DNA expert at the University of Arizona. Three defense experts, Drs. Grunbaum, Gerdes, and Riley, testified about PCR analysis, FSA’s laboratory procedures, and the testing done in this case. At the close of the hearing, the court found that the DNA evidence was admissible, stating that the defense’s real complaint was of “dirty test tubes,” not reliability of the methodology. In the trial court’s view, any problem with FSA’s procedures could be explained to the jury, which would then assess its impact.
Standard for Admissibility of New Scientific Evidence
¶ 13 Although not raised below, the state asks this court to abandon the Frye test in favor of the current federal standard for determining the admissibility of new scientific evidence. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579, 589, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 2793, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993) (holding that Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C.Cir.1923), was superseded by the Federal Rules of Evidence). We decline to do so. In Johnson, 186 Ariz. at 331, 922 P.2d at 296, we reaffirmed our adherence to Frye. See also Bible, 175 Ariz. at 578-80, 858 P.2d at 1181-83. Moreover, in light of the prosecution’s failure below to request application of the Daubert decision, the issue is not properly before us.
¶ 14 The state also argues that if Frye is preserved, it should govern only general principles such as “the variability of human DNA and its replication via a polymerase chain reaction,” not the forensic application of PCR or specific techniques used in implementing this technology. We disagree. The following excerpt from the National Research Council’s 1992 report is instructive:
“DNA typing” is a catch-all term for a wide range of methods for studying genetic variations. Each method has its own advantages and limitations, and each is at a different state of technical development. Each DNA typing method involves three steps:
1. Laboratory analysis of samples to determine their genetic-marker types at multiple sites of potential variation.
2. Comparison of the genetic-marker types of the samples to determine whether the types match and thus whether the samples could have come from the same source.
3. If the types match, statistical analysis of the population frequency of the types to determine the probability that such a match might have been observed by chance in a comparison of samples from different persons.
Before any particular DNA typing method is used for forensic purposes, it is essential that precise and scientifically reliable procedures be established for performing all three steps____
There is no scientific dispute about the validity of the general principles underlying DNA typing: scientists agree that DNA varies substantially among humans, that variation can be detected in the laboratory, and that DNA comparison can provide a basis for distinguishing samples from different persons. However, a given DNA typing method might or might not be scientifically appropriate for forensic use. Before a method can be accepted as valid for forensic use, it must be rigorously characterized in both research and forensic settings to determine the circumstances under which it will and will not yield reliable results. It is meaningless to speak of the reliability of DNA typing in general— i.e., without specifying a particular method.
1992 NRC Report, supra, at 51 (emphasis added). Arizona’s application of Frye has historically required general acceptance of both a scientific principle and the technique applying it. See State v. Superior Court, 149 Ariz. 269, 277, 718 P.2d 171, 179 (1986); Bible, 175 Ariz. at 581-82, 858 P.2d at 1184-85 (finding general acceptance of Cellmark’s procedures for declaring an RFLP DNA match). We see no reason to depart from this approach.
¶ 15 In the present case, PCR amplification and DQ-alpha testing must each be generally accepted as capable of producing valid, reliable results. We review the trial court’s Frye findings de novo. Bible, 175 Ariz. at 578, 858 P.2d at 1181.
PCR DQ-Alpha Analysis of Crime Scene Samples
¶ 16 Defendant concedes that PCR DQ-alpha analysis is accepted as reliable for medical and biological research in the general scientific community. He says, however, that the same is not true of its application to crime scene evidence. He claims that PCR testing in this context is inherently unreliable because the samples are often recovered under imperfect conditions. As a result, contaminated DNA may be inadvertently amplified, completely masking the specimen’s true DNA. Such contamination could come from the victim, bystanders, the analyst, or amplified DNA previously processed within the lab. See 1992 NRC Report, supra, at 65-67 (discussing possible sources of contamination). All of the defendant’s experts testified that PCR DQ-alpha testing is inappropriate for crime scene analysis.
¶ 17 The state, however, presented significant evidence to the contrary. This included reports of blind testing and proficiency exams, as well as scientific articles describing accurate typing of mixed samples and degraded specimens. See, e.g., Walsh, supra, at 1554; MacKnight, supra, at 344-48. See also Catherine Theisen Comey et al., PCR Amplification and Typing of the HLA Dqa Gene in Forensic Samples, 38 J. Forensic Sci. 239 (1993); Catherine Theisen Comey & Bruce Budowle, Validation Studies on the Analysis of the HLA Dqa Locus Using the Polymerase Chain Reaction, 36 J. Forensic Sci. 1633 (1991).
¶ 18 The Frye test does not require unanimity among scientists. State v. Velasco, 165 Ariz. 480, 486, 799 P.2d 821, 827 (1990). It is true that contamination is of particular concern in any procedure that uses PCR. See 1996 NRC Report, supra, at 71 (“The amplification process is so efficient that a few stray molecules of contaminating DNA can be amplified along with the intended DNA.”). This risk, however, has not rendered PCR-based techniques unacceptable by the scientific community. In fact, erroneous amplification is far more likely to result in the false exclusion, not inclusion, of a suspect. Id. Moreover, the possibility of contamination “may present an open field for cross-examination.” State v. Lyons, 324 Or. 256, 924 P.2d 802, 813 (1996); see also People v. Pope, 284 Ill.App.3d 695, 220 Ill.Dec. 309, 314, 672 N.E.2d 1321, 1326 (1996), appeal denied, 171 Ill.2d 579, 222 Ill.Dec. 436, 677 N.E.2d 970 (1997). The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that so long as proper procedures are followed, the results should be reliable. 1996 NRC Report, supra, at 23; 1992 NRC Report, supra, at 145-46. See also State v. Moeller, 548 N.W.2d 465, 482-83 (S.D.1996); Lee, 537 N.W.2d at 257.
¶ 19 Numerous other courts have found PCR DQ-alpha analysis admissible under the Frye standard. See Seritt v. State, 647 So.2d 1, 4 (Ala.Crim.App.1994); Harmon v. State, 908 P.2d 434, 442 (Alaska Ct.App.1995); People v. Morganti, 43 Cal.App.4th 643, 50 Cal. Rptr.2d 837, 853 (1996); Pope, 220 Ill.Dec. at 315, 672 N.E.2d at 1327; State v. Hill, 257 Kan. 774, 895 P.2d 1238, 1247 (1995); Lee, 537 N.W.2d at 257; State v. Williams, 252 N.J.Super. 369, 599 A.2d 960, 968 (Law Div. 1991); State v. Russell, 125 Wash.2d 24, 882 P.2d 747, 768 (1994). We agree with the trial court here that PCR technology is generally accepted within the relevant scientific community for use on crime scene evidence. Furthermore, we observe that the DQ-alpha marker system is a generally accepted means of distinguishing DNA. See Russell, 882 P.2d at 768.
FSA’s Techniques and Procedures
¶ 20 Defendant argues that FSA’s procedures for amplifying and analyzing the DQ-alpha gene are not generally accepted. He points to an array of allegedly improper practices: a lack of written protocols and current proficiency testing, an excessive number of cycles run on the thermal cycler, temperature regulation problems, the failure to quantify the sample’s DNA before amplification, and the reporting of results despite evidence of contamination.
¶ 21 We note at the outset that most of defendant’s claims challenge FSA’s implementation of PCR DQ-alpha testing, not the validity or reliability of the technique itself. Because such questions relate to the correctness of procedures followed in a given case, and hence the reliability of particular results, they are foundational considerations governed by ordinary evidentiary standards. See State ex rel. Collins v. Superior Court, 132 Ariz. 180, 196, 644 P.2d 1266, 1282 (1982) (Once Frye is satisfied, scientific evidence is admissible “subject to a foundational showing that the expert was qualified, the technique was properly used, and the results were accurately recorded.”); Ariz. R. Evid. 702, 703 & 403; see also 1992 NRC Report, supra, at 23 (“The adequacy of the method used to acquire and analyze samples in a given ease bears on the admissibility of the evidence and should, unless stipulated by opposing parties, be adjudicated case by case.”). If, for example, testing procedures are so seriously flawed that the results are rendered unreliable, the trial court should not admit the evidence. See Russell, 882 P.2d at 766-67. Once an adequate foundation is established, however, complaints of laboratory error or incompetence are considered by the trier of fact in assessing the weight of the evidence. See, e.g., State v. Murray, 184 Ariz. 9, 30, 906 P.2d 542, 563 (1995) (expert’s failure to follow FBI procedures in preserving and analyzing footprint evidence goes to weight rather than admissibility); State v. Moore, 268 Mont. 20, 885 P.2d 457, 471-75 (1994), disapproved on other grounds by State v. Gollehon, 274 Mont. 116, 906 P.2d 697, 700-01 (1995).
¶22 Defendant suggests that strict compliance with guidelines developed by the Technical Working Group on DNA Analysis and Methods (TWGDAM) should be a prerequisite for admitting any lab’s test results. He relies heavily on the NRC’s recommendation that laboratories adhere to TWGDAM standards. See 1992 NRC Report, supra, at 98-99. While we agree that such conformity might aid trial courts in determining whether an adequate foundational showing has been made, these guidelines are not mandatory. See id. at 99. Similarly, certification by the Laboratory Accreditation Board of the American Association of Crime Laboratory Directors could arguably provide a useful gauge of reliability, see 1996 NRC Report, supra, at 77, but it is not required. The appropriate inquiry is whether a lab’s techniques have deviated so far fi*om generally accepted practices that the test results cannot be accepted as reliable.
¶23 In this case, the prosecution presented its foundational evidence during the Frye hearing. See Bible, 175 Ariz. at 581, 858 P.2d at 1184 (trial court has discretion in deciding whether foundational showing is to be made outside jury’s presence). The court found all of the expert witnesses qualified and determined that the test in question complied sufficiently with the protocols of FSA, other labs, and the kit’s manufacturer, Cetus. The judge also concluded that Dr. Blake had recorded the results. These factual findings will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. See State v. Gentry, 125 Wash.2d 570, 888 P.2d 1105, 1118 (1995). As discussed below, we find that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in admitting the test results. See also Hill, 895 P.2d at 1246-47 (approving FSA’s methods); Lee, 537 N.W.2d at 258 (same); State v. Dishon, 297 N.J.Super. 254, 687 A.2d 1074, 1087 (App.Div.1997) (same), certification denied, 149 N.J. 144, 693 A.2d 112 (1997); Moeller, 548 N.W.2d at 483-84 (same).
Protocols and Proficiency Testing
¶24 FSA’s protocols for quality assurance, decontamination, and evaluation of results were not written out as recommended by the TWGDAM. Defendant claims that this omission prevented other scientists from reviewing the lab’s methodology. At the Frye hearing, however, Dr. Blake detailed the procedures that he and his assistant followed in conducting the analysis and controlling for contamination. Moreover, although TWGDAM guidelines advocate annual proficiency testing, the fact that FSA had not participated in such a test for more than two years does not necessarily render its results unreliable, as the defendant asserts. See 1996 NRC Report, supra, at 185 (“[P]roficiency-testing ... bears on the weight that should be accorded forensic test results.”). Defendant’s experts were free to challenge FSA’s techniques.
Number of Amplification Cycles
¶ 25 Defendant alleges that FSA’s use of thirty-five amplification cycles in the thermal cycler departs significantly from generally accepted practices and renders the results unreliable. He points to the Cetus User Guide and protocols from several other labs, all of which advocate thirty-two. We cannot say that the use of thirty-five cycles is a deviation that should have precluded admission of the data. See 1996 NRC Report, supra, at 69 (“This [PCR] three-step cycle is repeated, usually 20-35 times.”).
Temperature During Denaturation
¶ 26 Regulation of the temperature within the thermal cycler is critical for successful amplification. FSA’s calibration records revealed prior instances in which temperatures had fluctuated outside of recommended ranges. Defendant, however, makes no claim that this occurred here. Past difficulties with the thermal cycler are issues that affect weight, not admissibility. See Moore, 885 P.2d at 471-72.
Quantification of DNA
¶27 Defendant challenges FSA’s failure to quantify the extracted DNA prior to amplifying it. Most scientists agree that quantification should be done to ensure that a sufficient amount of DNA is available for testing. Dr. Blake testified that although he normally quantifies before amplification, he does not do so on DNA extracted from a single hair. This is because the measuring process would consume half of the sample, leaving nothing for repeat testing, which is itself an important safeguard. See id. at 473. In our view, the failure to quantify did not render the results inadmissible.
Contamination
¶ 28 During amplification, FSA used numerous controls to test for contamination. One of them, a sample run without any added DNA, showed a faint blue dot. Defendant argues that the final results should not have been admitted because this was evidence of contamination. He points to several other labs’ protocols, which state that testing should be considered inconclusive if a control appears positive. Dr. Blake, however, testified that what appeared here was “a barely detectable trace material that is too weak to clearly type.” In his view, it was not significant since all of the other controls were negative. Dr. Helentjaris agreed, stating that the faint dot “wouldn’t be evaluated by somebody in the field ... as a positive result.” Rather, it was “simply a trace signal.” At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court found that there was “no sufficient showing of contamination.” This finding is amply supported by the record. The court did not abuse its discretion.
DISCOVERY ISSUE
¶29 The defense requested FSA’s typing strip photos and amplification sheets for tests run immediately before and after those in this case. This material was necessary, defendant claimed, to fully evaluate possible contamination in Dr. Blake’s lab. He later expanded the request to include every DQ-alpha case analyzed by FSA that had been incorporated into its population database, contending that if there had been contamination in any of those tests, Dr. Blake’s frequencies would be flawed.
¶ 30 After extensive briefing and oral argument, the trial judge denied the defendant’s discovery motion. He found that the request was burdensome and irrelevant since FSA’s samples contributed to only one portion of the entire database used by Dr. Blake when calculating the frequencies. Moreover, based on evidence presented during the Frye hearing, the trial court noted that Dr. Blake’s population data compared favorably to frequencies that would be expected under an assumption of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
¶ 31 In an effort to establish substantial need for the raw data, the defense also asserted “lack of veracity” in Dr. Blake’s previous reporting. The court, however, found no basis for this contention. We review the court’s ruling for an abuse of discretion. See State v. Piper, 113 Ariz. 390, 392, 555 P.2d 636, 638 (1976); Ariz. R. Crim. P. 15.1(e).
¶ 32 To warrant disclosure, the defendant must show both “substantial need” for the requested information and that he “is unable without undue hardship to obtain the substantial equivalent by other means.” Id. The trial court may consider if compliance with a discovery order “would be unreasonable or oppressive.” Id.
¶ 33 Here, each side presented a very different picture of the consequences of disclosure. The state claimed that compliance with defendant’s request would be extremely burdensome, taking over 500 hours to complete and causing Dr. Blake to close down his laboratory. Defense counsel, on the other hand, contended that she had been to the lab and would need less than a day to copy everything that she had seen. Alternatively, she suggested that a defense expert could be appointed to conduct an in-house review during which selected documents would be copied.
¶ 34 Likewise, each side had its own version of the material’s availability elsewhere. The state believed that the defense had access to this information from other sources, including published data and documents previously received from various laboratories. Defendant, however, argued that the disclosure from other labs related to RFLP, not PCR. Furthermore, the publications would not be sufficient because Dr. Blake had extensively added to his database after the studies were released.
¶ 35 We note that the 1992 NRC Report emphasizes the importance of complete and open disclosure. See 1992 NRC Report, supra, at 132, 148 (“All materials relied on by prosecution experts must be available to defense experts, and vice versa.... Protective orders should not be used to prevent experts on either side from obtaining all relevant information, which can include original materials, data sheets, software protocols, and information about unpublished databanks.”). Similarly, there are no scientific grounds for withholding information in the discovery process. 1996 NRC Report, supra, at 167. Nevertheless, the trial judge was in the best position to rule on the defendant’s request and had the discretion to do so. “Something is discretionary because it is based on an assessment of conflicting procedural, factual or equitable considerations which vary from case to case and which can be better determined or resolved by the trial judge, who has a more immediate grasp of all the facts of the ease, an opportunity to see the parties, lawyers and witnesses, and who can better assess the impact of what occurs before him.” State v. Chapple, 135 Ariz. 281, 297 n. 18, 660 P.2d 1208, 1224 n. 18 (1983).
¶36 In the present case, almost four months had passed between defendant’s initial discovery request and the court’s final ruling on the matter. During this time, the trial judge heard and considered arguments from both sides. He ultimately determined that the defendant had not met the requirements of Rule 15.1(e), and consequently was not entitled to the material that he sought. We cannot say that the judge abused his discretion.
EVIDENCE OF ALTERNATIVE SUSPECTS
Kenneth Tyman
¶ 37 Defendant claims it was error to exclude evidence that Kenneth Tyman may have committed the murder. He sought to introduce the following: (1) that Tyman had previously rented the room later occupied by the victim and was seen with a key to that room weeks after the murder (which he denied); (2) that he lived near the motel in a tent where female undergarments soiled with feces had been found; (3) that he had been convicted of sexual assault more than ten years prior to the murder, was required to register as a convicted sex offender, had seen a psychologist concerning sex problems, and possessed pornographic materials after the murder; and (4) that there was circumstantial evidence linking Tyman to the murder of his wife, who had been strangled in Show Low two years earlier and was about the same age as the victim here. The trial court admitted evidence regarding the room key and the stained underwear, but excluded Ty-man’s sexual history and the Show Low murder based on Arizona Rules of Evidence 403 and 404(b). We review the admission or exclusion of evidence for abuse of discretion. State v. Robinson, 165 Ariz. 51, 56, 796 P.2d 853, 858 (1990).
¶38 A defendant is permitted to show that another person committed the crime for which he was charged. State v. Oliver, 169 Ariz. 589, 590, 821 P.2d 250, 251 (App.1991). It is, however, within the trial court’s sound discretion to exclude such evidence if “it simply affords a possible ground of suspicion against another.” Id. at 591, 821 P.2d at 252. To gain admission, “[t]he defendant must show that the evidence has an inherent tendency to connect the other person with the actual commission of the crime.” Id.
¶ 39 Rule 404(b) creates an exception to the ban on character evidence when “other crimes, wrongs, or acts” are offered for a relevant purpose other than propensity. State v. Hughes, 189 Ariz. 62, 68, 938 P.2d 457, 463 (1997). This rule applies to other acts of third persons as well as to those of defendants. See United States v. McCourt, 925 F.2d 1229, 1236 (9th Cir.1991).
¶40 The defense asserts that the Show Low incident was offered to suggest that Tyman, not defendant, murdered the victim in this case. “To establish identity based on other acts, ‘the modus operandi of and the circumstances surrounding the two crimes must be sufficiently similar as to be like a signature.’ ” Hughes, 189 Ariz. at 68, 938 P.2d at 463 (quoting State v. Jackson, 186 Ariz. 20, 27, 918 P.2d 1038, 1045 (1996), cert. denied, — U.S.—, 117 S.Ct. 527, 136 L.Ed.2d 413 (1996)). Although the details need not be identical, there must be similarities between important aspects where one would normally expect to find differences. See State v. Roscoe, 145 Ariz. 212, 217, 700 P.2d 1312, 1317 (1984). Even if we assume that it was Tyman who committed the Show Low murder, the parallels between the two crimes are not “sufficiently similar as to be like a signature.” The only likenesses we can ascertain are that both victims were strangled and were approximately the same age. This is not enough. See Hughes, 189 Ariz. at 68, 938 P.2d at 463 (concluding insufficient similarities where both victims were women who had angered defendant, and the same person may have been paid to commit the crimes); cf. State v. Harding, 137 Ariz. 278, 289-90, 670 P.2d 383, 394-95 (1983) (finding striking similarities where both victims had stayed at hotels, were similarly hogtied and gagged, and had personal items and vehicles stolen). Moreover, there are notable differences between the two crimes. Unlike the present case, the Show Low murder included no evidence of ligature strangulation, bite marks, or sexual assault. See State v. Stuard, 176 Ariz. 589, 597-98, 863 P.2d 881, 889-90 (1993) (examining differences as well as similarities among the crimes).
¶41 Even if we assume, arguendo, that the evidence would be admissible under Rule 404(b), it may nevertheless “be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.” Ariz. R. Evid. 403; see United States v. Perkins, 937 F.2d 1397, 1401 (9th Cir.1991). Charges were never brought against Tyman for the Show Low murder. Thus, any discussion of it would likely have resulted in a trial within a trial. Under such circumstances, the minimal probative value of the evidence was substantially outweighed by its potential for unfair prejudice, jury confusion, and unnecessary delay. The trial judge’s ruling under Rule 403 was not a clear abuse of discretion. See Williams, 133 Ariz. at 231, 650 P.2d at 1213.
¶42 The trial court also excluded Tyman’s ten-year-old sexual assault comic tion and evidence of his alleged “perverse sexual propensities.” The judge found that the conviction was too remote in time and not sufficiently similar to the instant crime to be relevant. We agree. Tyman’s conviction was for molesting his own daughters. Any similarity between that conduct and the assault in the present case is tenuous at best. More importantly, ten years is too distant in time to be of much probative value. See Roscoe, 145 Ariz. at 217, 700 P.2d at 1317.
¶ 43 Finally, evidence presented at trial established that Tyman had no teeth and that his dentures had been destroyed in a fire years before the murder. Expert testimony demonstrated that the bite marks found on the victim’s body could not have been made by someone without teeth or with dentures. For all of the foregoing reasons, we conclude the trial court was correct in excluding alternative suspect evidence involving Kenneth Tyman.
Torii Thompson
¶ 44 Defendant argues that it was error to exclude evidence of alternative suspect Torii Thompson. Apparently, Thompson had sued the victim, Thelma Younkin, for $50 in small claims court. He also had an unsatisfied judgment against a Christine Bauer for $2,000. Shortly after the Younkin murder, Thompson sent a letter to Bauer that stated, “Christine, this is the year for me to settle up with all who have fucked over me. See you soon, Torii.” A newsclipping of the Younkin murder and a copy of the lawsuit that Thompson had filed against Younkin were attached to the letter. Because Thompson was unavailable — neither the defense nor the state could locate him — defendant wanted Bauer to testify regarding the letter as a statement against Thompson’s penal interest. See Ariz. R. Evid. 804(b)(3). The trial judge excluded this evidence, finding that there was nothing to corroborate the trustworthiness of the implied admission that Thompson killed Younkin. The court further noted that the statement was made with a monetary interest, which weighed against its reliability.
¶ 45 We clarified the requirements of Rule 804(b)(3) in State v. LaGrand, 153 Ariz. 21, 26-29, 734 P.2d 563, 568-71 (1987). For a statement to be admissible under the rule, the declarant must be unavailable, the statement must be against the declarant’s interest, and there must be corroborating circumstances that “clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the exculpatory statement.” Id. Many factors are involved in determining trustworthiness, including: the existence of supporting and contradictory evidence, the relationship between the declarant and the listener, the relationship between the declarant and the defendant, the number of times the statement was made, the length of time between the event and the statement, the psychological and physical environment at the time of the statement, and whether the declarant would benefit from the statement. See id. at 27-28, 734 P.2d at 569-70.
¶46 The first requirement of admissibility, that the declarant be unavailable, is met here. Likewise, the second qualification, that the statement be against the declarant’s interest, is satisfied. The rule does not require a direct confession of guilt. See id. at 27, 734 P.2d at 569. “ ‘Rather, by referring to statements that “tend” to subject the declarant to criminal liability, the Rule encompasses disserving statements by a declarant that would have probative value in a trial against the declarant.’” Id. (quoting United States v. Thomas, 571 F.2d 285, 288 (5th Cir.1978)). In the present case, Thompson did not make a direct confession of guilt. Instead, his letter to Bauer suggested that he killed Younkin. Because this implied statement would tend to subject Thompson to criminal liability, it meets the second requirement.
¶ 47 The corroborating evidence requirement, however, is not satisfied. No further evidence links Thompson to the Younkin murder. On the other hand, there is ample contradictory evidence, for example, the eyewitness who saw defendant enter Younkin’s room, the DNA evidence, the bite-mark evidence, and the absence of any witness plac ing Thompson near the area. The statement was made only once. See id. at 28, 734 P.2d at 570 (“The number of times the statement is made and the consistency of multiple statements may assist in determining trustworthiness.”). More importantly, Thompson likely made it as an attempt to collect on a debt. That he would benefit from the statement makes it less reliable. See id. We agree with the trial judge that this evidence did not meet the requirements of Rule 804(b)(3). There was no abuse of discretion in excluding it.
¶48 On appeal, the defendant argues that the Show Low material is admissible as a public record. See Ariz. R. Evid. 803(8). Because he did not assert this argument in the trial court, however, the issue is waived. See McCormick on Evidence § 51, at 199 n. 17 (4th ed. 1992) (“[I]f a specific ground for admission is claimed in the offer of proof but is not applicable and the judge excludes the evidence, the proponent cannot complain if there was another ground for admission.”).
WUSSLER INSTRUCTION
¶ 49 Defendant challenges the lesser-included jury instruction approved in State v. Wussler, 139 Ariz. 428, 430, 679 P.2d 74, 76 (1984), which requires jurors to acquit on a charged offense before considering anything less. He argues that Wussler should be overruled in favor of a “reasonable efforts” instruction. Such a change was recently adopted in State v. LeBlanc, 186 Ariz. 437, 438, 924 P.2d 441, 442 (1996). That opinion, however, specifically held that it would apply only prospectively. Id. at 440, 924 P.2d at 444. The giving of a Wusslertype instruction here was not error.
LATE NOTICE OF INTENT TO SEEK THE DEATH PENALTY
¶ 50 The state notified defendant of its intent to seek the death penalty one day late. See Ariz. R. Crim. P. 15.1(g)(1) (requiring notice within 30 days of arraignment). Defendant claims that this delay deprived the trial court of jurisdiction to impose a capital sentence. We have held otherwise. Barrs v. Wilkinson, 186 Ariz. 514, 515, 924 P.2d 1033, 1034 (1996); Jackson, 186 Ariz. at 24, 918 P.2d at 1042.
PENALTY PHASE
¶ 51 Defendant raises no sentencing issues. Nevertheless, we must independently review the aggravating and mitigating factors to determine if death is an appropriate penalty. See A.R.S. § 13-703.01(A).
¶ 52 The trial judge found that the murder was committed in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner. A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(6). In finding both prongs of this aggravating factor, the court observed the following:
The defendant was a healthy male of good physical ability and strength, while the victim was an aged female, ill and infirm, of gentle disposition, and wholly at his mercy.
The victim was strangled, apparently by her own oxygen tubes, and suffered a painful and frightening death.
The victim was physically and sexually assaulted by the defendant while still alive or while at the point of death.
The defendant chewed off parts of the victim’s flesh while the victim was still alive.
The victim suffered great pain inflicted by the defendant.
The defendant caused feces to be smeared on the victim’s body.
The defendant bit and chewed the victim’s living flesh repeated times.
The victim offered no threat, meanness, or harm to the defendant and offered only the neighborly friendship of a frail, little old lady.
¶ 53 We agree that this murder was committed in an especially heinous and depraved manner. The victim was clearly helpless, the killing was senseless, and there is evidence of both needless mutilation to the victim’s body and gratuitous violence. See State v. Gretzler, 135 Ariz. 42, 52, 659 P.2d 1, 11 (1983). We thus uphold the (F)(6) aggravating factor on this basis and need not determine wheth er cruelty also exists. See State v. West, 176 Ariz. 432, 448, 862 P.2d 192, 208 (1993).
¶ 54 In mitigation, the trial court found that, even though the defendant’s alcohol intoxication on the night of the murder may have caused some degree of impairment, his ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the law’s requirements was not significantly impaired. See A.R.S. § 13-703(G)(1). The court also considered evidence of defendant’s history of substance abuse, good behavior during previous incarcerations, loving relationships with some family members, potential for rehabilitation, and dysfunctional upbringing. In conducting our independent review, we find, as did the trial judge, that the proven mitigation is not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.
DISPOSITION
¶ 55 Defendant’s convictions and sentences are affirmed.
FELDMAN, MOELLER and MARTONE, JJ., and EINO M. JACOBSON, Judge (Retired), concur.
Justice ROBERT J. CORCORAN (Retired) did not participate in the determination of this matter. Pursuant to Ariz. Const, art. VI, § 3, the Honorable Eino M. Jacobson, Judge (Retired) of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, was designated to sit in his stead.
. A primer "attaches to one end of a DNA fragment and provides a point for more complementary nucleotides to attach and replicate the DNA strand.” Federal Judicial Center, Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence 326 (1994)[herein-after Scientific Evidence].
. The DNA “ladder” is comprised of molecule pairs called "bases" — adenine(A), cytosine(C), guanine(G), and thymine(T). Fleming, supra, at 319. G and C bind exclusively with each other, as do A and T. The order of these bases along the DNA molecule constitutes a genetic code. Mullis, supra, at 56. Each variation of a specific sequence or gene is called an "allele.” Fleming, supra, at 319; Scientific Evidence, supra, at 323.
. A nucleotide is a "unit of DNA consisting of a base (A, C, G, or T) and attached to a phosphate and a sugar group.” Scientific Evidence, supra, at 326.
. The Hardy-Weinberg principle predicts the frequency of a genotype, assuming a large, randomIy-mating population without selection, migration, and mutation. 1992 NRC Report, supra, at 169. Dr. Blake, the state’s expert, testified that it is often used to check population data for potential problems by comparing the observed frequencies to those expected under an assumption of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
. Ariz. R. Evid. 404(c) regarding character evidence in sexual misconduct cases did not become effective until December 1, 1997, and thus was not applicable at the time of defendant’s trial.
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OPINION
PELANDER, Presiding Judge.
The issue in this domestic relations ease is whether, after a final decree of dissolution has been entered, a retired veteran may reduce his or her former spouse’s community property interest in military retirement pay by obtaining civil service employment. The trial court prohibited such a reduction and thereby preserved the decree’s allocation of community property to petitioner Sharon Gaddis (wife). Because we conclude that the trial court’s order is consistent with the decree and Arizona law and does not conflict with federal law, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
The parties were divorced in April 1993, after almost twenty-eight years of marriage. Respondent Eugene Gaddis (husband) was a member of the United States Air Force throughout the marriage and had retired in April 1992. The trial court initially entered a dissolution decree under which wife waived any rights to husband’s military retirement pay. After an evidentiary hearing on wife’s motion to set aside the decree, the trial court entered judgment in November 1994, awarding her “one-half of [husband’s] military retirement benefits as of February 1994.” Wife also received the family home, while husband received substantial savings bonds and interests in credit union and individual retirement accounts of approximately equal value. No spousal maintenance was requested or awarded.
Husband appealed, objecting only to the trial court’s awarding wife an interest in his military retirement benefits. After this court affirmed, Gaddis v. Gaddis, 2 CA-CV 94-0337 (memorandum decision filed March 31, 1995), the trial court issued a qualified domestic relations order in December 1995, ordering the appropriate agency to pay wife 50% of husband’s “disposable military retirement pay as calculated by the United States Joint Military Service Finance Center.”
Between March 1994 and June 1995, husband’s gross monthly retirement pay ranged between $2,923 and $3,004. After deductions for veterans’ benefits (ranging between $166 and $681) and disability benefits (averaging $964), husband’s disposable retirement income ranged from $1,359 to $1,870 per month. Although it is not entirely clear from the record, it appears that husband paid wife her share of his retirement pay directly, with monthly checks ranging from $750 to $785.
In October 1995, husband obtained civil ■ service employment with the federal government. His retiree account statement that month reflected a new $848.22 deduction for the “dual compensation offset” required by 5 U.S.C. § 5532(b), which provides:
A retired officer of a regular component of a uniformed service who holds a [civil service] position is entitled to receive the full pay of the position, but during the period for which he receives pay, his retired or retainer pay shall be reduced to an annual rate equal to the first $2,000 of the retired or retainer pay plus one-half of the remainder, if any.
Section 5532(b) thus reduced husband’s disposable retired pay to approximately $680 per month, half of which he paid to wife in November 1995. Wife then filed a petition for order to show cause, claiming that her share of husband’s retirement pay should not be reduced by the “dual compensation offset.”
After an unreported evidentiary hearing, the trial court ruled in April 1996 that the value of wife’s one-half interest in husband’s retirement pay was “not reduced by virtue of [husband’s] obtaining government employment and implication of the dual compensation offset.” The court further ruled that “the original, actual value of the retirement plan, to which [wife] is entitled to one-half ... is $1,500.00 per month;” it thus ordered husband to pay wife $750 per month. The court subsequently denied husband’s two motions for a new trial, reaffirmed its prior rulings, and held that “[husband’s] seeking and securing Federa[l] employment alters the calculation of disposable income, but does not alter the value of [wife’s] community property interest in the retirement plan at the time of the Decree, when it was distributed by the Court and it vested in her.” The court again ordered husband to pay wife $750 per month, less any amounts paid directly by the government, plus arrearages totaling $4,932.68, attorney’s fees, and costs. This appeal followed.
DISCUSSION
The Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (the Act), 10 U.S.C. § 1408, authorizes courts in -community property states like Arizona to divide “disposable retired pay” as community property in dissolution proceedings. § 1408(e). The Act was a “direct response” to the decision in McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U.S. 210, 101 S.Ct. 2728, 69 L.Ed.2d 589 (1981), in which the Supreme Court held that federal law prevented states from dividing military retirement pay as community property. Mansell v. Mansell, 490 U.S. 581, 584, 109 S.Ct. 2023, 2026, 104 L.Ed.2d 675 (1989). See also Edsall v. Superior Court, 143 Ariz. 240, 693 P.2d 895 (1984). In pertinent part, the Act defines “disposable retired pay” that is subject to division as follows:
the total monthly retired pay to which a member is entitled less amounts which—
ijí í}í >f; ifí í¡í
are deducted from the retired pay of such member as a result of ... a waiver of retired pay required by law in order to receive compensation under title 5 or title 38.
10 U.S.C. § 1408(a)(4)(B). Section 1408(e) then limits the “total amount of the disposable retired pay of a member payable under all court orders pursuant to subsection (c)” to “50 percent of such disposable retired pay.”
In Mansell, the Supreme Court held that the Act “does not grant state courts the power to treat as property divisible upon divorce military retirement pay that has been waived to receive veterans’ disability benefits.” 490 U.S. at 594-95, 109 S.Ct. at 2032. The Court noted that the Act’s grant of authority to state courts to divide military retirement pay “is both precise and limited” and that the statute expressly excludes amounts waived to receive disability benefits from the definition of “disposable retired pay.” Id. at 588, 109 S.Ct. at 2028. According to the Court, the defined term is used “to limit specifically and plainly the extent to which state courts may treat military retirement pay as community property.” Id. at 590, 109 S.Ct. at 2029. Moreover, the section of the Act addressed in Mansell, 10 U.S.C. § 1408(a)(4)(B), also excludes from the definition of “disposable retired pay” amounts waived to receive civil service compensation under title 5, U.S.C.
Relying on § 1408 and Mansell, husband contends that wife’s community interest in his retirement benefits must automatically be reduced by the amount he waived in order to receive civil service compensation, despite the fact that the waiver occurred well after the final dissolution decree was entered. We disagree because Arizona law does not permit, and federal law does not require, such an outcome.
Husband’s contention, which essentially calls for a de facto modification of the dissolution decree’s community property allocations, is inconsistent with Arizona law. In Arizona, “[a] decree of dissolution of mar-' riage ... is final when entered, subject to the right of appeal.” A.R.S. § 25-325. Provisions in a decree “as to property disposition may not be revoked or modified, unless the court finds the existence of conditions that justify the reopening of a judgment under the laws of this state.” § 25-327(A). As our supreme court has emphasized, “[t]he well-established rule is that property settlements are not subject to modification or termination.” DeGryse v. DeGryse, 135 Ariz. 335, 338, 661 P.2d 185, 188 (1983). See also Edsall, 143 Ariz. at 248, 693 P.2d at 903 (“A property award is essentially permanent.”). “The need for finality and stability in marriage and family law is great. Absent express authorization ... or a finding of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ as contemplated by rule 60(c)(6), a property settlement cannot be disturbed.” DeGryse, 135 Ariz. at 338, 661 P.2d at 188. See also Reed v. Reed, 124 Ariz. 384, 385, 604 P.2d 648, 649 (App.1979) (“There is a compelling policy interest favoring the finality of property settlements.”).
These principles strongly support the trial court’s implicit refusal to essentially modify the decree in this case by reducing wife’s community property interest in husband’s retirement pay due to a post-decree change in circumstances unilaterally imposed by husband. This court generally has not permitted a former spouse, post-decree, “to transform retirement benefits constituting community property to [other, non-retirement] benefits constituting separate property.” McNeel v. McNeel, 169 Ariz. 213, 215, 818 P.2d 198, 200 (App.1991). See also In re Marriage of Crawford, 180 Ariz. 324, 884 P.2d 210 (App.1994). In Crawford, a somewhat analogous case, we held that a husband could not divest his former spouse of a community property interest in accrued military retirement benefits by voluntarily relinquishing those benefits post-decree in order to receive a lump sum Special Separation Benefit, stating: “An employee spouse cannot defeat the nonemployee spouse’s interest in retirement benefits by invoking a condition wholly within his or her control.” Id. at 327, 884 P.2d at 213.
Neither the Act nor Mansell compels a different conclusion here. Nothing in the Act suggests that a court’s final award of a community property interest in retirement pay must be altered when the military retiree obtains civil service employment post-decree. Although the Act precludes a state court from dividing retirement pay waived pursuant to the dual compensation offset, the trial court did not do so in this case. Rather, the 1994 dissolution decree quantified with certainty wife’s community property interest in husband’s military retirement benefits by awarding her one-half of those benefits “as of February 1994.” See Stine v. Stine, 179 Ariz. 385, 388, 880 P.2d 142, 145 (App.1994) (meaning of decree determined from language used and court cannot remake language to alter existing rights or obligations). Compare Gilliland v. Stanley, 1997 WL 180587, at *1 (Tenn.App. April 16, 1997) (decree ordered husband to pay 35% “ ‘of his retirement benefits from the military when the same vests as long as [he receives] the same’ ”).
At the time of the decree, there was no dual compensation offset because husband had not yet obtained civil service employment. When he subsequently did, the decree already had established wife’s fixed interest in the military retirement benefits. Husband deliberately frustrated the decree by voluntarily waiving retirement benefits which the court had vested in wife. He could not reduce that vested interest by unilaterally obtaining civil service employment post-decree. Cf. Beltran v. Razo, 163 Ariz. 505, 507, 788 P.2d 1256, 1258 (App.1990) (ex-wife’s interest in former husband’s military retirement pay deemed “vested property rights”). As the Missouri court of appeals stated in a similar case:
In the present case the trial court awarded wife a percentage of disposable retired pay as calculated at the time of the decree. Wife’s share in husband’s pension was finally determined on the date of the decree as to amounts which had not at that time been waived and, thus, the decree did not violate Mansell by distributing waived amounts. The trial court finally determined wife’s interest in this marital asset.
In re Marriage of Strassner, 895 S.W.2d 614, 618 (Mo.App.1995). Just as the divorce decree in Strassner “protected wife’s right to receive the property she had been allocated, or its value, without specifying an improper source of funds for indemnification,” the trial court’s April 1996 order in this case “did not prospectively divide [waived] benefits, but instead provided a manner of enforcing the property division contained in the original decree.” Id.
We also note that the Supreme Court emphasized in Mansell that “domestic relations are preeminently matters of state law,” and there is no federal preemption absent evidence that it is “ ‘positively required by direct enactment.’ ” 490 U.S. at 587, 109 S.Ct. at 2028, quoting Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. 572, 581, 99 S.Ct. 802, 808, 59 L.Ed.2d 1 (1979) (quoting Wetmore v. Markoe, 196 U.S. 68, 77, 25 S.Ct. 172, 176, 49 L.Ed. 390 (1904)). Mansell presented “one of those rare instances where Congress has directly and specifically legislated in the area of domestic relations.” Id. Unlike this case, however, the divorce decree in Mansell awarded the wife a community property interest in the portion of retirement pay the husband already had waived to receive disability benefits and thus directly conflicted with the requirements of 10 U.S.C. §§ 1408(a)(4)(B) and 1408(c). Id. at 585-86, 109 S.Ct. at 2027.
Husband’s reliance on Gallegos v. Gallegos, 788 S.W.2d 158 (Tex.App.1990), is similarly misplaced. On appeal from a final divorce decree, the court held, inter alia, that the trial court “was without authority to divide that portion of [husband’s] retirement pay that was reduced in order for him to receive the full pay of his Civil Service position.” Id. at 161. Gallegos is distinguishable because the trial court’s decree in that case “improperly included and divided property not subject to division as part of the community estate.” Id. In contrast, the trial court in this case did not divide a portion of retirement pay that had been waived due to civil service employment at the time of the decree.
The Tennessee court of appeals has aptly noted that “this type of post-decretal action by military retirees has caused problems for courts and litigants across the nation in divorce cases where a percentage of military retirement benefits has been distributed as marital property.” Gilliland, 1997 WL 180587, at *4 (also observing that, in such cases, “the military retiree unilaterally alters the equitable distribution scheme fashioned by the trial court and, in some cases, by the parties themselves”). Mansell suggests that Congress has expressly preempted state courts’ authority to divide retirement pay that has been waived pursuant to the dual compensation offset at the time of the decree. Nonetheless, absent any indication that it is “positively required by direct enactment,” we decline to require courts to disturb property allocations in final divorce decrees when a former spouse/military retiree obtains civil service employment after the decree has been entered. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s orders of April 24, 1996 and following. In our discretion, we decline wife’s request for an award of attorney’s fees incurred in the trial court proceedings and on appeal.
ESPINOSA and HOWARD, JJ., concur.
. Husband was ordered to pay child support, but that obligation has since terminated.
. A military retiree must waive an amount of his or her retirement pay equal to the amount he or she receives in disability benefits. See Mansell, 490 U.S. at 584, 109 S.Ct. at 2026, 38 U.S.C. § 5305. As noted earlier, the Dual Compensation Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 5531 to 5537, also reduces the retirement pay of an officer who obtains civil service employment with the federal government. 5 U.S.C. § 5532(b).
. We recognize that courts in some cases not cited by the parties have reached a contrary conclusion. See Moon v. Moon, 795 S.W.2d 511 (Mo.App.1990); Knoop v. Knoop, 542 N.W.2d 114 (N.D. 1996).
|
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OPINION
BRAMMER, Judge.
Southwestern Paint & Varnish Company (SW) appeals from the trial court’s order granting Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ) motion to dismiss for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The trial court dismissed the action based on ADEQ’s argument that because SW did not apply to the administrative agency for a review or rehearing of the final administrative decision, it failed to exhaust the available administrative remedies, thereby precluding judicial review. The trial court’s understandable reliance on what we perceive as confusing precedent in this area is undercut by our current interpretation of the issue. As a result, we reverse.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In September 1995, SW submitted a claim to the State Assurance Fund for environmental corrective action costs. In March 1996, ADEQ issued its final determination concluding that SW’s claim for cleanup costs was ineligible for reimbursement. In April 1996, SW filed its notice of appeal contesting ADEQ’s final determination and a formal hearing was convened in June. In July, the administrative law judge (ALJ) issued its recommended decision affirming ADEQ’s original decision. In September, the director of ADEQ issued a final decision and order adopting the ALJ’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.
Instead of filing with the agency a motion for review or rehearing of the administrative decision, available under Arizona Administrative Code R18-1-218, SW filed a complaint for judicial review in October 1996. In January 1997, the trial court granted ADEQ’s motion to dismiss.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
In reviewing a trial court’s dismissal of a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), Ariz. R.Civ.P. 16 A.R.S., we accept the allegations in the complaint as true and resolve all inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Wallace v. Casa Grande Union High School Dist. No. 82, 184 Ariz. 419, 909 P.2d 486 (App.1995). We will uphold a dismissal only if it is certain that the plaintiff cannot prove any set of facts that would entitle it to relief. Id. We review questions of law de novo. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. v. Department of Corrections, 188 Ariz. 237, 934 P.2d 801 (App.1997).
JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS
SW contends that since it has complied with A.R.S. § 12-910, it is entitled to judicial review. Although SW has followed the filing procedures set forth in § 12-910, judicial review is only available when a party has received an adverse final administrative decision and has exhausted all available administrative remedies. See A.R.S. §§ 12-902 and 12-910; Campbell v. Chatwin, 102 Ariz. 251, 428 P.2d 108 (1967).
DISCUSSION
A. Arizona’s Administrative Review Act
The Arizona Administrative Review Act (ARA) is designed to govern judicial review of final administrative decisions when no other specific statute applies. See §§ 12-901 through 12-914; see also Herzberg v. State ex rel. Humphrey, 20 Ariz.App. 428, 513 P.2d 966 (1973) (provisions of the ARA are not applicable when a different statute provides for judicial review and establishes a definite procedure for such review). Because no statute expressly provides for review of environmental quality department decisions, the ARA and its procedures govern in this case.
The ARA determines the scope of review but does not address the distinction between a “final administrative decision” and the doctrine of exhaustion of remedies. Although notions of finality and the exhaustion doctrine are conceptually distinct, Darby v. Cisneros, 509 U.S. 137, 113 S.Ct. 2539, 125 L.Ed.2d 113 (1993), courts have treated “finality” as a requirement of the exhaustion doctrine. See Campbell; Medina v. Arizona Dept. of Transportation, 185 Ariz. 414, 916 P.2d 1130 (App.1995); Farmers Inv. Co. v. Arizona State Land Dept., 136 Ariz. 369, 666 P.2d 469 (App.1982); Herzberg v. David, 27 Ariz.App. 418, 555 P.2d 677 (1976).
B. Arizona’s Treatment of the Exhaustion Doctrine
The doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies is a common issue repeatedly discussed in Arizona cases, but one that has undergone numerous interpretations. Although ADEQ argues that Arizona law requires a rehearing, when one is available, before a party exhausts the administrative remedies, the cases and statutes addressing this issue suggest otherwise.
The purpose of the exhaustion doctrine is to allow an administrative agency the opportunity to correct its errors, see Ross v. Industrial Comm’n, 82 Ariz. 9, 307 P.2d 612 (1957) and Wammack v. Industrial Comm’n, 83 Ariz. 321, 320 P.2d 950 (1958), but the doctrine is also limited and imposed pursuant to statute and/or applicable administrative agency rules. See Campbell; Williams v. Bankers National Ins. Co., 80 Ariz. 294, 297 P.2d 344 (1956); Farmers Inv. Co. Additionally, the exhaustion doctrine “does not apply where, by the terms or implications of a statute authorizing the administrative remedy, the remedy is permissive!,] ... where jurisdiction of the agency is being contested, where the agency’s expertise is unnecessary or where irreparable harm will be caused to the party.” Campbell, 102 Ariz. at 257, 428 P.2d at 114.
C. The ARA Implicitly Provides for a Permissive Remedy
A long line of Arizona cases have addressed the exhaustion doctrine, but only Herzberg v. David expressly held that if review or rehearing of the administrative agency’s decision is available, one must be requested before the administrative decision becomes “final” for purposes of judicial review.
When there is not a specific Arizona statute that provides for judicial review and establishes a definite procedure, the ARA is utilized. See Foremost Life Ins. Co. v. Trimble, 119 Ariz. 222, 580 P.2d 360 (1978); Herzberg; State ex rel. Humphrey. The court in Herzberg had to utilize the ARA and looked to A.R.S. §§ 12-901(2) and 12-902(B) to determine whether a rehearing was required. Section 12-901(2) provides, in pertinent part:
In all cases in which a statute or a rule of the administrative agency requires or per mits an application for a rehearing or other method of administrative review, and an application for a rehearing or review is made, no administrative decision of such agency is final....
(Emphasis supplied.) Section 12-902(B) supplements this statement by requiring that if a party does request such a rehearing, they must do so timely, or judicial review is barred. We agree with Herzberg that these statutes must be read together. However, according to § 12-901(1), finality of an agency’s decision is deferred only when “an application for a rehearing or review is made, ” as specifically stated by the statute. Therefore, contrary to Herzberg, we find the statute does not require rehearing under all circumstances.
Arizona Administrative Code R18-1218(A) provides that “any party in a contested case before the Department may file ... a written motion for rehearing or review of the decision.” (Emphasis supplied.) The agency rule is unambiguous in stating that rehearing is permissive. As Campbell tells us, when a statute, by its terms or by implication, authorizing the administrative remedy is permissive, the exhaustion doctrine is inapplicable. Although the ARA is silent as to the permissiveness of an administrative remedy, we believe that since it does not unconditionally require a rehearing, the implications of the statute, when read in conjunction with R18-1-218(A) suggest that the remedy is indeed permissive and, as contemplated by our supreme court, excepted from the exhaustion doctrine.
Furthermore, the fact that SW was diligent in following the required agency guidelines and requesting a formal hearing, thereby affording the agency both the opportunity to correct possible errors and utilize its expertise, compels us to question whether a rehearing in front of the same agency is necessary. It is apparent that the purpose of the administrative review in SWs situation has been achieved, see Ross and Wammack, and the agency’s expertise was provided and a record made. Campbell. In consideration of these facts, from a policy perspective, we cannot find any reason to preclude SW from seeking judicial review of the agency decision. Accordingly, SW may seek judicial review notwithstanding its failure to request the permissive agency rehearing. Campbell.
The trial court’s order dismissing the case is reversed and the matter is remanded for further proceedings.
DRUKE, C.J., and FLOREZ, P.J., concur.
. Section 12-910, as amended by 1996 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 102, § 16, provides that an "action to review a final administrative decision shall be heard and____[i]f requested by a party ... within thirty days after filing a complaint, the court shall hold an evidentiary hearing, including testimony and argument____”
. As opposed to Herzberg v. State ex rel. Humphrey, 20 Ariz.App. 428, 513 P.2d 966 (1973) which also discusses judicial review of administrative decisions, but not the exhaustion doctrine.
. Recently amended A.R.S. § 41-1092 defines "final administrative decision” as "a decision by an agency that is subject to judicial review pursuant to sections 41-1092.10 and 41-1092.11," both of which were added by 1996 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 102, § 47.
Section 41-1092.09, also added in 1996, provides that "a party is not required to file a motion for rehearing or review of the decision in order to exhaust the party's administrative remedies.” It is applicable, however, only to notices of appeal filed with an agency from and after September 30, 1996, and accordingly, inapplicable to the appeal in this case. 1996 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 102, § 76.
|
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OPINION
PORTLEY, Judge.
¶ 1 Linda V. (“Mother”) challenges the juvenile court’s order terminating her parental rights to her daughter Anyssa. She contends that the Arizona Department of Economic Security (“ADES”) did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that she abused her daughter. She further argues that her boyfriend’s murder of her other daughter, Ashley, should not be considered. Finally, she maintains that the court violated her fundamental rights to parent Anyssa. We disagree and affirm the termination of her parental rights.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶2 The underlying facts are undisputed. After moving to Phoenix in October 2003 with her two daughters, four-year-old Ashley and twenty-one-month-old Anyssa, Mother witnessed her boyfriend violently shaking Ashley and saw severe bruises on Ashley’s buttocks. The boyfriend admitted abusing Ashley but told Mother he would stop. The abuse did not stop: in later weeks, Mother and other family members observed bruises on Ashley’s face, arms, and back.
¶ 3 Ashley died on January 4, 2004. The boyfriend admitted to the police that he had fatally beaten Ashley. He had hit her in the stomach area with a closed fist and had thrown her down against the wall or floor after he had driven Mother to work on January 3, 2004. Later, he noticed that Ashley had stopped breathing and tried to revive her. She vomited and appeared to resume breathing. He did not seek medical attention for Ashley or tell Mother.
¶ 4 Early the next morning, the boyfriend discovered that Ashley had died. Mother and boyfriend drove the child to the hospital approximately twenty to forty minutes later, but stopped on the way at the boyfriend’s sister’s house to drop off Anyssa. The hospital personnel recognized that Ashley had been dead for hours and counted approximately 175 bruises on her.
¶ 5 ADES filed a dependency petition to protect Anyssa, and she was found dependent as to both Mother and Mother’s boyfriend, her father. The juvenile court later severed the boyfriend’s parental rights. After the court terminated Mother’s parental rights, she filed a notice of appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 9, of the Arizona Constitution, and Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) sections 8-235(A) (Supp.2004), 12-120.21(A)(1) (2003), and - 2101(B) (2003).
DISCUSSION
¶ 6 Although a parent’s right to care, custody, and control of his or her children has long been recognized as fundamental, Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65, 120 S.Ct. 2054, 147 L.Ed.2d 49 (2000); Michael J. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 196 Ariz. 246, 248, ¶ 11, 995 P.2d 682, 684 (2000); Matter of Juv. Action No. JS-50027I, 167 Ariz. 1, 5, 804 P.2d 730, 734 (1990), it is not absolute. Michael J., 196 Ariz. at 248, ¶ 12, 995 P.2d at 684. The State may terminate a parent’s fundamental right to a child under statutorily enumerated conditions after following specified procedures. Id. “To justify termination of the parent-child relationship, the trial court must find, by clear and convincing evidence, at least one of the statutory grounds set out in [A.R.S.] section 8-533, and also that termination is in the best interest of the child.” Id. at 249, ¶ 12, 995 P.2d at 685; see A.R.S. § 8-533(B) (Supp.2004).
¶ 7 Mother contends that because she did not abuse or neglect Anyssa, the juvenile court erred in basing its termination order on A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(2). That subsection states that termination may occur when:
[T]he parent has neglected or wilfully abused a child. This abuse includes serious physical or emotional injury or situations in which the parent knew or reasonably should have known that a person was abusing or neglecting a child.
A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(2). ADES counters that the subsection permits the juvenile court to terminate parental rights if the parent abused or neglected the child, another child, or knew or had reason to know that another child was being abused by someone else. We review de novo the juvenile court’s interpretation of this statute. In re Kyle M., 200 Ariz. 447, 448, ¶ 6, 27 P.3d 804, 805 (App. 2001).
¶ 8 When construing statutes our first duty is to ascertain and give effect to the legislature’s intent. In re Adam P., 201 Ariz. 289, 291, ¶ 12, 34 P.3d 398, 400 (App.
2001). While seeking the intent of the legislature, we first look at the plain wording of the statute. Id. When a “statute is clear and unambiguous, we apply it without using other means of statutory construction,” Aros v. Beneficial Ariz., Inc., 194 Ariz. 62, 66, 977 P.2d 784, 788 (1999), if such meaning is constitutional. Garrison v. Luke, 52 Ariz. 50, 55, 78 P.2d 1120, 1122 (1938). However, if the terms are ambiguous, we determine legislative intent by looking at “the statute’s context, subject matter, historical background, effects and consequences, and spirit and purpose.” Aros, 194 Ariz. at 66, 977 P.2d at 788 (quoting Zamora v. Reinstein, 185 Ariz. 272, 275, 915 P.2d 1227, 1230 (1996)).
¶ 9 Section 8-533 lists the different statutory bases to terminate parents’ rights to care, custody, and control of their child. As noted above, subsection (B)(2) justifies termination if “a child” is abused or neglected by either the parent or another person and the parent knew or should have known about the abuse or neglect. ADES argues that this subsection permits the juvenile court to terminate parents’ rights to any of their children if the agency proves that the parents either abused or neglected another child, or knew or had reason to know that another child was being abused by someone else. This interpretation was impliedly adopted by the juvenile court to severe Mother’s parental rights to Anyssa.
¶ 10 We first note that the phrase “a child” contained in § 8-533(B)(2) is ambiguous because it is readily capable of vastly different interpretations. Among other possible meanings, that phrase can mean “the child” or “another child of the parent.” Both of these potential meanings are found elsewhere within § 8-533.
¶ 11 In § 8-533(A), the phrase “a child” appears to mean “the child.” That subsection states:
Any person or agency that has a legitimate interest in the welfare of a child, including, but not limited to, a relative, a foster par ent, a physician, the department of economic security or a private licensed child welfare agency, may file a petition for the termination of the parent-child relationship alleging grounds contained in subsection B of this section.
A.R.S. § 8-533(A) (emphasis added). Logically, the phrase “a child” in this context means “the child” rather than “any child” or “another child of the parent” because a “person” or “agency” must first have some contact with a specific child before a petition can be filed. Although ADES and other agencies have responsibility to protect children generally, that duty alone is not sufficient to permit the agency to file a petition with regard to a specific child. Furthermore, the terms “relative,” “foster parent,” and “physician,” each imply a relationship between that person and an individual child rather than children in general. Any other interpretation of “a child” would create an absurd result, and we will not interpret the statute that way. Garrison, 52 Ariz. at 56, 78 P.2d at 1122.
¶ 12 The same phrase is also found in subsection (B)(7), which states that the court may terminate a parent-child relationship if “the parents have relinquished their rights to a child to an agency or have consented to the adoption.” A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(7). Again, the only logical interpretation of “a child” in this subsection is “the child.” Permitting the court to terminate a parent’s rights to one child merely because she has given up another child for adoption is not, by itself, sufficient to justify terminating a parent’s rights.
¶ 13 In other subsections of § 8-533(B), the legislature used the phrase “the child” when it intended to refer to a specific child whose relationship with a parent was to be terminated. See A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(l), (4), (8), and (11). Furthermore, other subsections of the statute use “another child” and “another child of the parent” when referring to a different child of that same parent whose rights are to be terminated with respect to the child named in the termination petition. See A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(4), (10).
¶ 14 Although the phrase “a child” can have different meanings, we need not address the many potential interpretations aside from either “the child” or “another child of the parent” because we are presented with only one set of facts. Here, Ashley was fatally abused, and Anyssa was removed because of that abuse; we therefore focus on whether “a child” in the statute means “the child” who was abused or “another child of the parent” who was not abused. We need not determine whether the language is intended to limit the meaning of the phrase to “the child,” i.e., the child who is the subject of the termination petition, or to “another child of the parent,” i.e., a different child of that parent who is not the subject of the termination petition. Although the statute may appear ambiguous, when the statute is examined in light of the pre-existing statutory language, the legislature’s meaning is clear. Accordingly, based on the statutory language and context we hold that § 8-533(B)(2) can mean that parents who abuse or neglect their children, or who permit another person to abuse or neglect their children, can have their parental rights to their other children terminated even though there is no evidence that the other children were abused or neglected. Indeed, that is the very fact situation that prompted the legislature to change the statute.
¶ 15 The legislative committee minutes reflect that the legislature acknowledged various interpretations of this language and that this interpretation was intended. See Minutes of S. Comm, on Appropriations, 43rd Leg., 1st Regular Sess. (Mar. 26,1997), http:/ /www.az leg.state.az.us /Committeelnfo. asp? Committee — ID =63 (statements by Sen. Peter Rios and Sen. Gary Richardson regarding H.B. 2255). When asked about the purpose for the language change, the Attorney General representative responded that the amendment was intended to give ADES the authority to remove children from parents who had already murdered or seriously injured other children although there was no evidence that the parent had injured the child at issue. Senator Richardson asked whether “a child” could mean an unrelated child. The representative confirmed it could theoretically have that meaning but the requirement that the termination grounds must be proven by clear and convincing evidence would prevent use of the statute for improper purposes.
¶ 16 Based upon our interpretation of the statute and review of the record, the juvenile court properly determined that statutory grounds for termination existed to sever Mother’s rights to Anyssa. We next address whether the termination of Mother’s parental rights to Anyssa is in the child’s best interest.
¶ 17 Mother argues that ADES failed to prove that terminating her rights was in Anyssa’s best interest. At trial, witnesses testified that termination would be in Anyssa’s best interest, she is adoptable, and she was doing well in her current placement. The ADES employee assigned to this matter testified that Mother’s neglect resulted in Ashley’s death. Her opinion was that Mother would “handle Anyssa the same way” that she had handled Ashley. She testified that “the risk [was] very high that [Anyssa] would suffer abuse” if Anyssa were returned to Mother’s care. In addition, Dr. Kathryn Coffman, a pediatrician who had examined Anyssa as well as Ashley’s medical reports, testified that she would be “very concerned about any child being in [Mother’s] care” based on Mother’s failure “to take any steps to protect” Ashley despite Mother’s knowledge that the abuse was taking place. As Dr. Coffman put it, “for two months at least [Ashley] was beaten while in [Mother’s] care, that she continued to leave the child in harm’s way, and the child ended up dying a very painful death” due to Mother’s knowing failure to protect her. Our review of the record reveals sufficient evidence to uphold the juvenile court’s best interest finding. See Kent K v. Bobby M., 210 Ariz. 279, 288, ¶ 42, 110 P.3d 1013, 1022 (2005) (holding that best interest of child need only be proven by a preponderance of the evidence).
CONCLUSION
¶ 18 Based on the foregoing, we affirm the termination of Mother’s parental rights to Anyssa.
CONCURRING: DANIEL A. BARKER, Presiding Judge and SUSAN A. EHRLICH, Judge.
. Mother does not argue that the statute is facially unconstitutional, and we therefore address only its application on the facts of this case.
. In 1997, this subsection was amended from its former language, "the child," to its present language, "a child.” 1997 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 222, § 49. Generally, “[w]hen the legislature modifies the language of a statute, we must presume it intended to change the existing law.” In re Kyle M., 200 Ariz. at 450, V 14, 27 P.3d at 807. See also Washburn v. Pima County, 206 Ariz. 571, 576, ¶ 11, 81 P.3d 1030, 1035 (App.2003) ("[W]e presume the legislature intends to change the law when it substantively changes the language of a statute.”). Thus, we must give effect to the legislature’s substitution of "the child” with "a child.” To read the two different versions as being identical "would mean that the legislature’s amendment ... was purely formal, without substantive significance or practical' effect,” a result prohibited under the rules of statutory construction. In re Paul M., 198 Ariz. 122, 124, ¶ 6, 7 P.3d 131, 133 (App.2000).
. Although, in this case the constitutional requirement of showing a nexus between the abuse or neglect committed on the child who was abused (Ashley) and the risk that such abuse would occur to a different child (Anyssa) to whom parental rights were being severed, was established, we are not faced with, nor do we address, a scenario where there has been prior conduct by a parent that is remote in time with regard to the child to whom parental rights have been severed.
|
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OPINION
PELANDER, Chief Judge.
¶ 1 Appellants Willie G. and Bonnie H. appeal from the juvenile court’s order of July 14, 2004, adjudicating their daughter, Nykole G., a dependent child. In these consolidated appeals, the parents collectively challenge the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the dependency proceeding and the sufficiency of the evidence establishing that Nykole was dependent as to Willie. They also argue the juvenile court abused its discretion and deprived them of constitutional rights by refusing to let them appear telephonieally at the contested dependency hearing and in other respects.
¶ 2 As defined in A.R.S. § 8-201(13)(a), a dependent child includes one:
(i) In need of proper and effective parental care and control and who has no parent or guardian, or one who has no parent or guardian willing to exercise or capable of exercising such care and control;]
(ii) Destitute or who is not provided with the necessities of life, including adequate food, clothing, shelter or medical care[; or]
(iii) A child whose home is unfit by reason of abuse, neglect, cruelty or depravity by a parent, a guardian or any other person having custody or care of the child.
The petitioner’s burden of proof in a dependency proceeding is a preponderance of the evidence. A.R.S. § 8-844(C)(l); In re Cochise County Juvenile Action No. 5666-J, 133 Ariz. 157, 159, 650 P.2d 459, 461 (1982).
Factual and Procedural Background
¶ 3 Before Nykole was born on June 5, 2001, the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES) and Child Protective Services (CPS) had been involved over a period of years with Bonnie and four older children not fathered by Willie. ADES had first filed dependency petitions in 1993 and 1994 as to Bonnie’s daughters Alexandria and Blake, born in 1992 and 1994. Bonnie ultimately relinquished her parental rights to those two in 1996. She gave birth to a third daughter, Bridget, in 1997 and to a son, Anthony, in 1999. ADES took Bridget and Anthony into protective custody in 2000, and they were adjudicated dependent as to Bonnie in September of that year. Within days of Nyk-ole’s birth in June 2001, ADES filed a dependency petition as to her as well, and the juvenile court adjudicated Nykole dependent as to both Bonnie and Willie in September 2001.
¶4 The parents appealed, and this court reversed the adjudication in September 2002, finding ADES had failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Nykole was in fact dependent as to either Bonnie or Willie. Bonnie H. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., Nos. 2 CA-JY 2001-0077, 2 CA-JV 2001-0078 (consolidated) (memorandum decision filed Sept. 13, 2002). The dependency proceeding as to Nykole was dismissed soon after our mandate issued, and Nykole was returned to her parents’ custody in December 2002. In light of those and other events, severance proceedings that had been pending as to Bridget and Anthony were also dismissed. The dependency proceeding remained open as to them, but the case plan goal for Bridget and Anthony was changed from severance to family reunification.
¶5 Bridget and Anthony were not returned to Bonnie’s physical custody until February 2004. Despite the passage of over three years since the children had been adjudicated dependent, by February 2004, Bonnie and Willie still had not achieved stable employment, steady income, or independent housing. They and Nykole had been living with Willie’s parents and planning to move to Kentucky to live with an aunt once Bonnie regained custody of Bridget and Anthony. On March 26, 2004, the juvenile court expressly denied permission for Bonnie and Willie to take Bridget and Anthony from Arizona to Kentucky, stating:
At this point I don’t feel comfortable saying[, “]Okay, you can move to Kentucky now.[”] I want to see a period of time in which the children are placed with you and things are going well. I’m really encouraged by what I’m hearing, but I need to see a bit more time.
¶ 6 Nonetheless, sometime between April 9 and April 11, Bonnie and Willie took all three children and left Arizona for Kentucky. ADES learned that the family was in a motel in Texas and arranged for authorities there to pick up Bridget and Anthony on April 11. ADES then filed a dependency petition as to Nykole and obtained a court order authorizing CPS to take her into custody. The same authorities picked Nykole up on April 13 and placed her in a temporary foster home with Bridget and Anthony. Although all three children were returned to Arizona, Bonnie and Willie did not return but, instead, continued to Kentucky without the children.
¶ 7 In May 2004, the juvenile court denied the parents’ oral request for permission to appear telephonically at the contested dependency hearing. In June, it denied a written motion to reconsider its ruling. Neither parent appeared in person at the contested dependency hearing on July 7, at which the state presented the testimony of five witnesses and other evidence, and the juvenile court found Nykole’s dependency had been proved by a preponderance of the evidence as to both parents.
Legal Issues
¶8 Bonnie and Willie first challenge the jurisdiction of the juvenile court to order Nykole to be taken into custody in Texas and to entertain dependency proceedings in Arizona. Bonnie argues that, because Nykole was not the subject of a pending dependency action or custody order when she left the state, Arizona lacked jurisdiction over her once she was physically outside Arizona. Both Bonnie and Willie argue that the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), A.R.S. §§ 25-1001 through 25-1067, does not apply in these circumstances. Matters of statutory interpretation are questions of law, which we review de novo. Mary Lou C. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 207 Ariz. 43, ¶ 9, 83 P.3d 43, 47 (App.2004). Our review of mixed questions of fact and law is similarly de novo. Wilmot v. Wilmot, 203 Ariz. 565, ¶ 10, 58 P.3d 507, 510 (2002).
¶ 9 Contemporaneously with its motion for an order authorizing CPS to take custody of Nykole in Texas, ADES filed a dependency petition concerning Nykole, mistakenly entitled “Third Amended Dependency Petition.” Although ADES had indeed filed a previous dependency petition and two subsequent amended petitions, all three preceded our decision on appeal, which reversed the September 2001 adjudication of dependency and led in turn to the termination of that proceeding. As a result, the new petition was mistitled an “amended” petition. ADES rectified the mistake three days later by filing a “dependency petition and petition for paternity and financial responsibility.”
¶ 10 Willie argues that the order authorizing ADES to take custody of Nykole was invalid because the “third amended dependency petition” on which it was based had been invalid. Although the petition was indeed mislabeled, it was replaced almost immediately by the substantively similar, and correctly titled, dependency petition filed three days later. The error in the title of the first petition was one of form, not substance, and it was promptly remedied. We decline to hold that the error in labeling the petition invalidated the juvenile court’s attendant order authorizing CPS to take Nykole into custody pursuant to the general authority conferred by A.R.S. § 8-821.
¶ 11 Like Arizona, Texas also has adopted the UCCJEA, Tex. Fam.Code Ann. §§ 152.001 through 152.317, which encompasses dependency proceedings among the various “[e]hild custody proceeding^]” to which the Act applies. A.R.S. § 25-1002(4)(a). An Arizona court “has jurisdiction to make an initial child custody determination” if Arizona “is the home state of the child on the date of the commencement of the proceeding.” § 25 — 1031(A)(1). Pursuant to § 25-1031(A)(4), Arizona also has jurisdiction if no other state would have jurisdiction under any of the alternative criteria specified in § 25-1031(A)(l), (2), or (3).
¶ 12 Clearly, Arizona was Nykole’s “home state” by virtue of her having lived here since her birth, including “at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement” of the dependency proceeding. § 25-1002(7)(a). Notwithstanding her removal from the state only days before ADES filed the correctly titled dependency petition, Arizona remained Nykole’s home state for purposes of the UCCJEA. Moreover, no other state qualified as her home state under the definitions of § 25-1002(7)(a), making Arizona’s jurisdiction manifest under either § 25-1031(A)(l) or (A)(4). We thus reject the parents’ contentions that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction over this dependency proceeding.
¶ 13 Second, the parents contend the juvenile court abused its discretion by refusing to allow them to participate in the contested dependency hearing by telephone from Kentucky. We review a juvenile court’s ruling on a discretionary matter for a clear abuse of the court’s discretion. E.g., In re Stephanie B., 204 Ariz. 466, ¶ 8, 65 P.3d 114, 116 (App.2003) (determination of restitution award); William Z. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 192 Ariz. 385, ¶ 9, 965 P.2d 1224, 1226 (App.1998) (ruling on timeliness of motion to intervene); In re Pima County Severance Action No. S-2248, 159 Ariz. 302, 305, 767 P.2d 25, 28 (App.1988) (rulings on requests for psychological examination of child and for consolidation of one sibling’s termination hearing with another’s dependency hearing). Determining what constitutes good cause for a party’s failure to appear at a hearing is “largely discretionary.” John C. v. Sargeant, 208 Ariz. 44, ¶ 13, 90 P.3d 781, 784 (App. 2004).
¶ 14 Rule 42, Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct., 17B A.R.S., provides that a juvenile court “may permit telephonic testimony or argument or video conferencing in any dependency, guardianship or termination of parental rights hearings.” The juvenile court thus had the authority, but not an obligation, to allow the parents to appear by telephone rather than in person. At a settlement conference in June 2004, at which Bonnie and Willie did appear by telephone, the court admonished them that their personal appearances would be required for the contested dependency hearings and that the court would “in all likelihood” deem their absence from those proceedings an admission to the allegations of the dependency petition.
¶ 15 The parents then filed a joint motion to reconsider, citing their “extremely limited financial resources” as the reason they would “have great difficulty” returning to Tucson for the hearing. As authority for their request to appear by telephone rather than in person, they cited John C, which held that a father’s incarceration in a federal prison had constituted good cause for his failure to appear at a jury trial in an action to terminate his parental rights. “[A] telephonic appearance [at a severance trial] is an acceptable alternative to personal appearance when personal appearance is prevented by incarceration.” 208 Ariz. 44, ¶ 17, 90 P.3d at 785.
¶ 16 Bonnie and Willie, of course, were not incarcerated but, rather, elected to leave the state with Nykole and her half-siblings. Then, despite knowing that the children were being returned to Arizona, the parents chose to move to Kentucky without them. The juvenile court found the parents’ absence was entirely voluntary, noting that they had left Arizona surreptitiously and in contravention of the court’s express refusal to permit them to do so in Bridget’s and Anthony’s dependency proceeding.
¶ 17 Although the court stated additional reasons for denying the parents’ request to appear telephonically — the need to observe and monitor their behavior during the hearing, particularly in light of Bonnie’s previous inappropriate, profane, and disrespectful behavior in court; the “chronic problems” with the court’s unreliable telephone system; and the anticipated length of the hearing — the court appears to have assigned greatest weight to the voluntary nature of the parents’ departure and their resulting absence from the state. We do not find its reasoning arbitrary, capricious, or inappropriate. See Quigley v. City Court, 132 Ariz. 35, 37, 643 P.2d 738, 740 (App.1982)(abuse of discretion “is discretion manifestly unreasonable, or exercised on untenable grounds, or for untenable reasons”). Even if another court might have ruled differently, see Toy v. Katz, 192 Ariz. 73, 83, 961 P.2d 1021, 1031 (App.1997), we cannot say the juvenile court abused its discretion by insisting that Bonnie and Willie attend the dependency hearing in person.
¶ 18 Next, the parents contend that, by refusing to permit them to appear telephonically and confer with counsel during the dependency hearing, the court denied them due process and the right conferred by Rule 52(C)(4)(b), Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct., to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against them. The record does not support their contention. Instead, it reflects that Bonnie and Willie were properly served the dependency petition and notice of all hearings, were represented by counsel throughout, and were told repeatedly by the court that their presence was required at all hearings and that them failure to appear could result in Nykole’s being adjudicated dependent in their absence. The essential requirements of procedural due process are reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard. J.D.S. v. Franks, 182 Ariz. 81, 95, 893 P.2d 732, 746 (1995); In re Pima County Juvenile Action No. S-949, 131 Ariz. 100, 101, 638 P.2d 1346, 1347 (App.1981). Bonnie and Willie clearly received both.
¶ 19 On June 30, one week before the dependency adjudication hearing, the court denied the parents’ joint motion to reconsider its earlier ruling on their oral request to attend the hearing telephonically. In denying the motion to reconsider, the court underscored its previous admonitions and its ruling requiring the parents to be physically present for the hearing as contemplated by Rule 55(D)(2), Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. Although the parents now argue they were financially unable to return to Arizona for the hearing, the juvenile court was entitled to view that as an unfortunate but easily foreseeable consequence of their decision to leave the state and move to Kentucky.
¶ 20 The juvenile court cannot be said to have deprived Bonnie and Willie of their constitutional rights simply by refusing to specially accommodate circumstances the parents had themselves created by removing Bonnie’s two dependent children from the jurisdiction and moving away, in contravention of an express ruling by the court. If Bonnie and Willie were subsequently unable to exercise their rights to attend the depen-' dency hearing, confer with counsel, confront the witnesses against them, and otherwise participate in the proceeding, that was a direct result of their decision to ignore the juvenile court’s ruling, leave the state, and effectively forfeit the rights they now claim they were denied. We reject their argument.
¶ 21 Finally, both parents contend there was no reasonable evidence to support the court’s finding that Nykole was dependent as to Willie. On review of an adjudication of dependency, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the juvenile court’s findings. In re Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. JD-5312, 178 Ariz. 372, 376, 873 P.2d 710, 714 (App.1994). We generally will not disturb a dependency adjudication unless no reasonable evidence supports it. In re Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. JD-500200, 163 Ariz. 457, 461, 788 P.2d 1208, 1212 (App.1989). And, because “[t]he primary consideration in a dependency case is always the best interest of the child, ... the juvenile court is vested with ‘a great deal of discretion.’” Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec. v. Superior Court, 178 Ariz. 236, 239, 871 P.2d 1172, 1175 (App. 1994), quoting In re Cochise County Juvenile Action No. 5666-J, 133 Ariz. 157, 160, 650 P.2d 459, 462 (1982).
¶22 Although Willie was not formally a party to the dependency proceeding on Bonnie’s older children, Bridget and Anthony, he had accepted reunification services from CPS and had been participating voluntarily in the case plan with Bonnie. When Bridget and Anthony were returned to Bonnie’s custody in 2004, Willie, Bonnie, and all three children were living with Willie’s parents in a two-bedroom apartment, and Willie was working “various hours for a temporary agency.” Willie’s and Bonnie’s lack of stable housing, employment, and income had long been an issue in the case and remained so when they absconded with the children in April 2004.
¶ 23 When the authorities in Texas arrived to take Bridget and Anthony into custody, they noted a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the motel room. In response to questioning, Willie produced a quantity of marijuana from a tin box underneath a bed. As a result, he was arrested, jailed, and charged with possessing marijuana, rendering him obviously unable to care for Nykole. After Willie’s arrest and the removal of Bridget and Anthony, Bonnie had no money, no place to stay, and no means of providing for Nykole. She and Nykole were living in a shelter when authorities returned two days later to take Nykole into custody.
¶24 Once in protective custody in Texas, Nykole was discovered to have a nickel-sized, greenish bruise on her back, which she said had resulted from her mother’s kicking her in the back. Nykole was placed together with Bridget and Anthony in a temporary foster home in Texas until an Arizona CPS parent aide arrived to bring all three children back to Arizona. Told by the foster mother that something was wrong with Nyk-ole’s stomach, the aide noticed that Nykole appeared bloated. The aide believed Nykole was probably bloated from constipation, although Nykole stated repeatedly that her mother had hit her and kicked her in the stomach.
¶ 25 Even before the family had left Arizona, the same aide had seen a bite mark on Nykole’s hand that Nykole had variously attributed to each of her parents. Bonnie explained the mark by saying she had “had NykM bite herself so she could see ... what it felt like” when Nykole bit other children. Particularly in combination, Nykole’s injuries afforded evidence of Willie’s failure or inability to protect her from abuse at her mother’s hands and, thus, of Nykole’s dependency. The juvenile court also took judicial notice of Willie’s role in leaving Arizona with Bonnie and her children knowing that the court had denied Bonnie permission to remove Bridget and Anthony from the state.
¶ 26 The CPS caseworker testified that she had spoken with Willie by telephone in May 2004. He had called her to say he wanted the dependency proceedings transferred to Kentucky and the children returned to his and Bonnie’s custody there. Willie said, however, that neither he nor Bonnie would submit to random urinalyses and that Bonnie would not seek mental health services in Kentucky. Willie denied the need for either. In the same conversation, he claimed to have a job and housing in Kentucky, but he never sent CPS requested confirmation of either. He similarly failed to document his assertion that the marijuana charges against him in Texas had been dismissed.
¶27 In sum, the evidence supported the juvenile court’s findings and was more than sufficient to sustain its conclusion that Nyk-ole was dependent as to both Willie and Bonnie, neither of whom was exercising, or currently able to exercise, “proper and effective parental care and control” of Nykole. § 8-201(13)(a)(i). We therefore affirm the juvenile court’s order adjudicating Nykole dependent as to both parents.
FLÓREZ, P.J. and ESPINOSA, J., concurring.
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OPINION
BALES, Justice.
I.
¶ 1 The issue presented is whether agricultural landowners have vested rights to certain irrigation water from the Central Arizona Project (“CAP”). The water is the subject of a master contract between the United States and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (“CAWCD”) and related subcontracts between these entities and the two petitioner irrigation districts. The landowners are not parties to these agreements. Because we hold that the landowners do not have vested rights to the CAP water in question, we vacate the trial court’s contrary ruling and remand this case for entry of judgment in favor of the districts.
II.
¶ 2 This litigation arose because the irrigation districts contemplate entering into a water rights settlement that would relinquish their rights to CAP water under their subcontracts with the United States and the CAWCD.
¶ 3 The districts are Arizona municipal corporations governed by boards of directors who in turn are elected by landowners within a district’s boundaries. Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) §§ 48-2901, -2922, -2978 (2005). Irrigation districts are specifically authorized to enter into contracts with the United States for the delivery, distribution, or apportionment of water for the lands of the district. A.R.S. § 48-3092.
¶4 The districts have faced more than a decade of financial turmoil stemming from the high cost of repaying the United States for constructing the CAP to distribute irrigation water from the Colorado River. The proposed settlement would allow the districts to obtain debt relief in exchange for relinquishing their rights to CAP water under the subcontracts; they also would be able to purchase CAP water through 2030 under new agreements.
¶ 5 By a majority vote, landowners within each district approved the proposed relinquishment of rights to CAP water under the subcontracts. Some dissenting landowners (“landowners”) filed two lawsuits, one against the districts and one against the CAWCD, alleging that they had vested rights to CAP water that could not be abrogated without their consent.
¶ 6 The suit against the CAWCD was removed to the United States District Court, which later dismissed it for failure to state a claim. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this ruling. Smith v. Cent. Ariz. Water Conservation Dist., 418 F.3d 1028 (9th Cir.2005).
¶ 7 The suit against the districts proceeded in the superior court. The trial court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the landowners, holding that they have vested rights to the CAP water governed by the subcontracts and that the districts may not alter those rights without the landowners’ consent. This petition for special action followed.
¶ 8 Because the trial court’s decision is of statewide importance and the districts have no “equally plain, speedy, and adequate remedy by appeal,” this Court accepted jurisdiction. Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a), 4(a); see also Bledsoe v. Goodfarb, 170 Ariz. 256, 257, 823 P.2d 1264, 1266 (1991) (granting special action relief when legal issue affected water organizations statewide). We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5(3), of the Arizona Constitution.
III.
¶ 9 Three federal reclamation laws provide the statutory backdrop to this case. In 1902, Congress passed the Reclamation Act, 32 Stat. 388, to establish water reclamation projects in the western United States. In 1928, Congress passed the Boulder Canyon Project Act, 45 Stat. 1057, which provided for the construction of Hoover Dam and authorized the Secretary of the Interior (“Secretary”) to contract for the storage and delivery of Colorado River water. Finally, in 1968, Congress passed the Colorado River Basin Project Act, 82 Stat. 885, which provided for the construction and operation of the CAP. As a result, states and water users operate under a somewhat complicated system of intertwining federal statutes.
¶ 10 Critical to our analysis is the relationship between section 8 of the Reclamation Act and section 5 of the Boulder Canyon Project Act. Under section 8 of the Reclamation Act, the Secretary generally must comply with state law in “the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water” through a federal reclamation project. 43 U.S.C. § 383 (2000). Rights to water acquired under the Reclamation Act are appurtenant to the land irrigated and are measured by beneficial use. 43 U.S.C. § 372.
¶ 11 Section 5 of the Boulder Canyon Project Act (“BCPA”), in contrast, authorizes the Secretary to contract for the storage and delivery of water from its projects for irrigation and domestic uses. 43 U.S.C. § 617d. The statute expressly declares that “[n]o person shall have or be entitled to have the use” of such water except by a contract with the Secretary. Id. Section 5 of the BCPA does not mention state law and thus is in tension with the directive in section 8 of the Reclamation Act that state law shall control the recognition of water rights.
¶ 12 The United States Supreme Court addressed the relationship between these two statutes in Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546, 83 S.Ct. 1468, 10 L.Ed.2d 542 (1963). Arizona had sued in 1952 to resolve the allocation of Colorado River water among the states in the river’s lower basin. The Court held that Congress, in enacting the BCPA, “create[d] its own comprehensive scheme for the apportionment among California, Arizona, and Nevada of the Lower Basin’s share of the mainstream waters of the Colorado River____” Id. at 565, 83 S.Ct. 1468.
¶ 13 The Court also clarified the respective roles of state and federal law in controlling rights to water from the lower Colorado, For federal reclamation projects in general, section 8 of the Reclamation Act requires the Secretary to follow state law regarding the control, use, or appropriation of water. The Court, however, expressly rejected the argument that state law controlled the distribution of water subject to the BCPA. Id. at 580-81, 584-86, 83 S.Ct. 1468. Instead, the BCPA vests the Secretary with the power, “through his § 5 contracts, both to carry out the allocation of the waters of the main Colorado River among the Lower Basin States and to decide which users within each State would get water.” Id. at 580, 83 S.Ct. 1468.
¶ 14 In its subsequent decree, the Court reaffirmed the distinctive nature of Colorado River distribution and the need for secretarial contracts. Arizona v. California, 376 U.S. 340, 84 S.Ct. 755, 11 L.Ed.2d 757 (1964). The decree noted that, unless used for a federal reservation:
[Mjainstream water shall be released or delivered to water users ... in Arizona, California, and Nevada only pursuant to valid contracts therefor made with such users by the Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to Section 5 of the Boulder Canyon Project Act or any other applicable federal statutef.]
Id. at 343, 84 S.Ct. 755.
¶ 15 Against this legal background, Congress in 1968 passed the Colorado River Basin Project Act (“CAP Act”), which, among other things, created the CAP. In so doing, Congress carefully avoided unsettling the BCPA, stating that, unless otherwise provided, nothing in the CAP Act was to “be construed to alter, amend, repeal, modify, or be in conflict with the provisions of the” former. 43 U.S.C. § 1551(a). The CAP Act also vests the Secretary with broad authority to administer the CAP. See Maricofa-Stanfield Irrigation & Drainage Dist. v. United States, 158 F.3d 428, 438 n. 18 (9th Cir.1998) (“The Secretary’s generous measure of discretion survived the Colorado River Basin Project Act....”); Cent. Ariz. Irrigation & Drainage Dist. v. Lujan, 764 F.Supp. 582, 589 (D.Ariz.1991) (noting the Secretary's administrative power over the CAP).
¶ 16 Congress further specified how water users would contract with the Secretary. 43 U.S.C. § 1524(b)(1). The CAP Act outlines a step-by-step process under which the Secretary could contract with a state political subdivision for the repayment of CAP construction costs and the distribution of water. Id. The state subdivision would, in turn, make CAP water available to “users” within its boundaries through subcontracts. Id. The terms and conditions of the subcontracts were to be subject to the Secretary’s approval and the United States could insist that it be included as a party. Id.
V17 With the CAP on its way to realization, the Secretary in 1972 entered into the “master contract” with the CAWCD. Under this contract, as amended in 1988, the United States agreed to construct and operate the CAP water delivery system in exchange for repayment of part of the attendant costs. Delivery of CAP water was not guaranteed, but instead was subject to availability and the Secretary’s determination of the amount of Colorado River water to release for the CAP.
¶ 18 The United States and the CAWCD, in turn, entered into subcontracts with the districts, the “users” under the statutory scheme. Consistent with the master contract, the districts agreed that CAP water could be made available for irrigation only on lands with a “recent irrigation history,” and groundwater pumping within each district’s service area would be reduced by the amount of CAP water received under the subcontract. The master contract and the subcontracts were validated in state court proceedings intended to confirm that the agreements were properly entered into and binding on the CAWCD and the districts. Each district also entered into a “9(d) contract” to repay the United States the costs of constructing irrigation distribution systems within the district’s service area.
¶ 19 Both the master contract and the subcontracts contemplated that CAP water would be delivered by the districts to agricultural landowners for irrigation. After the validation proceedings, each district entered into two agreements with its respective landowners. These agreements, a memorandum of understanding followed by a water service agreement, provide for the distribution of water through canals and other works constructed by and financed through the districts. The landowners, in turn, agreed to pay taxes and service fees and also agreed to convey to the districts their rights to use certain irrigation wells that were subject to grandfathered groundwater rights under state law.
¶ 20 The memoranda and the water service agreements did not guarantee the landowners access to CAP water; they instead allowed the districts to deliver irrigation water without specifying its source. The parties, however, expected that the districts would deliver, and the landowners would pay for, CAP water under the water service agreements.
¶21 After the CAP was completed, the districts were unable to meet their financial obligations to the CAWCD under the subcontracts. Facing financial collapse, the districts entered into ten-year interim agreements with the CAWCD to obtain water at steeply reduced prices. This water is called “excess” because it is water left unused by other CAP users. See Robert Jerome Glennon, Coattails of the Past: Using and Financing the Central Arizona Project, 27 Ariz. St. L.J. 677, 682-88 (1995) (discussing problems of CAP financing and underutilization).
¶ 22 The financial pressure remained, and, in 2002, the districts agreed to a proposal under which they would relinquish their rights to CAP water under the subcontracts. In return, the districts would obtain debt relief and could enter new interim agreements to purchase water through 2030. These provisions are part of a comprehensive water settlement authorized by the Arizona Water Settlements Act, Pub.L. No. 108-451, 118 Stat. 3478 (2004).
¶23 Each district’s board of directors approved the proposed settlement. By a majority vote, the landowners in each district approved the proposed relinquishment of subcontract rights to CAP water. Landowners dissenting from this result pursued litigation in state and federal court.
IV.
¶24 In granting partial summary judgment, the trial court held that the landowners have vested rights to receive CAP water (1) pursuant to the Reclamation Act of 1902 or (2) because they are third-party beneficiaries of the subcontracts between the districts, the CAWCD, and the United States. Neither determination can be sustained.
A.
¶ 25 The trial court read Arizona v. California to hold that the BCPA supplements existing reclamation law. Section 8 of the Reclamation Act, as noted above, provides that water rights obtained under the act “shall be appurtenant to the land irrigat-ed____” 43 U.S.C. § 372. The trial court concluded that, under the water service agreements, the landowners are “contractually vested” with rights to CAP water appurtenant to their land and these rights would be infringed if the districts modified or relinquished the subcontracts.
¶ 26 This reasoning misapprehends the relationship between section 5 of the BCPA and section 8 of the Reclamation Act. Under the BCPA and Arizona v. California, entitlement to CAP water depends on a contract with the Secretary. As the Supreme Court has explained:
In Arizona v. California, we held that the [BCPA] vested in the Secretary the power to contract for project water deliveries independent of the direction of § 8 of the Reclamation Act to proceed in accordance with state law and of the admonition of § 18 of the [BCPA] not to interfere with state law.
Bryant v. Yellen, 447 U.S. 352, 370, 100 S.Ct. 2232, 65 L.Ed.2d 184 (1980).
¶ 27 In holding that the landowners could obtain a vested right to CAP water under section 8 of the Reclamation Act absent a contract with the Secretary, the trial court misread Arizona v. California and its resulting decree. A contract with the Secretary is required to establish a right to water from the Lower Colorado River. The landowners lack such a contract.
¶ 28 The landowners also argue that, once they received CAP water distributed by the districts under the interim agreements, section 8 of the Reclamation Act entitled them to continue to receive such water from the districts. This argument cannot succeed. Neither the landowners nor the United States was a party to the interim agreements, so those agreements cannot provide the contract necessary for the landowners to establish a right to CAP water.
¶29 The landowners also cite Supreme Court cases dealing with rights to reclamation project water in settings other than the Lower Colorado River Basin. See, e.g., Ickes v. Fox, 300 U.S. 82, 94-95, 57 S.Ct. 412, 81 L.Ed. 525 (1937) (dealing with the Yakima River Project). The landowners argue that, despite Arizona v. California, state water law should apply to create vested rights to CAP irrigation water once a reclamation project is built, a contract is issued, and the water is beneficially applied.
¶ 30 On this point, the landowners principally rely on California v. United States, 438 U.S. 645, 98 S.Ct. 2985, 57 L.Ed.2d 1018 (1978), which concerned a reclamation project in California’s Central Valley. There the Court held that, under section 8 of the Reclamation Act, state law governs the control, use, and distribution of water through a federal reclamation project unless state law conflicts with a clear congressional directive. Id. at 674-75, 98 S.Ct. 2985.
¶ 31 In so ruling, however, the Court reaffirmed that different rules apply to the Colorado River. The Court specifically noted that in Arizona v. California, it had “concluded that because of the unique size and multistate scope of the [Boulder Canyon] Project, Congress did not intend the States to interfere with the Secretary’s power to determine with whom and on what terms water contracts would be made.” Id. at 674, 98 S.Ct. 2985.
¶ 32 The trial court’s ruling that the landowners have a vested “right to perpetual use of the CAP water that is appurtenant to their land” conflicts with section 5 of the BCPA and Arizona v. California. Neither section 8 of the Reclamation Act nor the landowners’ water service agreements with the districts can substitute for a contract with the Secretary to create a vested right to CAP water.
B.
¶33 The landowners attempt to overcome the fact that they are not parties to a contract with the Secretary by arguing that they are third-party beneficiaries of the subcontracts between the Secretary, the CAWCD, and the districts. A third-party beneficiary is a non-party who has the right to enforce a contract. Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 304 (1979).
¶ 34 The trial court should not have entertained the third-party beneficiary argument at all because the landowners had already litigated and lost the same issue in federal court. Principles of issue preclusion bar the relitigation in state court of the landowners’ status as third-party beneficiaries to the subcontracts.
¶35 After the landowners filed this suit against the districts in the Pinal County Superior Court in 2001, they filed a separate suit in the same court against the CAWCD in 2003. The CAWCD removed the second suit to the district court. In September 2003, the district court dismissed the suit against the CAWCD on the grounds that the landowners were not third-party beneficiaries of either the master contract or the subcontracts. While an appeal was pending in the Ninth Circuit in the CAWCD case, the landowners argued in their state court suit against the districts that they were third-party beneficiaries of the subcontracts. The trial court accepted this argument in its November 2004 ruling without addressing the effect of the district court’s prior ruling to the contrary.
¶ 36 The district court’s ruling dismissing the suit against the CAWCD was a judgment for purposes of issue preclusion, even though an appeal was pending. Robi v. Five Platters, Inc., 838 F.2d 318, 327 (9th Cir.1988) (pending appeal does not alter preclusive effect of district court judgment). The trial court, before reaching the merits, therefore should have considered whether the district court’s judgment barred the landowners from relitigating their status as third-party beneficiaries.
¶ 37 Federal law determines the preclusive effect of a federal court judgment in state court. Semtek Int’l Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 531 U.S. 497, 507, 121 S.Ct. 1021, 149 L.Ed.2d 32 (2001) (“[W]e have long held that States cannot give [federal] judgments merely whatever effect they would give their own judgments, but must accord them the effect that this Court prescribes.”); Restatement (Second) of Judgments (“Restatement”) § 87 (1982) (“Federal law determines the effects under the rules of res judicata of a judgment of a federal court.”).
¶ 38 Applying federal law to determine the preclusive effect of federal judgments helps maintain “the integrity of federal judicial power and the coherence of the federalist judicial system.” Watkins v. Resorts Int’l Hotel & Casino, 124 N.J. 398, 591 A.2d 592, 598 (N.J.1991); see also Restatement § 87 cmt. a (noting that principle of finality of judgments is implicit in authority given federal courts under Articles I and III of the Constitution). Employing federal law also follows logically from the premise that preclusion is a “consequence of the procedures of the issuing court.” Watkins, 591 A.2d at 598. This approach parallels the rule, expressed in the Full Faith and Credit Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1738, that federal courts will refer to state law in determining the preclusive effect of a state court judgment. See Marrese v. Am. Acad. of Ortho. Surgeons, 470 U.S. 373, 380-81, 105 S.Ct. 1327, 84 L.Ed.2d 274 (1985).
¶ 39 The Supreme Court has long recognized the defensive use of issue preclusion. Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 99 S.Ct. 645, 58 L.Ed.2d 552 (1979). Under this doctrine, a plaintiff and its privies are barred from relitigating issues already settled in one case against a defendant party in another case. Id. at 329, 99 S.Ct. 645. The party asserting the bar must show that (1) the issue was litigated to a conclusion in a prior action, (2) the issue of fact or law was necessary to the prior judgment, and (3) the party against whom preclusion is raised was a party or privy to a party to the first case. Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 94-95, 101 S.Ct. 411, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). Each of these requirements is met here.
¶40 The landowners litigated their third-party beneficiary status to a conclusion in the federal litigation against the CAWCD. They argued before the district court that they were third-party beneficiaries of the master contract and the subcontracts, and the district court’s dismissal of their case for failure to state a claim constituted a judgment on the merits. See Federated, Dep’t Stores, Inc. v. Moitie, 452 U.S. 394, 399 n. 3, 101 S.Ct. 2424, 69 L.Ed.2d 103 (1981).
¶ 41 Determining the landowners’ third party status was essential to the federal court judgment. The district court held that the landowners had failed to state a claim because they were not third-party beneficiaries. Applying de novo review, the Ninth Circuit agreed, noting that the master contract and the subcontracts did not reflect any clear intent to recognize the landowners as intended beneficiaries entitled to enforce the agreements as third parties. Smith, 418 F.3d at 1038.
¶ 42 Finally, the landowners in this state court litigation were parties or privy to parties in the federal litigation. The lead plaintiffs and counsel for all plaintiffs are the same in each action. Although the record reflects that some landowner plaintiffs were added to this action who were not also parties to the suit against the CAWCD in federal court, this fact does not alter our conclusion that issue preclusion should apply. See Petit v. City of Chicago, 766 F.Supp. 607, 613 (N.D.Ill.1991) (applying issue preclusion where plaintiffs added parties in subsequent action in attempt to avoid preclusion).
¶ 43 The interests of any new landowner plaintiffs regarding the third party issue were identical to those of the overlapping plaintiffs in the two actions. There is no question that the new landowner plaintiffs had notice of the ongoing federal litigation and that their interests were adequately represented. Moreover, the landowners have not argued a lack of privity among the plaintiffs, and accordingly “any argument of that nature is deemed waived.” See Thornton v. City of St. Helens, 425 F.3d 1158, 1166 (9th Cir.2005) (applying Oregon law of issue preclusion).
¶44 In attempting to avoid issue preclusion, the landowners instead rely on section 29 of the Restatement, which identifies various circumstances that allow a party to reliti-gate a previously determined issue. Because federal courts have looked to the Restatement in determining the preclusive effect of federal judgments, we will consider the landowners’ arguments that certain exceptions identified in section 29 apply here. See Montana v. United States, 440 U.S. 147, 162-64, 99 S.Ct. 970, 59 L.Ed.2d 210 (1979) (citing drafts of the Restatement in determining whether to apply exceptions to the rule of preclusion).
¶ 45 The landowners first assert that treating the third party issue as conclusively determined would be “incompatible with an applicable scheme of administering the remedies in the actions involved,” Restatement § 29(1), because it would frustrate the state legislature’s purpose in creating Arizona irrigation districts to benefit their landowner members.
¶ 46 This argument is unconvincing. Section 29(1) of the Restatement applies when a remedial scheme limits the effect to be given to a prior determination of an issue. Id. cmt. c. An example would be “a statute providing] that a determination is limited to the action in which it is made or ... [is] only prima facie evidence of the facts in-volved____” Id. The landowners do not identify any remedial scheme that would limit the preclusive effect of the federal court judgment.
¶ 47 We also do not believe that according preclusive effect to the prior federal judgment would somehow frustrate the purpose of Arizona’s legislation creating irrigation districts. Nothing in the state legislation suggests any intent to make individual landowners the third-party beneficiaries of an irrigation district’s contracts, either in general or with the Secretary concerning CAP water.
¶ 48 The landowners next argue that preclusion should not apply under section 29(5) of the Restatement because the prior determination may have been affected by relationships among the parties to the first action that are not present in the subsequent action. This exception applies when circumstances distinctive to the first proceeding might have influenced the outcome and the issue “could reasonably have been resolved otherwise if those circumstances were absent.” Id. cmt. g. The landowners have not identified anything regarding the federal court proceedings that would invoke this exception.
¶49 Citing section 29(6) of the Restatement, the landowners also argue that they should be allowed to relitigate their third-party status because the federal court did not base its ruling on state law. Section 29(6) is inapposite because it applies when treating an issue as conclusively determined would either complicate the determination of issues in the subsequent action or prejudice the interests of another party who has not yet had his day in court. Id. cmt. h.
¶ 50 Moreover, the landowners are mistaken in arguing that state law should determine if they are third-party beneficiaries. Federal, not state law, controls the construction of contracts entered by the United States pursuant to a federal statute. United States v. Seckinger, 397 U.S. 203, 209-10, 90 S.Ct. 880, 25 L.Ed.2d 224 (1970); Klamath Water Users Protective Ass’n v. Patterson, 204 F.3d 1206, 1210 (9th Cir.1999).
¶51 The landowners finally argue that they should be allowed to relitigate their status as third-party beneficiaries so that their opportunity to “obtain[] reconsideration of the legal rule upon which it was based” is not “inappropriately foreclose^],” Restatement § 29(7), or because “[o]ther compelling circumstances make it appropri-ate____” Id. § 29(8). The landowners sought reconsideration of the district court’s legal determination of their third-party status when they appealed to the Ninth Circuit. That the landowners were disappointed with the outcome in the federal courts is not sufficient reason to allow them to relitigate the issue in state court under Restatement section 29(7).
¶ 52 Nor have the landowners identified “compelling circumstances” that would justify relitigation under section 29(8) of the Restatement. This exception applies when a prior determination is discovered to have been plainly wrong, new evidence has become available that could likely lead to a different result, or other compelling circumstances show good reason for allowing a party to relitigate an issue. Id. cmt. j & reporter’s note.
¶ 53 The landowners assert that the irrigation districts were created for their benefit and that only the landowners have the “right” to use CAP water on district lands. The subcontracts do not, however, recognize any entitlement on the part of individual landowners to CAP water and they do not express any intent to afford enforceable rights to non-parties who might ultimately apply the water for irrigation purposes.
¶ 54 The landowners did enter contracts with the districts for the delivery of irriga tion water, namely, the memoranda of understanding and the subsequent water service agreements. These agreements, however, do not include the Secretary as a party and they do not modify the master contract or the subcontracts. They also do not purport to give the landowners any vested right to CAP water. The water service agreements, with slight variations among the districts, provide that the districts will deliver “irrigation water” without specifying its source as CAP water; the same agreements declare that the right to receive water from the districts will be appurtenant to the land, but this provision also does not identify CAP water.
¶ 55 With regard to landowner water rights, the water service agreements instead provide that the landowners retain the “exclusive right” to convert grandfathered groundwater irrigation rights to certain non-irrigation water rights and that, if they do so, they may regain the wells on their lands for use solely for municipal and industrial purposes. This provision stands in marked contrast to the subcontracts, which are distinctly silent about any “rights” of individual landowners to acquire or use CAP water upon the conversion of their land from agricultural use.
¶ 56 In sum, the landowners have not identified compelling circumstances that would justify allowing them to relitigate their status as third-party beneficiaries. The federal court determination that they are not third-party beneficiaries of either the subcontracts or the master contract controls in this litigation. See Smith, 418 F.3d at 1036-38.
V.
¶ 57 Because the landowners cannot establish an entitlement to CAP water absent a contract with the Secretary, and because they are not third-party beneficiaries to either the subcontracts or the master contract, the trial court erred in ruling that they have a vested right to CAP water. Our holding does not address what other rights, if any, the landowners may have under the agreements to which they are parties, such as any grandfathered irrigation rights or rights to use wells located on their lands for non-agricultural purposes.
¶ 58 This action for declaratory relief turns on the landowners’ alleged vested right to CAP water. Because the landowners have no vested right to CAP water, the districts are entitled to summary judgment dismissing the second amended complaint. We vacate the trial court’s order granting partial summary judgment in favor of the landowners, grant the districts’ request pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-341.01 for an award of attorneys’ fees incurred in this special action, and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion, including the determination of any request for an award of fees incurred in the trial court.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN, and ANDREW D. HURWITZ, Justices.
. In 2003, the trial court ordered the plaintiff landowners to serve all other landowners in each district. About 200 of these other landowners supported the districts in opposing the plaintiffs' claims and joined in the petition for special action.
. The Reclamation Act and the Boulder Canyon Project Act are codified, respectively, at 43 U.S.C. §§ 372, 383 and 43 U.S.C. § 617d.
. The CAWCD is a multi-county district created pursuant to state law for the purpose of contracting with the Secretary for CAP water. A.R.S. § 48-3703. Its boundaries are coextensive with Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties, exclusive of Indian lands within these counties. See Cent. Ariz. Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 32 F.Supp.2d 1117, 1121 (D.Ariz.1998).
. Bryant held that a 1926 amendment to the Reclamation Act limiting irrigation deliveries to 160 acres under single ownership could not apply to present perfected rights recognized in the BCPA. 447 U.S. at 355-56, 100 S.Ct. 2232. Like Arizona v. California, Bryant refused to apply the general Reclamation Act to limit specific provisions of the BCPA. Id. at 368-69, 100 S.Ct. 2232.
. The districts also argue that they have never purchased CAP water under the subcontracts because it is too expensive, so the landowners could not have acquired any rights to such water as a result of having applied it for beneficial use. We need not address this issue, given our holding that a contract with the Secretary is necessary to establish an entitlement to CAP water.
. The Ninth Circuit has recognized that its case law regarding the status of irrigators as third-party beneficiaries may be at odds with H.F. Allen Orchards v. United States, 749 F.2d 1571, 1576 (Fed.Cir.1984), which stated that members of an irrigation district could sue as third-party beneficiaries to enforce a consent decree entered by the district on their behalf. See Orff v. United States, 358 F.3d 1137, 1147 n. 5 (9th Cir.2004). The Supreme Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Orff without reaching the third-party beneficiary issue. Orff v. United States,-U.S. -, 125 S.Ct. 2606, 162 L.Ed.2d 544 (2005). H.F. Allen is not persuasive here, because it did not involve Colorado River water governed by the BCPA and its remarks on third-party beneficiary status were unnecessary to its decision. See 749 F.2d at 1576.
. For this reason, if we were to reach the merits, we would agree with the Ninth Circuit that the landowners are not third-party beneficiaries entitled to enforce the master contract or the subcontracts. See Klamath, 204 F.3d at 1210-12 (holding that third-party beneficiary status does not result merely because a government contract operates to benefit identified non-parties; evidence of a clear intent to confer such status is required).
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OPINION
KESSLER, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 Petitioners challenge the juvenile court’s orders subjecting them to detention pending disposition on their probation revocation hearings in these consolidated petitions for special action. Petitioners argue they cannot be subject to detention because they were adjudicated incorrigible without the benefit of counsel. We filed an order accepting jurisdiction and stating that a written decision would follow. This is that decision. For the reasons stated below, we hold that Petitioners were detained in error and cannot be subject to further detention based on their original incorrigibility adjudications.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Lana A.
¶2 The State filed a truancy citation against Lana A. (“Lana”), alleging that she had been habitually truant. At an advisory hearing on the citation, the Commissioner informed Lana that, upon entering an admission of the allegations, she would waive her rights to remain silent and to have a hearing at which she would be presumed innocent and be able to cross-examine the State’s witnesses. The Commissioner further informed Lana that upon her admission he could order her detained pending disposition on the truancy charges. The Commissioner, however, did not inform her of a right to counsel, nor did he appoint counsel for her. Lana did not hire an attorney to represent her in her incorrigibility hearing. Lana admitted the charges and the Commissioner adjudicated her incorrigible. The Commissioner proceeded to disposition immediately and placed Lana on summary probation, releasing her to the physical custody of her mother.
¶ 3 The State subsequently filed a petition to revoke Lana’s probation, alleging that she had violated the terms of her probation. Lana was represented by counsel at the violation of probation hearings. At the initial violation of probation hearing, the court ordered her detained, finding it contrary to her welfare to remain in her mother’s custody. She was released to the custody of the Department of Economic Security seven days later, and then to her grandmother’s custody. After admitting to having violated the terms of her probation Lana was reinstated to probation, and the court issued an order containing a written warning that she could be detained if she violated the terms of her probation.
¶4 The State filed a second petition to revoke Lana’s probation alleging further violations of the terms of her probation. At the violation of probation hearing, Lana was represented by counsel. She admitted to having violated the terms of her probation, and was adjudicated in violation of her probation. The court released her pursuant to the terms of a written release order, which contained a warning that failure to abide by the terms of the order could result in revocation of release. During a subsequent hearing, at which Lana was represented by counsel, the court ordered her detained for violating the terms of her release. It appears from the record that she was held in detention until her disposition hearing four weeks later, at which time she was released subject to another order warning her she could be detained if she violated the terms of her probation.
Marie E.
¶ 5 The State filed a citation against Marie E. (“Marie”), alleging a curfew violation. At the advisory hearing, the court informed Marie she had the right to contest the citation at trial, at which time she could hire an attorney to represent her, but she was not entitled to a court-appointed attorney. Marie admitted to the curfew violation, and was adjudicated incorrigible. The court placed her on standard probation and released her to her mother’s physical custody. Marie was not represented by counsel at this hearing.
¶ 6 The State subsequently filed a petition to revoke Marie’s probation. At the probation revocation hearing, Marie was represented by counsel. She admitted to having violated the terms of her probation, and was released pending the disposition hearing. The court later revoked Marie’s release status and issued a temporary custody warrant over the objection of Marie’s attorney. At Marie’s scheduled disposition hearing three weeks later, the court quashed the warrant and ordered Marie detained pending a continued disposition hearing later that day. At the continued disposition hearing, Marie informed the court that she no longer wished to live with her mother. The court found it contrary to Marie’s welfare to remain in her parents’ custody and ordered her detained pending her next hearing. The court conducted a probable cause hearing two days later, ordering Marie detained pending her next hearing. At a violation hearing five days later, the court ordered Marie detained until there was an opening for her in a 28-day substance abuse program. Marie was represented by counsel at all proceedings following the State’s petition to revoke probation. Both parties concede that Marie was released after the disposition hearing. However, according to Marie, it is the court’s position that she may be detained in the course of future probation revocation proceedings.
Discussion
¶ 7 The issue presented is whether a juvenile may be subject to predisposition detention when the juvenile was not afforded the right to counsel at her initial incorrigibility hearing. We hold that Petitioners cannot be detained because they must be afforded the right to counsel at any hearing that may result in their detention, including the initial incorrigibility hearing.
Jurisdiction
¶8 Special action jurisdiction is appropriate where there is no plain, speedy, or adequate remedy on appeal. Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a). Typically a juvenile will challenge the terms of detention after the juvenile court issues a final disposition order. A.R.S. § 8-235(A) (1999). However, Petitioners in these consolidated special actions challenge orders subjecting them to detention pending the disposition hearings in their probation revocation proceedings. There is not an equally adequate avenue of review for predisposition detention orders. Moreover, the issue presented in this case involves the authority of the court to detain juveniles after incorrigibility proceedings at which they did not enjoy the right to counsel. Because issues dealing with predisposition detention of incorrigible children have “substantial importance and will continuously affect a large number of juveniles,” we accept jurisdiction. JV-130549 v. Super. Ct., 178 Ariz. 211, 212, 871 P.2d 758, 759 (App.1994)(internal quotes omitted). See also Haas v. Colosi, 202 Ariz. 56, 57, ¶ 2, 40 P.3d 1249, 1250 (App.2002) (acceptance of special action jurisdiction in case addressing whether appointed counsel can withdraw from incorrigibility proceedings is appropriate because of the large number of juveniles alleged to be incorrigible).
Mootness
¶ 9 This Court is not bound by the case or controversy requirements of the United States Constitution. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 2 v. Phoenix Employee Relations Bd., 133 Ariz. 126, 127, 650 P.2d 428, 429 (1982). However, as a policy of judicial restraint, we will not address moot or abstract questions. Id. We will make an exception to this policy, however, for questions of public importance and matters that are capable of repetition yet evading review. Id.
¶ 10 Petitioners have been released from detention and are therefore no longer deprived of their liberty. However, they are still on probation and subject to detention. Thus, the issue is not moot. Alternatively, since pretrial detention is necessarily brief, Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 23(C), (H), 25(B)(1), 28(B)(1), and 29(B)(1), this issue is likely to recur without the possibility of appellate review. JV-502820 v. Super. Ct, 181 Ariz. 243, 246, 889 P.2d 36, 39 (App.1995). Moreover, whether the courts detained Petitioners in excess of their authority is a question of public importance. We will therefore address Petitioners’ claims despite the fact they have been released from detention.
Analysis
¶ 11 A juvenile defendant has the right to an attorney in proceedings “that may result in detention.” A.R.S. § 8-221(A) (1999). See also Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 10(A) (“[t]he juvenile has the right to be represented by counsel in all delinquency and incorrigibility proceedings as provided by law.”). Detention in this context is defined as the “temporary confinement of a juvenile who requires secure care in a physically restricting facility that is completely surrounded by a locked and physically secure barrier with restricted ingress and egress for the protection of the juvenile or the community pending court disposition or as a condition of probation.” A.R.S. § 8-201(14) (1998).
¶ 12 The court has the authority to detain juveniles who have been adjudicated incorrigible pending final disposition hearings. A.R.S. § 8-303(B)(l) (1998) (child shah be taken into custody on order of juvenile court); JV-1305J/.9, 178 Ariz. at 213-14, 871 P.2d at 760-61; Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 23(D), 28(B)(1), 29(B)(1) and 30(B)(1)(a) (permitting detention of juvenile pending disposition on incorrigibility and setting time limits for hearings when child is in detention). See also A.R.S. § 8-305(A) (1999) (mandating detention facilities separate from adults for “children who are incorrigible and within the provisions of this article shall be detained when necessary before or after a hearing ... ”.). While an incorrigible juvenile may be detained prior to final disposition, the court may not detain the juvenile on final disposition. A.R.S. § 8-341 (A)(2) (2002) (listing possible dispositions); A.R.S. § 8-342(A) (1998) (an incorrigible juvenile shall not be awarded to the department of juvenile corrections); Gila County Juv. Act. No. DEL-6325 v. Duber, 169 Ariz. 47, 48, 816 P.2d 944, 945 (App.1991) (detention is not a dispositional alternative for incorrigibility); Haas, 202 Ariz. at 60 n. 7, 40 P.3d at 1253 n. 7 (same).
¶ 13 Since a juvenile may be detained pending disposition of an incorrigibility hearing, incorrigibility hearings are proceedings that may result in detention. Therefore, a juvenile has the right to an attorney in incorrigibility proceedings under A.R.S. § 8-221(A). See also Haas, 202 Ariz. at 60 n. 7, 40 P.3d at 1253 n. 7 (dicta). If a juvenile is charged with an incorrigibility offense, the court must inform the juvenile of her right to counsel and allow her the opportunity to obtain counsel. In re Gault, 387 U.S at 41, 87 S.Ct. 1428 (decided on due process grounds). If the juvenile is found indigent, the court must appoint counsel unless there is a valid waiver. A.R.S. § 8-221(B). Failure of the court to appoint counsel to a juvenile charged with an incorrigibility offense will preclude the court from future detention of the juvenile.
¶ 14 The State nonetheless claims that Petitioners had no right to counsel because incarceration is not a dispositional alternative to an incorrigibility offense. We reject this argument because the right to an attorney provided by A.R.S. § 8-221(A) is not limited to dispositional “detentions.” Section 8-221(A) does not specify the possibility of detention must involve a dispositional sentence of detention in order to trigger the right to an attorney. It grants the right to counsel in proceedings “that may result in detention.” See ¶ 11, supra. Moreover, the State’s argument would render Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 10(A), which grants juveniles the right to counsel “in incorrigibility proceedings as provided by law” meaningless. The state’s analysis is also counter to this Court’s previous interpretation of the statute, albeit in dicta, as mandating appointment of counsel to juveniles charged with incorrigibility offenses if they may be detained pending disposition of their incorrigibility hearings. See Haas, 202 Ariz. at 60 n. 7, 40 P.3d at 1253 n. 7.
¶ 15 In addition, we do not agree with the State’s argument that the differences between predisposition detention and postdis-position detention justify denial of the right to counsel. Although predisposition detention is necessarily non-punitive, and is a product of the State’s role as parens patriae, it is detention nonetheless. Section 8-221(A) does not specify at what point in the juvenile proceedings the detention must occur, or of what nature the detention must be. In fact, the definition of detention for the purposes of § 8-221(A) includes predisposition detention.
¶ 16 At Petitioners’ initial incorrigibility hearings, they were neither informed of their right to counsel, nor were they appointed counsel. As a result, they could not be detained within the scope of their incorrigibility proceedings or any later proceedings arising from the adjudications of incorrigibility, regardless of whether it was “for their own welfare” or as punishment for their underlying offenses. The juvenile court’s orders subjecting them to predisposition detention were therefore impermissible under Arizona law. Moreover, they cannot be subject to further predisposition detention related to the incorrigibility adjudications at issue in this case.
CONCLUSION
¶ 17 A juvenile charged with an incorrigibility offense has the right to an attorney under Arizona law. When a juvenile is deprived of the right to counsel at her incorrigibility hearing, she cannot be detained in later proceedings related to that incorrigibility offense. Because Petitioners were not afforded the right to counsel at their incorrigibility hearings, they could not lawfully be detained in later proceedings arising from those incorrigibility charges, nor are they subject to detention in future proceedings arising from the incorrigibility charges at issue in this case.
CONCURRING: LAWRENCE F. WINTHROP and PHILIP HALL, Judges.
. Petitioners base their argument largely on the due process requirements articulated in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967). We do not address Petitioners’ constitutional argument because we can decide it on statutory grounds. See Residential Utility Consumer Office v. Arizona Corp. Comm'n., 199 Ariz. 588, 591, ¶ 7, 20 P.3d 1169, 1172 (App.2001).
. We reject the State’s assertion that Petitioners neither requested nor were denied the right to counsel. The court did not inform either petitioner of their right to counsel, and in Marie’s case, even told her that she did not have the right to court-appointed counsel. This is tantamount to denial of the right to counsel. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 470-71, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).
. We note that courts in other jurisdictions have come to similar conclusions based on due process principles. C.M. v. State, 855 So.2d 582, 585 (Ala.Crim.App.2002) (when court did not appoint counsel for juvenile because the court did not intend to detain him, juvenile could not be subject to detention upon revocation of probation under Alabama v. Shelton, 535 U.S. 654, 122 S.Ct. 1764, 152 L.Ed.2d 888 (2002)); J.R.I. v. State, 898 So.2d 1093, 1094 (FIa.Dist.Ct.App.2005)(juvenile who could not be sentenced to a term of imprisonment because he was not afforded the right to counsel cannot be subject to imprisonment upon revocation of probation).
. Nothing in this decision prevents the court from ordering Petitioners detained in the course of proceedings on new incorrigibility or delinquency charges at which Petitioners are afforded the right to counsel.
|
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OPINION
RYAN, Justice.
¶ 1 The Superior Court of Yavapai County enjoined the placement of an initiative measure on a ballot because the court found that the petition circulators’ affidavits did not substantially comply with the verification requirements of Article 4, Part 1, Section 1(9), of the Arizona Constitution, and Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 19-112(C) (2002). Having concluded that the affidavits complied with the legal requirements, we previously ordered that the trial court’s ruling enjoining the placement of the initiative measure on the ballot be vacated, with an opinion to follow. This is that opinion.
I
¶ 2 Citizens for Responsible Growth (“CRG”), a political committee, sought to place an initiative on the ballot to amend the Prescott City Charter. The initiative was filed with the Prescott City Clerk with sufficient signatures to qualify the petition for the ballot.
¶ 3 After the City Clerk certified the measure for the ballot, Bill Feldmeier, an elector in the City of Prescott, filed a complaint alleging, among other things, that the circu-lators’ affidavits were defective because they “fail[ed] to satisfy the constitutional and statutory requirement that the circulator swear to his belief that each signer was a qualified elector of the City of Prescott.” The affidavit on CRG’s petition avowed in relevant part that the circulator had determined that
each individual signed this sheet of the foregoing petition in my presence on the date indicated, and I believe that each signer’s name and residence address or post office address are correctly stated and that each signer is a qualified elector of the state of Arizona (or in the case of a city, town or county measure, of the city, town or county affected by the measure proposed to be initiated or referred to the people)____
¶ 4 After conducting hearings on Feldmeier’s request, the trial court enjoined the Clerk from certifying the proposed initiative for inclusion on the ballot. The court found that the petitions did not substantially comply with the constitution because they failed to include the phrase “City of Prescott” on the circulator’s affidavit.
¶5 CRG filed a timely notice of appeal. We have jurisdiction over this appeal under Article 6, Section 5(3), of the Arizona Constitution, and A.R.S. §§ 19-122(C), 19-141(A), (D) (2002).
II
A
¶ 6 On the eve of Arizona’s statehood, one of the “burning issues” was whether Arizona should adopt the initiative and referendum process. Whitman v. Moore, 59 Ariz. 211, 218, 125 P.2d 445, 450 (1942), overruled, in part, on other grounds by Renck v. Superior Court, 66 Ariz. 320, 327, 187 P.2d 656, 660-61 (1947). Delegates to our constitutional convention eventually decided Arizona should join those states that had such procedures. Id. The voters then ratified the constitution “by a very large percentage of the votes cast.” Id. Article 4, Part 1, Section 1, of the Arizona Constitution, and A.R.S. §§ 19-101 to -143 (2002 & Supp.2005) set forth the rules for initiative and referendum petitions.
¶ 7 The initiative process reserves to the people the power to propose to the electorate laws and amendments to the constitution. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(1). The Arizona Constitution expressly reserves the initiative power to qualified electors of political subdivisions of the state when legislative matters are purely of local concern. Id. § 1(8). The referendum process, on the other hand, is the power of the people to accept or reject, at the polls, legislative enactnients. Id. § 1(1), (3). The legislature also may refer proposed legislation or constitutional amendments to the electorate. Id. § 1(3).
¶8 An initiative petition must include a brief description of the principal provisions of the initiative; a notice that the description may not include every provision and anyone asked to sign has a right to examine the title and full text of the measure, which must be attached to the petition; a statement that the signer demands that this initiative be submitted to the qualified electors and that, as a qualified elector, the signer has personally signed the petition and has not signed any other petitions for the same matter; and a warning that it is a misdemeanor to sign the petition if certain conditions apply. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(9); A.R.S. §§ 19-101 to -102. Whether the circulator is paid or is a volunteer must also be indicated on the petition. A.R.S. § 19-102(B), (C).
¶ 9 The petition signer must also declare that he or she is a qualified elector of the proper political subdivision and must provide the “post office address, the street and number, if any, of his residence, and the date on which he signed such petition.” Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(9); A.R.S. § 19-112(A). The circulator must then verify the signatures in a sworn affidavit on the back of the petition. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(9); A.R.S. §§ 19-10KA), -102(A), -112(C), (D).
¶ 10 With respect to the verification requirement, the Arizona Constitution states, in pertinent part, the following:
[E]very sheet of every [initiative or referendum] petition containing signatures shall be verified by the affidavit of the person who circulated said sheet or petition, setting forth ... that in the belief of the affiant each signer was a qualified elector of the State, or in the case of a city, town, or county measure, of the city, town, or county affected by the measure so proposed to be initiated or referred to the people.
Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(9) (emphasis added). The language of A.R.S. § 19-112(0 tracks the constitutional verification requirements:
The [circulator] ... shall, on the affidavit form pursuant to this section, subscribe and swear before a notary public that ... the circulator ... [believed] each signer was a qualified elector of a certain county of the state, or, in the case of a city, town or county measure, of the city, town or county affected by the measure on the date indicated____
Section 19-112(D), in turn, sets forth the form for the circulator’s affidavit.
B
¶ 11 We have long “recognized Arizona’s strong public policy favoring the initiative and referendum.” W. Devcor, Inc. v. City of Scottsdale, 168 Ariz. 426, 428, 814 P.2d 767, 769 (1991) (citing Pioneer Trust Co. v. Pima County, 168 Ariz. 61, 66, 811 P.2d 22, 27 (1991)). However, in light of the differences between referendums and initiatives, we apply a different test to each when challenged on constitutional or statutory grounds. Id.
¶ 12 We require referendum proponents to strictly comply with all constitutional and statutory requirements. Id. at 428, 814 P.2d at 769 (citing Cottonwood Dev. v. Foothills Area Coal., 134 Ariz. 46, 48-49, 653 P.2d 694, 696-97 (1982); Direct Sellers Ass’n v. McBrayer, 109 Ariz. 3, 6, 503 P.2d 951, 954 (1972)). The referendum power is subject to this exacting standard because it “permits a ‘minority to hold up the effective date of legislation which may well represent the wishes of the majority[.]’ ” Id. at 429, 814 P.2d at 770 (quoting Cottonwood, 134 Ariz. at 49, 653 P.2d at 697).
¶ 13 In contrast, “requirements as to the form and manner in which citizens exercise their power of initiative should be liberally construed.” Kromko v. Superior Court, 168 Ariz. 51, 57-58, 811 P.2d 12,18-19 (1991). This is because “courts must exercise restraint before imposing unreasonable restrictions on the people’s legislative authority, which ‘is as great as the power of the legislature to legislate.’ ” Id. at 57, 811 P.2d at 18 (quoting State v. Osborn, 16 Ariz. 247, 250, 143 P. 117, 118 (1914)). But, while “every reasonable intendment is in favor of a liberal construction” of the requirements for an initiative, if “the Constitution expressly and explicitly makes any departure ... fatal,” the initiative cannot be placed on the ballot. Whitman, 59 Ariz. at 220, 125 P.2d at 451.
¶ 14 The test for initiatives, unlike referenda, thus is whether the petition substantially complies with the applicable constitutional and statutoiy requirements. Kromko, 168 Ariz. at 58, 811 P.2d at 19. In deciding whether an initiative substantially complies with the constitutional and statutory requirements, a court should consider several factors, including the nature of the constitutional or statutory requirements, the extent to which the petitions differ from the requirements, and the purpose of the requirements. See Meyers v. Bayless, 192 Ariz. 376, 378, ¶¶ 10-12, 965 P.2d 768, 770 (1998) (reviewing petition to see how well it complied with the title requirement); Kromko, 168 Ariz. at 58, 811 P.2d at 19 (reviewing the statutory requirements and the extent to which the petition complied with those requirements); Whitman, 59 Ariz. at 220, 223, 229, 125 P.2d at 451-52, 454 (examining statutory and constitutional signature requirements as well as the purpose behind those requirements). Accordingly, in the context of the formal requirements for initiatives, substantial compliance means that the petition as circulated fulfills the purpose of the relevant statutory or constitutional requirements, despite a lack of strict or technical compliance.
¶ 15 The challenged initiative petitions must be examined as a whole to determine whether they comply with the constitutional and statutory requirements. See Meyers, 192 Ariz. at 378, ¶¶ 10-12, 965 P.2d at 770; Whitman, 59 Ariz. at 225-33, 225, 125 P.2d at 452-56, 454. If the initiative petition, as a whole, substantially complies, the challenge will fail, “unless the Constitution expressly and explicitly makes any departure [from a specific requirement] fatal.” Whitman, 59 Ariz. at 220, 125 P.2d at 451.
Ill
A
¶ 16 CRG’s circulator affidavit copied the form set forth in A.R.S. § 19-112(D). In reviewing the affidavit, the trial court correctly discerned that substantial compliance was the appropriate test. But the superior court held that the initiative petition did not substantially comply with the constitutional and statutory requirements because the circulator’s affidavit omitted the word “Prescott,” and that this omission “arguably” constituted a fatal failure to comply with requirements of the constitution.
¶ 17 In reaching this conclusion, the trial judge primarily relied on our decision in Devcor. In that case we held, in the referendum context, that the Arizona Constitution and the applicable statutes require that “the circulators [believe] each signer to be a qualified elector [of the municipality].” 168 Ariz. at 429, 814 P.2d at 770.
¶ 18 In Devcor, a group of citizens sought to refer to Scottsdale voters a city council rezoning decision. Id. at 427-28, 814 P.2d at 768-69. The owners of the rezoned land challenged the sufficiency of the referendum petitions. Id. The referendum petition affidavits stated only that the circulator believed each signer to be a qualified elector of the State of Arizona, not that the circulator believed that the signer was a qualified elector of the City of Scottsdale. Id. at 429, 814 P.2d at 770. Because the affidavits included no language mentioning the City of Scottsdale, or even any indication that the measure affected legislation of “a city, town or county,” we concluded that the affidavits did not strictly comply with the constitution or statutes for a referendum petition. Id. The petitions were therefore “insufficient to require an election.” Id. at 432, 814 P.2d at 773.
¶ 19 The trial court’s reliance on Devcor is misplaced for three reasons. First, Devcor involved referendum petitions, not initiative petitions. Devcor therefore applied the strict compliance test and not the substantial compliance test. Id. at 428-29, 814 P.2d at 769-70.
¶ 20 Second, the language used in the cir-culator affidavit in Devcor did not track the language of the constitution. 168 Ariz. at 429-32, 814 P.2d at 770-73. Instead, the circulator’s affidavit followed the form set forth in then A.R.S. § 19-112(C) (1990) and the form provided by the Secretary of State, both of which referred to a signer only as being a qualified elector of the State of Arizona. We concluded that the. decision to follow the form in § 19-112(C) could not excuse the failure to follow the constitution. Devcor, 168 Ariz. at 430, 814 P.2d at 771. No language, parenthetical or otherwise, indicated the circulator’s belief that the signers were qualified electors of the City of Scottsdale. Id. at 429, 814 P.2d at 770. Because Article 4, Part 1, Section 1(9), of the Arizona Constitution requires that the affiants swear to their belief that each petition signer is a qualified elector of the city when the initiated or referred matter affects a city, the petitions were constitutionally insufficient. Devcor, 168 Ariz. at 429-32, 814 P.2d at 770-73.
¶21 Third, the statute followed by the circulators in Devcor was amended shortly after the opinion in Devcor was published. See 1991 Ariz. Sess. Laws, 3d Spec. Sess., ch. 1, § 8. The amended statute required the circulator affidavit form to include parenthet ical language relating to local initiative or referendum measures. See A.R.S. § 19-112(D). This language tracks the language of Article 4, Part 1, Section 1(9), of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 19-112(C). As noted, CRG used the language of the amended statute, verbatim, to create its cir-culator affidavits.
B
¶22 Because CRG’s circulator affidavits expressly followed the form set out in A.R.S. § 19-112(D), the superior court erred in finding the affidavits did not substantially comply with the constitutional and statutory requirements. For a local ballot measure, the relevant provisions require the circulator to swear out an affidavit stating, in part, a belief that the signers were qualified electors of the “city, town or county affected by the measure.” The parenthetical language in A.R.S. § 19-112(D) makes that affirmation, but does not expressly require the specific identification of the governmental subdivision involved.
¶23 While it may have been the legislature’s intent to require that the parenthetical language be replaced with the name of the local governmental entity, that intent is not clear from the face of A.R.S. § 19-112(D). The form set forth in § 19-112(D) contains lines in places in which the legislature intended for a parenthetical to be filled in. There is no line, however, under or adjacent to the parenthetical referring to “the case of a city, town or county measure.” Id. Consequently, the failure to replace the statutory parenthetical language with the “City of Prescott” is not a basis for finding a lack of substantial compliance with the constitution or the statute.
¶24 Moreover, because CRG used the form set out in A.R.S. § 19-112(D), its circu-lator affidavit complied with the purpose behind the constitutional and statutory requirements. The purpose of the verification requirements, found in Article 4, Part 1, Section 1(9), of the Arizona Constitution, and A.R.S. § 19-112(C), is to ensure the circula-tors use “reasonable efforts to obtain valid signatures.” Devcor, 168 Ariz. at 432, 814 P.2d at 773.
¶ 25 Viewed as a whole, the circulator affidavit and petition in this case fulfill the purpose underlying the constitutional and statutory requirements. The front page of the petition states that it is a City of Prescott initiative, lending meaning to the parenthetical information set forth in the circulator’s affidavit. The form itself precisely tracked the statutory form in A.R.S. § 19-112(D). Because the petition clearly states that it pertains to a City of Prescott measure, the parenthetical language in the affidavit indicates that the affiant believes the signer to be a qualified elector of the city. This is at the very least substantial — and arguably literal — compliance with the relevant statutory and constitutional mandates.
IV
¶26 CRG requests costs and attorneys’ fees under A.R.S. § 12-2030 (2003). That statute requires a court to award fees and expenses to any non-governmental party that prevails by adjudication on the merits “in a civil action brought by the party against ... any political subdivision of this state ... to compel ... any officer of any political subdivision ... to perform an act imposed by law as a duty on the officer.” Id. (emphasis added). CRG did not bring the original action. Rather, Feldmeier brought the original action; CRG was the real party in interest. Moreover, the Prescott City Clerk and the Yavapai County Recorder did not fail to perform a duty required of them. These officials actually certified the initiative measure for the ballot; it was the superior court that enjoined the measure. We therefore deny CRG’s request for attorneys’ fees.
V
¶ 27 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the trial court’s judgment and vacate the injunction against the Prescott City Clerk.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, ANDREW D. HURWITZ and W. SCOTT BALES, Justices.
. The referendum power is preserved for political subdivisions by this same provision. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(8).
. Section 19-112(D) requires, in part, the following be printed on the reverse side of each signature sheet:
I, (print name), a person who is qualified to register to vote in the county of_, in the state of Arizona at all times during my circulation of this petition sheet, and under the penalty of a class 1 misdemeanor, depose and say that each individual signed this sheet of the foregoing petition in my presence on the date indicated, and I believe that each signer's name and residence address or post office address are correctly stated and that each signer is a qualified elector of the state1 of Arizona (or in the case of a city, town or county measure, of the city, town or county affected by the measure proposed to be initiated or referred to the people) and that at all times during the circulation of this signature sheet a copy of the title and the text was attached to the signature sheet.
(Signature of affiant)_
(Residence address, street and number of affiant, or if no street address, a description of residence location)_
. We have found substantial compliance in the following cases: Meyers, 192 Ariz. at 378, ¶ 12, 965 P.2d at 770 (concluding that even when the petition did not contain a clear title, but a title could be found by looking at the formatting of the petition, the petition substantially complied); Kromko, 168 Ariz. at 58-61, 811 P.2d at 19-22 (finding substantial compliance when the petitions included non-fraudulent extraneous short titles, which were neither authorized nor prohibited by the constitution or statutes); Iman v. Bolin, 98 Ariz. 358, 366, 404 P.2d 705, 710 (1965) (holding that the Secretary of State had substantially complied with requirements when he had omitted some language from the original publicity pamphlets, but later corrected the mistake through a correction sheet); Whitman, 59 Ariz. at 231-33, 125 P.2d at 455-56 (finding substantial compliance when more signatures were included on petitions than allowed by statute; some addresses were written by someone other than the signer or indicated only by ditto marks; and circulators did not include their cities and state, but did include their addresses).
. Devcor did discuss whether the petitions could be saved on other grounds. 168 Ariz. at 431-32, 814 P.2d at 772-73. But we held that the defects in the petitions were not cured. Id. Here, CRG also raised the issue of whether any possible defect could be cured with other evidence. Because we conclude the petitions in this case comply with the constitutional and statutory requirements, we do not address the issue of when or how a defective initiative petition may be cured.
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OPINION
THOMPSON, Judge.
¶ 1 Petitioner Phoenix City Prosecutor’s Office challenges the decisions of two Phoenix Municipal Court magistrate judges granting jury trials to two defendants charged with misdemeanor assault. For the following reasons, we accept jurisdiction and grant relief.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 Stanley Douglas Buford and Raul Estrada (defendants) were charged with misdemeanor assault in separate cases. Defendants each requested a jury trial. The trial courts granted the requests. Petitioner then filed this special action. By previous order, we accepted jurisdiction and granted relief. We now set forth our reasons for doing so.
JURISDICTION
¶ 3 Our acceptance of jurisdiction in a special action is discretionary. King v. Superior Court, 138 Ariz. 147, 149, 673 P.2d 787, 789 (1983) (citations omitted). The issue of entitlement to a jury trial is an issue properly brought by special action. State ex rel. McDougall v. Strohson (Cantrell), 190 Ariz. 120, 121, 945 P.2d 1251, 1252 (1997) (citation omitted). We will also accept jurisdiction where the issue presented is of statewide importance, as is the issue here. See Citizens Clean Elections Comm’n v. Myers, 196 Ariz. 516, 517, 1 P.3d 706, 707 (2000). Additionally, the issue here is one of law, and petitioner has no remedy by appeal. See Cantrell, 190 Ariz. at 121, 945 P.2d at 1252. For these reasons, special action jurisdiction is appropriate in this case.
DISCUSSION
¶4 Petitioner asserts that the city court magistrates erroneously accepted the defendants’ arguments that Derendal v. Griffith, 209 Ariz. 416, 104 P.3d 147 (2005), a case recently decided by the Arizona Supreme Court, reverses supreme court precedent that misdemeanor assault cases are not jury eligible. The defendant in Derendal was charged with drag racing, a class one misdemeanor punishable by a maximum sentence of six months’ incarceration. Id. at 418, ¶ 2, 104 P.3d at 149. In Derendal, the court held that an act of moral turpitude is no longer enough to give a defendant charged with a misdemeanor the right to a jury trial in Arizona, overruling a portion of the court’s holding in Rothweiler v. Superior Court, 100 Ariz. 37, 410 P.2d 479 (1966). 209 Ariz. at 424, ¶ 32, 104 P.3d at 155.
¶ 5 The Derendal court used a two-part test to determine whether misdemeanor offenses are jury eligible, replacing the three-part Rothweiler test and ehminating the moral quality prong. Id. at 425, ¶¶ 36-37, 104 P.3d at 156. Under the Derendal test, the court must first determine whether the statutory offense in question has a historical antecedent that carried a right to jury trial under the common law at the time of statehood. Id. at ¶ 36, 104 P.3d 147. If so, the defendant has a right to a jury trial. Id. If there is no common law antecedent, the court must analyze the seriousness of the offense under Article 2, Section 24 of the Arizona Constitution. Id. at ¶ 37, 104 P.3d 147. The Derendal test is a modified version of the bright-line test enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 543, 109 S.Ct. 1289, 103 L.Ed.2d 550 (1989), which states that any criminal offense for which the maximum statutory penalty is six months or less incarceration is presumptively a petty offense to which the right of trial by jury does not attach.
¶ 6 Derendal did not change established precedent in Arizona that jury trials are not required in misdemeanor assault cases. In Goldman v. Kautz, 111 Ariz. 431, 432, 531 P.2d 1138, 1139 (1975), a defendant sought a trial by jury after being charged with assault and battery in violation of Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-241(B). The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s decision denying the defendant a jury trial, reasoning that, at common law, justices of the peace had jurisdiction to adjudicate assault and battery cases without a jury. Id. The court cited State v. Maher, 13 N.J. 235, 99 A.2d 21 (1953). In Maier, the Supreme Court of New Jersey analyzed English and early American jurisprudence and concluded that justices of the peace had the power at common law “to punish common or simple assaults and assaults and batteries summarily without presentment or indictment and without trial by jury.” Id. at 29.
¶ 7 Bruce v. State, 126 Ariz. 271, 272, 614 P.2d 813, 814 (1980), involved a defendant charged with, among other counts, two counts of misdemeanor assault. The Arizona Supreme Court set aside the trial court’s order granting the defendant a jury trial, reasoning in part that the assaults the defendant was alleged to have committed were “the equivalent of a simple battery at common law, which was not a crime requiring a jury trial____” Id. at 273, 614 P.2d at 815 (citation omitted).
¶ 8 More recently, in Cantrell, 190 Ariz. at 123, 945 P.2d at 1254, the supreme court noted that “although Arizona case law provides a broader-based right to jury trial than does the federal constitution, historically there has been no right to a jury trial in Arizona in simple assault cases.” Because Cantrell involved a defendant charged with simple assault designated in the complaint as domestic violence under Arizona’s domestic violence statutes, the court considered whether the enactment of a federal law that could have prohibited the defendant from possessing a firearm if convicted of a misdemeanor assault involving domestic violence required Arizona to change its rule that jury trials are not required in misdemeanor assault eases. Id. at 121, 945 P.2d at 1252. The court reaffirmed Goldman and Bruce and reversed the trial court’s decision granting a jury trial, concluding that potential consequences to a defendant under the federal law could not be considered in determining jury eligibility. Id. at 122-25, 945 P.2d at 1253-56.
¶ 9 Defendants argue that, prior to statehood, “for decades all persons charged with state misdemeanors received a jury trial ... on demand.” Defendants cite copies of territorial court dockets that indicate defendants received jury trials for assaults and other misdemeanors. The fact that territorial courts granted jury trials in misdemeanor cases, in compliance with territorial statutes, does not change our analysis. See Arizona Penal Code, Title XXII, § 1318 (1913); Arizona Penal Code, Title XXI, § 1191 (1901); Arizona Penal Code, Title XXII, ch. 1, § 2217 (1887), Laws, ch. 11, § 583 (1871). We have previously invoked Felix Frankfurter in refusing to “crystallize” this statutory notion existent at a particular point in our territorial history, and we explicitly rejected the view that the Arizona Constitution perpetuates the statutory law in existence at the time the Constitution was adopted, which provided for a jury trial on demand even for petty offenses. Rothweiler v. Superior Court, 1 Ariz.App. 334, 339, 402 P.2d 1010, 1015 (App.1965), aff'd, 100 Ariz. 37, 410 P.2d 479 (1966), overruled in part on other grounds, State ex rel. DeConcini v. City Court of City of Tucson, 9 Ariz.App. 522, 454 P.2d 192 (App.1969). See also Ottaway v. Smith, 210 Ariz. 490, 493, ¶ 14 n. 6, 113 P.3d 1247, 1251 n. 6 (App.2005). Similarly, in Donahue v. Babbitt, 26 Ariz. 542, 227 P. 995 (1924), and Miller v. Thompson, 26 Ariz. 603, 229 P. 696 (1924), our supreme court considered whether the appellants had a right under the Arizona Constitution to jury trials in equity cases where such a right existed by territorial statute at the time the constitution was adopted. In both eases, the supreme court concluded that jury trial rights guaranteed by territorial statute were not preserved by the constitution. Donahue, 26 Ariz. at 547, 227 P. at 996-97; Miller, 26 Ariz. at 604, 229 P. at 696. The Miller court explained:
It is the view of the appellant that the meaning of the ‘right to trial by jury’ should be gathered solely from the law of the territory of Arizona as it was at the time of the adoption of the Constitution; that the right referred to is the right which the people of the territory of Arizona enjoyed at that time; and that the declaration of the Constitution is not a broad statement of human right, but the perpetuation of a territorial law. That is not the standard of construction usually applied by the courts in determining the meaning and scope of this declaration. Even where the Constitution more pointedly refers to the period immediately preceding its adoption as the source from which this right is to be gathered, it has been construed as referring to the common-law right of trial by jury, and not to that right as limited and circumscribed by local laws.
26 Ariz. at 609-10, 229 P. at 698 (Lyman, J. concurring) (citation omitted).
¶ 10 We hold that jury trial rights provided by the territorial penal code prior to statehood were not preserved by the Arizona Constitution. Accordingly, we reverse the city court magistrates’ decisions granting jury trials to the defendants.
CONCLUSION
¶ 11 For the foregoing reasons, we accept special action jurisdiction and grant relief.
CONCURRING: JAMES B. SULT, Presiding Judge and ANN A. SCOTT TIMMER, Judge.
. Article 2, Section 24 preserves the right to a jury trial only for serious crimes, as opposed to petty crimes. Derendal, 209 Ariz. at 420, ¶ 13, 104 P.3d at 151 (citing Rothweiler, 100 Ariz. at 41, 410 P.2d at 482). Article 2, Section 24 provides, in part:
In criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to ... a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county in which the offense is alleged to have been committed____
The right to a trial by jury is also guaranteed in Article 2, Section 23 of the Arizona Constitution.
|
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OPINION
ECKERSTROM, J.
¶ 1 Appellant William Gomez was convicted after a jury trial of armed robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The trial court sentenced him to concurrent, presumptive terms of imprisonment of 10.5 years and 7.5 years respectively. He appeals his conviction, arguing that the court erred in refusing to allow the jury to use a magnifying glass to examine fingerprint evidence and in denying his requested instruction that the jury could conduct its own examination of the evidence. We affirm.
¶2 We view the facts in the light most favorable to upholding the conviction. State v. Korovkin, 202 Ariz. 493, ¶ 2, 47 P.3d 1131, 1132 (App.2002). In the early morning of July 8, 2002, a young Hispanic male, later identified as Gomez, entered a convenience store. He went behind the counter where the clerk was standing and showed her a knife. He told the clerk to back up, not to touch anything, and not to move. The clerk backed up against the wall next to the cash register, and Gomez demanded that she open the register. She opened it, Gomez removed some cash, then grabbed some cigarettes that were below the counter.
¶ 3 Three months after the robbery, the clerk was unable to identify Gomez as the robber from a photographic lineup. However, fingerprints left on a cigarette carton touched by the perpetrator matched the known prints of Gomez when processed by the Arizona Fingerprint Identification System. Then, Sharalee Hensley, a latent print examiner for the Tucson Police Department, compared the latent prints to Gomez’s known prints and confirmed that the prints in question belonged to Gomez. She testified that she used two magnifying glasses to compare the latent fingerprints to the known fingerprints and proceeded to use at least one magnifying glass to conduct comparisons during her testimony.
¶ 4 Gomez argues that the jury was entitled to use a magnifying glass to examine the latent and known fingerprint cards to evaluate the expert witness’s opinion that the fingerprints found on the cigarette carton belonged to him. He argues that the trial court’s refusal to grant his request to allow the jury’s use of a magnifying glass was error and violated his right to a fair trial because identification was the only issue at trial and Hensley was the key witness.
¶ 5 This court has previously held that it was not an abuse of discretion to refuse a defendant’s request to furnish the jury with a magnifying glass to examine a palm print. State v. Conn, 137 Ariz. 152, 157, 669 P.2d 585, 590 (App.1982), approved, in relevant part, 137 Ariz. 148, 669 P.2d 581 (1983). Gomez maintains Conn is distinguishable because the palm print at issue there had as many as sixty identical points of comparison to the defendant’s when twelve identical points are sufficient to establish identity. Id. at 154, 669 P.2d at 587. And in this case, Hensley testified that she does not count points of comparison to establish identity, but rather, performs a quantitative/qualitative assessment of the prints. However, this court’s holding in Conn did not rest on the method used to compare the fingerprints. Id. at 157, 669 P.2d at 590. And we find no other reasonable basis upon which to disregard that holding.
¶ 6 Although Conn sets forth the appropriate standard for our review of the trial court’s denial of the'defense request — abuse of discretion — that case did not articulate the relevant criteria that trial courts should consider in exercising that discretion. There, the court merely referred to other authority holding that “furnishing ... a magnifying glass to the jury is not the equivalent of permitting the jury to improperly experiment with the evidence.” Conn, 137 Ariz, at 157, 669 P.2d at 590, citing People v. Turner, 22 Cal.App.3d 174, 99 Cal.Rptr. 186 (1971).
¶ 7 In essence, the state argues that the trial court properly refused to provide the jury with a magnifying glass because jurors do not have the expertise to conduct fingerprint comparisons. The testimony of the state’s expert supports that contention. When defense counsel questioned Hensley about apparent differences between the known and latent prints in question, Hensley explained that the manner in which those prints are created can cause visual distortions that must be distinguished from genuine dissimilarities in the impressions. According to Hensley, one apparent dissimilarity was caused by the amount of powder used in lifting the latent print, another by distortions caused in the known print when the skin was squeezed during the rolling process. Such insights, crucial to conducting a valid fingerprint comparison, clearly fell beyond the expertise of the jury.
¶ 8 Gomez counters that jurors are entitled to scrutinize tangible objects admitted into evidence. See State v. Lichon, 163 Ariz. 186, 192-93, 786 P.2d 1037, 1043-44 (App.1990)(holding that jurors possessed “an absolute right” to review videotapes with assistance of video equipment provided by the bailiff when tapes had been admitted into evidence). Gomez emphasizes correctly that Arizona courts repeatedly have upheld the right of deliberating jurors to review evidence thoroughly. As this court has stated, “[i]f the jurors are to accomplish their function of evaluating evidence properly admitted they ought not be prohibited from scrutinizing exhibits, even if their inquiry is more critical than that conducted in open court.” State v. Ferreira, 152 Ariz. 289, 294, 731 P.2d 1233, 1238 (App.1986). Our supreme court has even approved jury experiments with tangible evidence so long as those experiments do not “go ‘beyond the lines of evidence’ introduced in court and thus constitute the introduction of new evidence in the jury room.” Rossell v. Volkswagen of America, 147 Ariz. 160, 172, 709 P.2d 517, 529 (1985), quoting E. Cleary, McCormick on Evidence § 217, at 541 (2d ed.1972); see also State v. Jackson, 596 N.W.2d 262, 266 (Minn. App.1999) (jurors inking their own fingers to compare to known and latent print evidence not an improper experiment but a mere test of the credibility of evidence received during the trial).
¶ 9 As we have previously noted in Conn, once latent and known prints have been admitted into evidence, the furnishing of a magnifying glass to a jury hardly constitutes an invitation to conduct an experiment. 137 Ariz. at 157, 669 P.2d at 590; see also State v. Griffin, 116 N.M. 689, 866 P.2d 1156, 1163 (1993) (“Enhancement of the jury’s visual acuity through use of a magnifying glass is not experimentation unless there is some indication that the magnification produced additional evidence.”). Nor does it expose the jury to any extrinsic evidence not admitted. United States v. George, 56 F.3d 1078, 1084 (9th Cir.1995). Rather, it merely assists the jury in more carefully scrutinizing the evidence that has been admitted. See United States v. Brewer, 783 F.2d 841, 843 (9th Cir.1986) (holding use of magnifying glass to examine photographs in evidence equivalent to use of corrective lenses).
¶ 10 Finally, we note that jurors are not required to accept expert testimony uncritically and are entitled to carefully review the factual or documentary bases of an expert’s conclusions. See Moon v. State, 22 Ariz. 418, 423, 198 P. 288, 290 (1921) (“[T]he weight and value of [fingerprint] testimony [is] always ... a question for the jury.”); see also Com. v. Lilliock, 740 A.2d 237, 243 (Pa.Super.Ct.1999) (use of magnifying glass to scrutinize photos already addressed by expert witnesses merely assisted jury in their truth-finding process). Here, the parties do not dispute that Hensley’s testimony constituted the primary evidence of Gomez’s guilt and that Hensley was vigorously challenged by Gomez. Under such circumstances, we cannot imagine how the jury could conscientiously deliberate without evaluating the accuracy and reliability of Hensley’s appraisal of the fingerprints.
If 11 In short, Gomez’s motion to provide the jury with a magnifying glass required the trial court to balance several legitimate and competing legal principles in the context of the case before it. In exercising its discretion, the court was entitled to consider the potential for jury confusion arising from the jury’s use of a magnifying glass given its lack of training in distinguishing legitimate dis similarities from mere insignificant distortions in the fingerprint impressions. The court was also entitled to consider that the jury was still capable of scrutinizing any alleged dissimilarities on the fingerprint cards without using a magnifying lens. Importantly, the court neither prohibited the jury from scrutinizing the relevant known and latent prints, nor did it prohibit Gomez from exhaustively suggesting differences between them during cross-examination or argument.
¶ 12 An abuse of discretion occurs only when “the reasons given by the court for its action are clearly untenable, legally incorrect, or amount to a denial of justice.” State v. Chapple, 135 Ariz. 281, 297 n. 18, 660 P.2d 1208, 1224 n. 18 (1983). Given the specific context of this case, where the trial court neither prevented the jury from scrutinizing the fingerprint cards nor discouraged argument or inquiry as to the content of those cards, we cannot say the trial court abused its discretion when it reduced the risk of jury confusion by prohibiting the jury from using a magnifying glass.
¶ 13 Gomez next argues the trial court abused its discretion by denying his requested instruction that the jury could “conduct [its] own examination of any of the evidence that has been admitted during trial.” He claims that the court’s preliminary instruction that the jurors could not conduct their own experiments, coupled with the prosecutor’s statement in closing argument that it would be improper for the jury to “engage in the type of examination that [the defense] would like,” may have confused the jury and, therefore, prevented it from performing its duty to examine the evidence.
¶ 14 We review for an abuse of discretion a trial court’s denial of a requested jury instruction. State v. Barraza, 209 Ariz. 441, ¶ 8, 104 P.3d 172, 175 (App.2005). “[W]hen the substance of a proposed instruction is adequately covered by other instructions, the trial court is not required to give it.” State v. Hoskins, 199 Ariz. 127, ¶ 75, 14 P.3d 997, 1015 (2000). The trial court instructed the jury that it must determine the facts from the evidence presented in court, which consists of witness testimony and exhibits. The court also instructed the jury that it was not bound by expert testimony and should only give the testimony the weight it deserved. And, Gomez made clear in closing argument, without contrary objection, that the jury could compare the latent with the known fingerprints. See State v. Bruggeman, 161 Ariz. 508, 510, 779 P.2d 823, 825 (App.1989) (“Closing arguments of counsel may be taken into account when assessing the adequacy of jury instructions.”). Therefore, the jury was informed that it could evaluate and examine the fingerprints and weigh Hensley’s opinion against the other evidence, and Gomez’s proposed instruction was unnecessary.
¶ 15 We are not persuaded that the jury was confused by the court’s preliminary instruction and the state’s closing argument. The court’s preliminary instruction — that the jury was not to conduct any independent investigation or experiment — was a correct statement of the law and was not in conflict with the jury’s duty to examine the evidence. Furthermore, we presume the jury follows the court’s instructions, State v. Prince, 204 Ariz. 156, ¶ 9, 61 P.3d 450, 452 (2003), and the prosecutor’s argument warning the jury of the dangers of conducting its own comparisons of the impressions was not enough to overcome that presumption. Accordingly, the court’s refusal to give Gomez’s requested instruction was not error.
¶ 16 Affirmed.
HOWARD, P.J. and BRAMMER, J., concurring.
. The court touched on this concern when it observed that providing the jury magnifying glasses to examine the fingerprints would be "to turn them into expert witnesses.”
. During summation, after the court denied Gomez’s request to permit the jury to use a magnifying glass, Gomez invited the jury to use the admitted print cards to scrutinize several specific differences between the relevant known and latent impressions. That argument suggested the print cards were not so small that a comparison was impossible without magnification.
. Although Gomez has argued both at trial and on appeal that the state’s summation entitled him to an instruction that the jury could conduct its own comparison of the fingerprint cards, Gomez did not object to the relevant portion of the state’s summation, nor does he raise an independent claim of improper argument based on it.
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ORDERED: Petition for Review = DENIED.
FURTHER ORDERED: The Court of Appeals’ Opinion shall not be published, pursuant to Rule 111(g), Arizona Rules of the Supreme Court.
|
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OPINION
HURWITZ, Justice.
¶ 1 Fabio Evelio Gomez was convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, and first degree murder. Gomez received a death sentence for first degree murder and an automatic notice of appeal was filed pursuant to Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 31.2(b). This Court has jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5(3), of the Arizona Constitution and Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) 13-4031 (2001).
I.
¶2 Joan Morane lived in the Chandler Park Tower Apartments in Chandler, Ari zona. On December 2, 1999, a Mend stopped by Joan’s apartment after work. The door of the apartment was unlocked and various items inside were in disarray.
¶ 3 Gomez lived across the landing from Joan. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., a resident of the apartment complex heard a woman screaming “No!” from Gomez’s bathroom and called 911. Chandler police officers responded to the call.
¶ 4 When the officers arrived, Joan’s Mend informed them that Joan was missing. After looking through Joan’s apartment, the officers departed. Joan’s Mend remained and attempted to talk to neighbors about the 911 call. Gomez initially did not respond to knocks on his door, but later emerged, denying that he had seen Joan or heard any screaming. Shortly thereafter, Gomez left his apartment to pick up his live-in girlfriend.
¶ 5 Joan still had not returned, so her friend telephoned Joan’s ex-husband, who arrived at the complex at about 6:00 p.m. The ex-husband found two red buttons outside of Gomez’s apartment door, and Chandler police were again summoned. An officer returned, collected the buttons, and left the complex at approximately 8:00 p.m.
¶6 Gomez and his girlMend returned at about the same time as the officers were leaving. The girlMend saw blood in their apartment and complained to Gomez. Gomez told her that earlier that day he had gone outside to smoke, leaving the door open, and that a cat had come in and scratched their baby. Gomez said that he bludgeoned the cat to death in the bathroom and threw it into a dumpster at the complex. The girl-Mend went down to look in the dumpster but saw no cat; on returning to the apartment she discovered more blood.
¶ 7 Chandler police officers came back to the complex later that evening and briefly questioned Gomez from outside of his apartment. Gomez again claimed to know nothing about Joan’s disappearance or sounds of screaming coming from his apartment. The police returned to the complex several times during the early morning of December 3. On one of these occasions, an officer saw Gomez on the staircase carrying a deflated yellow raft to his girlMend’s vehicle. Gomez again denied any knowledge of Joan’s disappearance.
¶ 8 The officer returned about an hour later and looked into the girlfriend’s car with his flashlight. After the officer noted what appeared to be two small bloodstains on the yellow raft, he called for backup, went upstairs, and asked Gomez whether he and another officer could enter the apartment. Gomez agreed.
¶ 9 Once inside, one officer saw what appeared to be blood spots on the living room carpet. He asked Gomez where the blood had come from; Gomez replied that his girlMend had cut her foot. The officers obtained Gomez’s consent to search the apartment and noticed more blood on the bathroom walls.
¶ 10 In the bedroom, an officer found the girlfriend asleep, awakened her, and asked if she had cut her foot. She replied she had not; the officer looked at her feet and found no injuries. He then asked her about the blood in the living room, and she related Gomez’s explanation about the cat.
¶ 11 The officers then asked Gomez what he had done with the cat. Gomez said that he had put it in a garbage bag and thrown it into a dumpster at a nearby restaurant. After radioing for a search of the restaurant dumpster, officers noticed more spots of what appeared to be blood in the bathroom and by the front door and found wet throw rugs hung up to dry in the bathroom.
¶ 12 A search of the restaurant dumpster proved futile. However, an officer subsequently saw what appeared to be dried blood on the front of a dumpster at the apartment complex. Inside the dumpster, an officer found a blanket, a newspaper, and a woman’s blouse, all with dried blood on them. A more thorough search revealed Joan’s body, clad only in a red nightshirt missing buttons similar to the ones found outside Gomez’s apart ment. In nearby dumpsters, the police found a pair of stained shorts, duct tape with blood on it and hairs attached to it, and bloodstained socks and washcloths.
¶ 13 Subsequent searches of Gomez’s apartment revealed bloodstains on the walls and floor and a large bloodstain near the patio door that had been covered up with several towels and a pillow. A bloodstained comforter was found inside the washing machine. The police also found socks and towels in the apartment similar to the bloodstained items in the dumpsters. They also found a receipt dated December 1, 1999, showing the purchase of duct tape; the only duct tape found in the apartment was a small strip stuck to the carpet.
¶ 14 Vaginal swabs taken from Joan’s body revealed the presence of semen. Subsequent DNA testing identified the semen as Gomez’s and the bloodstains in the apartment as Joan’s. No cat blood was ever found in the apartment.
¶ 15 At trial, Gomez denied any knowledge of or involvement in Joan’s disappearance and murder. He admitted to having sex with Joan but claimed it was consensual. He again claimed that the blood in his apartment was from a cat.
¶ 16 The jury returned verdicts finding Gomez guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Sentencing proceedings were commenced before the trial judge, but before sentence could be pronounced, the United States Supreme Court decided Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002) (Ring II), holding Arizona’s capital sentencing scheme unconstitutional. The legislature then amended the capital sentencing statute and assigned to juries the responsibility of finding aggravating circumstances and determining whether a sentence of life imprisonment or death should be imposed. 2002 Ariz. Sess. Laws, 5th Spec. Sess., ch. 1, 3 (codified at A.R.S. 13-703.01 (Supp.2003)). The sentencing proceedings therefore began anew under the amended statutes before a new judge and a newly empanelled jury. Gomez represented himself during these proceedings with the assistance of advisory counsel. At the conclusion of the aggravation phase, the jury unanimously found that the murder was committed in a cruel and depraved manner but was not unanimous as to whether the murder was heinous. After hearing mitigation evidence in the penalty phase, the jury found death to be the appropriate sentence. The superior court subsequently sentenced Gomez to death for the first degree murder and to aggravated sentences for the kidnapping and sexual assault, the non-capital sentences to run concurrently with each other and consecutively to the death sentence.
¶ 17 Gomez challenges his conviction for first degree murder and his sentences for all three of the offenses. For the reasons below, we affirm Gomez’s convictions but vacate his death sentence and the kidnapping sentence and remand for resentencing.
II.
A.
¶ 18 Gomez argues that the superior court erred in giving the following jury instruction regarding premeditation:
Premeditation means that a person acts with either the intention or the knowledge that he will kill another human being when such intention or knowledge preceded the killing by a length of time to permit reflection. Proof of actual reflection is not required, but an act is not done with premeditation if it is the instant effect of a sudden quarrel or heat of passion.
It is this period of reflection, regardless of its length, which distinguishes first degree murder from intentional or knowing second degree murder.
The court gave this instruction both at the beginning and end of the trial. Gomez did not object on either occasion.
¶ 19 In State v. Thompson, we found the use of the phrase “proof of actual reflection is not required” to be error if given in a jury instruction “without further clarification.” 204 Ariz. 471, 480 ¶ 34, 65 P.3d 420, 429 (2003). The State concedes that the instruction given in this case was erroneous in light of Thompson, but argues that reversal is not warranted because of Gomez’s failure to object to the instruction.
¶ 20 We have emphasized that “rarely will an improperly given instruction justify reversal of a criminal conviction when no objection has been made in the trial court.” State v. Van Adams, 194 Ariz. 408, 415 ¶ 17, 984 P.2d 16, 23 (1999) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). In the absence of an objection to an instruction, we review for fundamental error. State v. Hunter, 142 Ariz. 88, 90, 688 P.2d 980, 982 (1984).
¶ 21 Error is fundamental if it “goes to the foundation of [the defendant’s] ease, takes away a right that is essential to his defense, and is of such magnitude that he could not have received a fair trial.” State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, 568 ¶ 24, 115 P.3d 601, 608 (2005). Reversal is required only if the defendant was actually prejudiced by the error. Id. at 567 ¶ 20, 115 P.3d at 607.
¶22 In arguing that any error was not fundamental, the State relies heavily on Van Adams. In that case, decided before Thompson, the defendant was charged with first degree murder; his defense was that he did not commit the homicide. Van Adams, 194 Ariz. at 415 ¶ 18, 984 P.2d at 23. Van Adams claimed on appeal that the superior court erred in failing to instruct the jury that actual reflection was needed for premeditation. Id. at 414 ¶ 16, 984 P.2d at 22. Because Van Adams failed to object to the jury instructions, however, we held that he was precluded from claiming anything but fundamental error. Id. at 415 ¶ 17, 984 P.2d at 23. The error in Van Adams was not fundamental because
[ajppellant’s defense rested solely on his claim of total innocence or mistaken identity, rather than on an assertion that although he committed the murder, he did so mistakenly or without actual reflection. The premeditation instruction therefore neither removed a right from Appellant nor hindered his ability to raise total innocence or mistaken identity as his defense. If the trial court erred, the error did not take from defendant a right essential to his defense.
Id. at ¶ 18.
¶ 23 Like Van Adams, Gomez also presented a claim of total innocence. In attempting to distinguish Van Adams, Gomez places primary reliance on State v. Dann, 205 Ariz. 557, 74 P.3d 231 (2003), decided after Thompson. In Dann, the defendant was charged with three first degree murders, id. at 562 ¶ 1, 74 P.3d at 236, and defended on the grounds of total innocence, id. at 566 ¶ 19 n. 3, 74 P.3d at 240 n. 3. The superior court gave a variant of the instruction disapproved in Thompson. Id. at 565 ¶ 17, 74 P.3d at 239.
¶ 24 This Court found the instruction erroneous. Id. Because Dann had objected to the jury instruction, it was analyzed for harmless error. Id. at ¶ 18. We concluded that the State had not demonstrated that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt as to two of the murder verdicts because the evidence of premeditation was not overwhelming. Id. at 566 ¶ 21, 74 P.3d at 240.
¶ 25 Claiming that the evidence of premeditation in this case also is not overwhelming, Gomez argues that Dann requires a new trial. Gomez, however, ignores an important distinction between Dann and Van Adams. In the latter case, because the defendant did not object to the allegedly erroneous jury instruction on premeditation, our review was for fundamental error; we found none because the defendant claimed total innocence. In contrast, in Dann, in which a timely objection was raised, this Court reviewed for harmless error and concluded that the State could not demonstrate that the erroneous instruction was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The two eases thus turn on the differing standards of review for harmless and fundamental error.
¶ 26 This Court recently explained those standards in Henderson:
Reviewing courts consider alleged trial error under the harmless error standard when a defendant objects at trial and thereby preserves an issue for appeal. Harmless error review places the burden on the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the error did not contribute to or affect the verdict or sentence.
Fundamental error review, in contrast, applies when a defendant fails to object to alleged trial error. The scope of review for fundamental error is limited. A defendant who fails to object at trial forfeits the right to obtain appellate relief except in those rare cases that involve error going to the foundation of the case, error that takes from the defendant a right essential to his defense, and error of such magnitude that the defendant could not possibly have received a fair trial. In addition, we place the burden of persuasion in fundamental error review on the defendant.
210 Ariz. at 567 ¶¶ 18-19, 115 P.3d at 607 (internal citations and quotation omitted).
¶ 27 Van Adams squarely holds that, when a defense rests solely on a claim of total innocence, an erroneous jury instruction on premeditation does not take away a right essential to the defense. 194 Ariz. at 415 ¶ 18, 984 P.2d at 23. Because Gomez’s defense was of total innocence, any error in the jury instruction therefore is not fundamental.
B.
¶ 28 Gomez requested and received a jury instruction on the lesser included offense of second degree murder. He also requested a manslaughter instruction, which the trial court refused. Citing Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625, 638, 100 S.Ct. 2382, 65 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980), Gomez argues that this deprived him of due process.
State v. Anderson dealt with this very argument:
Anderson next argues that the denial of an aggravated assault instruction deprived him of due process under the rule of Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625 [100 S.Ct. 2382, 65 L.Ed.2d 392] (1980). Beck held unconstitutional an Alabama statute that prohibited a trial court from instructing the jury on any lesser included offense in a capital murder prosecution. The Supreme Court found that such a restriction might lead a jury to convict a defendant of capital murder, despite jurors’ reasonable doubts, merely because the jurors thought the defendant was guilty of some crime and should therefore be punished. Id. at 642-43 [100 S.Ct. 2382],
The Supreme Court’s subsequent opinion in Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624, 111 S.Ct. 2491, 115 L.Ed.2d 555 (1991), shows that Beck is of no avail to Anderson. In Schad, the defendant argued that “the due process principles underlying Beck require that the jury in a capital case be instructed on every lesser included noncapital offense supported by the evidence.” Id. at 646 [111 S.Ct. 2491]. The Court disagreed, noting that its concern in Beck was the statute’s “all-or-nothing” nature. Id. Because the jury in Schad was given the option to convict the defendant of a lesser offense, second-degree murder, and rejected that option, the Supreme Court held that the trial court’s refusal to instruct on robbery did not implicate the Beck rule. Id. at 647-48 [111 S.Ct. 2491],
210 Ariz. 327, 344 ¶¶ 63-64, 111 P.3d 369, 386 (2005).
¶ 29 Here, as in Anderson, the superior court instructed on the immediately lesser included offense, but refused to instruct on an additional lesser included offense. As in Anderson, because the jury found the defendant guilty of the highest offense, the Beck rule was not implicated, id. at ¶ 64, and the jury ‘“necessarily rejected all other lesser-included offenses.’” State v. Vickers, 159 Ariz. 532, 542, 768 P.2d 1177, 1187 (1989) (quoting State v. White, 144 Ariz. 245, 247, 697 P.2d 328, 330 (1985)).
¶ 30 Gomez also argues that the evidence supports a manslaughter instruction and one therefore should have been given as a matter of state law. “[A] defendant is ‘entitled to an instruction on any theory reasonably supported by evidence.’ ” Anderson, 210 Ariz. at 343 ¶ 60, 111 P.3d at 385 (quoting State v. LaGrand, 152 Ariz. 483, 487, 733 P.2d 1066, 1070 (1987)). It “is fundamental error to omit such an instruction in a capital case when it is supported by the evidence____” State v. Krone, 182 Ariz. 319, 323, 897 P.2d 621, 625 (1995).
¶ 31 Manslaughter is defined as “Committing second degree murder ... upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion resulting from adequate provocation by the victim.” A.R.S. § 13-1103(A)(2) (2001). Gomez argues that the evidence could support a finding that the killing was caused by a sudden quarrel or heat of passion, citing both the testimony of the neighbor who heard yelling and the victim’s extensive injuries.
¶ 32 Although a savage murder or evidence of an argument may be indicative of a sudden quarrel or heat of passion, under § 13-1103(A)(2) the sudden quarrel or heat of passion must result from adequate provocation by the victim. Adequate provocation is defined as “conduct or circumstances sufficient to deprive a reasonable person of self-control.” A.R.S. § 13-1101(4) (2001). Gomez points to no evidence of such provocation. Even if Joan refused Gomez’s sexual advances, such actions would not deprive a reasonable person of self-control and thus cannot rise to the level of adequate provocation. The evidence here did not support a manslaughter instruction and the court correctly refused to give one.
III.
¶ 33 At sentencing the trial judge stated: I find in aggravation as to both Count 2 [kidnapping] and Count 4 [sexual assault] that the defendant inflicted much more force than that required to commit those respective offenses. I find further that he obstructed the criminal investigation by the Chandler Police Department by lying to the police about the circumstances of the blood occurring in his apartment, which basically hindered their investigation. I find that both aggravating circumstances are substantial aggravating circumstances and call for the maximum sentences as to Counts 2 and 4.
In addition, the jury specifically found that both the kidnapping and sexual assault were dangerous offenses.
¶ 34 Gomez argues that the superior court violated the rule in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), by sentencing him to aggravated terms on these non-capital counts based upon factual findings neither made by the jury nor admitted by him. Because Gomez did not object to judicial fact-finding of these non-capital aggravators, we review only for fundamental error. Henderson, 210 Ariz. at 567 ¶ 19, 115 P.3d at 607.
A.
¶ 35 Gomez received a sentence of twenty-one years for kidnapping, a class 2 felony. Because the jury found the kidnapping to be a dangerous offense, the superior court presumably sentenced Gomez pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-604(1) (2001), which governs sentencing for a first conviction of a class 2 felony involving the use of a “dangerous instrument” or the “intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury.” Under A.R.S. § 13-604(1), the presumptive sentence is ten and one-half years. The statute allows an aggravated maximum sentence of twenty-one years upon the finding of an aggravating circumstance pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-702(C) (2001).
¶ 36 Neither of the two aggravating factors relied upon by the superior court in imposing the aggravated twenty-one year sentence was found by the jury or admitted by Gomez. The State nonetheless argues that Blakely was satisfied because the “more force than necessary” finding was inherent in the jury verdict. See State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, 583 ¶ 16, 115 P.3d 618, 623 (2005) (finding no Sixth Amendment violation when one aggravating factor is Blakely-compliant and others are found by sentencing judge).
¶ 37 The jury, however, was neither asked to determine how much force was necessary to accomplish the kidnapping nor to decide when that force was exerted. We therefore cannot conclude that this aggravating circumstance was inherent in the jury’s verdict. Because Gomez’s kidnapping sentence was aggravated on the basis of this factor, we find fundamental error and remand for re-sentencing. See Henderson, 210 Ariz. at 568 ¶¶ 25-26, 115 P.3d at 608 (finding Blakely error fundamental when defendant receives longer sentence than he would have received in absence of such error).
B.
¶ 38 In contrast, we find no error in the sexual assault sentence of fourteen years. Sentencing for sexual assault is not governed by the general scheme in A.R.S. § 13-702(A)(1) governing class 2 felonies. Instead, A.R.S. § 13-1406(B) (2001) provides a presumptive sentence of seven years for sexual assault for a first offense; the potential penalty is fourteen years upon the finding of a single aggravator. A.R.S. § 13-1406(B). The jury finding of dangerousness established the § 13-702(0(1) “serious physical injury” aggravating factor, and there thus was no Blakely error.
IY.
A.
¶ 39 Gomez represented himself during the aggravation and penalty phases of the trial and elected to wear prison garb throughout these phases. The superior court required Gomez to wear shackles in these proceedings, which were held before a jury. Gomez objected to the shackling and argues on appeal that the superior court erred in overruling that objection.
¶ 40 The United States Supreme Court has recently addressed this very issue in Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622, 125 S.Ct. 2007, 161 L.Ed.2d 953 (2005), holding that
courts cannot routinely place defendants in shackles or other physical restraints visible to the jury during the penalty phase of a capital proceeding. The constitutional requirement, however, is not absolute. It permits a judge, in the exercise of his or her discretion, to take account of special circumstances, including security concerns, that may call for shackling. In doing so, it accommodates the important need to protect the courtroom and its occupants. But any such determination must be case specific; that is to say, it should reflect particular concerns, say special security needs or escape risks, related to the defendant on trial.
Id. at 2014-15.
¶41 In Deck, the defendant was visibly shackled during the sentencing phases of a capital murder case. Id. at 2010. The Court began by noting that “[t]he law has long forbidden routine use of visible shackles during the guilt phase; it permits a State to shackle a criminal defendant only in the presence of special need.” Id. During that phase, the Court noted, “a criminal defendant has a right to remain free of physical restraints that are visible to the jury____” Id. at 2012. “[Ajbsent a trial court determination ... that [shackles] are justified by a state interest specific to a particular trial,” such as security concerns or risk of escape, the use of visible physical restraints is prohibited. Id.
¶42 Deck considered for the first time whether the general rule against shackling during the guilt phase should be extended to the sentencing phases of a capital proceeding held before a jury. The Court held that “[t]he considerations that militate against the routine use of visible shackles during the guilt phase of a criminal trial apply with like force to penalty proceedings in capital cases” because the decision between life and death is “no less important than the decision about guilt.” Id. at 2014. The Court emphasized that “[t]he appearance of the offender during the penalty phase in shackles ... almost inevitably implies to the jury, as a matter of common sense, that court authorities consider the offender a danger to the community” and that shackling “almost inevitably affects adversely the jury’s perception of the character of the defendant.” Id.
¶ 43 As in the ease of guilt proceedings, the Court noted, the defendant’s constitutional right to be free of shackles visible to the jury during capital sentencing proceedings “is not absolute.” Id. at 2014. As he may during the guilt phase, a trial judge may order shackling in light of “special circumstances” during the sentencing proceedings. Id, at 2015. But, as in the guilt phase, the Court stressed, such a determination must be “case specific” and reflect “particular concerns” relating to the defendant on trial. Id.
¶44 The United States Supreme Court found the visible shackling of Deck unconstitutional because the record contained no “formal or informal findings” indicating that the trial judge had required shackling in response to security or decorum concerns. Id. Nor could the Court conclude that this was “an exceptional case where the record itself makes clear that there are indisputably good reasons for shackling.” Id. In the absence of such a record, the Court held that “the defendant need not demonstrate actual prejudice to make out a due process violation.” Id. Rather, it is the state’s burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the shackling error did not contribute to the sentence. Id.
¶ 45 Deck was decided after the aggravation and penalty phases of the trial below. Newly declared constitutional infles, however, apply to criminal cases pending on direct review. Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 322, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987). Given the timing of the Deck decision, the superior court understandably did not make any findings as to why Gomez should be shackled. Thus, our inquiry is whether this is an “exceptional case where the record itself makes clear that there are indisputably good reasons for shackling.” Deck, 125 S.Ct. at 2015.
¶ 46 The State argues that the shackling was justified because Gomez was convicted of a capital crime, had numerous disciplinary reports while in jail, and was excluded from the courtroom briefly during a prior motion proceeding. The State, however, presented no such arguments below. Rather, it stood silent during the argument over Gomez’s objection to shackling; the colloquy over the objection involved only Gomez, the trial judge, and a deputy sheriff. In any event, we are unable to conclude on this record that these justifications demonstrate “indisputably good reasons” for shackling.
¶ 47 As an initial matter, we note that Gomez’s conviction for a capital crime cannot by itself justify shackling; Deck is precisely to the contrary. 125 S.Ct. at 2015. The superior court was not presented with any evidence of Gomez’s disciplinary problems in jail until the rebuttal portion of the sentencing phase, some twenty days after the trial judge overruled Gomez’s objection to the shackling; these incidents therefore played no role in the shackling decision. Nor can the fact that Gomez was earlier excluded from the courtroom justify shackling. That exclusion was the result of a refusal to cooperate with the court after a motion for change of judge was denied. The record contains no evidence of security concerns arising from that exclusion, nor is there any indication that the trial court relied upon that exclusion in its shackling decision.
¶48 Rather, the record makes plain that the trial court allowed shackling not because of “case specific” security concerns about Gomez, but rather because shackling of all defendants in prison garb was required by jail policy. The entire record with respect to the issue is as follows:
MR. RAYNAK [advisory counsel]: Your honor, I’m sorry. Can we just — Mr. Gomez had one issue that I think is a viable issue. I know he’s in his jail clothing, but he’s also in chains. If he was dressed out, he wouldn’t be in chains. So, I mean, I understand he chose to do the jail uniform. That’s not the issue, but, you know, he’s walking up in front of the jury in chains.
THE COURT: Mr. Raynak, once again, if Mr. Gomez has an issue, he’s going to present it to me himself. You’re not representing him other than advisory counsel.
So, Mr. Gomez, state your position.
MR. GOMEZ: Well, Your Honor, I agree with Mr. Raynak. I’m wearing this.
THE COURT: The jury’s not going to see that.
MR. GOMEZ: I ain’t going nowhere. So, I would appreciate if I can ask for freedom.
THE COURT: Deputy, what’s your position?
THE DEPUTY: Judge, typically if they’re dressed out in stripes, the only thing I’m supposed to allow them is one hand free, but since he’s pro per, I chose to get rid of the chains, the belly chains that he’s normally supposed to wear and use the belt instead, but I left the leg irons on there because policy says they get one hand free if the judge asks for it, but I disregarded that and allowed him even more freedom.
THE COURT: All right. Your request to have the chains removed is denied, Mr. Gomez, but I will instruct the jury that they’re not to consider that fact in any respect as part of their deliberations in this case.
¶49 Deck prohibits the routine shackling of defendants. A decision based solely on a general jail policy of shackling defendants who wear jail garb or exercise their constitutional right to represent themselves is clearly not the kind of “case specific” determination of “particular concerns” that Deck requires. On the record before us, we must therefore conclude that the superior court erred in requiring Gomez to wear shackles.
¶ 50 The State argues that the shackles were not visible to the jury, and thus any error was harmless. The record, however, does not bear out this contention. While the trial judge did state at one point that “[t]he jury’s not going to see that,” he shortly thereafter offered to instruct the jury “not to consider” what he called “the chains.” It is clear that Gomez moved about before the jury during the sentencing proceedings, and we are therefore unable to conclude that what the deputy sheriff referred to as “leg irons” and what both the judge and advisory counsel referred to as “chains” were not visible to the jury during the aggravation and sentencing phases.
¶ 51 In the end, it is the state’s burden to prove any shackling error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Deck, 125 S.Ct. at 2015. On this record, the State has not carried this burden. Deck therefore compels us to vacate the death sentence and remand for new sentencing proceedings.
t>
¶ 52 Because of our disposition of the shackling issue, it is unnecessary for us to address the remaining arguments raised by Gomez with respect to imposition of the death sentence. Despite Gomez’s suggestion, we decline to address whether the superior court erred in allowing him to represent himself during the aggravation and penalty phases of the trial. Because Gomez allowed advisory counsel to give the closing argument in the penalty phase and was represented by counsel during arguments on his motion for a new trial and on appeal, he revoked his waiver of counsel. Should Gomez again attempt such a waiver on remand, the superior court can then assess his current competence to do so and determine whether the waiver is voluntary and intelligently made.
V.
¶ 53 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Gomez’s convictions for first degree murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping, and the aggravated sentence for sexual assault. We vacate the sentence of death for first degree murder and the aggravated sentence for kidnapping, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN and W. SCOTT BALES, Justices.
. The neighbor who had made the 911 call left the complex shortly after the officers arrived. The officers therefore apparently did not know which apartment had been the scene of the alleged screaming and did not go to Gomez’s apartment.
. Joan’s body was bruised extensively. She had bruises on her arms and wrists consistent with someone gripping her tightly. The bruises to her right hand and wrist were consistent with defensive wounds. Joan had numerous lacerations and contusions on her face and head. Her nose was broken and an abrasion at the back of her hairline was consistent with duct tape having been applied and then removed. Joan's skull was "extensively" fractured; the shattered bone fragments had torn her brain.
. As to the first degree murder conviction, six jurors found premeditation and six found felony murder. A juiy need not be unanimous as to the theory of first degree murder as long as all agree that the murder was committed. Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624, 645, 111 S.Ct. 2491, 115 L.Ed.2d 555 (1991); State v. Tucker, 205 Ariz. 157, 167 ¶ 51, 68 P.3d 110, 120 (2003).
. Gomez relinquished his pro per status at the end of the trial and allowed advisory counsel to represent him and present the closing argument.
. A.R.S. 13-703(F)(6) (2001) lists as an aggravating circumstance that “[t]he defendant committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner.” Because the statute lists the three factors in the disjunctive, a finding of any one of the three establishes the (F)(6) aggravator. State v. Cromwell, 211 Ariz. 181, 189 ¶ 43, 119 P.3d 448, 456 (2005).
. The jury was instructed pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-604(1) that dangerousness involves either "the intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury or the use or threatening exhibition of a dangerous instrument.”
. As we have previously emphasized, trial judges should clearly identify the specific statute under which they are sentencing a criminal defendant in order to facilitate appellate review. State v. Anderson, 211 Ariz. 59, 61 14 n. 1, 116 P.3d 1219, 1221 n. 1 (2005).
. Neither of the two factors is expressly mentioned in § 13-703(C). The superior court apparently relied on the "catch-all” in former § 13-702(C)(18) ("Any other factor that the court deems appropriate to the ends of justice”) in finding these aggravating circumstances. Gomez does not object to the findings of these two aggravators on the ground that they are not specified in § 13-703(C) and we therefore do not address that issue. See State v. Glassel, 211 Ariz. 33, 58 ¶ 103 n. 18, 116 P.3d 1193, 1218 n. 18 (2005) (declining to address this issue when not raised).
. The State correctly does not contend that the jury's dangerousness finding establishes the § 13-702(C)(1) "serious physical injury" aggra-vator. This circumstance cannot be used to aggravate a sentence when it has also “been utilized to enhance the range of punishment under § 13-604.” A.R.S. § 13 — 702(C)(1). Nor does the State argue that the § 13-702(C)(2) aggravator (use of a dangerous instrument) has been established by the dangerousness finding. See id. (providing that this aggravator is not applicable when utilized to enhance a range of punishment under § 13-604). We thus need not consider whether the evidence in this case is sufficient to establish the use of a dangerous instrument.
. Because the dangerousness finding was not used to enhance the sentencing range for sexual assault, § 13-702(C)(1) does not prohibit its use as an aggravator.
. See Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975) (holding that a defendant has the constitutional right to waive assistance of counsel and represent himself).
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OPINION
BERCH, Vice Chief Justice.
¶ 1 This case arises out of the dismissal of Deputy Sheriff Joseph Harvey from the Pima County Sheriff’s Office. We granted review to decide whether Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Council (“LEMSC”) Rule XIII — 4(1), which gives the Council broad discretion to revoke or modify the employer’s disciplinary action, is consistent with “recognized merit system principles of public employment,” as required by Arizona Revised Statutes (“AR.S.”) section 38-1003 (Supp.2004), and therefore whether the Council’s reinstatement of Deputy Harvey was lawful. We conclude that Pima County LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I) is consistent with A.R.S. § 38-1003.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶ 2 Deputy Harvey testified in a criminal ease that to effectuate an arrest, he had hit the arrestee with the butt of his gun and later slapped the handcuffed, shackled, and wounded man. He stated that he slapped the arrestee not only to elicit incriminating statements, but also to keep the arrestee from losing consciousness before medical personnel arrived.
¶ 3 After reviewing that testimony and other reports of the incident, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik concluded that Deputy Harvey had used excessive force, engaged in inappropriate interview techniques, and showed poor judgment. Dupnik decided to terminate Harvey’s employment. The termination notice cited the arrest incident and also alleged other rule and policy infractions, including Harvey’s “career-long pattern of failure and/or unwillingness to comply with Department Rules and Regulations,” his disregard of commands from a fellow officer, his absence without leave to drive an intoxicated friend home, and his inclusion of false information on booking forms.
¶ 4 Harvey appealed his termination to the Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Council. He testified before the hearing officer that he had slapped the arrestee to revive him, not solely to elicit incriminating statements. Officers who witnessed the incident corroborated Harvey’s account. Some law enforcement supervisors, however, testified that slapping a suspect is not an acceptable way to render first aid. Harvey did not deny the other accusations of misconduct, but minimized them. He questioned the timing of his termination, which occurred nearly eighteen months after the incident with the arrestee.
¶ 5 The hearing officer accepted Harvey’s version of the slapping incident and found that it did not warrant discipline. For the other infractions, the hearing officer recommended the imposition of lesser sanctions than dismissal. The Council unanimously adopted the hearing officer’s recommendations.
¶ 6 Pima County and Sheriff Dupnik sought review by filing a special action in the superior court. Finding no arbitrary or capricious actions by the Council or abuse of the Council’s discretion, the court denied relief.
¶ 7 Pima County and Sheriff Dupnik appealed. The court of appeals reversed the superior court decision, concluding that A.R.S. § 38-1003, which limits the Council’s authority to those powers exercised “pursuant to recognized merit system principles of public employment,” requires deference to the discipline imposed by the Sheriff. Pima County v. Pima County Law Enforcement Merit Sys. Council, 209 Ariz. 204, 208, ¶¶ 13-14, 99 P.3d 19, 23 (App.2004) (“Harvey”). The court of appeals examined several merit system cases, from which it deduced that the legislature had “recognized” review of employer actions by the “arbitrary and capricious” standard of review as a merit system principle. Id. at 208-09, ¶ 16, 99 P.3d at 23-24. It therefore concluded that a similarly deferential standard of review was required for all merit system councils and that the less deferential standard of review set forth in LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I) violated A.R.S. § 38-1003. Id. at 210, ¶ 22, 99 P.3d at 25.
¶ 8 We granted review. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 12-120.24 (2003).
II. DISCUSSION
¶ 9 The powers and duties of a law enforcement merit system council are described in A.R.S. § 38-1003. The statute requires each law enforcement merit system council, “pursuant to recognized merit system principles of public employment,” to create a process to ensure “fair and impartial” hiring and firing decisions for “all classified law enforcement officers.” Id. It also requires each council to adopt rules of procedure and to “[hjear and review appeals” relating to employee discipline. Id. § 38-1003(5), (6). Nothing in the statute requires a council to adopt any particular standards within those rules. It requires only that the rules and standards selected comport with merit system principles.
¶ 10 As authorized by A.R.S. § 38-1003, the Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Council adopted rules, including LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I), creating a process for reviewing hiring, discipline, and dismissal decisions relating to Pima County law enforcement officers.
¶ 11 Before 1999, Pima County LEMSC Rule XIII — 4(1) required the Council to affirm the employer-imposed discipline unless “the Council determines that the action appealed from was arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause.” Harvey, 209 Ariz. at 206, ¶ 7, 99 P.3d at 21. In 1999, however, the Council amended Rule XIII-4(I), replacing the “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause” standard with a less deferential standard of review. Id. The rule now provides that if the Council finds just cause for the discipline imposed by the employer, the discipline must be affirmed. LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I). But if the Council finds that just cause did not exist, “either (1) because some or all of the charges were not proven to the satisfaction of the Council, and/or (2) whether or not all of the charges were proven, the disciplinary action imposed was, in the sole discretion of the Council, too severe a penalty for the conduct proven,” then the Council must revoke or modify the disciplinary action. Id. (emphasis added). Rule XIII-4(I) then confers on the Council “the power to direct appropriate remedial action.” Id.
¶ 12 We are asked to determine whether the rule, which vests broad discretion in the Council, comports with “recognized merit system principles of public employment,” as required by A.R.S. § 38-1003, or whether the rule exceeds the Council’s authority.
¶ 13 Interpretation of rules and statutes is a legal matter, which we review de novo. See Bilke v. State, 206 Ariz. 462, 464, ¶ 10, 80 P.3d 269, 271 (2003) (interpreting statute); Perguson v. Tamis, 188 Ariz. 425, 427, 937 P.2d 347, 349 (App.1996) (interpreting court rule). Our task in this case is to ascertain what the legislature meant in A.R.S. § 38-1003 by requiring merit system rules to be consistent with “recognized merit system principles of public employment,” and then to determine whether Rule XIII-4(I) comports with those principles. See City of Phoenix v. Superior Court, 139 Ariz. 175, 178, 677 P.2d 1283, 1286 (1984) (stating that court’s primary goal in interpreting statutes is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the legislature). Because administrative agencies derive their powers from their enabling legislation, their authority cannot exceed that granted by the legislature. See Kendall v. Malcolm, 98 Ariz. 329, 334, 404 P.2d 414, 417 (1965). Thus if Rule XIII-4(I) conflicts with AR.S. § 38-1003, the rule must yield. See Ariz. State Bd. of Regents v. Ariz. State Pers. Bd., 195 Ariz. 173, 175, ¶ 9, 985 P.2d 1032, 1034 (1999).
A. What are “recognized merit system principles of public employment”?
II14 The phrase “recognized merit system principles of public employment” is not defined in A.R.S. § 38-1003 or in the legislative history accompanying that statute. Generally, however, merit systems embrace the notion that hiring, retention, and dismissal of public employees should be based on the employees’ merit and competence, and not on political considerations. See Donaldson v. Sisk, 57 Ariz. 318, 330-31, 113 P.2d 860, 865 (1941); 15A Am.Jur. 2D Civil Service § 1 (2000). In addition, this court has recognized that a proper merit system must provide an aggrieved merit system employee with a hearing in front of a neutral body before discipline decisions become final. See, e.g., City of Phoenix v. Sittenfeld, 53 Ariz. 240, 246-47, 88 P.2d 83, 86 (1939); see also Hamilton v. City of Mesa, 185 Ariz. 420, 424-425, 916 P.2d 1136, 1140-41 (App.1996); Deuel v. Ariz. State Sch. for the Deaf and Blind, 165 Ariz. 524, 526-27, 799 P.2d 865, 867-68 (App. 1990) (setting forth due process rights of covered public employees); accord 5 U.S.C. § 2301 (1996) (setting forth federal merit system principles); see generally Daryl Man-hart, Commment, Property and Liberty Limitations on the Dismissal of Arizona Public Employees, 1977 Ariz. St. L.J. 835, 853-54 [hereinafter “Manhart”] (discussing law enforcement merit systems).
¶ 15 The right to treatment based on merit and a hearing by a neutral board before discipline becomes final are therefore central merit system principles of public employment for purposes of A.R.S. § 38-1003. See Evans v. State ex rel. Ariz. Corp. Comm’n, 131 Ariz. 569, 572, 643 P.2d 14, 17 (App.1982) (recognizing requirement that State Personnel Board be “a fair and impartial tribunal”); Bishop v. Law Enforcement Merit Sys. Council, 119 Ariz. 417, 422, 581 P.2d 262, 267 (App.1978) (requiring the State Law Enforcement Merit System Council to provide a “fair and impartial hearing”).
¶ 16 None of the authorities we reviewed, however, indicated whether procedural matters such as burdens of proof or standards of review were basic merit system principles. We therefore examine whether the burden and standard in Rule XIII-4(I) are consistent with merit system principles.
B. Whether the “satisfaction of the Council” standard comports with recognized merit system principles.
¶ 17 Pima County LEMSC Rule XIII — 4(1) requires the Council to revoke or modify discipline if “some or all of the charges were not proven to the satisfaction of the Council.” The Sheriff and Pima County argue that such a standard is “no standard” at all and renders decisions of the Council virtually un-reviewable.
¶ 18 The Council itself reasonably interprets this part of the rule as imposing a burden on the employer to prove the charges warranting discipline by a preponderance of the evidence. We defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretations of its own regulations. Ariz. Water Co. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Water Res., 208 Ariz. 147, 154, ¶ 30, 91 P.3d 990, 997 (2004) (citing Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 844, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984)).
¶ 19 Arizona courts have recognized the application of the preponderance of the evidence standard in previous merit system eases. See, e.g., Wicks v. City of Tucson, 112 Ariz. 487, 488, 543 P.2d 1116, 1117 (1975) (stating that the Tucson Civil Service Commission requires an employer to bear the burden of proving facts by a preponderance of the evidence); Woerth v. City of Flagstaff, 167 Ariz. 412, 415, 808 P.2d 297, 300 (App. 1990) (stating that the Flagstaff Personnel Board requires that the employer establish facts by a preponderance of the evidence).
¶ 20 Therefore, although such a standard may not be required by the language of Pima County LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I), in applying the preponderance standard for proving the grounds for discipline, the Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Council is in fact employing the standard used by other merit system boards in Arizona. Furthermore, the County and Sheriff do not argue that a preponderance standard conflicts with recognized merit system principles.
¶ 21 Requiring the employer to establish the alleged grounds for discipline by a preponderance of the evidence is consistent with basic merit system principles because it ensures the employee that any discipline imposed is based not on mere allegations by the employer, but on facts found more likely than not to be true by a neutral fact-finder. The Council is not bound by the facts asserted by the employer, but is required to independently find the facts warranting discipline. For that reason, we hold that the portion of Pima County LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I) that requires the Council to overturn discipline if “some or all of the charges were not proven to the satisfaction of the Council,” as interpreted by the Council to require a preponderance of the evidence burden of proof, is consistent with recognized merit system principles of public employment.
C. Whether the “in the sole discretion of the Council” standard comports with recognized merit system principles.
¶ 22 Rule XIII-4(I) requires the Council to revoke or modify a disciplinary action if “the disciplinary action imposed was, in the sole discretion of the Council, too severe a penalty for the conduct proven.” This language gives the Council sole authority to approve or modify the discipline for the behavior in question. Even though this provision affords the Council broad discretion, we nonetheless conclude that it comports with “recognized merit system principles of public employment.”
¶23 Although the legislature could have imposed such a requirement, nothing in A.R.S. § 38-1003 obligates merit system councils to employ any particular standard of review or to defer to the employer’s choice of discipline. In responding to the mandate to establish merit system rules, the various merit system councils and commissions in Arizona adopted differing standards. Some of these systems require deference to the appointing authority’s choice of discipline. E.g., Maricopa County Employee Merit Sys. R. 10.16, reported at ht tp://www.marico-pa .gov/human — res ources/pdf/msr.pdf at 37 (requiring deference unless employer action is “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause”); Maricopa County Law Enforcement Merit Sys. R. 11.16, reported at http: //www.maricopa. gov/human — resources /pdfdeomsr.pdf at 44 (same).
¶ 24 Other Arizona merit systems, however, do not require such deference. E.g., A.R.S. § 41-785(D) (Supp.2004) (authorizing State Personnel Board to modify discipline found to be “disproportionate to the proven offense in light of mitigating circumstances”); Ariz. Admin. Code (“A.A.C.”) R13-5-703(E) (requiring State Law Enforcement Merit System Council to sustain, modify, or rescind disciplinary actions after ascertaining whether the “law and the evidence” support the discipline); Pima County Employee Merit Sys. R. 14.4(A), reported at http:// www.pima .gov/hr/pdf/Me ritRules.pdf at 51 (imposing just cause standard); Tucson City Charter ch. XXII, § 3(c) (requiring Tucson Civil Service Commission to apply just cause standard).
¶ 25 The State Merit System is an example of a system that employs a nondeferential standard. See A.R.S. § 41-785(D). The State Personnel Board’s rules, which also must conform to “recognized merit principles of public employment,” see A.R.S. § 41-1830.12(A)(3), authorize the Board to modify a disciplinary penalty, inter alia, if it “finds the penalty to be disproportionate to the proven offense in light of mitigating circumstances.” A.R.S. § 41-785(D). The standard required of the State Personnel Board suggests that the legislature does not consider deference to the disciplinary authority to be a basic or necessary merit system principle, for the legislature itself modified A.R.S. § 41-785(D) in 2004 to incorporate this non-deferential standard of review. Presumably the legislature thought that the amended standard that it imposed satisfied its own requirement that merit system rules must conform to recognized merit system principles. See 2004 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 163, § 1 (H.B.2305). Thus the legislature seems not to consider a deferential standard of review to be a necessary attribute of a recognized merit system.
¶26 The County nonetheless argues that Arizona courts have repeatedly reversed merit system board decisions that modified disciplinary actions in the absence of arbitrary and capricious action by the employer. The court of appeals also cited with approval several cases applying the “arbitrary or capricious” standard. Harvey, 209 Ariz. at 208-09, ¶ 16, 99 P.3d at 23-24 (citing Ariz. Dep’t of Corr. v. State Pers. Bd., 202 Ariz. 598, 601, ¶¶ 15-16, 48 P.3d 1208, 1211 (2002); Pima County v. Pima County Merit Sys. Comm’ n (“Logan”), 186 Ariz. 379, 382, 923 P.2d 845, 848 (App.1996); Maricopa County v. Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. 367, 372-73, 723 P.2d 716, 721-22 (App.1986)). From these cases, the court of appeals reasoned that a deferential standard is required for the rule to comply with recognized merit system principles. Id. at ¶¶ 16-19, 98 P.3d at 23-24.
¶ 27 The fault in this reasoning is that the foregoing cases interpreted rules or statutes that expressly required deference to the employers’ decisions or application of the “arbitrary or capricious” standard. The Maricopa County Merit System Commission and Mari-copa County Law Enforcement Merit System Council rules, for example, both require that the employers’ actions be sustained unless they are “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause.” See Maricopa County Employee Merit Sys. R. 10.16; Maricopa County Law Enforcement Merit Sys. R. 11.16. The cases interpreting these rules merely apply the codified standard. E.g., Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 371 n. 2, 723 P.2d at 720 n. 2.
¶28 Similarly, in Pima County v. Pima County Merit System Commission (“Mathis”), 189 Ariz. 566, 568, 944 P.2d 508, 510 (App.1997), and Pima County Sheriff's Department v. Smith, 158 Ariz. 46, 48, 760 P.2d 1095, 1097 (App.1988), the court of appeals reviewed the Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Council and Pima County Employee Merit Commission rules, respectively, before they were amended by the councils. At the time Mathis and Smith were decided, both rules expressly required affirmance of the employer’s actions unless those actions were “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause.” Mathis, 189 Ariz. at 568, 944 P.2d at 510; Smith, 158 Ariz. at 48, 760 P.2d at 1097.
¶ 29 The court of appeals’ and the County’s reliance on those cases to support a conclusion that the “arbitrary or capricious” standard must always apply in merit system cases is misplaced. In each of those cases, the rule or statute being interpreted required review for arbitrariness or capriciousness. But nothing in any of the opinions cited by the court of appeals purported to require that the “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause” standard of review apply in all merit system cases or to systems whose rules specify a different standard of review.
¶30 In an opinion issued contemporaneously with this one, we require the Maricopa County Merit Commission and reviewing courts to apply the deferential “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause” standard when reviewing a disciplinary action taken against a Maricopa County detention officer who hit a restrained detainee. Maricopa County Sheriff's Office v. Maricopa County Employee Merit Sys. Comm’n, 211 Ariz. 219, 221, ¶ 10, 119 P.3d 1022, 1024, 2005 WL 2291157 (2005) (“Juarez ”). Here, in an opinion that arrives at a facially contradictory result, we permit the Council to determine the appropriate punishment without deferring to the employer’s choice of discipline. The distinction is that in each ease, we require the reviewing commission or council to apply the standard of review required by the governing rule. In Juarez, Maricopa County Employee Merit System Rule 10.16 requires the commission to defer to the employer’s disciplinary action. In Harvey, Pima County LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I) requires non-deferential review. All we hold today is that Pima County LEMSC Rule XIII-4(I) comports with recognized merit system principles and therefore may be applied by the Council.
¶ 31 When enacting A.R.S. § 38-1003, the legislature did not provide a standard of review for law enforcement merit system councils. The legislature, by statute, could have dictated that merit system councils defer to the employers’ disciplinary decisions. Instead, the legislature opted to let the councils set their own standards, as long as the standards of review chosen fall within recognized merit system principles of public employment. We conclude that employing a reasoned standard less deferential to the employer’s chosen discipline is consistent with recognized merit system principles because it does not deny merit system employees treatment based on merit or deprive them of a decision by a neutral reviewing body. We therefore hold that Rule XIII-4(I) is consistent with recognized merit system principles by helping to ensure that Pima County law enforcement employees receive a hearing by a body independent of the employer.
III. CONCLUSION
¶ 32 We affirm the decision of the superior court, vacate the opinion of the court of appeals, and reinstate the decision of the Council.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN, ANDREW D. HURWITZ and CHARLES E. JONES, (Retired), Justices.
. Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Rule XIII-4(I) provides, in full, as follows:
If, after the hearing, a majority of the Council determines that there was just cause for the disciplinary action imposed, then the order shall be affirmed. If the Council determines that there was not just cause for the disciplinary action taken either (1) because some or all of the charges were not proven to the satisfaction of the Council, and/or (2) whether or not all of the charges were proven, the disciplinary action imposed was, in the sole discretion of the Council, too severe a penalty for the conduct proven, then the order shall be revoked or modified. The Council shall have the power to direct appropriate remedial action and shall do so after taking into consideration just and equitable relief to the employee in the best interest of the County and the public.
. Several merit systems, merit commissions, and merit councils exist throughout the state, including the State Personnel Board, see A.R.S. §§ 41-781 to -786 (2004 & Supp.2004); the county employee merit systems, see A.R.S. §§ 11-351 to -356 (2001); the State Law Enforcement Merit System Council, see A.R.S. §§ 41-1830.11 to - 1830.15 (2004); the Maricopa and Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Councils, see A.R.S. §§ 38-1001 to -1007 (2001 & Supp.2004); and several other county and municipal systems, see Manhart, supra II14, at 854 — 56.
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OPINION
RYAN, Justice.
¶ 1 A Maricopa County jury convicted Appellant Richard Jock Glassel of two counts of premeditated first degree murder for the April 19, 2000, murders of Nila Lynn and Esther LaPlante. The jury also convicted Glassel of thirty counts of attempted first degree murder. Following aggravation and penalty hearings, the juey determined that death sentences were appropriate for the two murders. The trial court imposed the two death sentences and also imposed aggravated concurrent and consecutive sentences for the attempted murder convictions, which totaled 351 years in prison. An automatic notice of appeal was filed under Rules 26.15 and 31.2(b), Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, and Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 13-4031 (2001). This Court has jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5.3 of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 13-4031.
I
A
¶ 2 Glassel, who owned a home at Ventana Lakes, had several disputes with the Ventana Lakes Homeowners Association. The first dispute concerned people parking in front of mailboxes near Glassel’s house. The second dispute involved landscapers doing yard maintenance on Glassel’s property. The third related to Glassel’s extended picketing of the Lennar Homes sales office.
¶ 3 The mailbox dispute arose because Glassel believed that gas fumes from cars parked in front of the mailboxes came into his house. Glassel dealt with the situation by parking his car directly in front of the mailboxes. Glassel was asked by Ms. Ramsland, a representative of the Homeowners Association, to move his car, but he refused. After repeated complaints, the car was towed; Glassel then went to Ramsland’s office and yelled at her for having it towed.
¶4 Several months later, Glassel became agitated because landscapers were trimming his bushes and trees against his wishes. When members of the Homeowners Associa tion’s Landscaping Committee tried to explain to Glassel that they had to do the maintenance, Glassel became belligerent and aggressive. The Homeowners Association filed a lawsuit against Glassel because he would not let the landscapers trim the trees or bushes.
¶ 5 The final dispute, Glassel’s picketing of the Lennar Homes sales office, seems to have arisen from the previous disputes. In February 1999, a member of the Homeowners Association and Glassel argued over the picketing. Glassel then told a friend that the Homeowners Association had not heard the last of him and that he would get even. Eventually, Glassel’s house was foreclosed upon, and he moved to California.
¶ 6 More than a year later, on April 19, 2000, the Homeowners Association held a regularly scheduled meeting. Duane Lynn and Esther LaPlante, members of the Board, were seated at the head table. Nila Lynn, Duane Lynn’s wife, was seated in the audience. The meeting was recorded. In addition to the people attending the Homeowners Association meeting, others were in nearby rooms playing cards.
¶ 7 The day before, Glassel had returned to Arizona from California. He rented a truck and cleaned out a storage locker in which he apparently had stored several weapons and ammunition. He drove to Ven-tana Lakes while the April 19 meeting was taking place and parked in front of the building. Glassel walked into the meeting armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, fully loaded with thirty rounds of ammunition, two fully loaded 9-millimeter pistols and a ten-round .22 caliber pistol. He carried 384 rounds of ammunition and had another 369 rounds in his truck.
¶ 8 Lyle and Beverley Baade were leaving the meeting when they encountered Glassel. Glassel said, “You’re not going anywhere.” Lyle then responded that they were going to the doctor. Glassel told them to “[g]o back and sit down.” When Lyle said that he had a doctor’s appointment, Glassel shoved him in the left shoulder, telling Lyle, “I said go back and sit down.” Lyle then noticed that Glas-sel was carrying a pistol and yelled out, “He’s got a gun.” Glassel said, “I am going to kill you all” or “I’m going to kill all of you.” He then fired eight shots in rapid succession from the .22 caliber pistol, paused briefly, and then fired the last two rounds. One bullet struck Nila Lynn in the back, killing her. Esther LaPlante was struck in the arm and head and also died. One other man was shot in the abdomen and another in the thigh.
¶ 9 When the pistol was out of bullets, Glassel put it down and reached for the AR-15 assault rifle. Lyle rashed Glassel and tackled him, struggling to gain control of the rifle. Despite Lyle’s efforts, Glassel managed to get a finger to the trigger and fired one shot. The bullet hit yet another man in the foot, causing him to lose a toe. As Lyle and Glassel struggled, Beverley Baade cried for help. Several people responded and held Glassel down until police arrived. A woman at the scene and asked Glassel why he had done it. Glassel answered, “I did it to get even, you fucking sons-of-bitehes,” or “They fucked me long enough. I’m getting even.”
B
¶ 10 On April 26, 2000, a Maricopa County grand jury indicted Glassel with two counts of first degree murder and thirty counts of attempted first degree murder. The Marico-pa County Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent him.
¶ 11 On December 10, 2001, Glassel filed a pro per motion to change counsel. The trial judge denied that motion. Glassel then filed a pro per motion to represent himself. On January 14, 2002, the trial judge reconsidered the December 10 motion and appointed an attorney from the Maricopa County Legal Defender’s Office to be Glassel’s new defense counsel and set the trial for September 23, 2002.
¶ 12 On June 24, 2002, the United States Supreme Court decided Ring v. Arizona, which held that capital defendants “are entitled to a jury determination of any fact on which the legislature conditions an increase in their maximum punishment.” 536 U.S. 584, 589, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002) (Ring II). The legislature subsequently amended Arizona’s death penalty statutes, A.R.S. §§ 13-703 to -703.05, effective on August 1, 2002. 2002 Ariz. Sess. Laws, 5th Spec. Sess., eh. 1, §§ 1, 3. The amended sentencing statutes assigned to juries the responsibility of finding aggravating circumstances and determining whether to impose the death penalty. A.R.S. §§ 13-703, -703.01 (Supp.2004).
¶ 13 Glassel’s attorney informed the trial court that he would not be ready to try the ease on September 23 if the new death penalty statutes applied, claiming that he would not have enough time to prepare mitigation evidence before trial. Counsel also indicated that he had had personal problems in his family that made it difficult to prepare for trial.
¶ 14 Counsel filed a motion to continue, which was granted, and trial was set for November 18, 2002. On November 7, 2002, Glassel’s attorney filed a motion to withdraw, which the superior court denied.
¶ 15 After a five-day trial, the jury found Glassel guilty on all counts charged. The jury further found for each count of attempted murder that Glassel “committed] a dangerous offense by use or threatening exhibition of a deadly weapon.” A.R.S. § 13-604(1) (Supp.1999).
¶ 16 In the aggravation phase, the jury found that two or more murders were committed during the commission of the offense. See A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(8) (Supp.2003). In the penalty phase, the jury concluded that any mitigation was insufficient to call for leniency, and determined that Glassel should be sentenced to death.
II
¶ 17 Glassel first argues that the application of the new death penalty statute, A.R.S. § 13-703.01, to his ease constitutes an ex post facto violation under Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 25 of the Arizona Constitution, as well as A.R.S. § 1-244 (2002). We have previously held that A.R.S. § 13-703.01 is not an ex post facto violation because the change in the statutory method was merely procedural. State v. Ring, 204 Ariz. 534, 547, ¶23, 65 P.3d 915, 928 (2003) (Ring III) (citing Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282, 97 S.Ct. 2290, 53 L.Ed.2d 344 (1977)). The United States Supreme Court reached the same conclusion in Schriro v. Summerlin, 542 U.S. 348, 124 S.Ct. 2519, 159 L.Ed.2d 442 (2004). In Schriro, the Court considered whether its decision in Ring II applied retroactively to cases already final on direct review, and concluded that it did not because Ring II announced a new procedural, rather than a substantive, rule. Id. at -, 124 S.Ct. at 2523 (quoting Ring II, 536 U.S. at 609, 122 S.Ct. 2428) (citations omitted).
¶ 18 Glassel presents no argument that would compel us to revisit Ring III. We recently rejected similar arguments in State v. Anderson, 210 Ariz. 327, 346, ¶¶ 74, 76-77, 111 P.3d 369, 388 (2005), and State v. Roseberry, 210 Ariz. 360, 364-65, ¶ 18, 111 P.3d 402, 406-07 (2005), and therefore reject Glassel’s contentions.
Ill
¶ 19 Glassel next argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it found him competent to stand trial. “It has long been accepted that a person whose mental condition is such that he lacks the capacity to understand the nature and object of the pro ceedings against him, to consult with counsel, and to assist in preparing his defense may not be subjected to a trial.” Drope v. Missouri,, 420 U.S. 162, 171, 95 S.Ct. 896, 43 L.Ed.2d 103 (1975). Glassel claims that although he might have had a factual understanding of the proceedings, he did not have the ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding.
A
¶ 20 The superior court assigned Dr. Jack Potts, a psychiatrist, to evaluate Glassel. Dr. Potts reported that he thought there were reasonable grounds for further examination of Glassel. See Ariz. R.Crim. Proc. 11.2(c) & (d). He found that Glassel had a factual appreciation of the proceedings against him but not a rational appreciation. According to Dr. Potts, factual appreciation means an understanding of the roles individuals play in the legal proceedings and the cognitive ability to understand the nature of the proceedings. A rational appreciation means the ability to use that factual understanding and apply it in an appropriate fashion. He also concluded that Glassel’s deficiencies rendered him unable to assist his counsel in his defense. He ultimately concluded that Glas-sel was not competent to stand trial and that he should be sent to the State Hospital for further treatment and diagnosis.
¶ 21 The trial court later appointed Dr. Michael Brad Bayless, a forensic psychologist, to evaluate Glassel. When Dr. Bayless examined Glassel, he told Dr. Bayless that there was a conspiracy involving the president of the Homeowners Association, Lennar Construction, the police, and the judge. Glassel claimed that he had taken tape recordings to the FBI and that the police were harassing him. He told Dr. Bayless he believed that the Homeowners Association president was behind a conspiracy at the jail, involving both inmates and guards, to kill him. Dr. Bayless later pointed out, however, that Glassel was not sufficiently terrified by the conspiracy to stop taking medication offered by the jail or to stop eating food provided to him. Nor was he unable to make inmate requests in a rational manner.
¶22 Dr. Bayless concluded that Glassel was suffering from a paranoid personality disorder and possibly a depressive disorder. He believed, however, that Glassel understood the nature of the charges and proceedings against him, the roles of the various participants in the criminal justice system, and his constitutional rights. Dr. Bayless, moreover, determined that Glassel was capable of assisting his attorney in his own defense and competent to stand trial.
¶23 The trial court also appointed Dr. Martin B. Kassel, a psychiatrist, to evaluate Glassel. He interviewed Glassel for more than an hour. In his report, Dr. Kassel concluded that Glassel was competent, although he stated that it was “a very, very difficult ease” and a “coin toss.” He wrote in his report, however, that although Glassel refused to admit that he had a mental illness, Glassel had a paranoid personality disorder and was narcissistic and somewhat grandiose.
¶24 A competency hearing was held in August 2001. The day before the hearing, Glassel’s first defense counsel faxed a letter to Dr. Kassel. The letter indicated that Glassel had “processed” defense counsel into his paranoid delusions and that he considered her to be part of the conspiracy. Defense counsel alleged that Glassel had become angry with her because he thought that she refused to secure him certain privileges in jail. He claimed that she and everyone in the public defender’s office were part of the conspiracy. Based on the information in that letter, Dr. Kassel changed his opinion because he no longer believed that Glassel was able to assist his counsel in preparing a defense.
¶25 After the competency hearing, the trial judge found Dr. Bayless’ opinion to be persuasive and ruled Glassel competent to stand trial. The trial judge based his findings also in part on his own observations of Glassel in the courtroom. He stated that “[t]he Court cannot exclude in its final analysis of the Defendant’s competency, the Court’s own observations of the Defendant during his frequent court appearances.”
¶ 26 In November 2002, Glassel requested a new competency hearing, arguing that his condition had worsened and that there was new evidence of incompetence not available during the first hearing. Glassel’s second counsel argued that he believed that Glassel had incorporated him into his paranoia. The trial court denied that motion.
B
¶ 27 We review a trial court’s finding of competency for abuse of discretion. State v. Brewer, 170 Ariz. 486, 495, 826 P.2d 783, 792 (1992). We must determine whether reasonable evidence supports the trial court’s finding that the defendant was competent, considering the facts in the light most favorable to sustaining the trial court’s finding. Id.
¶28 Although another finder of fact might have resolved the competency issue differently, we cannot conclude that the trial judge abused his discretion in finding Glassel competent to stand trial. The judge based his findings not only on Dr. Bayless’ testimony but also on his own observations of Glassel’s interactions with his counsel in the courtroom. See State v. Amoldi, 176 Ariz. 236, 239, 860 P.2d 503, 506 (App.1993) (holding that a trial judge can rely on personal observations in determining competency) (citing State v. Bishop, 162 Ariz. 103, 106, 107, 781 P.2d 581, 584, 585 (1989)).
¶ 29 Glassel points to the following exchange between defense counsel and Dr. Bayless as evidence that the trial court abused its discretion in finding Glassel competent to stand trial:
Q. Do you remember telling me that ... “spending time on competency is a waste of time because they’ll just make him competent anyway”?
A. He will be found competent. He will be made competent, more than likely, unless there is something I missed or all the other doctors missed either. If he is at the State Hospital, they’ll treat him and send him back. That’s usually what happens, okay? Very rarely does that not happen.
Glassel correctly contends that the fact that he would probably be restored to competency is not a “waste of time.” But the superior court was not precluded from crediting Dr. Bayless’ ultimate opinion on Glassel’s competency simply because of this one misstatement by the expert. “The trial judge may rely on some testimony from one expert and other testimony from another expert and draw his own conclusions.” State v. Bishop, 162 Ariz. 103, 107, 781 P.2d 581, 585 (1989). In addition, “[t]he trial judge is not required to accept or reject expert testimony in toto and may rely on particular views of one or more experts even though he or she may disagree with the expert’s ultimate conclusion.” Id.
¶ 30 Finally, we conclude that the superior court did not abuse its discretion in finding Glassel competent to stand trial despite evidence that Glassel’s condition worsened after the original competency hearing and that he had incorporated his new counsel into his conspiracy delusions. Neither fact is inconsistent with the trial court’s original conclusion that Glassel, although mentally ill, was nonetheless competent to stand trial.
¶ 31 Because the trial judge had the opportunity to observe Glassel during court proceedings and had the ability to evaluate the conflicting expert testimony, we cannot con- elude on this record that the superior court abused its discretion in finding Glassel competent to stand trial. See Brewer, 170 Ariz. at 495, 826 P.2d at 792.
IV
¶32 Glassel next argues that the trial court erred by denying Glassel sufficient opportunity to voir dire the potential jurors about their understanding of the phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.” See A.R.S. § 13-703.0KG) (“At the penalty phase, the defendant and the state may present any evidence that is relevant to the determination of whether there is mitigation that is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.”). The trial court concluded that it was “up to each juror to determine what is sufficiently substantial” to call for leniency.
A
¶ 33 Glassel contends that under Morgan v. Illinois, 504 U.S. 719, 728, 112 S.Ct. 2222, 119 L.Ed.2d 492 (1992), a defendant must be permitted to use voir dire to reveal potential jurors who will never vote for leniency. According to Glassel, his questions regarding the “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” language were designed to determine which prospective jurors could not be lenient.
¶ 34 Glassel further asserts that Rule 18.5 of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure and State v. Anderson, 197 Ariz. 314, 320-21, ¶ 14, 4 P.3d 369, 375-76 (2000), required the trial court to allow Glassel to ask his questions. Rule 18.5(d) provides:
The court shall conduct a thorough oral examination of prospective jurors. Upon the request of any party, the court shall permit that party a reasonable time to conduct a further oral examination of the prospective jurors. The court may impose reasonable limitations with respect to questions allowed during a party’s examination of the prospective jurors, giving due regard to the purpose of such examination. In addition, the court may terminate or limit voir dire on grounds of abuse. Nothing in this Rule shall preclude the use of written questionnaires to be completed by the prospective jurors, in addition to oral examination.
Ariz. R.Crim. P. 18.5(d).
¶35 In Anderson, three potential jurors indicated on their written questionnaires that they were opposed to the death penalty on moral or religious grounds and that they could not set aside those beliefs. Anderson, 197 Ariz. at 318, ¶ 5, 4 P.3d at 373. The trial court then excluded them from the jury pool for cause. Id. We reversed, holding that Rule 18.5 requires that the defense be given the opportunity to question the potential jurors to determine whether they could set aside their personal beliefs and render a fair and impartial verdict. Id. at 320-21, 324, ¶¶ 14, 24, 4 P.3d at 375-76, 379. We explained, however, that the right to voir dire a jury is not absolute: “The wording of the amended rule requiring a reasonable examination on request of either party is not ambiguous. A reasonable amount of time necessarily includes some amount of time to question on a key issue, subject, as the rule says, to limit or termination to prevent abuse.” Id. at 320-21, ¶ 14, 4 P.3d at 375-76.
B
¶ 36 We review a trial court’s rulings on voir dire of prospective jurors for abuse of discretion. State v. Trostle, 191 Ariz. 4, 12, 951 P.2d 869, 877 (1997). We also review motions to strike the panel for abuse of discretion. State v. Carlson, 202 Ariz. 570, 579, ¶ 29, 48 P.3d 1180, 1189 (2002).
1
¶ 37 Glassel contends that Morgan gives defendants the right to question a prospective juror to assess the likelihood that the prospective juror will assign substantial weight to the mitigation evidence the defendant plans to offer. Morgan’s holding, however, is considerably narrower: “[D]efendants have a right to know whether a potential juror will automatically impose the death penalty once guilt is found, regardless of the law,” and “[t]hus, defendants are entitled to address that issue during voir dire.” State v. Jones, 197 Ariz. 290, 303, ¶ 27, 4 P.3d 345, 358 (2000) (construing Morgan). However, “[t]he Constitution ... does not dictate a catechism for voir dire,” Morgan, 504 U.S. at 729, 112 S.Ct. 2222, and trial courts have “great latitude in deciding what questions should be asked on voir dire.” Mu’Min v. Virginia, 500 U.S. 415, 424, 111 S.Ct. 1899, 114 L.Ed.2d 493 (1991).
¶ 38 The trial court here fully complied with the Morgan requirements. The court required each potential juror to fill out a jury questionnaire, which contained six questions about predispositions on capital punishment. Two questions specifically addressed the Morgan issue. Moreover, the trial court conducted individual voir dire of every prospective juror whose responses to the questionnaire suggested an inability to deliberate impartially or a predisposition to impose the death penalty regardless of the mitigation evidence. Those potential jurors were either rehabilitated or dismissed. Glassel has not identified a single juror who deliberated notwithstanding an unwillingness to consider mitigation evidence. Every juror selected answered “no” to the direct Morgan question on the questionnaire: “Conversely, will you, for whatever reason, automatically vote for the death penalty without considering the evidence and the instructions of law that will be presented to you?”
¶ 39 Nevertheless, Glassel argues that because some panelists were “over-the-top” in their answers, a series of questions regarding the definition of “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” was necessary under Morgan. But Glassel does not specify how the panelists were “over-the-top.” As discussed above, questionable prospective jurors were either rehabilitated or dismissed. In addition, eleven of the twelve jurors actually impaneled indicated on their questionnaires that they were not opposed to the death penalty but that it should be used only in very special circumstances. The sole exception was juror number 30, who answered affirmatively to the following question: “I feel the death penalty should be imposed in all cases where the State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that a person killed another with premeditation.” That juror, however, was rehabilitated after extensive individual voir dire of him, which convinced the trial court that juror 30 could be impartial. After that voir dire of juror 30, Glassel did not ask the court to strike the juror.
2
¶ 40 Glassel’s proposed questions concerning the prospective jurors’ understanding of the phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” did not further the Morgan inquiry because the questions did not address the issue of whether a juror would automatically impose the death sentence regardless of the jury instructions or mitigation evidence. Instead, Glassel’s proposed inquiry was to elicit each panelist’s understanding of the phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.” But, as we have noted, the phrase is “inherently subjective” and not the equivalent of a “mathematical formula.” State v. Hoskins, 199 Ariz. 127, 154, ¶ 123, 14 P.3d 997, 1024 (2000). Because the jury is asked, as is this Court in the context of its independent review of a death sentence, to exercise its subjective judgment as to the weight of the actual evidence of aggravation and mitigation, see State v. Barreras, 181 Ariz. 516, 521, 892 P.2d 852, 857 (1995), we cannot conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to allow the requested questions.
¶ 41 Moreover, the trial court did permit Glassel to question some potential jurors about their understanding of the phrase. Of the nine jurors Glassel wanted to question further, the trial court prevented Glassel from questioning only two: jurors number 4 and 60. Thus, except with respect to jurors 4 and 60, Glassel’s real argument is not that he was precluded from asking about the definition of the phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency,” but that he was prohibited from asking enough follow-up questions regarding the jurors’ understanding of the phrase. But he does not specify what particular questions the trial court prevented him from asking or how he was prejudiced. Additionally, because neither juror 4 nor juror 60 took part in deliberations, any error with respect to them is harmless. See State v. Hickman, 205 Ariz. 192, 198-99, 201, ¶¶ 29, 41, 68 P.3d 418, 424-25, 427 (2003) (holding that a court’s error in failing to strike potential jurors for cause was subject to harmless error review because even though the defendant had to exercise peremptory challenges on those potential jurors, he did not use all of his peremptory challenges).
V
¶42 Glassel also contends that the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to allow him to ask potential jurors open-ended questions about what sort of mitigating evidence would be important to them in deciding whether to impose the death penalty. Glassel asserts that the trial court instead permitted only questions about specific mitigating facts.
¶43 Glassel argues, therefore, that open-ended voir dire is necessary to determine which prospective jurors, in violation of Morgan, would automatically impose the death sentence despite the “jurors’ bland assurances that they could be fair and impartial.”
¶ 44 Glassel cites no authority to support his argument that a trial court abuses its discretion by refusing to allow defendants to ask potential jurors what types of evidence they will consider to be mitigating. The trial court, moreover, did permit Glassel to ask open-ended questions on several occasions. Accordingly, Glassel has failed to show an abuse of discretion by the trial court.
VI
¶45 Glassel next argues that the trial court violated his right to a fairly selected jury, his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, and his rights to fundamental fairness and due process of law under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution when it struck from the panel prospective jurors who had merely general objections to the death penalty and when it refused to strike certain prospective jurors for cause.
¶ 46 We review a trial court’s decision whether to strike jurors for cause for abuse of discretion. Jones, 197 Ariz. at 302, ¶ 24, 4 P.3d at 357 (holding that “[t]he trial judge has the power to decide whether a venire person’s views would actually impair his ability to apply the law. For this reason, ‘deference must be paid to the trial judge who sees and hears the juror’”) (quoting Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 426, 105 S.Ct. 844, 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985)); State v. Medina, 193 Ariz. 504, 511, ¶ 18, 975 P.2d 94, 101 (1999) (“A trial court’s decision not to excuse a juror for cause will be set aside only for a clear abuse of discretion.”).
A
¶ 47 The Supreme Court has held that “a sentence of death cannot be carried out if the jury that imposed or recommended it was chosen by excluding veniremen for cause simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction.” Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 522, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). We recently discussed Witherspoon and a trial judge’s role in voir dire:
The Supreme Court has held that potential jurors may not be removed for cause “simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty.” Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 522-23, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). However, the trial judge is permitted to question jurors regarding their opinions on the death penalty, see, e.g., State v. Anderson, 197 Ariz. 314, 318-19, ¶¶ 7-10, 4 P.3d 369, 373-74 (2000), and, after attempting rehabilitation, may remove a potential juror from the jury pool if the juror’s personal views may “prevent or substantially impair the performance of [the juror’s] duties.” Wainunight v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 424, 105 S.Ct. 844, 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985) (quoting Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. 38, 45, 100 S.Ct. 2521, 65 L.Ed.2d 581 (1980)). Deference is to be accorded to the trial judge and a juror’s bias need not be proved with unmistakable clarity. Id. at 424-25, 105 S.Ct. 844, 83 L.Ed.2d 841.
State v. Moody, 208 Ariz. 424, 450, ¶ 88, 94 P.3d 1119, 1145 (2004).
¶ 48 Glassel identifies four prospective jurors who he claims should not have been removed under Witherspoon: jurors number 16, 32, 46, and 65.
¶ 49 On his questionnaire, juror 16 wrote that capital punishment was “barbaric and unsuitable for an advanced nation.” During voir dire, he confirmed that those were his beliefs and stated that he was against the death penalty “absolutely.” Despite the juror’s claim that he could follow the law, the superior court excused him, noting that he equivocated about whether he would take his personal biases into the jury room.
¶50 Trial judges are permitted to determine a potential juror’s credibility when deciding whether to strike a juror for cause. The Witherspoon determination “is based upon determinations of demeanor and credibility that are peculiarly within a trial judge’s province,” and the trial judge’s “predominant function in determining juror bias involves credibility findings whose basis cannot be easily discerned from an appellate record.” Wainwright, 469 U.S. at 428-29, 105 S.Ct. 844. The standard, moreover, “is whether the juror’s views would ‘prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror in accordance with his instructions and his oath.’” Id. at 424, 105 S.Ct. 844 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). Thus, even assuming that juror 16 was sincere about being able to apply the law, the judge could have reasonably determined that the juror’s views would substantially impair his ability to deliberate impartially. Consequently, we cannot conclude that the trial court abused its discretion when it struck juror 16 for cause.
¶ 51 Glassel argues that the court abused its discretion when it struck juror 32 because he gave assurances that he would be fair notwithstanding his anti-death penalty beliefs. Juror 32’s responses on the jury questionnaire and during voir dire, however, demonstrate that he could not vote to impose a death sentence. On the questionnaire, he stated that his views on the death penalty were so strong that he was reluctant to sit on the jury. Specifically, he wrote, “[T]his would not sit well with me.” During voir dire, the following exchange occurred between the State and juror 32:
[PROSECUTOR]: In fairness to both sides, do you feel that [your views on the death penalty] would interfere substantially with your ability to be a juror?
[JUROR 32]: Yes.
[PROSECUTOR]: So that we’re square on that.
[JUROR 32]: Yes.
[PROSECUTOR]: It would substantially interfere with your ability to be a juror in this case?
[JUROR 32]: Yes.
After some arguably rehabilitative answers in response to questions by defense counsel, the following exchange occurred:
[PROSECUTOR]: In the phase of: I vote for the death penalty or I don’t vote for the death penalty, would your vote be: I don’t vote for the death penalty?
[JUROR 32]: That’s correct. [PROSECUTOR]: Anytime you were given a case to vote on the death penalty, your vote would be against the death penalty?
[JUROR 32]: Correct.
THE COURT: Not withstanding [sic] the fact that it may be difficult, could you do it [impose a death sentence]?
[JUROR 32]: No.
THE COURT: [Defense Counsel]? [DEFENSE COUNSEL]: You’re telling us that it doesn’t matter what the law is? It doesn’t matter what the facts are, you’re going to vote for life no matter what the evidence or the law is in the end?
[JUROR 32]: Yes, I just don’t want to be a part of it.
In light of juror 32’s statements, we cannot conclude that the court abused its discretion in removing him for cause.
¶ 52 Glassel argues that juror 46 was wrongly removed because she merely had general objections to the death penalty. On her questionnaire, however, she wrote that she did not believe that anyone should receive the death penalty “regardless of the crime committed.” She also wrote that “we do not have the right to take another life” and that she held that belief “morally, personally, and religiously.” She did answer “no” to the question that asked if her beliefs were “so strongly held” that she would be reluctant to sit on the jury, but her responses during voir dire raised doubts about her impartiality:
[PROSECUTOR]: Well, what you’re telling us really — to get right to the bottom of it — is that if there are any mitigating circumstances presented in this case, you are always going to vote in favor of a life sentence rather than death?
[JUROR 46]: I probably would, yes. [PROSECUTOR]: And you cannot envision or you don’t even believe there would be a circumstance where there would be no mitigating circumstances?
[JUROR 46]: I think when it comes to heinous crimes or murders, there is {sic} always mitigating circumstances. [PROSECUTOR]: If the defendant presented absolutely no mitigation and it’s the burden of the defendant to prove mitigation to the jury, if the defendant were to present no mitigation, the law says that the jury shall impose a sentence of death. [JUROR 46]: Uh-huh.
[PROSECUTOR]: That’s mandatory. [JUROR 46]: I understand that. [PROSECUTOR]: Would you be able to do that?
[JUROR 46]: If there was no mitigating circumstances, no [sic], but I believe there always are mitigating circumstances.
These exchanges, in conjunction with her earlier statements that she would find mitigating circumstances 99 or 100 percent of the time and that she saw herself as a representative of the “cross-section of society” that did not believe in the death penalty, support the trial court’s decision to dismiss her.
¶ 53 Glassel claims that the court abused its discretion when it struck juror 65 for cause because she stated that although her anti-death penalty position would factor into the decision whether to impose the death penalty, “I don’t think it’s so large I couldn’t follow the law.” On the jury questionnaire, however, juror 65 repeatedly indicated an unwillingness to impose the death penalty. Her response to one question stated, “I am not opposed to the death penalty, but I am not sure I could personally make the decision to impose it.” In answer to another question, she wrote that it would “be difficult” for her to make the decision to impose the death penalty. In response to yet another question, she declared, “I don’t know if I could vote to put someone to death, no matter what they did.” In answer to another question, which asked whether she would automatically vote against the death penalty without considering the evidence and instructions, she wrote, “I’m not sure.” Finally, she responded, “I would be fair and impartial. I just have difficulty with making the decision to put someone to death.”
¶ 54 During voir dire, juror 65 continued to express her concerns over imposing the death penalty. The following are some of her exchanges with the prosecutor during voir dire:
[PROSECUTOR]: Could you see yourself voting for the death penalty in a case where aggravation is provided and there are no mitigating factors sufficiently substantial to call for leniency?
[JUROR 65]: No.
[PROSECUTOR]: [Could you make the decision to put someone to death if the law required it?]
[JUROR 65]: Honestly, I say I couldn’t. If you want an answer, I couldn’t. I do think that I could follow the law. I work with the law agents different [sic], and I think I’m logical; but I really have trouble with that.
[PROSECUTOR]: Your final answer, at least to me for now is, “I couldn’t do that.”
[JUROR 65]: Sure.
¶ 55 In light of juror 65’s responses during voir dire and her answers to the jury questionnaire, it was not an abuse of discretion for the trial court to remove her for cause.
B
¶ 56 As discussed above, Morgan, 504 U.S. at 728, 112 S.Ct. 2222, requires that defendants have the opportunity to use voir dire to reveal jurors who will never vote for leniency. Under Morgan, because “defendants have a right to know whether a potential juror will automatically impose the death penalty once guilt is found, regardless of the law,” capital defendants are entitled to address that issue during voir dire. Jones, 197 Ariz. at 303 ¶ 27, 4 P.3d at 358.
¶ 57 Glassel identifies six prospective jurors who he claims should have been removed under Morgan: Jurors number 5, 10, 14,18, 36, and 39. None of those prospective jurors, however, was selected. Consequently, any error in refusing to strike them was harmless. See Hickman, 205 Ariz. at 198-99, 201 ¶¶ 29, 41, 68 P.3d at 424-25, 427.
VII
¶58 The trial court gave the reasonable doubt instruction mandated by this Court in State v. Portillo, 182 Ariz. 592, 898 P.2d 970 (1995). Glassel contends that Portillo should be overruled. Glassel recognizes that this Court has previously rejected challenges to the Portillo instruction, see State v. Lamar, 205 Ariz. 431, 440-41, ¶¶ 48-49, 72 P.3d 831, 840-41 (2003) (citing cases), but asks us to reconsider the issue. We declined that invitation in Lamar, see id., and do so again today.
VIII
¶ 59 Glassel next argues that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel at the penalty phase of the trial. We review this question de novo. See Moody, 208 Ariz. at 445, ¶ 62, 94 P.3d at 1140; Frazer v. United States, 18 F.3d 778, 781 (9th Cir. 1994).
A
¶ 60 In October 2002, Glassel’s second defense counsel repeatedly told the court that he was not prepared to call any mitigation witnesses. On November 19, defense counsel again told the court that he was not ready to proceed. He also attempted to withdraw from the case.
¶ 61 In the penalty phase of the trial, defense counsel presented no witnesses, instead relying on evidence developed during the trial about Glassel’s age and lack of any prior criminal history. Although defense counsel did not present evidence, he objected to the State’s opening statement in which it said that Glassel was in good health and did not suffer from mental illness. Defense counsel argued that the State was speculating about Glassel’s physical and mental health. He then suggested that something “happened with” Glassel, something that caused him “to go over the edge.” He also mentioned that Glassel had prepared what counsel characterized as a suicide note before committing the crimes.
B
¶ 62 “[A] trial is unfair if the accused is denied counsel at a critical stage of his trial.” United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 659, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984). “[I]f counsel entirely fails to subject the prosecution’s case to meaningful adversarial testing, then there has been a denial of Sixth Amendment rights that makes the adversary process itself presumptively unreliable.” Id. Indeed, Cronic explained that “[t]he Court has uniformly found constitutional error without any showing of prejudice when counsel was either totally absent, or prevented from assisting the accused during a critical stage of the proceeding.” Id. n. 25.
¶ 63 In Bell v. Cone, however, the Court clarified Cronic by stating that an “attorney’s failure must be complete.” 535 U.S. 685, 697, 122 S.Ct. 1843, 152 L.Ed.2d 914 (2002) (emphasis added). It then explained why the defendant’s argument that his counsel entirely neglected to subject the prosecutor’s case to meaningful adversarial testing failed: “Here, respondent’s argument is not that his counsel failed to oppose the prosecution throughout the sentencing proceeding as a whole, but that his counsel failed to do so at specific points.” Id. Glassel argues that his counsel’s conduct, unlike the conduct of the attorney in Cone, satisfies the Cronic standard. We disagree.
¶ 64 Glassel has not demonstrated a Sixth Amendment violation. Despite defense counsel’s decision not to present any mental health experts at the penalty phase of the sentencing proceeding, the record does not establish that his “counsel entirely fail[ed] to subject the prosecution’s case to meaningful adversarial testing.” Cronic, 466 U.S. at 659, 104 S.Ct. 2039 (emphasis added). In addition to giving an opening statement and closing argument at the penalty phase, defense counsel argued that the jury should accept three mitigating circumstances: age, lack of criminal history, and no record of prior violent crimes. Accordingly, we conclude that on this record, we cannot find that Glassel was denied the right to counsel.
IX
¶ 65 Glassel argues that Arizona’s capital sentencing scheme, which requires that any mitigation evidence be “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency,” see A.R.S. § 13-703.01(G), is vague, shifts the burden of proof, and creates an unconstitutional presumption of death. We review the validity of a statute de novo and construe it, whenever possible, to uphold its constitutionality. State v. Davolt, 207 Ariz. 191, 214, ¶ 99, 84 P.3d 456, 479 (2004).
A
¶ 66 Glassel contends that A.R.S. §§ 13-703(E) and 13-703.01(G) are vague because the “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” standard is not a reliable standard for determining whether to impose the death penalty. See Ring III, 204 Ariz. at 544, ¶ 8, 65 P.3d at 925 (recognizing that standardless death sentencing procedures violate the Eight Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment) (citing Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 239-40, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972) (per curiam)).
¶67 Glassel argues that the lack of an “identifiable” standard was not as problematic when judges weighed the mitigating factors because judges were more experienced in sentencing matters. See Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 252, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976) (“[Jjudicial sentencing should lead, if anything, to even greater consistency in the imposition at the trial court level of capital punishment, since a trial judge is more experienced in sentencing than a jury, and therefore is better able to impose sentences similar to those imposed in analogous cases.”). According to Glassel, jurors, with no such prior experience to guide them, “will inevitably err.”
¶ 68 We have long held, however, that the phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” is not unconstitutionally vague. See State v. Ortiz, 131 Ariz. 195, 206, 639 P.2d 1020, 1031 (1981), overruled, in part, mi other grounds by State v. Gretzler, 135 Ariz. 42, 57 n. 2, 659 P.2d 1, 16 n. 2 (1983). The fact that juries, instead of judges, now determine whether any mitigating evidence is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency does nothing to change that analysis. Although jurors may not have the experience of judges in weighing mitigating factors against aggravating circumstances, because this process is “inherently subjective” and not subject to any “mathematical formula,” Hoskins, 199 Ariz. at 154, 11123, 14 P.3d at 1024, our previous decisions in the context of judicial sentencing compel the same conclusion under the new sentencing statutes.
B
¶ 69 In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 361-63, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970), requires that every element of an offense be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Glassel points out that Ring II, 536 U.S. at 589, 122 S.Ct. 2428, requires that the state prove to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt every fact necessary to impose the death penalty. Glassel concludes, therefore, that the state has the burden of proving “beyond a reasonable doubt that leniency was not justified.”
¶70 The Supreme Court, however, has rejected a similar argument. See Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 650, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990) (“So long as a State’s method of allocating the burdens of proof does not lessen the State’s burden to prove every element of the offense charged, or in this case to prove the existence of aggravating circumstances, a defendant’s constitutional rights are not violated by placing on him the burden of proving mitigating circumstances sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.”), overruled on other grounds by Ring II, 536 U.S. at 586-87, 122 S.Ct. 2428; see also State v. Atwood, 171 Ariz. 576, 663, 832 P.2d 593, 680 (1992) (“Placing the burden on the defendant to prove mitigating circumstances is not a violation of due process.”), overruled on other grounds by State v. Nord-strom, 200 Ariz. 229, 241, ¶ 25, 25 P.3d 717, 729 (2001). Ring II does not hold to the contrary; it merely addressed the implications of permitting a trial court, rather than a jury, to determine the existence of aggravating circumstances and overruled Walton only to the extent that Walton found that practice permissible. See Ring II, 536 U.S. at 597 n. 4, 122 S.Ct. 2428. Accordingly, Glassel’s contention that the state has the burden of proving that the mitigating factors were not sufficiently substantial to call for a life sentence is without merit.
C
¶ 71 Glassel also asserts that A.R.S. §§ 13-703(E) and 13-703.0KG) are unconstitutional because they create a “presumption of death which the jury is then called upon to rebut.”
¶ 72 A conviction for first degree murder, however, does not create a presumption of death. In addition to the elements of the crime, the state must prove at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt in order to obtain a death sentence. Only after the state establishes at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt does the defendant have the burden of proving mitigating circumstances. Such a scheme does not create an unconstitutional “presumption of death.” See State v. Anderson, 210 Ariz. at 347, ¶¶ 76-77, 111 P.3d at 389 (citing cases).
X
¶ 73 Glassel next claims that the trial court improperly reduced the State’s burden when it refused to instruct the jury to return a life sentence if it had a reasonable doubt whether to impose the death penalty. He argues that the trial court’s failure to so instruct the jury violated his rights “to fundamental fairness and due process of law under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments [to the United States Constitution].”
¶ 74 We review de novo whether instructions to the jury properly state the law. State v. Orendain, 188 Ariz. 54, 56, 932 P.2d 1325, 1327 (1997). If an instruction improperly reduces the state’s burden of proof, the error is structural and cannot be harmless. See Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275, 280-82, 113 S.Ct. 2078, 124 L.Ed.2d 182 (1993); Portillo, 182 Ariz. at 594, 898 P.2d at 972.
¶ 75 We reject this argument for the same reasons we rejected his argument that the state has the burden of “proving beyond a reasonable doubt that leniency was not justified.” See ¶¶ 69-70 (citing Walton, 497 U.S. at 650, 110 S.Ct. 3047; Atwood, 171 Ariz. at 663, 832 P.2d 593; and Ring II, 536 U.S. at 597 n. 4, 122 S.Ct. 2428). Therefore, the trial court did not err by refusing to instruct the jury to return a life sentence if it had a reasonable doubt whether to impose the death penalty.
XI
¶ 76 Glassel asserts that the prosecutors committed misconduct by stating in voir dire that the State could put on mitigating evidence, but then failed to provide jurors with evidence of Glassel’s mental illness. “To prevail on a claim of prosecutorial misconduct, a defendant must demonstrate that the prosecutors misconduct so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process.” State v. Hughes, 193 Ariz. 72, 79, ¶ 26, 969 P.2d 1184, 1191 (1998) (internal quotation omitted). Glassel did not make this argument in the trial court and therefore we review only for fundamental error. State v. Montaño, 204 Ariz. 413, 427 n. 6, ¶ 70, 65 P.3d 61, 75 n. 6 (2003).
¶ 77 We discern no fundamental error here. Glassel’s counsel had access to the very mitigation evidence at issue, yet failed to present it after urging by the State. Under these unique circumstances, we cannot find that the State engaged in misconduct by failing in effect to counter what it may have considered to be defense counsel’s strategy by introducing evidence that he declined to present.
XII
¶78 Glassel next contends that the victim impact statements “exceeded permissible bounds of relevance, were unduly prejudicial, and violated appellant’s due process rights, and his right to a fair sentencing under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments ... as well as Article 2, §§ 4,15, and 24 of the Arizona Constitution.” We review issues regarding the interpretation of federal and Arizona constitutional provisions de novo. State v. McCann, 200 Ariz. 27, 28, ¶ 5, 21 P.3d 845, 846 (2001).
A
¶79 Three people gave victim impact statements on behalf of Nila Lynn: Duane Lynn and Nila’s daughters, Kathy Morgan and Patty Wyatt, all of whom cried during their presentations. Duane said that he had the privilege and honor to be married to Nila for nearly fifty years. He described how his children had been secretly planning an anniversary party but ended up using the money that they had saved for Nila’s casket. He then told the jury how much he loved his wife and how much he missed her. He also told the jury about the day of the murder, when Nila begged him to help her as she lay dying. Duane said that he had always been able to help her but was powerless to do anything that day. He concluded by showing twenty-five pictures of Nila and her family to the jury.
¶ 80 Kathy Morgan testified that her mother was a religious woman and a good person. Morgan also testified that the night before the murder, she watched a television program about the anniversary of the murders at Columbine High School. She said that she remembered feeling sorry for the families but never imagined that just twenty-four hours later she would experience the same pain.
¶ 81 Patty Wyatt testified that her mother helped her get through a difficult period of her life when her roommate, Sydney Brown, was murdered. Wyatt described how a man walked into a church one night and “put a bullet into [Brown’s head] and killed her along with six others.” She said that nothing could have prepared her for sitting through another funeral just seven months later. She also said that while other first-graders were drawing stick figures with flowers, her first-grader “draws Nana with a bad man and a gun.”
B
¶82 “A State may legitimately conclude that evidence about the victim and about the impact of the murder on the victim’s family is relevant ... as to whether or not the death penalty should be imposed.” Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 827, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991). Arizona permits victim impact evidence to rebut a defendant’s mitigation evidence. State v. Mann, 188 Ariz. 220, 228, 934 P.2d 784, 792 (1997) (“Arizona has made [the choice to allow victim impact statements] and thus, under the Arizona Constitution, and to the extent allowed by Payne and our cases, victim impact evidence should be considered by the court to rebut the defendant’s mitigation evidence.”).
¶83 The Supreme Court has cautioned, however, against unduly prejudicial victim impact statements: “In the event that evidence is introduced that is so unduly prejudicial that it renders the trial fundamentally unfair, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides a mechanism for relief.” Payne, 501 U.S. at 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597. In Payne, the defendant had murdered twenty-eight-year-old Charisse Christopher and her two-year-old daughter, Lacie. Id. at 811, 111 S.Ct. 2597. Christopher’s three-year-old son, Nicholas, survived the brutal attack after seven hours of surgery and a massive blood transfusion. Id. at 812, 111 S.Ct. 2597. At sentencing, the trial court permitted Nicholas’ grandmother to explain how Nicholas had told her that he missed his mother and baby sister. Id. at 826, 111 S.Ct. 2597. The Court determined that the grandmother’s statements were not unduly prejudicial. Id. at 826-30, 111 S.Ct. 2597.
¶84 Glassel argues that the victim impact statements here were much more prejudicial than was the grandmother’s statement in Payne. According to Glassel, the statements by Lynn’s daughters were unduly prejudicial because they “impermissibly injected into the proceedings the emotional baggage connected to two mass murders— one well-known to the public, the other having an exceedingly personal connection to the woman who told of it.”
¶ 85 Glassel adds that the prejudicial effect of the Lynn family’s testimony “was exacerbated by the fact that all three of the individuals listed above were weeping during their presentations.” Glassel further claims that the prejudicial effect of the Lynn family’s testimony “is illustrated by the fact that at least half of the jurors were weeping during the victim impact presentation.”
¶ 86 Although Morgan’s and Wyatt’s statements were powerful and emotional, we cannot conclude that they unconstitutionally prejudiced the jury. The fact that the family members and jurors cried during the presentations does not warrant reversal. Senseless murders usually generate strong emotional responses. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to expect that murder victims’ family members will often come to tears when making their impact statements. Nor is it unreasonable to expect that some jurors will also have emotional reactions when hearing the victims’ families’ accounts of the loss they have suffered.
XIII
¶ 87 Glassel argues that the trial court erred by not permitting Duane Lynn to recommend a life sentence. Our review of whether a victim’s sentencing recommendation in a capital case is relevant turns on the question of whether the recommendation “creates a constitutionally unacceptable risk that jurors may impose a death sentence based upon impermissible arbitrary and emotional factors.” Lynn v. Reinstein, 205 Ariz. 186, 190 n. 5, ¶13, 68 P.3d 412, 416 n. 5 (2003) (citations omitted); see also State v. Sansing, 206 Ariz. 232, 241, ¶ 37, 77 P.3d 30, 39 (2003) (citations omitted).
¶ 88 Duane Lynn opposed the death penalty in this case not because he opposed it in principle, but because he did not believe that it was warranted under the circumstances of this case. We previously decided, however, that Lynn could not give a recommendation for a life sentence, holding that the Eighth Amendment prohibits a victim from making a sentencing recommendation to the jury in a capital case. See Lynn, 205 Ariz. at 188, ¶ 5, 68 P.3d at 414. We further commented that “ [victims’ recommendations to the jury regarding the appropriate sentence a capital defendant should receive are not constitutionally relevant to the harm caused by the defendant’s criminal acts or to the defendant’s blameworthiness or culpability.” Id. at 191 ¶ 17, 68 P.3d at 417 (citations omitted).
¶ 89 Nevertheless, Glassel argues that this Court should revisit the issue from his perspective. Glassel agrees that the Eighth Amendment bars a victim from recommending a death sentence when the defendant objects to that recommendation. He claims, however, that the Eighth Amendment “cannot bar a recommendation of leniency when the defendant affirmatively wishes the jury to hear it.” He further asserts that “rights under the Eighth Amendment are the defendant’s to raise or waive, not for the trial court to impose against his will.”
¶ 90 Glassel contends that permitting victims to give recommendations of leniency is especially important when those victims present victim impact statements. According to Glassel, the natural inference from a victim impact statement is that the victim supports imposing the death penalty.
¶ 91 However, as we have previously held both in Lynn and Sansing, 206 Ariz. at 241, ¶ 37, 77 P.3d at 39, victims’ opinions about what sentence should be imposed in a capital case are constitutionally irrelevant. Although here it is a defendant who argues that a victim’s recommendation of leniency should be admitted, the same reasoning applies. What makes victim statements relevant is the evidence of the impact of the crime. See Lynn, 205 Ariz. at 191, ¶ 17, 68 P.3d at 417. Thus, a victim’s recommendation of what sentence should be imposed in a capital case, whether for or against the death penalty, is simply not relevant. Id. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in precluding Duane Lynn from recommending that Glas-sel should receive a life sentence.
XIV
¶ 92 Glassel has not urged this Court to overturn his death sentence after independently reviewing the jury’s findings of aggravation and mitigation. However, we must independently review those jury findings regardless of whether Glassel has raised the issue on appeal. A.R.S. § 13-703.04(A) (Supp.2004).
¶ 93 The language of section 13-703.04 is identical to superseded A.R.S. § 13-703.01 (1994), which required us independently to reweigh mitigating and aggravating factors when judges determined whether to impose the death penalty. Under the superseded statute, we rejected a rigid mathematical approach to reweighing, holding that “[i]n weighing, we consider the quality and the strength, not simply the number, of aggravating and mitigating factors.” State v. Greene, 192 Ariz. 431, 443, ¶ 60, 967 P.2d 106, 118 (1998).
¶ 94 In Greene, although there was only one aggravator and several mitigators, we determined that the mitigation was not sufficient to overcome the aggravation. Id. at 443-44, ¶ 60, 967 P.2d at 118-19. We thus upheld the death sentence. Id. at ¶¶ 60-63, 967 P.2d 106. In other cases we have likewise focused on the quality, not the quantity, of the proven aggravating and mitigating factors. See, e.g., State v. Rogovich, 188 Ariz. 38, 44-46, 932 P.2d 794, 800-02 (1997) (holding that the quality of the three aggra-vators outweighed the quality of the six miti-gators and thus death penalty was appropriate); State v. Lehr, 201 Ariz. 509, 522-24, ¶¶ 62-66, 38 P.3d 1172, 1185-86 (2002) (holding that the quality of the aggravators outweighed the quantity of the more numerous mitigators and thus death penalty was appropriate).
¶ 95 Our independent reweighing is not complicated in this case. The aggravating factor, that two or more murders were committed during the commission of the offense, A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(8), was uncontested. The mitigating circumstances Offered by Glassel — his age, lack of criminal history, and lack of prior violent crimes — were, in light of the aggravating factor, not “sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency.” See Roseberry, 210 Ariz. at 374, ¶¶ 78-79, 111 P.3d at 416.
XV
¶ 96 The jury also convicted Glassel of thirty counts of attempted first degree murder, all class two felonies. The jury further found each offense to be a dangerous offense because a deadly weapon had been used, which enhanced the sentence for each offense. A.R.S. § 13-604(1). Under section 13-604(1), the presumptive sentence for a class two dangerous felony is ten and one-half years. However, “[t]he presumptive term may be mitigated or aggravated pursuant to the terms of § 13-702 subsections B, C, and D.” Id. The minimum sentence for a class two dangerous felony is seven years and the maximum sentence is twenty-one years. Id.
¶ 97 When Glassel committed his crimes, section 13-702(C) (Supp.1999) listed seventeen different factors that a court was required to consider in deciding an appropriate sentence. Such factors included the following: “[u]se, threatened use or possession of a deadly weapon ... during the commission of the crime,” § 13-702(0(2); “[t]he physical, emotional and financial harm caused to the victim,” § 13-702(0(9); “[if] the victim of the offense is sixty-five or more years of age,” § 13-702(0(13); and “[a]ny other factors which the court may deem appropriate to the ends of justice,” § 13-702(C)(17).
¶ 98 The trial court imposed aggravated sentences on each count: the maximum term of twenty-one years for counts three, four and five, and an aggravated term of eighteen years for the remaining counts. In explaining his decision to impose aggravated sentences, the trial judge found the following aggravators: “multiple victims, the harm of the defendant’s actions to the victims, the age of the victims, deadly weapon used, [and] the circumstances surrounding the crime____” The judge found that these circumstances far outweighed the mitigating factors of Glassel’s age and lack of prior convictions.
¶ 99 In a supplemental brief filed after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), Glassel challenges the aggravated sentences he received for his non-capital offenses.
¶ 100 Before Blakely, in Apprendi v. New Jersey, the Supreme Court held that “[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” 530 U.S. 466, 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). The Court in Blakely applied the Apprendi rule to the State of Washington’s sentencing scheme. 542 U.S. at-, 124 S.Ct. at 2536. It concluded that the sentence Blakely received violated the rule announced in Ap-prendi. Blakely, 542 U.S. at-, 124 S.Ct. at 2538. The Court emphasized that “the statutory maximum for Apprendi purposes is the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant.” Id. at-, 124 S.Ct. at 2537. We have held that Blakely applies to Arizona’s non-capital sentencing scheme. State v. Brown (McMullen), 209 Ariz. 200, 203, ¶ 12, 99 P.3d 15, 18 (2004) (holding that, under Arizona law, the statutory maximum for Apprendi purposes in a ease in which no aggravating factors have been proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt is the presumptive sentence).
¶ 101 Glassel contends that except for the finding that there were multiple victims, the aggravating factors found by the trial judge were neither implicit in the jury verdicts nor admitted by Glassel. He argues, therefore, that the trial court sentenced him on the non-capital offenses in violation of Blakely because there was no jury finding beyond a reasonable doubt on all of the aggravating circumstances. Glassel did not raise this objection at trial and our review is therefore only for fundamental error. See State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, 567 ¶ 19, 115 P.3d 601, 607 (2005).
¶ 102 Our recent decision in State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, 115 P.3d 618 (2005), disposes of Glassel’s arguments. In Martinez, we concluded that “once a jury finds or a defendant admits a single aggravating factor, the Sixth Amendment permits the sentencing judge to find and consider additional factors relevant to the imposition of a sentence up to the maximum prescribed in that statute.” Id. at 585, ¶26, 115 P.3d at 625.
¶ 103 Section 13-702(C) does not list “multiple victims” as an aggravating factor. Rather, the “multiple victims” aggravating factor for non-capital offenses is a court-created factor that has been held to fall within the “catch-all” provision of A.R.S. § 13-702(0(17) (“Any other factors which the court may deem appropriate to the ends of justice.”). See State v. Tschilar, 200 Ariz. 427, 434-36, ¶¶ 30-34, 27 P.3d 331, 338-40 (App.2001). The court in Tschilar reasoned that a defendant who assaults more than one victim at once “arguably creates a greater risk of physical and emotional injury as to each as they see the others terrorized or injured and arguably represents a graver offense to society.” Id. at 435, ¶ 34, 27 P.3d at 339. But cf. State v. Alvarez, 205 Ariz. 110, 114, ¶ 13, 67 P.3d 706, 710 (App.2003) (holding that the trial court erred in imposing aggravated sentences on the basis of “multiple victims” under the facts of that case because the defendant “did not have ‘multiple victims’ in the sense in which that term is normally used, denoting multiple vie- tims of a single act, episode, or scheme”) (citations omitted).
¶ 104 Other than arguing that the trial court committed Apprendi/Blakely error by not requiring the jury to find all aggravating factors, Glassel does not contest the trial court’s reliance on the multiple victims’ ag-gravator. Nevertheless, failure to submit the multiple victims issue to the jury was not Blakely error because the jury’s verdicts necessarily found that there were 30 victims; and Glassel cannot establish that any reasonable jury would have found that each was not placed in increased danger. And because Glassel does not challenge the trial court’s use of any of the other aggravating circumstances, his claim that the trial court’s imposition of aggravated sentences violated the holding of Blakely fails.
XVI
¶ 105 To preserve the issues for future federal habeas corpus proceedings, Glassel contends that the death penalty is unconstitutional for thirteen reasons. He acknowledges that this Court has already rejected these thirteen arguments, but asks us to reconsider them.
¶ 106 First, Glassel argues that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment under any circumstance. Both the Supreme Court and this Court have rejected that argument. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 186-87, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976); State v. Harrod, 200 Ariz. 309, 320, ¶¶ 58-59, 26 P.3d 492, 503 (2001) (holding that “[t]he Arizona death penalty is not per se cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments”) (citations omitted), vacated on other grounds by Harrod v. State, 536 U.S. 953, 122 S.Ct. 2653, 153 L.Ed.2d 830 (2002).
¶ 107 Second, he contends that the death penalty is imposed arbitrarily and irrationally. We rejected the same argument in State v. Beaty, 158 Ariz. 232, 247, 762 P.2d 519, 534 (1988) (citations omitted).
¶ 108 Third, Glassel asserts that the application of the death penalty under these facts constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. But he does not say why the death penalty would constitute cruel and unusual punishment under these facts. His failure to make any specific argument precludes any further consideration of this point. See State v. Carreon, 210 Ariz. 54, 76, ¶ 123, 107 P.3d 900, 922 (2005); State v. Kemp, 185 Ariz. 52, 57, 912 P.2d 1281, 1286 (1996) (holding that counsel, to avoid preclusion of issue on appeal, must argue issue in body of brief; list of issues in brief is not adequate).
¶ 109 Fourth, he argues that because the prosecution’s discretion to seek the death penalty has no standards, the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and Article 2, sections 1, 4, and 15 of the Arizona Constitution. We rejected the same argument in State v. Sansing, 200 Ariz. 347, 361, ¶ 46, 26 P.3d 1118, 1132 (2001), vacated on other grounds by Sansing v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 954, 122 S.Ct. 2654, 153 L.Ed.2d 830 (2002).
¶ 110 Fifth, Glassel contends that Arizona’s death penalty discriminates against poor, young, and male defendants. We have previously rejected that argument. Sansing, 200 Ariz. at 361, ¶ 46, 26 P.3d at 1132; State v. Poyson, 198 Ariz. 70, 83, ¶ 53, 7 P.3d 79, 92 (2000); State v. Stokley, 182 Ariz. 505, 516, 898 P.2d 454, 465 (1995).
¶ 111 Sixth, he argues that the absence of proportionality review of death sentences denies capital defendants due process of law and equal protection and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. We rejected that argument in Harrod, 200 Ariz. at 320, ¶ 65, 26 P.3d at 503.
¶ 112 Seventh, Glassel claims that Arizona’s capital sentencing scheme is unconstitutional because it does not require the state to prove that the death penalty is appropriate. We rejected the same argument in State v. Ring, 200 Ariz. 267, 284, ¶ 64, 25 P.3d 1139, 1156 (2001) (Ring I), rev’d on other grounds by Ring II, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556; see also State v. Van Adams, 194 Ariz. 408, 423, ¶ 55, 984 P.2d 16, 31 (1999).
¶ 113 Eighth, he contends that A.R.S. § 13-703.01 is unconstitutional be cause it provides no objective standards to guide the jury in weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. We rejected that argument, at least when judges weighed aggravating and mitigating factors, in State v. Pandeli, 200 Ariz. 365, 382, ¶ 90, 26 P.3d 1136, 1153 (2001), vacated on other grounds by Pandeli v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 953, 122 S.Ct. 2654, 153 L.Ed.2d 830 (2002). Our analysis remains unchanged now that juries, instead of judges, weigh aggravating and mitigating factors.
¶ 114 Ninth, Glassel argues that Arizona’s death penalty scheme is unconstitutional because it does not require the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the accumulated mitigating circumstances. We rejected the same argument in Pandeli, 200 Ariz. at 382, ¶ 92, 26 P.3d at 1153.
¶ 115 Tenth, he maintains that the Arizona death penalty scheme is unconstitutional because the broad scope of Arizona’s aggravating factors encompasses nearly anyone involved in a murder. We rejected the same argument in Pandeli, 200 Ariz. at 382, ¶ 90, 26 P.3d at 1153.
¶ 116 Eleventh, Glassel contends that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. We rejected that argument in State v. Hinchey, 181 Ariz. 307, 315, 890 P.2d 602, 610 (1995).
¶ 117 Twelfth, he argues that Arizona’s death penalty is unconstitutional because it requires the death penalty whenever at least one aggravator exists and no mitigating factors exist. We rejected the same argument in State v. Miles, 186 Ariz. 10, 19, 918 P.2d 1028, 1037 (1996).
¶ 118 Finally, Glassel claims that Arizona’s death penalty is unconstitutional because it requires defendants to prove that their lives should be spared. We rejected that argument in State v. Fulminante, 161 Ariz. 237, 258, 778 P.2d 602, 623 (1988).
XVII
¶ 119 For the above reasons, we affirm Glassel’s convictions and sentences.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, ANDREW D. HURWITZ, Justice, CHARLES E. JONES, Justice (Retired).
. While the record is not clear on this point, it appears that Glassel believed that Lennar Homes and the Homeowners Association were identical entities.
. Three hundred seventy-three rounds of live ammunition were found inside the meeting room. In addition, Glassel discharged ten rounds from the .22 caliber pistol and one round from the AR-15.
. Before Ring II, there normally was a period between the guilt and sentencing phase during which the defense was able to gather mitigation evidence.
. The judge granted the motion to continue because Glassel’s attorney was involved in an existing trial, not because of his arguments regarding the problems posed by juries imposing the death sentence.
. Glassel also believed that the court was involved in the conspiracy. When the trial judge denied Glassel’s pro per motion to change counsel, Glassel responded, "You can tell your friend John McCain you have been doing an excellent job for him.” When the trial judge informed Glassel that he did not know Senator John McCain, Glassel responded, "I’m sure you do. This proves you’re part of the conspiracy.”
. The "new evidence” of Glassel's alleged incompetence stemmed solely from visits an investigator from the Office of the Legal Defender had with Glassel. Counsel contends that the investigator had twenty in-person visits and numerous telephone conversations with Glassel — amounting to more than fifty hours of contact with him — and that that contact suggests that Glassel had incorporated his second trial counsel into his paranoia. That evidence, however, was insufficient to have compelled the trial court to order a new competency hearing. If there indeed was new evidence of Glassel’s incompetency stemming from those meetings, then counsel should have included that evidence in his motion for a new competency hearing.
. Defense counsel asked juror 4, "I guess what I’m wondering, what sort of mitigating circumstances would be important to you?” He also asked juror 9, "What sorts of things do you think would be mitigating in a death penalty case?” He inquired of juror 10 what mitigating circumstances meant to him. He asked juror 3, "When you say you could fairly consider mitigation, what does that mean to you?” He questioned juror 5 as follows: “I mean other than just the way you're instructed, what do mitigating circumstances mean to you?” He asked another juror “What would be factors that would be relevant to you or important to you in determining mitigation, in other words, less moral culpability?” He asked juror 39, "What does mitigating circumstances mean to you?” He asked juror 49, ”[W]hat does the idea of mitigation mean to you?”
. The court instructed the jury as follows:
As to reasonable doubt, the law does not require a defendant to prove innocence. Every defendant is presumed by law to be innocent. The State has the burden of proving the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This means the State must prove each element of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
In civil cases it is only necessary to prove that a fact is more likely true than not or that its truth is highly probable. In criminal cases, such as this, the State's proof must be much more powerful than that; it must be beyond a reasonable doubt. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant's guilt. There are very few things in this world we know with absolute certainty, and in criminal cases it does not require proof that overcomes every doubt. If, based upon your consideration of the evidence, you are firmly convinced that the defendant is guilty of the crime charged, you must find him guilty. If, on the other hand, you think that there’s a real possibility that the defendant is not guilty, you must give him the benefit of the doubt and find him not guilty.
. This does not mean, however, that Glassel is without a remedy. He can raise a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in a Rule 32 petition for post-conviction relief. See State v. Spreitz, 202 Ariz. 1, 3, ¶ 9, 39 P.3d 525, 527 (2002) (holding that any ineffective assistance of counsel claims must be brought in Rule 32 post-conviction proceedings).
. Glassel asked that the following instruction be read to the jury: "If a juror has a reasonable doubt about whether the death penalty or the death sentence should be imposed, that juror should not vote for the death penalty."
. A cousin of Esther LaPlante’s was designated Esther's legal representative and delivered a victim impact statement on the family's behalf. Glassel does not raise any challenge to this statement.
. Glassel contends that the trial court's error involves both Nila Lynn and Esther LaPIante. According to Glassel, if the jury heard that Duane Lynn recommended a life sentence, and then decided to give him a life sentence for Nila's murder, it would be pointless to impose the death penalty for Esther’s murder.
. Section 13-703.04 "applies to any sentencing or resentencing proceeding on any first degree murder case that is held after the effective date of this act and in which the offense was committed before the effective date of this act.” 2002 Ariz. Sess. Laws, 5th Spec. Sess., ch. 1, § 7(b).
. This latter provision is now found in A.R.S. § 13-702(C)(21) (Supp.2004). See 2004 Sess. Laws, 2d Reg. Sess., ch. 174, § 1. But see infra note 18.
. The trial judge ordered that some counts run consecutively to others, but concurrently to each other. On appeal, Glassel does not contest the court’s imposition of consecutive sentences.
. The trial court did not specify what factors applied to any specific counts. See State v. Gillies, 142 Ariz. 564, 573, 691 P.2d 655, 664 (1984) (commenting that ‘'[t]he better practice, in cases like this of multiple counts, is to set out the aggravating and mitigating factors for each separate count”). Nor did the court make specific references to A.R.S. § 13-702(C) when it sentenced Glassel on the non-capital convictions.
. We note that because Glassel’s use of a deadly weapon was used to enhance the range of punishment under section 13-604(1), the trial court erred in relying on Glassel’s use of a deadly weapon as an aggravating circumstance. See A.R.S. § 13-702(C)(2). Moreover, the factors of harm of the defendant’s actions to the victims, the age of the victims, and the circumstances surrounding the crime, were neither factors found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt nor implicit in all of the jury’s verdicts. For example, although three of the attempted murder victims had been hit by bullets from the weapons Glassel used, the others were not. In addition, the record does not establish that all of the victims of the attempted first degree murder counts were more than sixty-five years old. A.R.S. § 13-702(C)(13). Nor did the court specify if any of the victims were sixty-five years old or more. See Gillies, 142 Ariz. at 573, 691 P.2d at 664. And the court did not explain what it meaijt by "the circumstances of the offense.” Cf. A.R.S. § 13-703(C)(5) (listing as an aggravating circumstance the "[ejspecially heinous, cruel or depraved manner in which the offense was committed”). Glassel, however, has waived these issues by not raising them at trial or on appeal. Cf. State v. Wilson, 200 Ariz. 390, 398, ¶ 24, 26 P.3d 1161, 1169 (App.2001) (rejecting argument made at oral argument in part because it was not presented either in the trial court or in the appellate briefs) (citing Van Loan v. Van Loan, 116 Ariz. 272, 274, 569 P.2d 214, 216 (1977)).
. No issue is raised on appeal as to whether the A.R.S. § 13-702(C)(21), the "catch all” circumstance, violates due process, and therefore we do not address it, particularly because the statute has now been changed, effective August 12, 2005. See 2005 Sess. Laws, ch. 20, § 1.
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OPINION
BARKER, J.
¶ 1 Appellant appeals a court order for involuntary mental health treatment. She argues that the trial court’s decision to allow telephonic testimony at her hearing was error and requires reversal. We disagree and accordingly affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
¶2 In December 2004, appellant’s sister became concerned about appellant’s recent behavior. Those concerns led her to file an Application for Involuntary Evaluation. Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 36-520 (2003). That application stated appellant had shaved her head, stopped paying her bills and rent, started wandering around at night, and appeared to be hearing voices. Also, according to the application, appellant had recently disappeared for two weeks, lost her job, started obsessively cleaning her head, and mentioned that “God [was] sending her a chariot to pick her up.”
¶ 3 As a result of that application, two individuals went to appellant’s home to evaluate her. Id. The report filed after that evaluation stated “it appeared as though [appellant] might have been responding to internal stimuli.” Also, appellant “acknowledge[d] the belief that God [would] be sending a chariot to go get her.” Finally, appellant declined an offer for another evaluation, stating that “she didn’t have a mental illness or need to see a psychiatrist.”
¶ 4 A Petition for Court-Ordered Evaluation was filed, A.R.S. §§ 36-521, -523, and a Detention Order for Evaluation and Notice was granted. A.R.S. § 36-529. Appellant was detained and evaluated by two doctors. Those doctors filed affidavits reciting their findings. The first affidavit, filed by Dr. Andrew Parker, stated appellant’s “affect is inappropriate. Her mood is labile, with depression, elevation and irritability.” Dr. Parker also stated that appellant is “guarded, paranoid, [and her] attention and concentration are distracted----[Appellant’s] insight is poor, she is confused, and judgment is not intact.” Dr. Parker concluded that appellant had a severe mental disorder that “substantially impair[ed][her] capacity to make an informed decision regarding treatment.”
¶5 The other doctor, Dr. Carol Olson, stated appellant’s “insight and judgment appear poor.” Dr. Olson found appellant’s mood to be “mildly irritable” and her “thinking ... difficult to assess.” Dr. Olson reached the same conclusion as Dr. Parker that appellant had a severe mental disorder that “substantially impair[ed][her] capacity to make an informed decision regarding treatment.”
¶ 6 On January 10, 2005, there was a hearing regarding the petition for treatment. One of the witnesses scheduled for the hearing was appellant’s sister. At the time of the healing, appellant’s sister lived in Alabama and was not present at the hearing; the State sought permission to have the sister testify telephonieally. Appellant’s attorney objected to the telephonic testimony, arguing that she had not had the opportunity to interview the sister. The court chose to delay the hearing for one day to give appellant’s counsel an opportunity to interview the sister.
¶7 The next day appellant’s counsel renewed her objection to the telephonic testimony. The court heard argument on the issue and opted to allow the telephonic testimony. The court found that “numerous safeguards [were] in place”; therefore, the testimony should be allowed. Those safeguards included multiple doctors evaluating appellant and agreeing that the relevant standards had been met. Also, the court found that this type of hearing operates on a “very truncated time table.” Therefore, the sister had not been given adequate time to “plan to come in ... to testify.”
¶8 The hearing then proceeded with a preliminary examination of appellant’s sister. The court asked the sister if she had any notes in front of her or if there was anyone else in the room with her. The sister replied “no” to both questions. The court then asked appellant’s daughter to identify the voice on the telephone.
Court: Did you hear the voice of the person talking at the other end of the phone?
Daughter: Yes.
Court: Can you identify that person?
Daughter: That’s my aunt____
Court: Do you have any concerns that that may be some other person, other than [your aunt]?
Daughter: No.
After this identification, appellant’s sister resumed her testimony. She recounted the unusual behavior appellant had recently exhibited. The two doctors then testified, both stating that appellant suffered from a severe mental disorder. The final witness was appellant’s daughter. The daughter testified as to appellant’s unusual behavior.
¶ 9 At the conclusion of the witness’ testimony and argument by counsel, the court made “the following findings by clear and convincing evidence.” “[Appellant], as a result of a mental disorder, is persistently or acutely disabled ... [she] is in need of psychiatric treatment and she is either unwilling or unable to accept voluntary treatment.” The court ordered appellant to “undergo treatment in a combined inpatient/outpatient treatment program.” See A.R.S. § 36-540.
¶ 10 Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. § 36-546.01 (2003).
Discussion
¶ 11 The only issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred by allowing telephonic testimony at the hearing on the petition for treatment. We consider the statutory scheme, Arizona rules, and the constitutional issues.
1. The Statutory Scheme
¶ 12 According to A.R.S. § 36-539(B) (2003), at the hearing “[t]he patient and his attorney shall be present ... and the patient’s attorney may subpoena and cross-ex amine witnesses and present evidence.” Also, at the hearing there must be “testimony of two or more witnesses acquainted with the patient at the time of the alleged mental disorder and testimony of the two physicians who performed examinations in evaluation of the patient.” Id. These requirements “are in addition to all rules of evidence and the Arizona rules of civil procedure.” A.R.S. § 36-539(D). In cases, such as this one, where a significant liberty interest is at stake, these “statutory requirements must be strictly adhered to.” Coconino County No. MH 1425, 181 Ariz. 290, 293, 889 P.2d 1088, 1091 (1995); see Coconino County No. MH 95-0074, 186 Ariz. 138, 139, 920 P.2d 18, 19 (App.1996).
¶ 13 In this ease, two physicians, appellant’s daughter, and appellant’s sister testified at the hearing. The doctors and appellant’s daughter were present in the courtroom. Appellant’s sister was not present, testifying instead via telephone. Appellant argues that the telephonic testimony violated the statutory scheme. We disagree.
¶ 14 Arizona courts “follow fundamental principles of statutory construction, the cornerstone of which is the rule that the best and most reliable index of a statute’s meaning is its language and, when the language is clear and unequivocal, it is determinative of the statute’s construction.” Janson v. Christensen, 167 Ariz. 470, 471, 808 P.2d 1222,1223 (1991); see MH 95-007lh 186 Ariz. at 139, 920 P.2d at 19 (‘When the legislature has spoken with such explicit direction, our duty is clear.”). The statute providing the requirements for a hearing on a petition for court-ordered treatment states that “[t]he patient and his attorney shall be present at all hearings.” A.R.S. § 36-539(B) (emphasis added). There is no requirement that the other witnesses also be present. Id. We will not read a presence requirement into the statute. See Desert Wide Cabling & Installation, Inc. v. Wells Fargo & Co., N.A., 191 Ariz. 516, 517, ¶ 6, 958 P.2d 457, 458 (App. 1998) (stating courts will not read provisions into a statute where no legislative intent is present). We must not “inflate, expand, stretch or extend a statute to matters not falling within its expressed provisions.” City of Phoenix v. Donofrio, 99 Ariz. 130, 133, 407 P.2d 91, 93 (1965). Accordingly, the statute does not require that a witness be personally present.
2. Arizona Rules
¶ 15 Beyond compliance with the relevant statutes, a hearing for court-ordered treatment must also be conducted in conformity with the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure and the Arizona Rules of Evidence. See A.R.S. § 36-539(D) (“The requirements of subsection B are in addition to all rules of evidence and the Arizona rules of civil procedure, not inconsistent with subsection B.”). ‘We interpret court rules' according to the principles of statutory construction.” State v. Aguilar, 209 Ariz. 40, 47, ¶ 23, 97 P.3d 865, 872 (2004). Thus, once again we start with the plain language of the rules. Janson, 167 Ariz. at 471, 808 P.2d at 1223. Neither the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure nor the Arizona Rules of Evidence specifically prohibit, or even address, telephonic testimony in this context. However, two rules potentially apply. First, Arizona Rule of Evidence 611(a) provides that the court “shall exercise reasonable control over the.mode and order of interrogating witnesses.” (Emphasis added.) There are no Arizona cases that construe this rule in the context of whether it permits telephonic testimony. Though “mode” has multiple meanings, the dictionary definition applicable here is “a form or manner of expression.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 745 (10th ed.2001); see Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary 1154 (2nd ed.1983) (“manner of existing or acting; way; method or form”). Telephonic testimony, as contrasted with in-person testimony, is certainly a “form or manner of expression.” Thus, Rule 611(a) could be construed by its terms to permit telephonic testimony.
¶ 16 The second potentially applicable rule is Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 43(f). It provides that “[i]n all trials the testimony of witnesses shall be taken orally in open court, unless otherwise provided by these rules or the Arizona Rules of Evidence.” (Emphasis added.) Like Rule 611(a), Rule 43(f) does not directly address in-court as contrasted with telephonic testimony. As with Rule 611(a), we are also unable to locate any Arizona authority regarding the construction of Rule 43(f) in this setting. We note, too, that the context for our consideration of Rule 43(f) is Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 1: The rules “shall be construed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.”
¶ 17 A similar form of the language from Rule 43(f) (“taken orally in open court”) is also in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a) (“taken in open court”). Earlier cases construed that rule both to permit and preclude telephonic testimony. See Murphy v. Tivoli Enters., 953 F.2d 354, 359 (8th Cir.1992) (rejecting telephonic testimony); Official Airlines Guides, Inc. v. Churchfield Publ’ns, Inc., 756 F.Supp. 1393, 1399 n. 2 (D.Or.1990) (permitting telephonic testimony).
¶ 18 The same divergent results occur in state courts. See Gust v. Gust, 345 N.W.2d 42, 44 (N.D.1984) (prohibiting telephonic testimony); Murphy, 953 F.2d at 359 n. 2 (citing cases prohibiting telephonic testimony); Barry v. Lindner, 119 Nev. 661, 81 P.3d 537, 541 n. 5 (2003) (citing cases permitting telephonic testimony, particularly when special circumstances are met); Byrd v. Nix, 548 So.2d 1317, 1320 (Miss.1989) (“In recognizing the different positions taken on the matter, we hold that the admissibility of telephonic testimony is within the sound discretion of the trial judge.”).
¶ 19 Considering Rule 611(a), Rule 43(f), and the context from Rule 1, we do not determine that Arizona’s rules necessarily preclude telephonic testimony in this circumstance.
3. Constitutional Issues
¶ 20 There are, however, constitutional issues to consider. Several concurring opinions from the United States Supreme Court spell out the need for procedural due process in involuntary commitment hearings. Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 627, 99 S.Ct. 2493, 61 L.Ed.2d 101 (1979) (Brennan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); O’Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563, 580, 95 S.Ct. 2486, 45 L.Ed.2d 396 (1975) (Burger, C.J., concurring). Under this analysis, adults facing involuntary treatment “are entitled to full and fair adversary hearings.” Parham, 442 U.S. at 627, 99 S.Ct. 2493 (Brennan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); see Maricopa County Cause No. MH 90-00566, 173 Ariz. 177, 182, 840 P.2d 1042, 1047 (App. 1992) (“[Bjeeause civil commitment eonsti- tutes a significant deprivation of liberty, the State must accord the proposed patient due process protection”). At those hearings, the adult must “be present with counsel, have an opportunity to be heard, [and] be confronted with witnesses against him.” Specht v. Patterson, 386 U.S. 605, 610, 87 S.Ct. 1209, 18 L.Ed.2d 326 (1967) (emphasis added). In other settings the Court has stated: “In almost every setting where important decisions turn on questions of fact, due process requires an opportunity to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses.” Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254, 269, 90 S.Ct. 1011, 25 L.Ed.2d 287 (1970).
¶ 21 The United States Supreme Court has observed that the right to confrontation under procedural due process is similar to the right to confrontation under the Sixth Amendment. See Greene v. McElroy, 360 U.S. 474, 496-97, 79 S.Ct. 1400, 3 L.Ed.2d 1377 (1959) (stating that procedural due process rights “of confrontation and cross-examination ... find expression in the Sixth Amendment”). But even under the Sixth Amendment, the right to face-to-face confrontation is not absolute. In Maryland v. Craig, 497 U.S. 836, 849-50, 110 S.Ct. 3157, 111 L.Ed.2d 666 (1990), the Court affirmed “the importance of face-to-face confrontation with witnesses appearing at trial” but found that such confrontation was not “an indispensable element of the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of the right to confront one’s accusers.” Thus, even if appellant’s right to confrontation is interpreted according to the relatively strict Sixth Amendment precedents, the lack of face-to-face confrontation does not mandate reversal. The testimony at the hearing in Craig was admissible if the denial of face-to-face confrontation was “[1] necessary to further an important public policy and ... [2] the reliability of the testimony [was] otherwise assured.” Id. at 850, 110 S.Ct. 3157. These two factors represent the appropriate constitutional test for evaluating the telephonic testimony permitted here. See State v. Moore, 203 Ariz. 515, 517-18, ¶ 8, 56 P.3d 1099, 1101-02 (App.2002)
¶ 22 As to the first factor at issue, the Arizona legislature has recognized the importance of providing an impaired individual with mental health services. See Arnold v. Ariz. Dept. of Health Servs., 160 Ariz. 593, 609-10, 775 P.2d 521, 537-38 (1989) (observing that the legislature meant to ensure effective mental health services). Providing individuals with needed mental health care on a timely basis is an important public policy. See id. at 610, 775 P.2d at 538 (recognizing that the failure to provide mental health services may have serious consequences).
¶23 Thus, based on the Application for Involuntary Evaluation and related proceedings, the State had a strong interest in providing mental health services on the expedited basis set forth in the statutes. The trial court also expressly acknowledged the fact that there was a statutory “truncated time table” for the hearing. In this case, the witness was in Alabama. This clearly suggests that the speed with which the proceedings were required to take place, and the fact that the witness was in Alabama, were considered in determining whether telephonic testimony was necessary.
¶ 24 We consider the question whether telephonic testimony is “necessary to further an important public policy” to present a mixed question of law and fact. Under such circumstances we defer to the trial court’s factual findings but review de novo the ultimate legal conclusion. See State v. Gonzalez-Gutierrez, 187 Ariz. 116, 118, 927 P.2d 776, 778 (1996). Though the trial court made no express finding that the witness was physically precluded from traveling from Alabama to Arizona for the hearing, given the witness’ presence in Alabama and the need for an expedited hearing in Arizona we find sufficient basis to uphold the trial court’s determination that it was necessary to proceed in a telephonic fashion. See Beltram-Tirado v. INS, 213 F.3d 1179, 1186 (9th Cir.2000) (“The government had reason to arrange for telephonic testimony because [the witness] lived in Missouri and the hearing was in San Diego.”); but see In re S.B., 263 Neb. 175, 639 N.W.2d 78, 83-84 (2002) (finding that trial court’s acceptance of telephonic testimony when witness was not “truly unavailable” violated individual’s confrontation rights). We caution that this does not mean that every out-of-state witness when faced with an expedited hearing will be permitted to give telephonic testimony. Trial judges, however, are in the best position to determine the impact of travel on a witness and the entire proceeding in each particular case. We will defer to those factual determinations, see State v. Rosengren, 199 Ariz. 112, 116, ¶ 9, 14 P.3d 303, 307 (App.2000), while reviewing de novo the conclusion that telephonic testimony is “necessary to further an important public policy.” Craig, 497 U.S. at 850, 110 S.Ct. 3157.
¶ 25 Second, as to reliability, the witness was identified through the testimony of appellant’s daughter. Supra ¶8. The court specifically inquired of appellant’s daughter if the voice on the telephone could be anyone other than appellant’s sister. After identification, appellant’s counsel was given an opportunity to cross-examine the witness. The identification and opportunity for cross-examination sufficiently addressed concerns about the reliability of the testimony.
¶ 26 Thus, as to constitutional issues, because the telephonic testimony in this case furthered the important public policy of providing a mental health hearing on an expedited basis with an out-of-state witness, and there were adequate indicia of reliability as to that witness, the lack of face-to-face confrontation did not violate appellant’s procedural due process rights. This is particularly so when the trial judge here provided the opportunity for a one-day delay to enable appellant’s counsel to interview the witness who was to appear telephonically.
Conclusion
¶27 On the record before us, we do not find that the trial court erred in permitting the telephonic testimony of appellant’s sister. Accordingly, we affirm.
EHRLICH, P.J. and THOMPSON, J., concurring.
. We distinguish the setting here from a proceeding to which the Arizona Rules of Procedure for the Juvenile Court would apply. In Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. JV131701, 183 Ariz. 481, 904 P.2d 1305 (App.1995), we rejected telephonic testimony in a juvenile delinquency action. The circumstances here are substantially different. In JV131701, the court was faced with a rule that expressly permitted telephonic testimony in “any [juvenile] dependency or termination of the parent-child relationship hearing,” yet made no mention of telephonic testimony in a juvenile delinquency hearing. Id. at 482, 904 P.2d at 1306 (quoting Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 19.2 (repealed 2000)). In the setting before us, there is no applicable court rule that permits telephonic testimony for some types of mental health proceedings but not others. Although constitutional requirements may mandate the presence of all witnesses in a particular mental health proceeding, infra ¶¶ 20-26, the statute at issue here only refers to the physical presence of two specified individuals, the patient and his or her attorney. A.R.S. § 36-539(B).
. We are aware of two cases from other jurisdictions that deal with a rule similar to Rule 611(a) and preclude telephonic testimony. Byrd v. Nix, 548 So.2d 1317, 1319 (Miss.1989); Simpson v. Rood, 175 Vt. 546, 830 A.2d, 4, 8, (2003). Neither decision applied the plain language of the rule. In Byrd, the court relied on a comment that it considered to limit the scope of the rule. 548 So.2d at 1319. In Simpson, the court considered the language "orally in open court” to be contrary to telephonic testimony. 830 A.2d at 8. This is a conclusion we do not reach.
. The federal rule has been modified to resolve the conflict in the cases. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a) now provides: "The court may, for good cause shown in compelling circumstances and upon appropriate safeguards, permit presentation testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location.” In a recent case from the Ninth Circuit, that court observed that telephonic testimony at an immigration hearing did not violate due process and the testimony would have been admissible in a civil proceeding under the current Rule 43(a). Beltran-Tirado v. INS, 213 F.3d 1179, 1185-86 (9th Cir.2000).
. Moore applied the test from Craig, but on the record in that case found that the test was not satisfied. 203 Ariz. at 518-19, ¶¶ 12-15, 56 P.3d at 1102-03. We are confronted with a different factual, procedural and public policy setting here.
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OPINION
BERCH, Vice Chief Justice.
¶ 1 This case concerns the propriety of two jury instructions relating to sentencing in a capital case. The prosecutor requested that the jury be instructed at the close of the penalty phase of the trial that the defendant bears the affirmative burden to prove that mitigation is “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.” The second instruction advised the jurors to sentence the defendant to life in prison if they had “a doubt” whether a death sentence was appropriate. For the reasons set forth below, we hold that neither instruction is proper.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶2 A jury convicted Defendant William Baldwin of first degree murder in September 2004. During the aggravation phase of the capital trial, the jury found that Baldwin had knowingly created a grave risk of death to another during the commission of the murder, Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 13-703(F)(3) (Supp.2004), rendering him eligible for a sentence of death.
¶ 3 Before the presentation of mitigation evidence, the State asked the court to give the following instruction, among others, to guide the jurors in determining the appropriate sentence:
The burden of proving the existence of mitigation sufficiently substantial to call for leniency is on the defendant. The defendant must prove the existence of mitigation by a preponderance of the evidence.
Baldwin objected to the first sentence of the proposed instruction. The trial court did not give the requested instruction, but instead gave an instruction based on the language of A.R.S. § 13-703(C):
The burden of proving the existence of mitigation is on the defendant. The defendant must prove the existence of mitigation by a preponderance of the evidence.
¶4 Although the court did not use the requested phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” at that point in the instructions, the phrase appeared eight times in the sentencing-phase jury instructions. The court first mentioned the standard by instructing the jury as follows:
In deciding whether the defendant should be sentenced to death or life in prison, you must weigh the mitigating circumstances that have been proven to you against the aggravating factor that you have already found, and determine whether there is mitigation that is sufficiently substantial to call for life in prison.
The phrase was mentioned seven other times, all in related instructions attempting to convey to the jury its duty in deciding what penalty to impose.
¶ 5 The court also instructed the jurors that “[i]f, after carefully considering the evidence, you have a doubt whether the death penalty should be imposed, you should resolve that doubt in favor of a life sentence.”
¶ 6 The jury could not unanimously agree on the imposition of the death penalty, allowing a second jury to be impanelled. See A.R.S. § 13-703.01(K) (Supp.2004). Before commencement of the second penalty phase proceeding, the State moved to preclude the anticipated use of the “a doubt” instruction and again urged the court to instruct the jury that the defendant bears the burden of proving that mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency. When the trial court refused to rule on the motion, the State filed a special action in the court of appeals, which declined jurisdiction.
¶ 7 We granted review to decide whether the court’s denial of the State’s requested burden of proof instruction was error and whether giving the instruction to resolve doubt in favor of life was proper. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution, and A.R.S. § 12-120.24(2003).
II. DISCUSSION
¶8 We are asked to determine whether two instructions given to a jury following the penalty phase of a capital ease correctly state the law, a question we review de novo. State v. Glassel, 211 Ariz. 33, 53, ¶ 74, 116 P.3d 1193, 1213 (2005). We review for abuse of discretion whether the trial court erred in giving or refusing to give requested jury instructions. State v. Anderson, 210 Ariz. 327, 343, ¶ 60, 111 P.3d 369, 385 (2005). In our review, we read the jury instructions as a whole to ensure that the jury receives the information it needs to arrive at a legally correct decision. Kauff-man v. Schroeder, 116 Ariz. 104, 106, 568 P.2d 411, 413 (1977).
A. The Burden of Persuasion Instruction
¶ 9 The death penalty sentencing statutes provide, and the trial judge instructed the jury, that the defendant bears the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, the existence of mitigating circumstances. See AR.S. § 13-703(C). Neither Baldwin nor the State questions that instruction. The State requests, however, that we now approve an instruction specifying that the defendant also bears the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.
¶ 10 To justify imposing this burden, the State relies on A.R.S. § 13-703(E), which provides that,
[i]n determining whether to impose a sentence of death or life imprisonment, the trier of fact shall take into account the aggravating and mitigating circumstances that have been proven. The trier of fact shall impose a sentence of death if the trier of fact finds one or more of the aggravating circumstances enumerated in subsection F of this section and then determines that there are no mitigating circumstances sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.
(Emphasis added.)
¶ 11 From this statutory language, the State reasons that the defendant must bear the burden of proving that the mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency; otherwise, the trier of fact “shall” impose a sentence of death. See id. Moreover, the State observes that this court has rejected the notion that the prosecution bears the burden of proving that the death penalty is the appropriate sentence. State v. Gul-brandson, 184 Ariz. 46, 72, 906 P.2d 579, 605 (1995). The State thus infers that if the burden is not on the State, it must lie with the defendant.
¶ 12 The State concedes that AR.S. § 13-703(E) has been interpreted as not creating a “presumption of death” and acknowledges that a jury may return a verdict of life in prison even if the defendant decides to present no mitigation evidence at all. See, e.g., Glassel, 211 Ariz. at 52, ¶ 72, 116 P.3d at 1212 (rejecting presumption of death argument); State v. Van Adams, 194 Ariz. 408, 422, ¶ 55, 984 P.2d 16, 30 (1999) (to same effect). In the absence of such a presumption, there can be no burden on the defen dant to rebut a presumed sentence. Thus the language of A.R.S. § 13-703(E) does not impose an affirmative duty on the defendant to prove that mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.
¶ 13 Nor does the statutory scheme as a whole impose a burden on the defendant to prove that mitigation evidence is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency. Section 13-703(B) requires the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt not only every element of the crime, but also any aggravating circumstances. Id.; see also State v. Jordan, 126 Ariz. 283, 286, 614 P.2d 825, 828 (1980). If the jury finds any aggravating factors to exist, the burden then moves to the defendant, if he wishes, to establish any mitigating circumstances. A.R.S. § 13-703(C). The statute further instructs that “the jurors do not have to agree unanimously that a mitigating circumstance has been proven to exist. Each juror may consider any mitigating circumstance found by that juror in determining the appropriate penalty.” Id.
¶ 14 Although § 13-703(C) requires the defendant to prove mitigating circumstances by a preponderance of the evidence, the statutory scheme does not place any burden of proof on the defendant in connection with establishing that the mitigation evidence is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency. Indeed, the “sufficiently substantial” language does not appear until two subsections later. See A.R.S. § 13-703(E). Thus nothing in § 13-703 dictates that the defendant must bear the burden of proving that mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency. While the statutory scheme describes the parties’ burdens of proof as to the existence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it is silent as to the burden of persuasion.
¶ 15 The State also bases its argument that the defendant bears the burden of proving that mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency on this court’s opinion in State v. Watson, 120 Ariz. 441, 447, 586 P.2d 1253, 1259 (1978), and the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 649, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990), overruled in part on other grounds by Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). In Walton and Watson, the Supreme Court and this court recognized that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments are not offended by requiring a guilty defendant to establish “by a preponderance of the evidence, the existence of mitigating circumstances sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.” Walton, 497 U.S. at 649, 110 S.Ct. 3047. Despite this language, Walton and Watson did not address whether the defendant in a capital ease bears the burden of persuading the jurors that mitigation is sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency. Instead they addressed the constitutionality of imposing on a convicted defendant the burden of proving the existence of mitigating facts. The precise question before us apparently has not been addressed by our courts.
¶ 16 The State nonetheless contends that by informing the jurors only that the defendant bears the burden of proving the existence of mitigating circumstances by a preponderance of the evidence, the trial judge instructs the jury on only “half of Defendant’s burden.” The State claims that such an instruction fails to explain to the jury who bears the burden of persuading the jury that the defendant should receive a life sentence rather than a sentence of death or, in statutory terms, whether the mitigating circumstances are sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.
¶ 17 As set forth above, however, neither party bears the burden on this issue. We therefore disagree that the instructions were incomplete or inadequate to properly advise the jury of its role in the sentencing process. The plan is carefully laid out in the statutes: Once a defendant is “death eligible” — that is, once a jury has found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of a capital offense and that at least one statutory aggravating factor exists — the jurors must assess whether to impose the death penalty based upon each juror’s individual, qualitative evaluation of the facts of the case, the severity of the aggravating factors, and the quality of any mitigating evidence. AR.S. §§ 13-703, -703.01. This assessment is not mathematical, but instead must be made in light of the facts of each case. State v. Gretzler, 135 Ariz. 42, 54, 659 P.2d 1, 13 (1983).
¶ 18 The phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” is the standard that guides and channels the jurors’ discretion as they evaluate and consider the mitigating circumstances, whether proved by the defendant or present in the record, in determining whether death is the appropriate sentence for that particular defendant in light of the facts of that particular ease. See A.R.S. §§ 13-703(E), -703.01(G) & (H). It means that the mitigation must be of such quality or value that it is adequate, in the opinion of an individual juror, to persuade that juror to vote for a sentence of life in prison. A mitigating factor that motivates one juror to vote for a sentence of life in prison may be evaluated by another juror as not having been proved or, if proved, as not significant to the assessment of the appropriate penalty. Each juror must determine whether, in that juror’s individual assessment, the mitigation is of such quality or value that it warrants leniency in a particular case.
¶ 19 The jurors in this case were instructed accordingly by the trial judge: “Each of you, individually, must decide whether the mitigation that each of you, individually, believes has been proven, is sufficiently substantial to call for a life sentence.” The State has not argued that the jurors did not understand their task.
¶ 20 Our eases have on occasion discussed the evaluation and assessment of mitigating circumstances as a “weighing” process, see, e.g., State v. Hinchey, 181 Ariz. 307, 313-14, 890 P.2d 602, 608-09 (1995); Gretzler, 135 Ariz. at 54, 659 P.2d at 13, which has led to the implication that mitigating circumstances must “outweigh” aggravating factors for life to be the appropriate sentence. These eases and A.R.S. §§ 13-703 and -703.01 do not, however, indicate that the decision on the appropriate sentence is itself a factual determination.
¶21 We therefore now clarify that the determination whether mitigation is sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency is not a fact question to be decided based on the weight of the evidence, but rather is a sentencing decision to be made by each juror based upon the juror’s assessment of the quality and significance of the mitigating evidence that the juror has found to exist. We conclude that the use of “outweighing” language in jury instructions explaining the evaluation of mitigating circumstances, while technically correct, might confuse or mislead jurors. We thus discourage the use of instructions that inform jurors that they must find that mitigating circumstances outweigh aggravating factors before they can impose a sentence other than death. Instead, jury instructions should focus on the statutory requirement that a juror may not vote to impose the death penalty unless he or she finds, in the juror’s individual opinion, that “there are no mitigating circumstances sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.” A.R.S. § 13-703(E). In other words, each juror must determine whether, in that juror’s individual assessment, the mitigation is of such quality or value that it warrants leniency-
B. The “A Doubt” Instruction
¶ 22 Defendant had urged below the propriety of an instruction that the jury should return a verdict of life if the jurors had “a doubt” whether death was the appropriate sentence. This instruction in effect tells the jury that the State must prove beyond any doubt, reasonable or not, that death is the appropriate sentence in a given case.
¶23 The instruction stemmed from language this court used when fulfilling its duty to independently review death sentences. See, e.g., State v. Carlson, 202 Ariz. 570, 588, ¶ 70, 48 P.3d 1180, 1198 (2002); State v. Trostle, 191 Ariz. 4, 23, 951 P.2d 869, 888 (1997); State v. Valencia, 132 Ariz. 248, 250, 645 P.2d 239, 241 (1982). Defendant now concedes that this language was never intended as an instruction for jurors. The concession is well taken, for in Glassel, 211 Ariz. at 52, ¶¶ 69-70, 116 P.3d at 1212, we rejected the argument that the Constitution requires the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that leniency was not justified. If the State need not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that death is the appropriate sentence, it then certainly need not prove that point beyond any doubt whatsoever. To put this matter to rest, we hold that such an instruction is improper.
III. CONCLUSION
¶ 24 We hold that the trial court correctly concluded that the defendant in a capital case does not bear the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the mitigating circumstances are sufficiently substantial to call for leniency. The court therefore did not err or abuse its discretion in refusing to give the requested burden of persuasion instruction. It did, however, err in instructing the jurors that if they entertained “a doubt” whether death is the appropriate sentence they must impose a sentence of life in prison. We therefore grant relief in part and deny it in part and remand this case to the trial court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN, ANDREW D. HURWITZ, and W. SCOTT BALES, Justices.
APPENDIX
Jury Instructions addressing the “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” standard:
In deciding whether the defendant should be sentenced to death or life in prison, you must weigh the mitigating circumstances that have been proven to you against the aggravating factor that you have already found, and determine whether there is mitigation that is sufficiently substantial to call for life in prison.
Each of you, individually, must decide whether the mitigation that each of you, individually, believes has been proven, is sufficiently substantial to call for a life sentence.
You may not consider any information presented during this phase of the trial as a new aggravating factor. You must make your decision about whether the mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for a life sentence based solely upon your weighing of any mitigation that you deem proven to be more true than not, and the aggravating factor you found during the Aggravation Phase.
If you unanimously find the mitigation is not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, you must impose the death penalty. If you find the mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, you must impose life imprisonment. In that instance, the Court will sentence the defendant either to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or life without parole until at least twenty-five years have passed.
The weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances does not mean a mere mechanical counting of factors on each side of an imaginary scale, or the arbitrary assignment of weights to any of them. You are free to assign whatever weight you deem appropriate to each and all of the various factors you are permitted to consider. In weighing the various circumstances, you determine, under the relevant evidence, which penalty is justified and appropriate by considering the totality of the aggravating circumstance with the totality of the mitigating circumstances. In reaching a reasoned judgment about which penalty is justified and appropriate, you must decide how compelling or persuasive the totality of the mitigating factors are when compared against the totality of the aggravating factor.
If some jurors find the defendant proved mitigation, the jurors who found mitigation must weigh the mitigation they found against the aggravating factor already found. The jurors who found mitigation may disagree about what mitigation exists. If all the jurors who found mitigation find the mitigation is not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, and all the remaining jurors continue to find no mitigation has been proven, you must return a verdict of death.
If all jurors find mitigation has been proven, all must weigh the mitigation they found against the aggravating factors already found. The jurors may disagree about what mitigation exists. If all the jurors find the mitigation is not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, you must return a verdict of death.
If all jurors find mitigation has been proven and all find the mitigation they found is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, you must return a verdict of life imprisonment.
. On the burden of proof issue, § 13-703(C) reads as follows:
The burden of establishing the existence of the mitigating circumstances included in subsection G of this section is on the defendant. The defendant must prove the existence of the mitigating circumstances by a preponderance of the evidence.
. The jury instructions addressing the "sufficiently substantial to call for leniency” standard are set forth in an appendix to this opinion.
. Even if a juror believes that the aggravating and mitigating factors are equally balanced, A.R.S. § 13-703(E) does not require the juror to impose the death penalty. Rather, each juror may vote for a sentence of death — or against it— as each sees fit in light of the aggravating factors found by the jury and the mitigating evidence found by each juror. The finding of an aggravating factor simply renders the defendant eligible for the death penalty; it does not require that he receive it. See Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 651-52, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990), overruled in part on other grounds by Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002).
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ORDER
PER CURIAM.
Bobby Lee Tankersley was convicted of first degree murder and sexual assault in 1993. He was sentenced in 1994 to death for the murder and to a consecutive aggravated sentence for the sexual assault. This Court affirmed Tankersley’s convictions and sentences on direct appeal. State v. Tankersley, 191 Ariz. 359, 956 P.2d 486 (1998).
At trial, DNA evidence was presented by the State to establish that Tankersley could not be eliminated as the source of a hair found at the murder scene. A forensic odon-tologist, Dr. Norman Sperber, testified that it was “highly probable” that Tankersley had bitten the victim’s left breast. Another forensic odontologist, Dr. Raymond Rawson, testified that Tankersley’s teeth “matched” various bite marks on the victim.
After Tankersley’s conviction was affirmed on direct appeal, an automatic notice of post-conviction relief was filed pursuant to Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.4(a). Following an evidentiary hearing, the superi- or court denied relief, and Tankersley filed a petition for review in this Court.
While the petition for review was pending, another defendant convicted of first degree murder at whose trial Dr. Rawson had also testified about a “match” between the defendant’s teeth and bite marks on the victim was exonerated by DNA testing. In light of this development, the State and Tankersley asked this Court to stay further proceedings on the petition for review to allow for additional DNA examination of the available remaining evidence. We granted that request and remanded the case to the trial court to “preside over the development of the new DNA evidence” and to “decide what effect, if any, the new evidence has on Petitioner’s claims for post-conviction relief.”
After further DNA testing was performed, the superior court held evidentiary hearings in November and December 2004. During those hearings testimony was presented concerning the new DNA analysis by experts retained by the State and Tankersley. Although these experts differed somewhat in their conclusions, all agreed that the DNA evidence did not definitively identify Tank-ersley as having bitten the victim or as the source for the hair at the crime scene.
Tankersley also presented expert odonto-lógica! testimony at the hearing. Defendant’s expert opined that all of the purported bite marks, except one on the victim’s left breast, could not be conclusively identified as bite marks, and that the bite-mark evidence on the victim’s left breast “is so poor and so weak” that “to use it for identification purposes is preposterous.” Tankersley also presented evidence concerning recent studies casting doubts on the reliability of using bite-mark evidence on human flesh to identify a biter and about the similarity between Dr. Rawson’s opinion in this case and in the case in which the defendant was later exonerated.
On December 23, 2004, the superior court entered a two-page order denying Tankers-ley’s request for relief with respect to his convictions, but granting relief as to the death sentence and ordering resentencing proceedings before a jury.
The superior court’s order stated that “the evidence presented is insufficient to exonerate the defendant of this crime.” Nonetheless, the superior court found that the “inconclusive DNA as to critical bite marks may be argued to diminish the appearance of extreme brutality. The new DNA evidence also raises other questions as to what happened the night of the murder.” The superi- or court also found that evidence presented at an earlier hearing concerning the defendant’s “alcoholism and ‘blackout” ’ was “newly discovered.” As to the bite-mark evidence, the superior court stated that it “had reexamined the newly discovered evidence casting doubt on the expert testimony of bite marks on the victim’s body.” The court then noted that “[t]he bite marks were a prime factor in this courts [sic ] previous decision to exact the ultimate penalty.” While concluding that the new DNA, alcoholism/blackout, or bite-mark evidence “standing alone, would be insufficient to change the result,” the superior court said that “taken together and considered as a whole,” this evidence justified a new sentencing proceeding before a jury.
Tankersley then filed a supplemental petition for review, arguing that he is entitled to a new trial not only for sentencing, but also on the underlying convictions. The State filed an opposition to that petition, but did not cross-petition for review and thus does not challenge the superior court’s order concerning resentencing.
A defendant may obtain post-conviction relief by showing “[njewly discovered material facts probably exist and such facts probably would have changed the verdict or sentence.” Ariz. R.Crim. P. 32.1(e). While not expressly so stating, the superior court apparently treated the DNA and bite-mark evidence presented during the post-conviction review proceedings as “newly discovered material facts” under Rule 32.1(e). In granting relief as to Tankersley’s death sentence, the superior court necessarily must have concluded under Rule 32.1(e) that these facts “probably exist.”
The superior court nonetheless found that these “newly discovered material facts” were insufficient to mandate relief on the underlying convictions. Because the bite-mark evidence presented at trial was a significant factor in the original convictions, Tankersley argues that the superior court could not have found this new evidence to “probably exist” for purposes of granting relief on Tankers-ley’s death sentence without also granting similar relief as to the convictions.
Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure Rule 32.8(d) requires that, in disposing of a petition for post-conviction relief after an eviden-tiary hearing, “[t]he court shall make specific findings of fact, and shall state expressly its conclusions of law relating to each issue presented.” The superior court’s brief order does specifically find that the DNA evidence was “inconclusive ... as to critical bite marks.” In contrast, however, the order makes no specific findings as to the newly presented bite mark testimony, other than to conclude that “taken together” with the DNA and alcoholism/blackout evidence, this evidence requires a new sentencing proceeding.
An important purpose of Rule 32.8(e) is to facilitate appellate review of superior court determinations regarding post-conviction relief. We cannot effectively analyze Tankers-lejfs petition for review in the absence of specific findings about the newly discovered bite-mark evidence and why the superior court concluded that this evidence, considered together with what the court expressly found to be “inconclusive” DNA testing, probably would not have changed the result at trial with respect to Tankersley’s convictions.
The supplemental petition for review is granted in part. This case is remanded to the superior court for further proceedings consistent with this order. The superior court shall enter “specific findings of fact” with respect to the evidence presented at the evidentiary hearing and shall “state expressly its conclusions of law relating to each issue considered,” as required by Rule 32.8(e).
In all other respects, consideration of the supplemental petition for review is stayed. The stay previously entered concerning the petition for review continues in effect. Tank-ersley shall inform this Court when the superior court enters any further findings of fact and conclusions of law in response to this order. The parties may file any supplemental memoranda or petitions (not to exceed twenty pages in length) as may be appropriate within thirty days of the entry of any such further findings of fact and conclusions of law. The request for oral argument is continued.
. The superior court had previously held in 2000 that the defendant had presented "a colorable claim of an error in sentencing in that the court did not fully understand the personal circumstances of the defendant, with particular reference to alcoholism, blackouts, and acts performed during blackouts.” After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the court had determined that "[t]he defendant had a serious drinking problem” and that "[t]he defendant suffered 'blackouts' as defined by the expert witnesses.” However, the court denied relief with respect to this evidence in 2000, having concluded that "[t]he mitigating factors, as clarified in the hearing, do not outweigh the aggravating factors.”
|
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OPINION
ESPINOSA, J.
¶ 1 After a twelve-day trial, a jury found defendants Southwest Ambulance and Rural/Metro Corporation, the City of Tucson, the Tucson Fire Department, the Tucson Police Department, and various individual employees of each (collectively, defendants) not liable in this wrongful death action. Appellant Alice Romero contends the trial court erred by admitting certain evidence about the decedent, her son; denying a motion to bifurcate the trial into liability and damage phases; and instructing the jury pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-711. We affirm primarily on procedural grounds, Romero having failed to provide a sufficient record on appeal. The record does support, albeit marginally, reaching the merits of Romero’s constitutional challenge to the statute, which we reject.
Procedural and Factual Background
¶ 2 We view the evidence and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to upholding the jury’s verdict. Crackel v. Allstate Ins. Co., 208 Ariz. 252, 92 P.3d 882 (App.2004). On September 14, 1998, Romero’s son, Mark, died in the emergency department of Kino Community Hospital. Romero thereafter filed this complaint, alleging that emergency personnel who had treated Mark had negligently caused his death.
¶3 The first trial of this case in March 2002 ended in a mistrial after six days, and the second trial was held in September 2003. Before each trial, Romero sought to preclude evidence of Mark’s past illegal drug use, substance abuse treatment, criminal record, incarcerations, and diagnosis of hepatitis and to bifurcate the trial into liability and damage phases pursuant to Rule 42(b), Ariz. R. Civ. P., 16 A.R.S., Pt. 1. Before the first trial, the court denied Romero’s motions with the exception of testimony about Mark’s diagnosis of hepatitis C, which the court precluded. Before the second trial, Romero refiled the motions and reargued the motion to bifurcate. The trial court denied all of Romero’s motions, including the motion to preclude testimony about Mark’s hepatitis C.
Other Act Evidence
¶4 Romero contends the trial court erred in admitting irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial character evidence about Mark. Defendants respond that, in the absence of any transcripts, the trial court’s discretionary rulings must be upheld. Although, in a civil case, a motion in limine may serve as a substitute for an evidentiary objection at trial, Premium Cigars International, Ltd. v. Farmer-Butler-Leavitt Insurance Agency, 208 Ariz. 557, 96 P.3d 555 (App.2004); see also State v. Lichon, 163 Ariz. 186, 786 P.2d 1037 (App.1989) (objection not required when motion in limine has been made), in the absence of the pertinent trial transcripts, we agree with defendants that we are unable to determine what evidence was presented at trial, whether Romero objected to the evidence at trial, how it was used, and how it might have prejudiced her. See Ariz. R. Evid. 103, 17A A.R.S. Consequently, Romero’s unsupported arguments that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing evidence that was irrelevant to any “consequential fact” and unfairly prejudicial under Rule 403, Ariz. R. Evid., are insufficient for us to meaningfully review the trial court’s rulings or to overcome the presumption that those rulings are supported by the record. See Baker v. Baker, 183 Ariz. 70, 73, 900 P.2d 764, 767 (App.1995) (“A party is responsible for making certain the record on appeal contains all transcripts or other documents necessary for us to consider the issues raised on appeal. When a party fails to include necessary items, we assume they would support the [trial] court’s findings and conclusions.”); see also State ex rel. Dep’t of Econ. Sec. v. Burton, 205 Ariz. 27, 66 P.3d 70 (App.2003); Bolm v. Custodian of Records, 193 Ariz. 35, 969 P.2d 200 (App.1998).
Bifurcation of Trial
¶ 5 Romero next argues that the trial court erred in refusing to bifurcate the trial into liability and damage phases in view of its allegedly erroneous admission of the character evidence. We review a trial court’s decision on bifurcation for an abuse of discretion. Williams v. Thude, 180 Ariz. 531, 885 P.2d 1096 (App.1994), aff'd, 188 Ariz. 257, 934 P.2d 1349 (1997). As discussed above, we cannot say the character evidence was erroneously admitted, and in the absence of trial transcripts, we cannot determine what evidence was presented to the jury, how that evidence was used, or what effect it might have had. See In re 6757 S. Burcham Ave., 204 Ariz. 401, ¶ 12, 64 P.3d 843, 847 (App. 2003) (absent a transcript, appellant could not “support [the] argument that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing [the opposing party] to introduce the evidence”). Accordingly, we are unable to say the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to bifurcate the trial on that basis. See Williams.
A.R.S. § 12-711
¶ 6 At the end of the trial, over Romero’s objection, the court apparently instructed the jury pursuant to § 12-711. That statute provides:
In any civil action, the finder of fact may find the defendant not liable if the defendant proves that the claimant was under the influence of an intoxicating liquor or a drug and as a result of that influence the claimant was at least fifty per cent responsible for the accident or event that caused the claimant’s harm.
Romero argues § 12-711 is unconstitutional, citing five bases. But the record contains no written challenge to the statute and only one oral objection — that the jury instruction based on the statute abrogated Romero’s right of action in violation of article XVIII, § 6 of the Arizona Constitution. “The only objection which may be raised on appeal ... is that made at trial.” Selby v. Savard, 134 Ariz. 222, 228, 655 P.2d 342, 348 (1982). “[W]e generally do not consider issues, even constitutional issues, raised for the first time on appeal.” Englert v. Carondelet Health Network, 199 Ariz. 21, ¶ 13, 13 P.3d 763, 768 (App.2000); see also Ariz. R. Civ. P. 51(a), 17B A.R.S. (party must object to instruction before deliberations begin to argue error in the instruction on appeal).
¶7 Romero argues that § 12-711 violates article XVIII, § 5 of the Arizona Constitution by removing the issues of contributory negligence and assumption of the risk from the jury; article II, § 13, the Equal Protection Clause, by depriving a particular class of citizens of a right of action; and article II, § 4, the Due Process Clause, by depriving her of a protected right. The record does not show Romero presented any of these issues to the trial court save possibly one; therefore, they are waived on appeal. See Selby; Englert. Romero also argues that § 12-711 is unconstitutional because it conflicts with Arizona’s Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act, A.R.S. §§ 12-2501 through 12-2509. This argument, on its face, appears to lack merit given the permissive language of § 12-711. In any event, it too was not presented to the trial court and has thus been waived. See Selby; Englert.
¶ 8 In the one argument we can infer she raised below, Romero contends generally that the trial court’s jury instruction based on § 12-711 abrogated her right of action in violation of article XVIII, § 6 of the Arizona Constitution. She relies on Gunnell v. Arizona Public Service Co., 202 Ariz. 388, 46 P.3d 399 (2002). Below, she relied on Halenar v. Superior Court, 109 Ariz. 27, 504 P.2d 928 (1972). “Statutes are presumed to be constitutional, and the party asserting that a statute is unconstitutional has the burden of clearly demonstrating that it is.” Ramirez v. Health Partners of S. Ariz., 193 Ariz. 325, ¶ 20, 972 P.2d 658, 663 (App.1998). However, “we decide eases on nonconstitutional grounds if possible,” id. ¶ 10, and we review a question of law de novo. Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Ariz. Elec. Power Coop., Inc., 207 Ariz. 95, 83 P.3d 573 (App.2004). We will not reverse a jury’s verdict because of a jury instruction unless the challenged instruction was erroneous and prejudicial to the appellant’s rights. Bike Fashion Corp. v. Kramer, 202 Ariz. 420, 46 P.3d 431 (App.2002).
¶ 9 Romero’s argument is unavailing because neither Halenar nor Gunnell supports it. In Halenar, a decedent’s survivors sued his coworkers for negligence. The trial court found that Arizona’s workers’ compensation statutes precluded the action. Our supreme court held that the statutes in question, in accordance with the Arizona Constitution, did not preclude an action against fellow employees, but only barred an action against the employer in exchange for statutory benefits. Id.
¶ 10 In Gunnell, an excavator who was injured through both his own and the defendant utility’s negligence sought to recover damages under Arizona’s Underground Facilities Act, A.R.S. §§ 40-360.21 through 40-360.32. The trial court granted summary judgment and Division One of this court affirmed, finding that Gunnell’s own negligence prevented him from recovering any damages. Our supreme court reversed, holding that, although both parties had, in fact, been negligent, the Act created a “comparative negligence regime” that required the issue to be submitted to a jury. 202 Ariz. 388, ¶ 22, 46 P.3d at 405. Stating that “the legislature [cannot] negate article XVIII, § 5 or 6 by decreeing through statute that a negligent actor whose conduct was a cause of injury was the sole cause of the injurious event,” the court made clear that the constitution requires such issues to be decided by a jury. Id. ¶ 24.
¶ 11 Romero is correct that a claimant has a fundamental right under the Arizona Constitution “to bring an action to recover damages.” See Lerma v. Keck, 186 Ariz. 228, 921 P.2d 28 (App.1996). But the legislature may permissibly regulate a cause of action without abrogating it, as long as reasonable alternatives permit a claimant to bring the action. Ramirez. “A statute abrogates a cause of action if it ‘bars a cause of action before it [can] legitimately be brought.’ ” Fry’s Food Stores v. Mather & Assocs., Inc., 183 Ariz. 89, 91, 900 P.2d 1225, 1227 (App.1995), quoting Kenyon v. Hammer, 142 Ariz. 69, 74-75, 688 P.2d 961, 966-67 (1984). That is not the ease here. Section 12-711 neither removes the question of liability from the jury nor requires a jury to take a particular action. Cf. City of Tucson v. Fahringer, 164 Ariz. 599, 603, 795 P.2d 819 (1990) (finding unconstitutional under Art. 18 § 5 statute that posed “an absolute bar to recovery of damages by a particular category of persons who could otherwise proceed with an action for damages.”). It merely permits a jury, after making certain predicate findings, to find a claimant solely responsible for his or her own injury. It does not, as Romero insists, require a jury to find in a defendant’s favor. Cf. Salt River Project v. Westinghouse Elec., 176 Ariz. 383, 386, 861 P.2d 668 (App.1993) (permissive instructions “leave the plaintiff’s recovery to the discretion of the jury.”).
¶ 12 When a statute “does not abrogate any viable ‘right of action to recover damages,’ it does not violate article 18, § 6.” Ramirez, 193 Ariz. 325, ¶ 32, 972 P.2d at 667-68; see also Cronin v. Sheldon, 195 Ariz. 531, ¶ 34, 991 P.2d 231, 238 (1999) (“We have held that article 18, § 6 precludes abrogation, but not regulation.”); Jimenez v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 183 Ariz. 399, 407, 904 P.2d 861, 869 (1995) (“We long ago held that our constitution permits regulations effectively reducing a plaintiffs recovery.”); cf. Little v. All Phoenix S. Cmty. Mental Health Ctr., Inc., 186 Ariz. 97, 919 P.2d 1368 (App.1995) (mental health statute eliminating all claims not within its confines abrogated general negligence cause of action for identified class of plaintiffs in violation of Art. 18 § 6); Young v. DFW Corp., 184 Ariz. 187, 908 P.2d 1 (App.1995) (statute providing exclusive remedy for dram shop liability abrogated general right to sue guaranteed by Art. 18 § 6). For that reason, as well as the foregoing discussion, we do not find that § 12-711 violates Article 18 § 6, the only constitutional issue presented and addressed here.
¶ 13 Absent any constitutional infirmity, a jury instruction should be given if the evidence tends to establish a theory supported by the instruction. Anderson v. Nissei ASB Mach. Co., 197 Ariz. 168, 3 P.3d 1088 (App.1999). The evidence apparently did so here. Therefore, we cannot say the trial court erred in instructing the jury pursuant to the statute.
¶ 14 Defendants have requested attorney fees on appeal pursuant to Rule 21(e), Ariz. R. CivApp. P., as a sanction against Romero for failing to comply with the rule requiring transcripts. In our discretion, we decline to award such fees.
¶ 15 Based on the foregoing, the trial court’s judgment is affirmed.
PELANDER, C.J. and FLÓREZ, P.J., concurring.
. Romero has failed to provide this court any transcripts of the trial as required by Rule 11(b), Ariz. R. Civ.App. P., 17B A.R.S. Romero has also failed to adequately cite the trial record in her briefs as required by Rule 13(a)(6), Ariz. R. Civ. App. P. See Ramirez v. Health Partners of S. Ariz., 193 Ariz. 325, 972 P.2d 658 (1998). Stating that she is "totally indigent and could not afford to pay” for transcripts, Romero insists they are unnecessary for our review, relying on Hall v. Bowman, 88 Ariz. 409, 357 P.2d 149 (1960). But Hall was decided prior to the adoption of the Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure and also addressed the review of purely legal issues, unlike this case. We include only the basic facts we have extracted from the record while determining the issues not waived on appeal.
. We granted Romero's motion to supplement the record, which added two pages of the trial transcript in which this jury instruction was briefly discussed. It is from these pages that we infer Romero presented this argument to the trial court.
. Romero argues in her reply brief that these issues raise questions of fundamental error. However, we are not required to address issues raised for the first time in a reply brief. Nelson v. Rice, 198 Ariz. 563, 12 P.3d 238 (App.2000); Wasserman v. Low, 143 Ariz. 4, 691 P.2d 716 (App.1984); Ariz. R. Civ.App. P. 13(c), 17B A.R.S. Moreover, the doctrine of fundamental error "should be used sparingly, if at all, in civil cases.” Williams v. Thude, 188 Ariz. 257, 260, 934 P.2d 1349, 1352 (1997); Englert v. Carondelet Health Network, 199 Ariz. 21, 13 P.3d 763 (App.2000).
. That section provides: "The right of action to recover damages for injuries shall never be abrogated, and the amount recovered shall not be subject to any statutory limitation.”
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OPINION
SNOW, Judge.
¶ 1 The United States District Court for the District of Arizona has asked us whether this Court “can promulgate court rules mandating experienced attorneys to serve as arbitrators in light of the statutory language of Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-133 (2000) authorizing only voluntary service?” We have jurisdiction to decide the certified question pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-1861 (2001).
¶ 2 We hold that this Court has authority to promulgate a court rule authorizing the superior courts in each county of this state to require active members of the state bar to provide limited service as arbitrators. We further hold that the exercise of that authority is neither constricted by, nor inconsistent with, A.R.S. § 12-133.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 3 In 1971, the legislature passed a statute permitting the superior courts to implement by court rule non-binding mandatory arbitration programs. The statute assigned to the courts the responsibility for appointing arbitrators in such cases and further specified that courts opting to create a mandatory arbitration program “shall maintain a list of qualified persons within its jurisdiction who have agreed to serve as arbitrators, subject to the right of each person to refuse to serve in a particular assigned case.” 1971 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 142, § 1 (current version codified at A.R.S. § 12-133(C) (2003)). The legislature has amended the statute several times, to raise the mandatory arbitration limits and to require, as opposed to merely permit, superior courts to create mandatory arbitration programs, among other reasons. See, e.g., 1978 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 35, § 1; 1984 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 53, § 1; 1986 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 360, § 1; 1991 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 110, § 1; 1992 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 9, § 1; 2000 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 35, § 1.
¶4 In 1974, this Court promulgated the Uniform Rules of Procedure for Arbitration. Rule 1 indicated that the Uniform Rules were for those superior courts that implemented a mandatory arbitration program under A.R.S. § 12-133, and further directed the superior courts how to enact rules for such programs. Rule 2 specified how arbitrators would be appointed. That rule provided that if the parties could not stipulate to an arbitrator, the court would, through a random selection procedure, appoint an arbitrator from a list. The list would be comprised of “members of the Bar of the State of Arizona residing within the County in which the Court is located.” Unif. R.P. Arb. 2(b) (1980). The rule allowed attorneys to remove their names from the list and also allowed them to refuse to serve if appointed as an arbitrator.
¶ 5 In 1984, pursuant to the rule and the statute, Maricopa County added a local rule implementing the mandatory arbitration program.
¶ 6 In 1986, the legislature amended the statute to require, as opposed to merely permit, superior courts to implement mandatory arbitration programs by rule. In 1989 and 1990, the State Bar of Arizona, the Maricopa County Superior Court, and other attorneys, judges, and court administrators, petitioned this Court to remove the provisions from Rule 2 allowing attorneys to opt out of arbitration service absent good cause. In response, we adopted four changes to Rule 2. First, we omitted the provisions allowing practicing attorneys to remove their names from the list of potential arbitrators. Second, we specified the reasons that would permit an arbitrator to be excused from service. Third, we added a provision allowing an attorney who “has served as an Arbitrator pursuant to these Rules for two or more days during the current year to be excused.” Unif. R.P. Arb. 2(e)(3) (1992). Fourth, we added a comment to the rule confirming that “[i]t is the obligation of all qualified lawyers to serve as Arbitrators and only exceptional circumstances should justify removal from the list.” Unif. R.P. Arb. 2 emt. (1992). In 2000, the Uniform Rules for Arbitration were incorporated into the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure as Rules 72-76. Rules 1 and 2 of the Uniform Rules are now renumbered respectively as Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure 72 and 73.
¶ 7 In this case, attorney Mark V. Scheehle challenges the provision of Rule 73 authorizing the Maricopa County Superior Court to include him on its list of eligible arbitrators without his consent. Seheehle’s federal court complaint alleged that Rule 73 violated a number of his federal constitutional rights. Scheehle also raised a pendent state law claim that Rule 73 was invalid because it compelled him to serve as an arbitrator, whereas A.R.S. § 12-133 authorized the appointment only of arbitrators who had agreed to serve.
¶ 8 The district court granted summary judgment against Scheehle on his federal civil rights claims. It then declined to exer cise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims after resolution of all the federal questions and accordingly dismissed the state law claims. The Ninth Circuit initially affirmed the decision, Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 257 F.3d 1082 (9th Cir. 2001), but then withdrew that opinion. Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 269 F.3d 1127 (9th Cir.2001). It then certified a question to this Court asking whether A.R.S. § 12-133 mandated compulsory participation of attorneys as arbitrators.
¶ 9 This Court, addressing only that very limited question, held that A.R.S. § 12-133 does not require that lawyers serve as arbitrators. Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 203 Ariz. 520, 522, ¶ 6, 57 P.3d 379, 381 (2002). After our decision, the Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the district court for further consideration. Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 315 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir.2003).
¶ 10 Upon remand, the district court again reaffirmed its rejection of Scheehle’s federal constitutional arguments and dismissed them from this case.
¶ 11 In the same order, the district court certified the following question to this Court:
Whether the Arizona Supreme Court under its exclusive constitutional authority to regulate the practice of law can promulgate court rules mandating experienced attorneys to serve as arbitrators in light of the statutory language of A.R.S. § 12-133 authorizing only voluntary service?
The district court stayed all further consideration as to Scheehle’s state law claim pending the answer to its certified question.
ANALYSIS
¶ 12 In his briefing on the certified question, Scheehle makes three alternative arguments. First, Scheehle argues that Rule 73 violates the Takings Clause, U.S. Const, amend. V, and the Equal Protection Clause, U.S. Const, amend. XIV. Second, he argues that Rule 73 impermissibly conflicts with the legislation authorizing the mandatory arbitration program. Third, he asserts that this Court’s power to regulate the practice of law does not extend to compelling attorneys to serve as arbitrators. We analyze each argument in turn.
A. The District Court Has Already Decided Scheehle’s Federal Law Claims.
¶ 13 Scheehle acknowledges that the district court has already dismissed his federal constitutional claims. But he nonetheless asserts that it would be improper for this Court “to answer the certified questions, when the district court seeks answers from this Court devoid of any analysis of the impact of the Constitution of the United States on such state law authority.” We disagree.
¶ 14 It is not the role of this Court in responding to a certified question of state law to review the federal law rulings of the certifying federal court. The authority pursuant to which we respond to the district court’s questions permits us to answer only questions of state law. A.R.S. § 12-1861 (“The supreme court may answer questions of law certified to it ... if there are involved in any proceedings before the certifying court questions of the law of this state which may be determinative of the cause.”). This opinion is thus limited to the question certified: Does this Court have authority under state law to promulgate the rules at issue and, if it does, is that authority limited by the provisions of A.R.S. § 12-133?
B. Rule 73 Does Not Conflict with A.R.S. § 12-133.
¶ 15 Scheehle next contends that A.R.S. § 12-133(C), by requiring each superior court to “maintain a list of qualified persons within its jurisdiction who have agreed to serve as arbitrators,” limits the court to appointing arbitrators from that list. A.R.S. § 12-133(C). We disagree.
¶ 16 In interpreting a statute, we “try to determine and give effect to the legislature’s intent.” Hayes v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 178 Ariz. 264, 268, 872 P.2d 668, 672 (1994). If we cannot do so by looking at the plain language of the statute, “we consider the statute’s context; its language, subject matter, and historical background; its effects and consequences; and its spirit and purpose.” Id. We also avoid interpretations that unnecessarily implicate constitutional concerns. In re Shannon, 179 Ariz. 52, 78, 876 P.2d 548, 574 (1994) (opting for statutory interpretation that does not limit this court in interpreting range of sanctions it could impose on attorneys so as not to implicate constitutional concerns); Hayes, 178 Ariz. at 273, 872 P.2d at 677.
¶ 17 The language upon which Scheehle relies has been in A.R.S. § 12-133 since its adoption in 1971. The full text of the relevant provision states:
The court shall maintain a list of qualified persons within its jurisdiction who have agreed to serve as arbitrators, subject to the right of each person to refuse to serve in a particular assigned case and subject further to the right of any party to show good cause why an appointed arbitrator should not serve in a particular assigned case. The court rules shall provide that the case subject to arbitration shall be assigned for hearing to a panel of three arbitrators, or in the alternative, to a single arbitrator, each of whom shall be selected by the court.
A.R.S. § 12-133(C).
¶ 18 Scheehle argues that under this statute the list of voluntary arbitrators is the only source from which the superior court may appoint arbitrators. Nowhere, however, does the statute say so. Rather, the plain text of the statute vests in the superior court the authority, without limit, to select each arbitrator. “The court rules shall provide that the cases subject to arbitration shall be assigned ... to [an arbitrator or arbitrators] ... each of whom shall be selected by the court.” A.R.S. § 12-133(0).
¶ 19 While implying a limitation not explicitly stated in a statute may be appropriate in some circumstances, it is not in this case for several reasons. First, the legislature has been aware since 1974 that this Court, by rule, authorized superior courts to place active members of the bar on their lists of eligible arbitrators. After we promulgate ed the rule, the legislature repeatedly amended the statute, but never indicated that the court could appoint only arbitrators who volunteered. We, therefore presume that the legislature approved of the rule’s operation. As we have said in the context of statutory interpretation:
It is universally the rule that where a statute which has been construed by a court of last resort is reenacted in the same or substantially the same terms, the legislature is presumed to have placed its approval on the judicial interpretation given and to have adopted such construction and made it part of the reenacted statute.
State v. Superior Court of Pima County, 104 Ariz. 440, 442, 454 P.2d 982, 984 (1969) (quoting Madrigal v. Indus. Comm’n, 69 Ariz. 138, 142, 210 P.2d 967, 971 (1949)).
¶ 20 After this Court promulgated the rule authorizing superior courts to appoint active members of the bar as arbitrators, the legislature amended the statute both to increase the jurisdictional limit on cases that must be referred to mandatory arbitration and to require, as opposed to merely authorize, each superior court to adopt a mandatory arbitration program. In doing so the legislature must have anticipated a corresponding increase in the demand for arbitrators. Yet it made no provision for additional arbitrators. We therefore presume that the legislature relied on this Court’s rule authorizing the service of the members of the bar as arbitrators to meet that demand.
¶ 21 Second, nothing in the statute seeks to regulate attorneys. To imply in the statute a limitation on the court’s power of appointment would limit not only a superior court’s power to appoint arbitrators but also the scope of this Court’s power to require bar members to assist in the administration of justice by authorizing superior courts, on a limited basis, to appoint members of the bar as arbitrators. We do not interpret a statute as intending to limit the court’s ability to otherwise act unless the legislature explicitly indicates such an intent. Hayes, 178 Ariz. at 273, 872 P.2d at 677. None is evident here.
¶22 As Scheehle acknowledges, this Court has exclusive authority over the regulation of attorneys. “[T]he practice of law is a matter exclusively within the authority of the Judiciary. The determination of who shall practice law in Arizona and under what condition is a function placed by the state constitution in this court.” Hunt v. Maricopa County Employees Merit Sys. Comm’n, 127 Ariz. 259, 261-62, 619 P.2d 1036, 1038-39 (1980).
¶ 23 This Court fulfills the administrative responsibilities assigned to it under the constitution by, among other methods, promulgating rules. Those rules are distinct from those enacted by state administrative agencies pursuant to legislation. When this Court promulgates rules pertaining to attorneys or to court procedures, it does so pursuant to its own constitutional authority over the bench, the bar, and the procedures pertaining to them. Heat Pump Equip. Co. v. Glen Alden Corp., 93 Ariz. 361, 363, 380 P.2d 1016, 1017 (1963) (stating that courts have constitutional power to promulgate rules on judicial matters); Burney v. Lee, 59 Ariz. 360, 363, 129 P.2d 308, 309 (1942) (courts have power to promulgate rules to fulfill constitutional mandates).
¶ 24 Such rules are valid even if they are not completely cohesive with related legislation, so long as they are an appropriate exercise of the court’s constitutional authority. Although the legislature may, by statute, regulate the practice of law, such regulation cannot be inconsistent with the mandates of this Court. Creasy, 198 Ariz. at 544, ¶ 18, 12 P.3d at 219 (stating that legislature cannot authorize by statute activity that would result in the unauthorized practice of law because a court rule governing the practice of law “trumps statutory law”); see also Ariz. Land Title & Trust Co., 90 Ariz. at 95, 366 P.2d at 14 (“although the legislature may impose additional restrictions which affect the licensing of attorneys, it cannot infringe on the ultimate power of the courts to determine who may practice law”) (citing In re Greer, 52 Ariz. 385, 389-90, 81 P.2d 96, 98 (1938)); Conway, 60 Ariz. at 81, 131 P.2d at 988 (“When, however[,] it appears that the legislative rule unduly hampers the court in the duties imposed upon it by the Constitution, the rule adopted by the court will prevail.”).
¶25 We are reluctant to imply a statutory limitation that would create a conflict in the constitutional prerogatives of separate branches of Arizona government. Shannon, 179 Ariz. at 78, 876 P.2d at 574; Hayes, 178 Ariz. at 273, 872 P.2d at 677. Scheehle’s proposed interpretation would unnecessarily create such a conflict.
¶ 26 We therefore hold that A.R.S. § 12-133 does not limit the court’s right to appoint persons other than volunteers to serve as arbitrators.
C. This Court’s Responsibility to Administer an Integrated Judicial System Gives it Authority to Promulgate Rules Requiring Limited Service by Attorneys to the Judiciary.
¶ 27 Scheehle finally argues that the power to regulate the practice of law does not permit this Court to oblige attorneys to serve as court-appointed arbitrators because appointing such arbitrators “is not a function of regulating the practice of law.” This argument reflects a misunderstanding of the constitutional basis from which this Court derives its power to regulate the practice of law. This Court’s power to regulate the practice of law is a function of its responsibility to administer an integrated judiciary. The power to administer the judicial branch allows this Court to regulate the practice of law to further the administration of justice.
¶ 28 Article 6, section 1 of our constitution vests the judicial power “in an integrated judicial department,” which includes all of the courts of this state. Because “the practice of law is so intimately connected and bound up with the exercise of judicial power in the administration of justice ... the right to define and regulate its practice naturally and logically belongs to the judicial department.” Shannon, 179 Ariz. at 76, 876 P.2d at 572 (quoting In re Integration of Neb. State Bar Ass’n, 133 Neb. 283, 275 N.W. 265, 268 (1937)).
¶ 29 Consequently, the Arizona Constitution’s creation of an integrated judiciary gives to this Court the power not just to regulate all courts but also to regulate the practice of law. Shannon, 179 Ariz. at 76, 876 P.2d at 572; see also Creasy, 198 Ariz. at 541, ¶ 7, 12 P.3d at 216 (“The court’s authority over the practice of law is also based on the creation of an integrated judicial department and the revisory jurisdiction of this court as provided in article VI sections 1 and 5(4) of the Arizona Constitution.”); In re Smith, 189 Ariz. 144, 146, 939 P.2d 422, 424 (1997) (“The State Bar exists only by virtue of this court’s rules, adopted under authority of article III and article VI, §§ 1 and 5 of the Arizona Constitution.”).
¶ 30 The constitution’s mandate in article 6, section 3 that this Court shall have “administrative supervision” over the courts of this state enables this Court to supervise judicial officers, including attorneys. “Administrative supervision contemplates managing the conduct of court personnel____ Attorneys are universally recognized as ‘officers of the court,’ ... and as officers of the court, attorneys are amenable to the court as their superior.” Shannon, 179 Ariz. at 76-77, 876 P.2d at 573 (citations omitted); Bailey, 30 Ariz. at 412, 248 P. at 30 (quoting In re Splane, 123 Pa. 527, 16 A. 481 (Pa.1889)) (“The attorney is an officer of the court, and is brought into close and intimate relations with the court.”).
¶ 31 By virtue of our constitutional power over attorneys as officers of the court, this Court created the State Bar of Arizona. Ariz. R. Sup.Ct. 32(a)(1). We require those practicing law in this state to be members of this bar. Ariz. R. Sup.Ct. 31. As officers of the court, State Bar members are invested with significant rights and responsibilities. As the United States Supreme Court has observed:
As an officer of the court, a member of the bar enjoys singular powers that others do not possess; by virtue of admission, members of the bar share a kind of monopoly granted only to lawyers. Admission creates a license not only to advise and counsel clients but to appear in court and try cases; as an officer of the court, a lawyer can cause persons to drop their private affairs and be called as witnesses in court, and for depositions and other pretrial processes that, while subject to the ultimate control of the court, may be conducted outside courtrooms.
In re Snyder, 472 U.S. 634, 644, 105 S.Ct. 2874, 86 L.Ed.2d 504 (1985). Attorneys are invested with these powers because they have an individual and collective role in achieving “[t]he primary duty of courts [which] is the proper and efficient administration of justice.” Shannon, 179 Ariz. at 76, 876 P.2d at 572 (quoting In re Integration of Neb. State Bar Ass’n, 275 N.W. at 268).
¶32 Contrary to Scheehle’s argument, this Court’s exclusive authority to regulate the practice of law is therefore not independent from its responsibility to supervise an integrated judiciary. It is derived from that very power. The power extended to this Court by the constitution includes the authority to promulgate regulations assigning limited quasi-judicial functions to lawyers as judicial officers.
¶ 33 Seheehle cites Schware v. Board of Examiners of the State of New Mexico, 353 U.S. 232, 239, 77 S.Ct. 752, 1 L.Ed.2d 796 (1957), and its progeny, for the proposition that any qualification a state places on the entry to the practice of law “must have a rational connection with the applicant’s fitness or capacity to practice law.” The obligation to perform limited service as an arbitrator, however, is not a restriction placed on the entry to the practice of law in this state. Rather it is a uniform regulation requiring limited service to the judiciary for those already admitted to practice relating to their roles as officers of that judiciary.
¶ 34 A state may engage in reasonable regulation of licensed professionals. See, e.g., Lupert v. Cal. State Bar, 761 F.2d 1325, 1328 (9th Cir.1985) (citing Williamson v. Lee Optical, 348 U.S. 483, 487-89, 75 S.Ct. 461, 99 L.Ed. 563 (1955)); Watson v. Md., 218 U.S. 173, 177, 30 S.Ct. 644, 54 L.Ed. 987 (1910); see also Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass’n, 436 U.S. 447, 460, 98 S.Ct. 1912, 56 L.Ed.2d 444 (1978). Our precedents involving attorney regulation underscore this point.
¶ 35 For example, this Court has rejected a challenge to its constitutional authority to require annual continuing legal education (“CLE”) as a condition of continued practice. Smith, 189 Ariz. at 146, 939 P.2d at 424; Ariz. R. Sup.Ct. 45. Compliance with the mandatory CLE rule generally requires not only that an attorney spend unreimburséd time attending the courses but also that the lawyer pay for the course. Nevertheless, we rejected a constitutional challenge to such a rule because, like the requirement to provide limited arbitration services to benefit the judiciary, “such requirements ... are rationally related to the court’s obligation to serve the public interest.” Id.
¶ 36 An attorney’s right “to pursue a profession is subject to the paramount right of the state ... to regulate ... professions ... to protect the public ... welfare.” Cohen v. State, 121 Ariz. 6, 10, 588 P.2d 299, 303 (1978)(citing Ariz. State Bd. of Dental Exam’rs v. Hyder, 114 Ariz. 544, 546, 562 P.2d 717, 719 (1977)). In addition to exacting time and money to meet the continuing standards necessary to retain a license, the state may exact a reasonable consideration from those who are engaged in a profession that it regulates. Duncan v. Truman, 74 Ariz. 328, 332, 248 P.2d 879, 883 (1952) (“[A] ‘license’ is a ‘permit, granted by the sovereign, generally for a consideration ... to a person, firm, or corporation to pursue some occupation or to carry on some business subject to regulation.’ ”) (quoting State Bd. of Barber Exam’rs v. Walker, 67 Ariz. 156, 167, 192 P.2d 723, 730 (1948)) (emphasis added). That consideration need not be exclusively monetary, but can also be in the form of limited service to the bench, bar, or community.
¶ 37 Scheehle, citing Zambia v. Bradshaw, 185 Ariz. 1, 912 P.2d 5 (1996), argues that whatever this Court’s authority to compel service from attorneys without adequate compensation in individual cases, it has no authority to enact rules that systematically deprive attorneys of their time, no matter how small the deprivation. We do not so read Zambia.
¶ 38 In Zambia, attorneys and defendants challenged Yuma County’s procedures for providing criminal representation to indigent defendants. 185 Ariz. at 2, 912 P.2d at 6. At the time, Yuma County had no public defender’s office and provided representation to indigent defendants in criminal cases through a mix of contract attorneys and attorneys appointed from the private bar. Id. The private practitioners were appointed on a rotational basis and were obliged to provide the representation regardless of experience or expertise. These lawyers were reimbursed “a total of $375 for up to twenty hours’ work on a case ($17.50 per hour), and $50 an hour if more than twenty hours [were] required to complete the representation.” Id. at 3, 912 P.2d at 7.
¶39 In reviewing that appointment system, we decided no constitutional questions. Rather we held that the system violated both A.R.S. § 13-4013, which requires that an attorney receive “reasonable” compensation when appointed to represent an indigent criminal defendant, and Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 6.5(C), which requires that in appointing an attorney to represent a defendant in a criminal matter the court take “into account the skill likely to be required in handling a particular case.” Zarabia, 185 Ariz. at 3, 912 P.2d at 7.
¶ 40 We expressly recognized in Zambia, however, that the court has authority to require a lawyer’s services, even on a pro bono basis, to assist in the administration of justice. “[Njothing we say here should be interpreted as limiting a judge’s inherent authority to achieve justice by appointing a particular lawyer to represent a [party] in a particular case, even if the appointment is pro bono or causes financial hardship to the appointed lawyer.” Id. at 4, 912 P.2d at 8. We thus confirmed, as have other courts, the ability of a court to require attorneys, by virtue of their office, to provide pro bono publico service in certain circumstances. See, e.g., United States v. 30.64 Acres of Land, 795 F.2d 796, 800 (9th Cir.1986) (“Courts have long recognized that attorneys, because of their profession, owe some duty to the court and to the public to serve without compensation when called on____ This duty of public service is a condition of practicing law, and constitutes neither a taking under the fifth amendment, nor involuntary servitude under the thirteenth amendment.”) (citations omitted); see also United States v. Dillon, 346 F.2d 633 (9th Cir.1965) (the state can condition a lawyer’s ability to practice law upon the acceptance of certain responsibilities in the furtherance of the administration of justice).
¶ 41 Stressing that such power was limited, however, we remarked upon the difference between “requiring a lawyer to handle one case or a few” and conscripting lawyers to handle “all cases regardless of their ability or willingness to do so.” Zambia, 185 Ariz. at 4, 912 P.2d at 8. We therefore noted that “[w]hatever appointment process a court adopts should reflect the principle that lawyers have the right to refuse to be drafted on a systematic basis and put to work at any price to satisfy a county’s obligation to provide counsel to indigent defendants.” Id.
¶ 42 Contrary to the appointment system in Zambia, which was neither quantitatively nor qualitatively limited, the system authorized by Rule 73 contains several inherent limitations. First, Rule 73 does not, in and of itself, compel a lawyer to be an arbitrator. It merely authorizes superior courts to place attorneys on a list of eligible arbitrators. Thus, presumably, if sufficient volunteers exist in a particular county to meet that county’s need for arbitrators, that county’s superior court need not place eligible members of the state bar on the list of persons eligible for appointment.
¶ 43 Second, Rule 73 provides for random appointment of arbitrators from the list. Thus, placement on the list does not necessarily result in service as an arbitrator in any given year.
¶44 Third, when a lawyer is randomly selected to serve, Rule 73 explicitly limits the extent of that service. Under Rule 73, an attorney cannot be compelled to accept arbi-trations in any year in which the attorney has already held hearings and ruled on two matters. According to Scheehle’s own affidavit, service as an arbitrator typically requires only four to eight hours of his time and imposes only minor out-of-pocket expenses. Because Scheehle was asked to serve twice in 1997, he would have provided no more than sixteen hours of arbitration service in that year. This simply does not constitute the systematic deprivation condemned in Zambia.
¶ 45 Citing Hackin v. Lockwood, 361 F.2d 499, 503 (9th Cir.1966), Scheehle also argues that this Court cannot condition his practice of law on the deprivation of his constitutional rights. The district court, however, has already determined that no such rights were infringed upon here.
CONCLUSION
¶46 We therefore answer the Certified Question as follows: This Court has the constitutional authority to require active members of the state bar to serve as arbitrators pursuant to Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure 73. Further, A.R.S. § 12-133 does not restrict this Court’s authority to promulgate that rule.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN and ANDREW D. HURWITZ, Justices.
ORDER
When this Court accepted questions certified to it by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Chief Justice Jones recused himself. Thereafter, the Plaintiff in the underlying federal action, Mark V. Scheehle, filed with this Court an “Objection to Defendants in Plaintiff’s Federal Action Participating in the Adjudication of the Questions Certified to this Court by the District Court.” In it, Mr. Scheehle argues that the remaining four permanent members of this Court, Justices McGregor, Berch, Ryan, and Hurwitz, are disqualified from answering the certified questions. We here decide that objection.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The Maricopa County Superior Court assessed a $900 fine against Mr. Scheehle for his refusal to accept assignment as an arbitrator pursuant to court rules that require Arizona attorneys with more than five years’ of experience to serve as arbitrators in matters in which a limited damage amount is at issue. Mr. Scheehle filed a special action in this Court challenging the fine and the right of the superior court to require his service as an arbitrator. This Court declined to exercise its special action jurisdiction. Thereafter, instead of seeking appellate review of the fine, Mr. Scheehle filed a civil rights complaint in federal court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000).
In his First Amended Complaint in the federal action, Mr. Scheehle named a number of defendants. Among them he named the superior court judge who had assessed the fine, several other judges of the superior court who enforced the arbitration program, the Maricopa County Superior Court, and “the Justices of the Arizona Supreme Court, Stanley G. Feldman, Charles E. Jones, Frederick J. Martone, Ruth V. McGregor, and Thomas A Zlaket.”
Athough Mr. Scheehle sued all of the judges individually, he specified that the action was brought against them in their official capacities. Thus, he alleged, they were not immune from his federal civil rights action.
In the federal complaint, Mr. Scheehle attacked the arbitration program on both constitutional and state law grounds. He asked for declaratory relief establishing that the Arizona statute and court rule implementing the program are unconstitutional. He also sought injunctive relief ordering the Maricopa County Superior Court to remove his name from the list of arbitrators and enjoining the court from enforcing the $900 sanction entered against him. He finally requested that he be awarded costs and his co-counsel’s reasonable attorney fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) (2000).
The district court entered summary judgment in the defendants’ favor on all of Mr. Scheehle’s § 1983 claims and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the State law claims. The Ninth Circuit initially affirmed, Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 257 F.3d 1082 (9th Cir.2001), but later withdrew the opinion. Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 269 F.3d 1127 (9th Cir. 2001). The Ninth Circuit then certified a question to our Court asking whether Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-133 (Supp.2001) authorized a system of compulsory participation of attorneys in the mandatory arbitration system. Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 203 Ariz. 520, 521, ¶ 1, 57 P.3d 379, 380 (2002).
After accepting jurisdiction of the certified question, all justices named in the complaint recused themselves. Their positions on this Court were filled for purposes of responding to the certified question by four judges from the Court of Appeals and a judge from the Yuma County Superior Court. This Court then responded that A.R.S. § 12-133 does not authorize the creation of an arbitration system mandating lawyer participation. Id. at 522, ¶ 6, 57 P.3d at 381. The Ninth Circuit then remanded the case to the district court for further consideration in light of our answer. Scheehle v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 315 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir.2003).
After remand, pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-1861 (2003), the district court certified the following state law question to this Court:
Whether the Arizona Supreme Court under its exclusive constitutional authority to regulate the practice of law can promulgate court rules mandating experienced attorneys to serve as arbitrators in light of the statutory language of A.R.S. § 12-133 authorizing only voluntary service?
If the answer to the above question is in the affirmative, then the district court also requests that we answer the following question:
Whether the Maricopa County Superior Court, pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-133, has authority independent from the Arizona Supreme Court, to promulgate a program mandating experienced attorneys to serve as arbitrators in light of statutory language that the superior courts “shall maintain a list of qualified persons ... who have agreed to serve?”
The district court stayed all further consideration of Mr. Scheehle’s state law claim pending the answer to these questions.
After the district court certified the questions to this Court, and before filing his objection, Mr. Scheehle filed with the district court a “Motion to Identify for the Record and to Notify the Arizona Supreme Court of Current Defendants and Counsel.” In that motion, Mr. Scheehle noted that the caption on the action reflected the names of the individual defendants against whom he had originally brought suit, but who had left office since that time. He requested that the court update the caption and inform the individual members of this Court that, pursuant to the operation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, they were automatically substituted as defendants in this action. Mr. Scheehle noted that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d) provides that a public official sued in an official capacity is automatically replaced as a defendant in any action by his successor in office.
In denying Mr. Scheehle’s motion to amend the caption, the district court acknowledged that because Mr. Scheehle only brought suit against the original defendants in their official capacities, the federal rule automatically substituted their successors as defendants in this case. Nevertheless it denied Mr. Scheehle’s request to amend the caption because, given the length of the case and the number of officials originally named, there would be many such substitutions, and it is clear from the record that all current defendants were aware of their status as defendants in the action.
Two weeks after this order was entered, Mr. Scheehle filed his objection to the four justices answering the certified question. We treat it as a motion to disqualify.
ANALYSIS
In his objection, Mr. Scheehle asserts that the participation of the permanent members of this Court in this case is prohibited by two of the rules set forth in Canon 3(E) of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct. He alleges that the justices are disqualified from hearing the case because they are parties to it and are thus interested in it. Model Code of Jud. Conduct Canon 3(E)(l)(d)(i). He also alleges that they are biased and prejudiced with respect to the ease. Id. at 3(E)(1)(a). In addition to these reasons, Mr. Scheehle asserts several other reasons for disqualification that are not related to the Code of Judicial Conduct. We examine each in turn.
A. The Code of Judicial Conduct
1. Justices As Parties to the Proceeding
Canon 3(E)(l)(d)(i) requires a judge to “disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which ... (d) the judge ... (i) is a party to the proceeding.” Mr. Scheehle argues that this canon admits of no exceptions and that if a judge is named as a defendant in an action, the judge is disqualified from hearing it.
Although we have no doubt that the canon requires such a result in the general run of cases, Mr. Scheehle is incorrect that it admits of no exceptions. This Court, in a similar factual context, has recognized at least one.
In In re Ronwin, Edward Ronwin, a repeatedly unsuccessful applicant to the Arizona bar, filed a number of civil rights and antitrust actions in federal court alleging that a conspiracy existed to keep him from being admitted to the practice of law in this state. 139 Ariz. 576, 580-81, 680 P.2d 107, 111-12 (1983). Ronwin named the members of this Court as defendants in a number of those actions. Id. After filing the claims, Ronwin filed yet another application for admission to the Arizona bar. Id. Because “[t]he ultimate responsibility for admitting candidates for the practice of law is vested in” the supreme court, id. at 578, 680 P.2d at 109, we ruled on the application directly. In raising and discussing the ethical issues created by each justice’s status as a defendant in the federal court actions, we noted:
If we are to recuse ourselves simply because we have been sued by the applicant, then who is left to decide this case? As the Ninth Circuit stated: “ ‘[A] judge is not disqualified merely because a litigant sues or threatens to sue him.’ Such an easy method for obtaining disqualification should not be encouraged or allowed.’ ” Ronwin v. State Bar of Arizona, 686 F.2d at 701, quoting United States v. Grismore, 564 F.2d 929, 933 (10th Cir.1977); see also Smith v. Smith, 115 Ariz. 299, 303, 564 P.2d 1266, 1270 (App.1977). We agree; the mere fact that a judge has been sued by reason of his rulings in a case does not require recusal. Nor can the fact that all judges in the court have been sued require recusal. To honor such a technique would be to put the weapon of disqualification in the hands of the most unscrupulous.
Id. at 586, 680 P.2d at 117.
We thus decided that it was the obligation of the individual justices comprising this Court to decide on Ronwin’s application, despite any possible appearance of impropriety. Id. We did so, ultimately denying that application. Id. at 587, 680 P.2d at 118.
Even though in Ronwin we did not specially identify a doctrine that justified our decision to sit, such a doctrine, known as the rule of necessity, is widely applied by other jurisdictions. Although there are several formulations of the rule, a common one is that the rule of necessity will prevail over disqualification standards when it is not possible to convene a body of judges who are not subject to the disqualification standards. United States v. Will, 449 U.S. 200, 212, 101 S.Ct. 471, 66 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980); Dacey v. Conn. Bar Ass’n, 170 Conn. 520, 368 A.2d 125, 129 (Conn.1976); State v. Rome, 235 Kan. 642, 685 P.2d 290, 296 (Kan.1984); Jeffrey M. Shaman et al., Judicial Conduct and Ethics § 4.03, at 112 (3d ed. 2000) (“[Disqualification must yield to necessity if recusal would thwart the only tribunal where relief [is] available.”).
In Ronwin we concluded that because it was ultimately the responsibility of the supreme court to determine who could be admitted to the bar, the supreme court would have to answer the question. 139 Ariz. at 578, 680 P.2d at 109. Thus, practically, the permanent members of the Court could not recuse themselves.
Similarly in this case, Mr. Scheehle’s suit requires a definitive interpretation of the scope of this Court’s administrative authority to regulate the practice of law in this state. Such questions are inevitably questions of Arizona law. This Court is the court of last resort on the interpretation of such questions. Ariz. Const, art. 3; Hedlund v. Superior Court, 171 Ariz. 566, 567, 832 P.2d 219, 220 (1992) (The supreme court has the final say on the interpretation of rules.). It is presumably for this reason that the legislature authorized only this Court to answer questions of state law certified by other jurisdictions. A.R.S. § 12-1861 (“The Supreme Court may answer questions of law certified to it by” federal and tribal courts involving dispositive questions of state law.). Mr. Scheehle’s objection thus presents the same question this Court asked in Ronwin. “If we are to recuse ourselves simply because we have been sued by the applicant, then who is left to decide this case?” Ronwin, 139 Ariz. at 586, 680 P.2d at 117.
Although Mr. Scheehle does not raise the rule of necessity in his objection, and hence offers no argument why it should not apply, we have an independent ethical obligation to ensure that this exception to the general rule of disqualification does apply before sitting on this case. We note that there are some distinctions between this matter and Ron-win. Though the Court was called upon to exercise authority that ultimately rested with it, as we are here, the matter at issue in Ronwin did not also require the Court, as it does here, to determine the scope of its own authority. Moreover, the Ronwin Court did not consider whether each justice should re-cuse as the justices did the last time a question was certified to this Court in this matter. Given that recusal is possible, it could be argued that it is not “necessary” that any single justice sit on this case, because a replacement can be appointed to sit in each justice’s stead. Finally, in Ronwin, unlike the present case, the justices themselves were not parties to the matter they decided.
Courts in other jurisdictions have determined that when a litigant names each member of a state’s highest court as a party to litigation challenging the court’s authority or actions, and then moves to disqualify each member of the court from sitting on the case, the rule of necessity obliges the individual members of the court to sit. See New York State Ass’n of Criminal Def. Counsel v. Kaye, 95 N.Y.2d 556, 721 N.Y.S.2d 588, 744 N.E.2d 123 (N.Y.2000) (holding that the rule of necessity required the individual judges of the New York Court of Appeals to serve even though they were named defendants in proceeding challenging capital fee structure promulgated by that court); Vermont Supreme Ct. Admin. Directive No. 17 v. Vermont Supreme Court, 154 Vt. 217, 576 A.2d 127, 132 (Vt.1990) (determining that the rule of necessity required individual justices to serve even though they were named defendants in proceeding challenging administrative order that they had entered); see also Office of State Ct. Adm’r v. Background Info. Servs., 994 P.2d 420, 425-26 (Colo.1999) (upholding rule that required members of supreme court to sit in determining whether its own order restricting access to court records was valid); Rome, 685 P.2d at 296 (determining that supreme court must sit even though it is interpreting its own authority); Ex parte Farley, 570 S.W.2d 617, 623 (Ky.1978) (same); Board of Overseers of the Bar v. Lee, 422 A.2d 998, 1002 (Me.1980) appeal dismissed by 450 U.S. 1036, 101 S.Ct. 1751, 68 L.Ed.2d 233 (1981) (same); Berberian v. Kane, 425 A.2d 527, 527 (R.I.1981) (same); Cameron v. Greenhill, 582 S.W.2d 775, 776 (Tex.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 868, 100 S.Ct. 142, 62 L.Ed.2d 92 (1979) (same); State ex rel. Hash v. McGraw, 180 W.Va. 428, 376 S.E.2d 634, 638 (W.Va.1988) (same). The rule of necessity applies even when there are provisions for a member of the court to be temporarily replaced in a matter. See Kaye, 721 N.Y.S.2d 588, 744 N.E.2d at 128 (“The constitutional provision for the designation of substitute Judges is not to be used as a vehicle to force removal of the constitutional ly appointed members of this Court by naming them as parties when challenging administrative actions of the Court.”).
For the following reasons, we agree that the rule of necessity obliges us to sit in answering the questions certified in this case even though we are nominal parties to the action.
As Mr. Scheehle’s complaint and subsequent motions indicate, he has sued the permanent members of this Court in their official capacities only. He does not argue that any of the four justices he seeks to disqualify has a personal stake in the litigation. When a justice has a personal conflict or is otherwise unable to serve, there is a procedure for the substitution of that individual justice. Substitution based on individual considerations, however, is very different from an assertion that every sitting justice is disqualified by virtue of his or her position as a member of this Court.
If a permanent member of this Court being sued in an official capacity steps aside so that another judge can be appointed to sit, the person temporarily appointed then becomes a temporary member of this Court. That person thus suffers from the same infirmity, albeit on a temporary basis, that caused the permanent member’s recusal. “[If] ... the court could be regarded as an adversary of the petitioners, how would matters be any different if its regular members saw fit to vacate the bench? The special members appointed temporarily to replace them would still constitute that same court and, perforce, they too would be disqualified.” Farley, 570 S.W.2d at 623; see also Morgenthau v. Cooke, 56 N.Y.2d 24, 451 N.Y.S.2d 17, 436 N.E.2d 467, 469 n. 3 (N.Y. 1982) (finding use of substitutes for all members of the court would turn the substitutes into the Court of Appeals); Vermont Supreme Court, 576 A.2d at 132 (stating that “[s]ince the actions challenged in this proceeding were taken in our official capacity as the Vermont Supreme Court, the asserted disqualification to act cannot be eliminated simply by a temporary reconstitution of the Court”).
Mr. Seheehle bases his objection, in part, on the operation of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), which automatically substitutes as defendants to a federal lawsuit successors in office to those public officials who are sued in their public capacities. Because Mr. Seheehle has sued the permanent members of this Court only in their official capacity, it appears that, should a member recuse or be disqualified, the temporary replacement would be substituted in by operation of the Rule. The replacement would thus also be subject to disqualification under the Rule.
Even if temporary successors were not automatically substituted in as parties, the reconstituted Court still could not address Mr. Scheehle’s objections as set forth in his First Amended Complaint. That complaint alleges that “Arizona courts do not provide an impartial forum for litigating this cause because if Plaintiff is successful in his challenge of the System, Arizona judges may face a substantial increase in workload.” Thus, even assuming the merit of Mr. Scheehle’s objection, if any Arizona court would be incapable of answering the certified question without bias, it would not be possible, by appointing temporary replacements on this Court, to cure the basis of his objection.
Even assuming disqualification or recusal could cure the problem, it would create additional problems of constitutional dimension if the members of this Court recused for the reasons suggested by Mr. Seheehle. The Arizona Constitution specifies the qualifications for justices of this Court and the process by which justices must be appointed and retained. Ariz. Const, art. 6, §§ 6, 36-38. The constitution further specifies the unique duties and prerogatives of this Court. These constitutional prerogatives involve both administrative responsibilities, Ariz. Const, art. 6 §§ 1, 3 (placing judicial power in an integrated judicial department and providing the supreme court with administrative supervisory authority over all lower courts), and the authority to interpret the law. Ariz. Const, art. 3 (creating a judicial department separate from executive and legislative departments). The constitution requires that those constitutional responsibilities be exercised by the justices appointed to this Court. A disqualification of all members of this Court based only on an asserted conflict that arises from each justices’s performance of his or her constitutional function would be an abdication of duty by those who are constitutionally designated to perform such functions. Other courts have also recognized this problem. See Kaye, 721 N.Y.S.2d 588, 744 N.E.2d at 126 (“If disqualification were required whenever the Judges were sued as individuals upon a challenge to an act of the Court, the result could be substitution of the entire constitutionally appointed court, leaving ‘the most fundamental questions about the Court and its powers’ ” to be decided by persons who were not appointed to that purpose.); Berberian, 425 A.2d at 528 (Disqualifying the justices of the supreme court each time their administrative powers are challenged would “render the rule-making process self-defeating and nugatory.”); Vermont Supreme Court, 154 Vt. at 221, 576 A.2d 127 (finding substitution of all members of the court “leaves the most fundamental questions about the Court and its powers to persons whose selection and retention are not tested by constitutional processes”).
Further, as we previously recognized in Ronwin, if disqualification were allowed in this case, it would provide litigants the ability to disqualify the membership of this entire Court merely by naming each member as a party. 139 Ariz. at 586, 680 P.2d at 117. “Such an easy method for obtaining disqualification should not be encouraged or allowed.” Id.
This Court is regularly called upon to interpret or decide the validity of its own rules. See, e.g., State ex rel. Napolitano v. Brown, 194 Ariz. 340, 342, ¶¶ 6-8, 982 P.2d 815, 817 (1999) (rule granting 120 days to file a petition for post conviction relief upheld); In re Smith, 189 Ariz. 144, 146, 939 P.2d 422, 424 (1997) (upholding rule imposing mandatory continuing legal education); Stapleford v. Houghton, 185 Ariz. 560, 562, 917 P.2d 703, 705 (1996) (finding provision of Rules of Criminal Procedure superseded by Victim’s Bill of Rights); State v. Roscoe, 185 Ariz. 68, 912 P.2d 1297 (1996) (same).
Our adoption of a rule does not constitute a prior determination that the rule is valid and constitutional against any challenge. “[C]ourt rules and comments thereto cannot be given effect if they conflict with valid provisions of the constitution.” Stapleford, 185 Ariz. at 562, 917 P.2d at 705. Such a determination awaits a judicial proceeding in which opposing interests are provided a full opportunity to be heard. See, e.g., Kaye, 721 N.Y.S.2d 588, 744 N.E.2d at 127 (quoting Vermont Supreme Court, 154 Vt. at 223, 576 A.2d at 130) (“[O]ur promulgation of the [rule] is not a prior determination that it is valid and constitutional. That determination must await the adjudication in this or a future case.”). Both this Court and lower Arizona courts have upheld challenges to the validity of rules promulgated by this Court in such settings. See, e.g., Stapleford, 185 Ariz. at 560, 917 P.2d at 703; Roscoe, 185 Ariz. at 68, 912 P.2d at 1297; State v. Uriarte, 194 Ariz. 275, 981 P.2d 575 (App.1998) (holding court rules must give way to statutes appropriately implementing constitutional provisions).
It is unusual, however, for the individual justices of this Court to be named as nominal defendants to a suit challenging a court rule. Declaratory judgment actions brought in state court challenging procedural or administrative rules of this Court do not require that the individual justices be named to obtain relief. Although Mr. Scheehle’s § 1983 action brought in federal court presumably does require that a public official be named, Mr. Scheehle named a number of officials, including the superior court judge who enforced the rule and imposed the sanction against him. Presumably, therefore, he did not have to name each justice of this Court as a defendant to obtain the relief identified in his complaint. That he did so, however, does not, under these facts, require our disqualification. The rule of necessity-mandates our individual participation in responding to the questions certified. See Will, 449 U.S. at 214.
2. Bias and Prejudice
Mr. Scheehle alleges that each of the four permanent justices should be disqualified because each is already committed to a view on the certified questions. This partiality, according to Mr. Scheehle, constitutes bias or prejudice sufficient to disqualify the justices pursuant to Canon 3(E)(1)(a), which specifies that “[a] judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding ... where ... the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party’s lawyer.”
The objection asserts that the bias of the justices is clear because of “the pleadings and papers filed over the past seven years or so by the defendants in [this action] (which include, of course, the four justices in question).” Even assuming that the pleadings filed by the Attorney General representing all the defendants could be attributed for purposes of this motion to represent the views of each of the permanent members of this Court, three of the four justices (Berch, Ryan and Hurwitz) are relatively recent appointees to the Court, and Mr. Scheehle suggests no pleading filed during the time of their service on the Court that would suggest that any of them has a preconceived view on the issue.
The only specific pleading mentioned in the objection is the brief filed by defendants with our reconstituted supreme court when the Ninth Circuit first certified a question to us in this same proceeding in 2002. According to Mr. Scheehle, in that pleading the defendants took the position that the supreme court “had the inherent power to require the attorneys it regulates to serve as arbitrators.” Because Justice McGregor was a member of the Court at that time, Mr. Scheehle asserts that the defendants’ position can be attributed to her for purposes of establishing her personal bias. There are both legal and factual problems with this argument.
As a matter of law, even if Mi*. Scheehle could establish that any of the justices has a view on the question at issue, such an allegation does not constitute the kind of bias or prejudice required for disqualification under the canon. Canon 3(E)(1)(a) specifies that disqualification is appropriate when “the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party’s lawyer.” “Bias and prejudice means a hostile feeling or spirit of ill-will ... towards one of the litigants. The fact that a judge may have an opinion as to the merits of the cause or a strong feeling about the type of litigation involved, does not make the judge biased or prejudiced.” State v. Perkins, 141 Ariz. 278, 286, 686 P.2d 1248, 1256 (1984) (quoting State v. Myers, 117 Ariz. 79, 86, 570 P.2d 1252, 1259 (1977) (quoting In re Guardianship of Styer, 24 Ariz.App. 148, 151, 536 P.2d 717, 720 (1975))); Shaman et al., supra, § 4.04, at 113 (“However, neither bias nor prejudice refer to the attitude that a judge may hold about the subject matter of a lawsuit____That a judge has a general opinion about a legal ... matter that relates to the ease before him or her does not disqualify a judge from presiding over the case.”) (citations omitted); see also Leslie W. Abramson, Judicial Disqualification Under Canon 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct 24 (2d ed. 1992) (“Only personal bias or prejudice constitutes a disqualifying factor.”).
Thus, Mr. Seheehle’s allegation that the four permanent justices already have a view about the questions certified does not constitute a basis for disqualification even if it could be established.
And, even as a factual matter, Mr. Scheehle is unable to establish such a preexisting view. When the supreme court or other departments of the State require representation, they obtain that representation from the Attorney General’s office. For cases involving the supreme court, the legal representation is coordinated with the Chief Justice. Only he was aware of the position taken by the defendants in this ease. That is the basis for his own recusal in this matter. As the New York Court of Appeals noted in Kaye, “[i]t is not an uncommon practice for the Chief [Justice] alone to be recused in similar appeals involving judicial administration.” 721 N.Y.S.2d 588, 744 N.E.2d at 125 n. 1.
Neither Justice McGregor nor any of the other justices who are challenged by Mr. Scheehle’s motion took any role in the defense, nor were they aware of the positions or theories advocated by the State before the State’s papers were filed. Mr. Scheehle challenges the validity of a court rule, names each of the individual justices as nominal party defendants, and then asserts that any answer or argument advanced by the State in favor of the validity of the rule must be attributed to each of the justices for the purpose of establishing his or her individual bias. In cases in which the rule of necessity requires the permanent members of this Court to sit on a question, and the justices have taken no role in the preparation of the defense, such an attribution cannot be made. The rule of necessity itself requires such an accommodation. Cf Disqualification Concerns When the Attorney General’s Office Represents Judges, Op. 02-05 Ariz. Supreme Ct. Jud. Ethics Advis. Comm. (Sept. 12, 2002) (While normally a judge should recuse from hearing a case in which the Assistant Attorney General representing him in other matters appears before him, “if the lawyer currently represents all judicial officers in the county or state (e.g., in a challenge to entire court’s authority or an attack on a judicial policy or rule), the ‘rule of necessity’ may prevail, making disqualification impractical and unnecessary.”).
B. Other Arguments for Disqualification
In addition to these arguments, Mr. Scheehle also briefly argues that the individual justices should recuse because (1) he has filed a complaint against the individual justices with the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct resulting from their failure to recuse themselves in this matter, and (2) the named defendant justices previously recused themselves when a question was earlier certified in this same matter.
1. Complaint to the Commission on Judicial Conduct
Mr. Scheehle asserts that the individual justices are disqualified from deciding this matter because he has filed a complaint against each of them with the Commission on Judicial Conduct resulting from their failure to recuse.
As far as we can discern, every state that has considered the question, including Arizona, has determined that a complaint to the Commission on Judicial Conduct alone does not require recusal. “The mere fact that a complaint has been made against a judge alleging the judge is biased and cannot be impartial does not require automatic disqualification or recusal by the judge. If this were so any party or attorney could easily disrupt court proceedings at any time by filing a complaint against the judge.” Disqualification Considerations When Complaints Are Filed Against Judges, Op. 98-2 Ariz. Supreme Ct. Jud. Ethics Advis. Comm. (Mar. 24, 1998) (quoting Shaman et al., Judicial Conduct and Ethics § 4.06 (2d ed.1995)); see also Op. No. 98-04 Wash. Ethics Advis. Comm. (Apr. 20, 1998); Op. 45 Calif. (Jan. 23,1997).
Thus, Mr. Seheehle’s complaint against the justices with the Commission on Judicial Conduct does not alone merit disqualification.
2. The Justices Previously Recused in this Matter
Mr. Scheehle correctly asserts that when the Ninth Circuit previously certified a question to us in this matter, the five permanent justices then on the Court all recused themselves. The recusal did not come as a result of an objection brought by Mr. Scheehle. Each justice recused on his or her own motion. We have no record of their reasons for recusal. Even when the canons do not require recusal, a judge may recuse from judicial duties. Zuniga v. Superior Court, 77 Ariz. 222, 224, 269 P.2d 720, 721 (1954) (“A judge may on his own motion, if he acts timely, recuse himself even though the reason given might not be sufficient to form the basis of a legal disqualification.”).
We do not now question the decision of each of the members of this Court at that time to recuse themselves. Nor are we bound by that decision. It is, however, our determination for the reasons set forth above that Mr. Seheehle presents no legal or factual argument requiring the disqualification of all four permanent justices, merely because the last time a question was certified in this matter each individual justice chose to re-cuse.
CONCLUSION
We recognize that each justice in this case has a continuing individual responsibility to exercise “considerable introspection and intellectual honesty,” in determining whether he or she may appropriately sit upon any matter that comes before the Court. Op. 98-2 Ariz. Supreme Ct. Jud. Ethics Advis. Comm. (Mai*. 24, 1998). Such an evaluation depends on considerations that may be unique to each justice and cannot be evaluated or discussed in this collective opinion. Apart from such individual considerations, however, we here determine that Mr. Seheehle has set forth no arguments in his objection that would compel disqualification of any of the four justices from sitting on the certified questions. Therefore,
IT IS ORDERED, denying Scheehle’s motion to disqualify.
/s/G. Murray Snow
G. MURRAY SNOW, Judge
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Vice Chief Justice REBECCA WHITE BERCH, MICHAEL D. RYAN and ANDREW D. HURWITZ, Justices.
The Honorable Charles E. Jones recused himself; pursuant to Article 6, Section 3, of the Arizona Constitution, the Honorable G. Murray Snow, Judge of the Court of Appeals, Division One, was designated to sit in his stead.
. The district court also requested that we determine whether the Maricopa County Superior Court had authority under A.R.S. § 12-133 to promulgate a program mandating experienced attorneys to serve as arbitrators. Because, as we explain in this opinion, the Supreme Court Rule explicitly authorizes the superior court to include active members of the Arizona bar on its list of eligible arbitrators, this question is not presented by the facts of this case. We thus decline to answer it.
. The statute also provided that an arbitrator be paid fifty dollars per day for conducting an arbitration hearing. The statute has since been amended to raise the payment to seventy-five dollars per day. A.R.S. § 12-133(G).
. This rule and its successor, Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 73, have been modified several times. Rule 73 currently provides that "all residents of the county in which the court is located, who, for at least four years, have been active members of the State Bar of Arizona” may be placed on a county’s list of eligible arbitrators. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 73(b)(1). It also permits the superior court to place on this list other lawyers of any bar, both active and inactive, who "have agreed to serve as arbitrators in the county where the action is pending.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 73(b)(2).
. The Maricopa County Superior Court initially set the mandatory arbitration threshold at $15,000. Ariz. Local R. Prac.Super. Ct. (Mari-copa) 3.10 (1984). In 1994 it adopted the $50,000 maximum threshold authorized by A.R.S. § 12-133.
. In 2000, this provision was amended to excuse an appointed arbitrator who had "completed contested hearings and ruled as an arbitrator ... in two or more cases assigned during the calendar year.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 73(e)(3).
. The balance of this opinion will refer to these rules as they are currently codified in the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure.
. Upon certification, Scheehle objected to the participation of Justices McGregor, Berch, Ryan, and Hurwitz in answering the certified questions because they are defendants in the underlying federal court complaint. We considered and rejected Scheehle's objections in a previous order that is appended to this decision and incorporated herein.
. Since the early days of statehood, we have recognized that our constitution gives authority to this Court to regulate the practice of law. See, e.g., State Bar of Ariz. v. Ariz. Land Title & Trust Co., 90 Ariz. 76, 366 P.2d 1 (1961); In re Miller, 29 Ariz. 582, 244 P. 376 (1926); In re Bailey, 30 Ariz. 407, 248 P. 29 (1926).
. Wholly apart from the power to regulate the bar given by our state constitution to the judiciary, extensive authority supports the inherent authority of the courts to regulate the practice of law. Shannon, 179 Ariz. at 75, 876 P.2d at 571 ("The judiciary's authority to regulate and control the practice of law is universally accepted and dates back to the year 1292.”); Bridegroom v. State Bar, 27 Ariz.App. 47, 49, 550 P.2d 1089, 1091 (1976) ("There is no question but that the Supreme Court has inherent power to integrate the bar of this state.”) (citations omitted).
. When the annual time an attorney might be required to serve as an arbitrator is combined with the fifteen hours of continuing legal education an attorney is obliged to obtain, it is still well within the range of training hours required by state administrative agencies from other professionals. See, e.g., A.A.C. R4-1-453(D) (requiring accountants to obtain between sixty and eighty hours of continuing education every two years); A.A.C. R4-26-207 (requiring psychologists to obtain sixty hours every two years); A.A.C. R4-11-1203 (requiring dentists to obtain seventy-two hours every three years); A.A.C. R4-16-101 (requiring physicians to obtain forty hours every two years).
. Of course "[s]uits brought against individual officers for injunctive relief are for all practical purposes suits against the State itself.” Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 700, 98 S.Ct. 2565, 57 L.Ed.2d 522 (1978). The public officials sued are not personally liable for any attorneys’ fees that might be awarded. Id.; see also Scott v. Flowers, 910 F.2d 201, 213 (5th Cir.1990) ("Any such [attorneys’ fees] award, however, must be paid by the state and cannot be assessed against the defendants in their individual capacity, as the injunctive relief sought and won by Scott can be obtained from the defendants only in their official capacity as commissioners.”); Echols v. Parker, 909 F.2d 795, 800 (5th Cir.1990) (concluding State liable for attorneys' fees and costs under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 when county prosecutor, district attorney, and justice court judge were sued in official capacities as enforcing agents of an unconstitutional statute).
. These judges were the Honorable Edward C. Voss, Susan A. Ehrlich, John C. Gemmill, and Jefferson L. Lankford, of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, and the Honorable Tom C. Cole, Presiding Judge of the Yuma County Superior Court. Scheehle, 203 Ariz. at 523 n. 2, 57 P.3d at 382.
. Mr. Scheehle also filed documents in this Court in which he apparently requested that this Court update the caption. The questions certified to us are certified from the case in which they arose. We have no authority to alter the district court's caption.
. Opinion 96-14 of the Arizona Supreme Court Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, entitled “Limitations on Disqualification Requirement,” November 21, 1996, posits that if a disinterested but informed observer would conclude that suit was brought against a judge solely to disqualify the judge from presiding over litigation, the judge is not disqualified, so long as the judge feels that he or she can fairly preside over the case. We need not decide whether a disinterested but informed observer would make such a determination as to Mr. Scheehle's suit against the individual members of this Court because we conclude that the rule of necessity requires the permanent members to sit in answering the certified questions.
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ORDERED: Petition for Review = DENIED.
FURTHER ORDERED: Defendant Abdo’s Petition for Review = DENIED.
FURTHER ORDERED: The Court of Appeals’ Opinion shall not be published, pursuant to Rule 111(g), Arizona Rules of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice McGREGOR and VICE Chief Justice BERCH voted to grant review.
|
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OPINION
TIMMER, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 Does an indigent criminal defendant possess federal and state constitutional rights to choose non-publicly funded private counsel to represent his interests in defending criminal charges? In resolving this special action brought by Atonal Jacoby Robinson we answer that question affirmatively and hold that indigent defendants have constitutional rights to make this choice.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 The State charged Robinson with two counts of child abuse and one count of second-degree murder. At Robinson’s initial appearance hearing held on January 7, 2005, the court found him indigent and appointed the Office of the Legal Defender to represent him. Ten days later, Robinson’s family hired Criminal Defense Associates (“CDA”), a Los Angeles-based law firm, to represent Robinson. At Robinson’s January 28 arraignment hearing, where Robinson entered a plea of not guilty, John Martin, a local private attorney acting at CDA’s direction, filed a notice of appearance on Robinson’s behalf, and the court entered an order allowing the legal defender to withdraw from further representation.
¶3 In March, the court granted applications of two CDA attorneys admitted to practice in California, Angelyn Gates and Lorilee Gates, to appear pro hoc vice on behalf of Robinson. The CDA attorneys subsequently assumed Robinson’s representation.
¶4 At a June hearing, Lorilee Gates inquired about obtaining publicly funded ancillary defense services. In the course of discussing the matter, the court noted the prior finding that Robinson was indigent, questioned whether the legal defender must remain involved in the case, and ultimately scheduled a status conference for early July “to determine the appointment of [Robinson’s] Counsel.”
¶ 5 During the July conference, the court discussed the issue with the parties, “affirmed] the Legal Defender’s Office to represent [Robinson],” and directed that office to file a motion to withdraw. The legal defender then filed a motion to withdraw pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 11-587 (2001).
¶ 6 At a subsequent hearing on the motion, the court found that Robinson remained indigent but wanted the CDA attorneys to represent him. The court then concluded that “when a criminal [defendant] has been determined to be indigent and counsel has been appointed for him, he doesn’t have the constitutional option of having a family hire another lawyer and [having] that other lawyer be his lawyer in charge.” The court clarified that the issue before it did not concern whether Robinson was entitled to publicly funded investigators and experts. The court also indicated that the CDA attorneys could assist the legal defender as Knapp counsel, but ruled that the legal defender must serve as lead counsel. Robinson stated that this arrangement was unacceptable. The court ultimately denied the legal defender’s motion to withdraw and reiterated that the CDA attorneys could apply to be Knapp counsel, which the court would permit.
¶7 Robinson subsequently initiated this special action, which the legal defender joined. The State filed a response declaring it assumed no position on the issue presented in the special action due to a lack of standing. See Knapp, 111 Ariz. at 112, 523 P.2d at 1313 (holding county attorney is without standing to object to questions concerning an indigent client’s representation).
SPECIAL ACTION JURISDICTION
¶ 8 Special action jurisdiction is discretionary and is appropriate only when a party has no equally plain, speedy, and adequate remedy by appeal. Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a); State ex rel. Pennartz v. Olcavage, 200 Ariz. 582, 585, ¶ 8, 30 P.3d 649, 652 (App.2001). “An order denying a motion by the public defender to withdraw from representation prior to trial is a non-appealable, interlocutory order.” Coconino County Pub. Defender v. Adams, 184 Ariz. 273, 275, 908 P.2d 489, 491 (App.1995). For this reason, and because Robinson raises an issue of law and one of statewide importance that is likely to reoccur, we exercise our discretion to accept jurisdiction in this matter. Id.
DISCUSSION
¶ 9 The trial court’s ruling on a motion to withdraw is discretionary, and we will reverse only if the court abused that discretion. Id. We review the court’s interpretation of a constitutional right de novo as an issue of law. State v. Bomar, 199 Ariz. 472, 475, ¶ 5, 19 P.3d 613, 616 (App.2001).
¶ 10 Section 11-587 provides that “[t]he public defender shall petition the court to withdraw as attorney of record, and the court may grant such petition, whenever private counsel is employed either by the defendant or by any other person to represent such defendant and such private counsel is accepted by the defendant.” The trial court reasoned that the discretion afforded by § 11-587 permitted it to deny the motion to withdraw because “[the court is] more comfortable with [the] high level of expertise in this specialized area [child abuse and second-degree murder]” possessed by the legal defender’s office. Robinson and the legal defender argue that the court did not appropriately exercise its discretion in this manner, arguing that the court deprived Robinson of his right to be represented by counsel of his choice as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 24, of the Arizona Constitution. We agree with Robinson and the legal defender.
¶ 11 Both the Sixth Amendment and Article 2, Section 24 , guarantee a criminal defendant the right to assistance of counsel for his or her defense. These provisions further guarantee an indigent criminal defendant charged with a serious crime the right to appointed legal representation at public expense. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 343, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963); State v. Ponce, 108 Ariz. 58, 59, 492 P.2d 1165, 1166 (1972). While Arizona courts have firmly established that an indigent defendant does not have the right to choose publicly funded appointed counsel, State v. Hampton, 208 Ariz. 241, 243, ¶ 6, 92 P.3d 871, 873 (2004), and does not lose the right to appointed counsel merely by associating private counsel, Knapp, 111 Ariz. at 111, 523 P.2d at 1312, we have yet to decide whether an indigent defendant can choose to be represented by private counsel who is not publicly funded. We now resolve that issue.
¶ 12 The United States Supreme Court has held that the right to counsel includes a right to choose retained counsel. Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 159, 108 S.Ct. 1692, 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988); Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 53, 53 S.Ct. 55, 77 L.Ed. 158 (1932) (“[A] defendant should be afforded a fair opportunity to secure counsel of his own choice.”). In cases not concerning the precise issue now before us, Arizona courts have reached the same conclusion. State v. Hein, 138 Ariz. 360, 368, 674 P.2d 1358, 1366 (1983) (noting right to choose counsel is implicit in guarantee of assistance of counsel); JV-132324 v. Superior Court, 181 Ariz. 337, 345, 890 P.2d 632, 640 (App.1995) (“[T]he right to waive counsel and the right to retain counsel of choice are constituent parts of the fundamental right to counsel established by the United States and Arizona Constitutions.”); Pipkins v. Helm, 132 Ariz. 237, 239, 644 P.2d 1323, 1325 (App.1982) (“Due process of law, as it is expressed through the right-to-counsel provisions of the state and federal constitutions, comprehends a right to appear and defend with retained counsel of one’s own choice.”); see also J.A.R. v. Superior Court, 179 Ariz. 267, 278, 877 P.2d 1323, 1334 (App. 1994) (holding minor entitled to choose counsel to represent interests in parents’ custody dispute). No reason appears to abrogate this right when a criminal defendant is indigent but able to secure private counsel not funded by the public coffers.
¶ 13 First, our courts have recognized that an indigent criminal defendant has a Sixth Amendment right to waive appointed counsel and instead represent his or her own interests. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 819, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975); State v. LaGrand, 152 Ariz. 483, 486, 733 P.2d 1066, 1069 (1987). This is so because the Sixth Amendment affords the defendant the right to make a defense, and “[u]nless the accused has acquiesced in [representation by appointed counsel], the defense presented is not the defense guaranteed him by the Constitution, for, in a very real sense, it is not his defense.” Faretta, 422 U.S. at 821, 95 S.Ct. 2525. This reasoning applies equally when an indigent defendant is able to retain private counsel, either through the generosity of family or friends, or through the volunteer efforts of counsel. Allowing the defendant to choose such representation rather than court-appointed counsel ensures that he or she has exercised the Sixth Amendment right to make a defense.
¶ 14 Second, absent special circumstances, no public policy reasons exist for denying an indigent criminal defendant the right to choose non-publicly funded private counsel. A court may deny a defendant the right to choose counsel in the face of the “public need for the efficient and effective administration of justice.” Hein, 138 Ariz. at 368-69, 674 P.2d at 1366-67 (quoting United States ex rel. Carey v. Rundle, 409 F.2d 1210, 1214 (3rd Cir.1969)). Thus, for example, a defendant may be denied counsel of his or her choice if that attorney is not competent, State v. Moody, 192 Ariz. 505, 507, ¶ 11, 968 P.2d 578, 580 (1998), has an actual or serious potential conflict of interest, Wheat, 486 U.S. at 159-60, 108 S.Ct. 1692, or whose appointment would cause an unreasonable delay in the proceedings to allow adequate preparation, Morris v. Sloppy, 461 U.S. 1, 8-9, 103 S.Ct. 1610, 75 L.Ed.2d 610 (1983). But absent those or similar circumstances, permitting an indigent defendant to choose representation by a non-publicly funded attorney would not adversely impact the public interest. Indeed, allowing such a choice would relieve the public from the burden of paying for adequate representation. See Knapp, 111 Ariz. at 111, 523 P.2d at 1312 (reasoning that permitting private attorney to assist public defender would inure to public good because it would save time and money for public defender).
¶ 15 Decisions from other courts outside Arizona support a conclusion that an indigent criminal defendant can choose representation by a non-publicly funded private attorney. Although the matter was not directly at issue in Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered v. United States, in discussing the Sixth Amendment, the Court noted that “the Government [does not] deny that the Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant the right to be represented by an otherwise qualified attorney whom that defendant can afford to hire, or who is willing to represent the defendant even though he is without funds.” 491 U.S. 617, 624-25, 109 S.Ct. 2646, 105 L.Ed.2d 528 (1989). Other courts that have squarely considered the matter have reached the same conclusion. See Lipham v. State, 257 Ga. 808, 811, 364 S.E.2d 840, 843 (1988) (“[I]f an indigent defendant can make his own arrangements for attorney representation, whether with the financial assistance of family or friends, or by persuading an attorney to represent him pro bono, he ordinarily may do so.”); English v. Missildine, 311 N.W.2d 292, 294 (Iowa 1981) (“[N]o reason exists for depriving an indigent of the same right of choice [of counsel] as a person of means when the indigent is able to obtain private counsel without public expense.”).
¶ 16 We hold that an indigent criminal defendant possesses rights under the Sixth Amendment and Article 2, Section 24, to choose representation by non-publicly funded private counsel unless reasons of judicial administration, justice, or other special circumstances outweigh this right. In the latter circumstances, or when private counsel is only willing to serve as Knapp counsel, the trial court may exercise its discretion under A.R.S. § 11-587 to deny a publicly appointed lawyer’s motion to withdraw. Otherwise, the court must grant the motion to withdraw.
¶ 17 In the present case, the trial court denied the legal defender’s motion to withdraw because the court trusted the legal defender to provide competent representation, and the court preferred to have that office lead Robinson’s defense. This is not a valid reason for denying Robinson’s right to choose CDA as his attorneys as the public interest in the efficient administration of justice is not implicated. Moreover, the court’s ruling effectively deprived Robinson of his right to choose counsel. Consequently, the court erred by denying the legal defender’s motion to withdraw.
CONCLUSION
¶ 18 For the foregoing reasons, we accept jurisdiction and grant relief by vacating the trial court’s order denying the legal defender’s motion to withdraw. We remand to the trial court with directions to enter an order permitting the legal defender to withdraw as counsel and allowing the CDA attorneys to continue with their representation of Robinson.
CONCURRING: SHELDON H. WEISBERG and DANIEL A. BARKER, Judges.
. See Knapp v. Hardy, 111 Ariz. 107, 111, 523 P.2d 1308, 1312 (1974) (“We feel that the trial court was wrong in its holding denying the right of the retained counsel to associate with the public defender’s office in this case.”).
. Maricopa County, through its Office of Contract Counsel, moved to intervene in this special action believing that “Petitioner seeks to place County funds at issue.” Because this special action does not concern Robinson's entitlement to publicly funded ancillary defense services, and the expenditure of public funds are not otherwise at stake, we denied that motion. We recognize that an issue lurks in this case concerning an indigent defendant’s right to publicly funded defense services when publicly funded lawyers are not involved in the defendant’s representation. However, that issue is not now before us.
. The Sixth Amendment provides: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall ... have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence [sic]."
. Article 2, Section 24, provides: "In criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to appear and defend in person, and by counsel. ..."
|
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OPINION
McGREGOR, Chief Justice.
¶ 1 James Hamm petitioned this Court, pursuant to Arizona Supreme Court Rule 36(g), 17A A.R.S., to review the recommendation of the Committee on Character and Fitness (the Committee) that his application for admission to the State Bar of Arizona (the Bar) be denied. Having reviewed the record and the Committee’s report, we conclude that James Hamm has failed to establish the good moral character necessary to be admitted to the practice of law in Arizona and deny his application.
I.
¶ 2 In September 1974, James Hamm was twenty-six years old and living on the streets of Tucson. Although he previously had attended divinity school and worked as a part-time pastor, Hamm describes his life in 1974 as reflecting a series of personal and social failures. In 1973, he had separated from his wife, with whom he had a son. Although he had no criminal record, he supported himself by selling small quantities of marijuana and, again according to Hamm, he used marijuana and other drugs and abused alcohol.
¶ 3 On September 6, 1974, Hamm met two young men who identified themselves as college students from Missouri. The two, Willard Morley and Zane Staples, came to Tucson to buy twenty pounds of marijuana. Hamm agreed to sell it to them, but apparently was unable to acquire that quantity of marijuana. Rather than call off the transaction, Hamm and two accomplices, Garland Wells and Bill Reeser, agreed to rob Staples and Morley of the money intended for the purchase. On September 7, Wells gave Hamm a gun to use during the robbery. Later that day, Wells and Hamm directed Morley and Staples to drive to the outskirts of Tucson, purportedly to complete the drug transaction; Reeser followed in another vehicle. Both Wells and Hamm carried guns; Morley and Staples were unarmed. Hamm sat behind Morley, the driver, and Wells sat behind Staples. At some point, Hamm detected that Staples was becoming suspicious. As Morley stopped the car, and without making any demand on the victims for money, Hamm shot Morley in the back of the head, killing him. At the same time, Wells shot Staples. Hamm then shot Staples in the back as he tried to escape and shot Morley once again. Wells also shot Morley, then pursued Staples, whom he ultimately killed outside of the car. Hamm and Wells took $1400.00 from the glove compartment, fled the scene in the van driven by Reeser, and left the bodies of Morley and Staples lying in the desert.
¶ 4 Hamm took his share of the money and visited his sister in California. At the hearing held to consider his application to the Bar, he told the Committee that he “was compelled to come back to Tucson,” despite knowing he probably would be caught. Police officers arrested Hamm shortly after his return. While in custody, he told the police that Morley and Staples were killed in a gun battle during the drug deal. Initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery, Hamm pled guilty to one count of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for twenty-five years.
¶5 Once in prison, Hamm began taking steps toward rehabilitation and became a model prisoner. After spending one year in maximum security, he applied for and received a job in a computer training program that allowed him to be transferred to medium security. Once in medium security, Hamm apparently took advantage of any and every educational opportunity the prison system had to offer. He completed certificates in yoga and meditation and, on his own, studied Jungian psychology. He helped fellow inmates learn to read and write and to take responsibility for their actions. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in applied sociology, summa cum laude, from Northern Arizona University through a prison study program.
¶ 6 After Hamm completed six years in medium security, prison officials transferred him to minimum security, where he worked on paint and construction crews. He received a significant degree of freedom, which allowed him to live in a dormitory rather than in a cell and occasionally to drive unaccompanied to nearby towns. He testified that he was the only inmate permitted to head a work crew. Hamm reported to the Committee that he played an instrumental role on various prison committees, particularly the committee that developed a new grievance procedure within the Department of Corrections. In addition, he wrote grant proposals for libraries, for handicapped prisoners, and for obtaining greater legal assistance for prisoners.
¶ 7 While in prison, he met and married Donna Leone. She and Hamm founded Middle Ground Prison Reform (Middle Ground), a prisoner and prisoner family advocacy organization involved in lobbying for laws related to the criminal justice system and prisons. Middle Ground also provides public education about those topics.
¶8 In 1989, the Governor, acting on the recommendation of the Arizona Board of Pardons and Parole (the Board), commuted Hamm’s sentence. When he had served nearly seventeen years, in July 1992, the Board released Hamm on parole, conditioned upon no use of alcohol or drugs, drug and alcohol testing, and fifteen hours of community service each month. In December 2001, the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency granted Hamm’s third application for absolute discharge.
¶ 9 Between his release in August 1992 and his absolute discharge in December 2001, Hamm performed thousands of hours of community service. He advocated for prisoners’ rights in various forums by writing position papers, appearing on radio programs, testifying in legislative hearings, and speaking at churches, schools, and civic organizations. He also appeared in a public service video encouraging children not to do drugs or join gangs. Hamm now works as the Director of Advocacy Services at Middle Ground Prison Reform.
¶ 10 While on parole, Hamm graduated from the Arizona State University College of Law. In July 1999, Hamm passed the Arizona bar examination and, in 2004, filed his Character and Fitness Report with the Committee.
II.
¶ 11 The Rules of the Supreme Court of Arizona establish the process through which the Committee and this Court evaluate applications for admission to the Bar, and prior case law clarifies the burden an applicant must satisfy to establish good moral character. We begin with a review of the rules.
A.
¶ 12 Rules 34 through 37 define the requirements for admission to the Bar. The Committee may recommend an applicant for admission only if that applicant, in addition to meeting other requirements, satisfies the Committee that he or she is of good moral character. Rule 34(a). The applicant bears the burden of establishing his or her good moral character. In re Greenberg, 126 Ariz. 290, 292, 614 P.2d 832, 834 (1980) (citing In re Levine, 97 Ariz. 88, 397 P.2d 205 (1964)). In determining whether an applicant’s prior conduct indicates a lack of good moral character, the Committee must consider the following non-exhaustive list of factors:
A. The applicant’s age, experience and general level of sophistication at the time of the conduct
B. The recency of the conduct
C. The reliability of the information concerning the conduct
D. The seriousness of the conduct
E. Consideration given by the applicant to relevant laws, rules and responsibilities at the time of the conduct
F. The factors underlying the conduct
G. The cumulative effect of the conduct
H. The evidence of rehabilitation
I. The applicant’s positive social contributions since the conduct
J. The applicant’s candor in the admissions process
K. The materiality of any omissions or misrepresentations by the applicant.
Rule 36(a)3.
¶ 13 When prior conduct involves the commission of a violent crime, the Committee must, at a minimum, hold an informal hearing. Rule 36(a)4.E. If three or more Committee members who attended the hearing or who have read the entire record do not recommend admission of an applicant, the Committee must hold a formal hearing to consider whether to recommend the applicant for admission to the Bar. Id.
¶ 14 If the applicant fails to convince the Committee of his or her good moral character, the Committee has a duty not to recommend that person to this Court. In re Klahr, 102 Ariz. 529, 531, 433 P.2d 977, 979 (1967); Levine, 97 Ariz. at 91, 397 P.2d at 207 (“If the proof of good moral character falls short of convincing the Committee on Examinations and Admissions, it is its duty not to recommend admission.”); In re Courtney, 83 Ariz. 231, 233, 319 P.2d 991, 993 (1957) (“In this it has no discretion; if the members entertain any reservations whatsoever as to the applicant’s good moral character, it should not make a favorable recommendation to this comí;.”). After the Committee submits its report, an aggrieved applicant may petition this Court for review. Rule 36(g).
B.
¶ 15 This Court then independently determines whether the applicant possesses good moral character and, based upon that determination, grants or denies the candidate’s application. Although we give serious consideration to the facts as found by and the recommendation of the Committee, “[t]he ultimate decision in this difficult matter rests with the Supreme Court.” In re Kiser, 107 Ariz. 326, 327, 487 P.2d 393, 394 (1971) (holding applicant possessed good moral character); see also Levine, 97 Ariz. at 92, 397 P.2d at 207 (holding the Court must, “using our independent judgment, de novo determine whether the necessary qualifications have been shown”). We do not limit our independent review to matters of law; we have “the ultimate responsibility for determination of fact and law.” In re Ronwin, 139 Ariz. 576, 579, 680 P.2d 107, 110 (1983); see also In re Walker, 112 Ariz. 134, 137, 539 P.2d 891, 894 (1975) (making a finding regarding the credibility of testimony, although in agreement with the Committee).
¶ 16 The ultimate question in cases such as this is whether the applicant has established good moral character, a concept with which we have wrestled as we have attempted to define its boundaries. Greenberg, 126 Ariz. at 292, 614 P.2d at 834. As Hamm asserts, the rules and standards governing admission to the practice of law in Arizona include no per se disqualifications. Instead, we consider each case on its own merits. Id. In Walker, we described the principles on which we rely as follows:
‘Upright character’ * * * is something more than an absence of bad character. * * * It means that he [an applicant for admission] must have conducted himself as a man of upright character ordinarily would, should, or does. Such character expresses itself not in negatives nor in following the line of least resistance, but quite often in the will to do the unpleasant thing if it is right, and the resolve not to do the pleasant thing if it is wrong.
112 Ariz. at 138, 539 P.2d at 895 (alteration in original) (quoting In re Farmer, 191 N.C. 235, 131 S.E. 661, 663 (1926)).
¶ 17 We also agree with Hamm that, under the Rule applicable to Hamm’s application, our concern must be with the applicant’s present moral character. In Green-berg, we explained that “it is [the applicant’s] moral character as of now with which we are concerned.” 126 Ariz. at 292, 614 P.2d at 834; see also Rule 36(a)3. Past misconduct, however, is not irrelevant. Rather, this Court must determine what past bad acts reveal about an applicant’s current character.
III.
¶ 18 In compliance with Rule 36(a)4.E, the Committee conducted a formal hearing to consider Hamm’s application. The Committee heard testimony on May 20 and June 2, 2004. Hamm, representing himself, and his wife presented extensive testimony. In addition, the Committee heard from three licensed attorneys who had worked with Hamm and who recommended his admission and also considered letters from those opposed to and in support of Hamm’s application. In detailed findings, the Committee specifically considered the various factors set out in Rule 36(a) to determine Hamm’s character and fitness to be admitted to the Bar. In its report, the Committee stated that, in reaching its conclusions, it considered the following:
1) Hamm’s unlawful conduct, which included the commission of two violent “execution style” murders and his testimony as to the facts surrounding the murders.
2) Hamm’s omissions on his Application and his testimony in explaining his failure to disclose all required information.
3) Hamm’s neglect of his financial responsibilities and/or violation of a longstanding child support court order and his testimony as to his failure to comply with the court order.
4) Hamm’s mental or emotional instability impairing his ability to perform the functions of an attorney including his testimony as to any diagnosis and treatment.
¶ 19 After reviewing all these factors, the Committee concluded that Hamm had not met his burden of establishing that he possesses the requisite character and fitness for admission to the Bar and accordingly recommended that his application be denied. We now consider the Committee’s findings, together with pertinent facts.
A.
¶20 The serious nature of Hamm’s past criminal conduct is beyond dispute. Hamm acknowledges that no more serious criminal conduct exists than committing first-degree murder. Our society reserves its harshest punishment for those convicted of such conduct. See Tucson Rapid Transit Co. v. Ru-biaz, 21 Ariz. 221, 231, 187 P. 568, 572 (1920) (describing murder as “the most serious crime known to the law”).
¶21 Hamm’s past criminal conduct and the serious nature of that conduct affect the burden he must meet to establish good moral character. He must first establish rehabilitation from prior criminal conduct, a requirement that adds to his burden of showing current good moral character. See In re Adams, 273 Ga. 333, 540 S.E.2d 609, 610 (2001) (“Where an applicant for admission to the bar has a criminal record, his or her burden of establishing present good moral character takes on the added weight of proving full and complete rehabilitation subsequent to conviction____”); In re Allan S., 282 Md. 683, 387 A.2d 271, 275 (1978) (“Al though a prior conviction is not conclusive of a lack of present good moral character, ... it adds to his burden of establishing present good character by requiring convincing proof of his full and complete rehabilitation.”).
¶ 22 The added burden becomes greater as past unlawful conduct becomes more serious. In In re Arrotta, we considered an application for reinstatement from an attorney who, eight years earlier, pled guilty to mail fraud and bribery. 208 Ariz. 509, 96 P.3d 213 (2004). We noted there that “the more serious the misconduct that led to disbarment, the more difficult is the applicant’s task in showing rehabilitation.” Id. at 512 ¶ 12, 96 P.3d at 216. An applicant for initial admission to the Bar who is attempting to overcome the negative implications of a serious felony on his current moral character likewise must overcome a greater burden for more serious crimes. We agree with the New Jersey Supreme Court, which recognized that “in the case of extremely damning past misconduct, a showing of rehabilitation may be virtually impossible to make.” In re Matthews, 94 N.J. 59, 462 A.2d 165, 176 (1983). Indeed, we are aware of no instance in which a person convicted of first-degree murder has been admitted to the practice of law.
¶23 To show rehabilitation, Hamm must show that he has accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct. Hamm fully recognizes his need to make this showing. Indeed, he states that his rehabilitation could not have proceeded absent such acceptance. We recognize the Committee’s concern that Hamm has not yet fully accepted responsibility for the two murders. Hamm says he has done so, repeatedly and strongly, but some of his other statements indicate to the contrary. The inconsistencies among his various statements related to accepting responsibility are most evident when he discusses Staples’ murder. Although he told the Committee that he accepts responsibility for Staples’ murder, in fact he consistently assigns that responsibility to his accomplice. His testimony revealed almost no attention to the commission or aftermath of Staples’ murder. Hamm concedes that he has focused on his role in Morley’s murder rather than on his role in Staples’ murder. The difference in approach, he explains, resulted from one postcard written to him by Morley’s grandmother and his decision to use his connection to Morley to provide motivation to overcome difficulties. We have no reason to doubt that Hamm’s focus on Morley’s murder aided him, using his words, in “accomplishing things that people have been telling me I can’t do and we’re [Hamm and Morley] still doing it today.” That fact, however, does nothing to assure us that Hamm has taken responsibility for Staples’ murder, as he must if he is to establish rehabilitation.
¶24 We also give serious consideration to the Committee’s finding that Hamm was not completely forthright in his testimony about the murders. Hamm has insisted in his filings with this Court that he did not intend to kill, but only to rob, his victims. The agreed facts, however, lead directly to the inference that Hamm intended to kill. He conspired with his accomplices to rob the victims; he accepted the gun provided by Wells and took it with him in the ear with the victims; he testified that, although he did not intend to kill the victims, he was “afraid” they would be killed when he got in the ear; he shot Morley without ever attempting a robbery and shot him a second time to make certain he was dead; and he also shot Staples to prevent his escape. The Committee observed Hamm testify and was able to judge the credibility of his testimony in light of uncontested facts. We agree that the record shows that Hamm, despite his current protestations to the contrary, intended to kill the victims. His failure to confront the fact that these murders were intentional undermines his statements that he fully accepts responsibility for his actions.
¶25 As did the Committee, we give substantial weight to Hamm’s attempts at rehabilitation. In Section I, swpra, we described in some detail the activities Hamm has undertaken, both while in and since his release from prison. We are impressed with the sincerity and fervor of those who testified or submitted letters on Hamm’s behalf. Were rehabilitation the only showing Hamm must make to establish good moral character, we would weigh those factors tending to show rehabilitation against those tending to show a lack thereof. Under the facts of this ease, however, we need not decide whether the facts of record establish rehabilitation.
¶ 26 When an applicant has committed first-degree murder, a crime that demonstrates an extreme lack of good moral character, that applicant must make an extraordinary showing of present good moral character to establish that he or she is qualified to be admitted to the practice of law. Even assuming that Hamm has established rehabilitation, showing rehabilitation from criminal conduct does not, in itself, establish good moral character. Rehabilitation is a necessary, but not sufficient, ingredient of good moral character. An applicant must establish his current good moral character, independent of and in addition to, evidence of rehabilitation. We conclude that Hamm failed to make that showing.
B.
¶ 27 We share the Committee’s deep concern about Hamm’s longstanding failure to fulfill, or even address, his child support obligation to his son, born in 1969, four years before Hamm and his first wife separated. Not until he prepared his application for admission to the Bar in 2004 did Hamm make any effort to meet his responsibility to provide support for his son. During the Committee hearing, Hamm advanced several explanations for his failure to do so. Like the Committee, we find none of his explanations credible.
¶28 Although Hamm attempts to excuse his failure to pay child support by pointing out that he never received a copy of a final divorce decree, Hamm scarcely can claim that he lacked awareness of his obligation. A few months after he and his wife separated in 1973, Hamm was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of failing to pay child support. On May 6, 1974, James and Karen Hamm’s divorce decree set Hamm’s child support payments at $75.00 a month. Hamm made no effort to learn the extent of his financial obligation to his son from 1974, when Hamm was twenty-six years old, until 2004, when he was fifty-five. During those nearly thirty years, he gained sophistication and attended law school. He must have known, and certainly should have known, that he had long avoided a basic parental obligation.
¶29 Hamm also attempted to excuse his inattention to his obligation by explaining that he learned, first from a private investigator hired by his wife in 1988, and later from his son, that his former wife’s new husband had adopted his son. His reliance on the private investigator’s 1988 report to excuse his failure is surprising, given the fact that his son was only months from the age of majority when Hamm learned of the report; he provides no explanation for his lack of concern prior to that date.
¶30 Hamm further explained that only when he applied for admission to the Bar in 2004 did he discover that his son had not been adopted and then “calculated the child support payment [due] over the years.” Hamm determined that he owed $10,000.00 and, even though the statute of limitations barred an action to recover past amounts due, contacted his son and set up a repayment schedule.
¶ 31 “Behavior of such long duration cannot be considered as a temporary aberration____” Walker, 112 Ariz. at 138, 539 P.2d at 895; see also Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Lewis, 493 Pa. 519, 426 A.2d 1138 (1981) (holding that even when an attorney made belated restitution for funds taken from clients, because “[s]uch actions cannot be said to be consistent with high ethical standards of the profession, with a lawyer’s fiduciary responsibility to his client, with a character that is beyond reproach, or with truth, candor and honesty,” the attorney could not continue to practice law). Hamm’s failure to meet his parental obligation for nearly thirty years makes it more difficult for him to make the required extraordinary showing that he “has conducted himself as a man ordinarily would, should, or does.” Walker, 112 Ariz. at 138, 539 P.2d at 895.
¶32 We also agree with the Committee that Hamm did not display honesty and candor in discussing his failure to pay child support with the Committee. Hamm testified both that his son told him personally that he had been adopted and that his son “adamantly refused” to accept interest payments on the unpaid child support.
¶ 33 Hamm’s son testified, however, that he had never been adopted, that prior to his contact with Hamm he had changed his name himself, and that he had not told Hamm he had been adopted. Hamm’s son also did not report adamantly refusing interest payments. In response to a question from the Committee about interest payments, he said:
Discussions about interest? Seems like whenever we were talking about it, you know, he said it was a large amount, and it seems like the subject of interest did come up. I can’t remember exactly, you know, what we said about it. But, you know, I didn’t push the issue or anything, say, well, you know, you’re going to pay me interest for this or what, or is there any interest. It wasn’t really an issue or important to me.
¶34 We discern no reason that Hamm’s son would have been other than forthright about these matters, while Hamm had every reason to present himself in the best possible light. Like the Committee, we find the testimony of his son to be more credible.
C.
¶ 35 We further conclude that Hamm did not adequately explain his failure to disclose an incident involving him and his current wife, Donna, when he submitted his application to the Committee.
¶ 36 In 1996, Hamm and Donna engaged in a physical altercation outside a convenience store. Donna “yelled the word ‘kidnap’ out of the window” of the vehicle Hamm was driving, causing him to pull over and leave the vehicle. During their tussle, Donna tore Hamm’s shirt. Both called the police, who arrested neither Hamm nor Donna. The incident and what Donna describes as her “embellishments” caused such great concern to the Hamms, particularly because Hamm was on parole, that Donna submitted to a polygraph administered by a private company to demonstrate that Hamm had not kidnapped her. The two also underwent marital counseling.
¶ 37 Nonetheless, when filling out his Character and Fitness Report, Hamm failed to disclose the incident to the Committee. Question 25 on the report asks specifically whether the applicant, among other things, has been “questioned” concerning any felony or misdemeanor. Hamm told the Committee that, in reading the application, he missed the word “questioned” in the list of encounters with law enforcement that Question 25 directs an applicant to report.
¶ 38 Hamm’s explanation strains credulity. In Walker, this Court inferred that the son of an Army officer would understand the requirement to register for the draft. 112 Ariz. at 138, 539 P.2d at 895. Likewise, we infer from Hamm’s knowledge of the law and his efforts in 1996 to document a defense for the domestic incident that he fully understood its importance and must have known that the incident would be of interest to the Committee. His failure to include it in his initial application further affects his ability to make the needed extraordinary showing of good moral character.
D.
¶ 39 Hamm’s actions during these proceedings also raise questions about his fitness to practice law. The introduction to Hamm’s petition before this Court begins:
The consequences of this case for Petitioner take it out of the ordinary realm of civil cases. If the Committee’s recommendation is followed, it will prevent him from earning a living through practicing law. This deprivation has consequences of the greatest import for Petitioner, who has invested years of study and a great deal of financial resources in preparing to be a lawyer____
This language repeats nearly verbatim the language of the United States Supreme Court in Konigsberg v. State Bar, 353 U.S. 252, 77 S.Ct. 722, 1 L.Ed.2d 810 (1957), in which the Court wrote:
While this is not a criminal case, its consequences for Konigsberg take it out of the ordinary run of civil cases. The Committee’s action prevents him from earning a living by practicing law. This deprivation has grave consequences for a man who has spent years of study and a great deal of money in preparing to be a lawyer.
Id. at 257-58, 77 S.Ct. 722. If an attorney submits work to a court that is not his own, his actions may violate the rules of professional conduct. Iowa Supreme Court Bd. of Prof'l Ethics & Conduct v. Lane, 642 N.W.2d 296, 299 (Iowa 2002) (“[Plagiarism constitute[s], among other things, a misrepresentation to the court. An attorney may not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.”); see also Rule 42, ER 8.4(c) (defining professional misconduct as including “engag[ing] in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation”). We are concerned about Hamm’s decision to quote from the Supreme Court’s opinion without attribution and are equally troubled by his failure to acknowledge his error. When the Committee’s response pointed to Hamm’s failure to attribute this language to Konigsberg, he avoided the serious questions raised and refused to confront or apologize for his improper actions, asserting instead: “From Petitioner’s perspective, any eloquence that might be found in the Petition does not derive from any prior case decided in any jurisdiction, but rather from the gradual development of his own potential through study, reflection, and devotion to the duty created by his commission of murder.” Hamm apparently either does not regard his actions as improper or simply refuses to take responsibility. In either case, his actions here do not assist him in making the requisite showing of good moral character.
E.
¶ 40 When Hamm committed first-degree murder in 1974, he demonstrated his extreme lack of good moral character. Although this Court has not adopted a per se rule excluding an applicant whose past includes such serious criminal misconduct, we agree with those jurisdictions that have held that an applicant with such a background must make an extraordinary showing of rehabilitation and present good moral character to be admitted to the practice of law. Perhaps such a showing is, in practical terms, a near impossibility. We need not decide that question today, however, because Hamm’s lack of candor before the Committee and this Court, his failure to accept full responsibility for his serious criminal misconduct, and his failure to accept or fulfill, on a timely basis, his parental obligation of support for his son, all show that Hamm has not met the stringent standard that applies to an applicant in his position who seeks to show his present good moral character.
IV.
¶ 41 Hamm asserts that he was denied due process of law because two members of the Committee may have prejudged the merits of his application. Both members, however, left the Committee proceedings when then’ potential bias came to light, and neither played any role in the Committee’s findings and recommendation.
¶ 42 Hamm, like all applicants for membership in the Bar, is entitled to receive due process of law. “The fundamental requirement of due process is the opportunity to be heard ‘at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.’ ” Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 333, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976) (quoting Armstrong v. Manzo, 380 U.S. 545, 552, 85 S.Ct. 1187, 14 L.Ed.2d 62 (1965)). Also, “due process requires that a party be given a ‘fair trial in a fair tribunal.’ ” United States v. Superior Court, 144 Ariz. 265, 280, 697 P.2d 658, 673 (1985) (quoting In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136, 75 S.Ct. 623, 99 L.Ed. 942 (1955)). Both the Committee and this Court have provided Hamm ample opportunity to be heard through hearings and written arguments. Moreover, this Court, and not the Committee, made the ultimate decision on Hamm’s application. Hamm received a full opportunity to be heard before a fair tribunal.
V.
¶ 43 Because James Hamm has failed to meet his burden of proving that he is of good moral character, we deny his application for admission to the State Bar of Arizona.
CONCURRING: MICHAEL D. RYAN, ANDREW D. HURWITZ, W. SCOTT BALES, Justices, and JEFFERSON L. LANKFORD, Judge.
. References in this opinion to "Rule_" are to the Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court.
. The Board of Pardons and Paroles is now the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency. 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 255, § 64.
. Amendments to Rules 32 through 40 became effective December 1, 2005. Order Amending Rules 32-40, 46, 62, 64 & 65, Rules of Supreme Ct., Ariz. Sup.Ct. No. R-04-0032 (June 9, 2005). In this opinion, we refer to the Rules effective when Hamm filed his application for admission to the practice of law.
. The Committee was divided as to the significance of complaints made concerning Hamm’s alleged unauthorized practice of law. This Court’s decision does not rely upon those allegations.
. Hamm’s lack of candor on this question also impacts our analysis of whether he met his burden of showing present good moral character. See Section III, subsections B through E, infra.
. Hamm also cannot attribute his failure to pay child support to the absence of funds. Even while in prison, Hamm earned "somewhere around a hundred dollars a month probably,” but used no portion of those earnings to discharge his obligation.
. When asked if he had taken steps to formalize his agreement with his son to pay back child support, Hamm replied, "No. No. I simply acknowledged the debt regardless whether it is a legal debt or not and whether it's an enforceable debt or not.” In its findings, the Committee noted that Hamm "has since taken it upon himself to attempt to comply with his child support obligations,” but expressed concern that he made no admission of a legal obligation to pay. Whether an action to enforce Hamm’s obligation to his son is in fact time-barred is unclear. In Huff v. Huff, the Texas Supreme Court held that a ten-year statute of limitations under Tex.Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 5532, since repealed by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 959, § 9(1), eff. Sept. 1, 1985, applied to violations of child support orders. 648 S.W.2d 286, 287-88 (Tex.1983) (allowing a claim based on a 1973 divorce decree). Because Hamm's son turned eighteen in 1987, the ten-year statute of limitations expired in 1997. In 2002, however, the Texas Supreme Court held that an administrative writ, created by constitutional amendment in 1997, could be used to enforce a divorce decree issued in 1974, for which no order was obtained, because the administrative writ is a "new and improved enforcement mechanism." In re A.D., 73 S.W.3d 244, 248 (Tex.2002). We need not resolve this question of Texas law, but share the Committee’s concern over Hamm’s failure to formally investigate his legal obligations to his son.
. Rather than acknowledge any inconsistencies between his testimony and that of his son, Hamm lashed out at the Committee’s refusal to agree with Hamm’s argument, which the Committee could accept only if it accepted Hamm’s testimony on this issue as credible. Hamm accused the Committee of "totally ignoring] the content of [Hamm’s Petition] to which it supposedly was responding.”
. Question 25 asks:
Have you either as an adult or a juvenile, ever been served with a criminal summons, questioned, arrested, taken into custody, indicted, charged with, tried for, pleaded guilty to or been convicted of, or ever been the subject of an investigation concerning the violation of, any felony or misdemeanor? (In answering this question, include all incidents, no matter how trivial or minor the infraction or whether guilty or not, whether expunged or not, whether you believe or were advised that you need not disclose any such instance.)
. In addition to the matters discussed above, only four years have passed since James Hamm was absolutely discharged. The fact that Hamm has been free of supervision for this relatively short time weighs against his admission to the practice of law. Greenberg, 126 Ariz. at 293, 614 P.2d at 835 (noting that “[rjehabilitation is seldom accomplished in an instantaneous fashion" and holding that Greenberg had "not convinced [the Court] that he as yet evidences the requisite good moral character”)(emphasis added); see also In re Dortch, 860 A.2d 346, 348 (D.C.2004) (finding it “would be erosive of public confidence in the legal profession and the administration of justice were we to admit an applicant who is still on parole for crimes as serious as those committed by Dortch”). Because Hamm otherwise failed to establish good moral character, however, we reached our decision without considering this factor.
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OPINION
GEMMILL, Judge.
¶ 1 Premier Healthcare, Inc., an insurer, owed money to PCS Health Systems, Inc. for prescription drug reimbursement payments. PCS had gathered volume discount rebates from drug manufacturers and was obligated to pay eighty-five percent of the rebates to Premier. After Premier was placed into receivership, PCS asserted the right under Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 20-638(A) (2002) to retain the rebate funds owed to Premier as an offset against Premier’s indebtedness to PCS. To decide whether this offset is authorized, we must determine if the obligations were “mutual debts” within the meaning of A.R.S. § 20-638(A). Because we decide that the obligations were “mutual debts” and may be set off in accordance with § 20-638(A), we affirm the summary judgment granted in favor of PCS against Premier.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶ 2 Premier operated as an Arizona health care services organization offering health insurance plans to employer groups and Medicare-eligible individuals (collectively its “Members”). These plans included certain prescription drugs. To fulfill its prescription drug services obligation, Premier entered into a Managed Pharmaceutical Benefit Agreement (the “Agreement”) with PCS. Under the Agreement, PCS provided services that included pharmacy management, claims processing, drug utilization review, and for-mulary services. The Agreement established a fee schedule for the various services provided by PCS.
¶ 3 The pharmacy management services provided by PCS included access for Premier’s Members to pharmacies under contract to PCS that had agreed to perform pharmacy services in accordance with the reimbursement schedule and other “processing parameters” established by Premier. PCS agreed to process claims submitted by its network pharmacies and by Premier Members directly. The Agreement provided that the dispensing pharmacy must collect any applicable copayments or coinsurance or deductibles from the Member and that “PCS will pay the dispensing pharmacy the balance, if any, of the agreed upon reimbursement amount.”
¶4 Section 3.2 of the Agreement established the method for reimbursement by Premier for pharmaceutical benefits provided to Premier’s members:
Drug Reimbursement. When, as part of the Services, PCS reimburses Network Pharmacies or Members in connection with Benefits, Premier shall pay to PCS all amounts disbursed or to be disbursed by PCS. PCS shall establish a payment cycle for reimbursement of Network Pharmacies for Benefits provided to Members____Fol-lowing each cycle, PCS shall send to Premier via facsimile an- advice specifying the charges applicable to such cycle. Premier shall wire that amount within 48 hours to the bank account designated by PCS and established for that purpose.
PCS generally did not pay claims to the pharmacies until PCS had received payment from its customers such as Premier.
¶5 In addition to the pharmacy management services, the Agreement required PCS to provide a “formulary service.” This service included development of a drug formu-lary and the performance of a retrospective review of drug utilization and prescribing patterns in order to obtain rebates from drug manufacturers. Section D of the formulary services component of the Agreement provided:
Rebate Contracts. PCS will attempt to contract with certain manufacturers for volume rebate programs. Premier acknowledges that whether and to what extent manufacturers are willing to provide rebates will depend upon the Plan design adopted by Premier, and other aspects of Premier’s drug benefit program, as well as PCS receiving sufficient information regarding each claim submitted to manufacturers for rebates.
¶ 6 In return for the agreement by PCS to attempt to negotiate these rebates, Premier agreed not to participate “in any other for-mulary or similar volume discount program during the term of the Agreement.” Premier also agreed not to enter into any direct contracts with pharmaceutical manufacturers for volume discounts during the term of the Agreement or for one year from termination of the Agreement.
¶ 7 The term “rebate” was defined as “all rebates, reimbursements or other discounts received under a Manufacturer’s discount program with respect to pharmaceutical products dispensed to a Member under the Plan,” but was not to include “any fees or other compensation” paid by the manufacturer to PCS for its own account for administrative or other fees. PCS was required to report annually to Premier regarding the administrative fees paid to PCS by each manufacturer with respect to the pharmaceutical products dispensed to Premier’s members.
¶8 The rebate services portion of the Agreement also provided:
On behalf of Premier, PCS will receive the Rebates paid by manufacturers to Premier. PCS will make payments of such Rebates once each calendar quarter as follows: within 60 days of the beginning of each quarter, PCS will pay to Premier all Rebates received by PCS during the prior quarter.
Along with each payment of Premier Rebates, PCS will provide a report which includes the Manufacturer’s name, the number of prescriptions and/or amount of dollar purchases for each Manufacturer, and the total amount of Rebates paid by each Manufacturer.
Premier did not control the manner in which PCS negotiated and secured the rebates. Premier was given the right, however, to audit the volume discount contracts from the manufacturers from time to time at its own expense. Premier “acknowledge[d] and agree[d] that PCS will not be responsible in any manner for any failure of any Manufacturer to pay any Rebate.”
¶ 9 The fee to be paid to PCS for its formulary services, including “the negotiation, collection and distribution of rebates,’ was fifteen percent of the rebates collected by PCS. In agreeing to this amount, Premier acknowledged that it “received and considered an estimate of the potential range of Rebates under its Plan.” Premier also agreed that PCS could retain its fifteen percent fee from any rebates “collected by PCS on behalf of Premier in connection with this Agreement.”
¶ 10 To summarize, the PCS network pharmacies bought pharmaceuticals from manufacturers, provided those pharmaceuticals to Premier Members, and submitted claims at intervals to PCS, which, in turn, invoiced Premier. Premier paid PCS “within 48 hours” and PCS then paid its network pharmacies. PCS gathered information regarding the dollar amount or number of prescriptions attributable to the purchase of pharmaceuticals for Premier Members from various manufacturers and used this information to negotiate rebates or volume discounts from those manufacturers participating in a rebate program. PCS collected these rebate funds and remitted them to Premier at quarterly intervals, minus PCS’s fifteen percent fee. PCS maintained separate accounting for the collection and remittance of rebate funds.
¶ 11 This arrangement continued with apparent satisfaction on all fronts until Premier was placed in receivership for insolvency on November 16,1999. As of that date Premier had paid all PCS drug reimbursement billings except for three billing cycles between October 23, 1999 and November 15, 1999. When Premier was placed in receivership, PCS was holding funds collected from manufacturers under the rebate program and PCS continued to receive additional rebate payments for a period of time thereafter.
¶ 12 The receivership commenced during the fourth quarter of 1999. PCS was not required to remit rebate funds to Premier for the third quarter of 1999, which ended September 30, until sixty days after October 1. Therefore, on November 16, 1999, rebate funds received on behalf of Premier in the third quarter were not yet overdue, and the total rebates to be collected by PCS in the fourth quarter could not yet be determined. According to PCS, the total amount of rebates it had collected at the time of the summary judgment proceedings was $1,151,918.06. The calculations of Premier’s Receiver put this amount slightly higher, at $1,156,044.00.
¶ 13 On November 18,1999, two days after Premier was placed into receivership, PCS sent its network pharmacies notice of the receivership and informed the pharmacies that PCS had not received funds from Premier for payment to pharmacies for claims submitted from October 23, 1999, to the present. The notice to the network pharmacies further explained:
As you are aware, PCS generally does not pay claims to pharmacies until PCS receives payment from its customers. Nevertheless, with respect to claims that your pharmacy submitted to PCS for Premier members between October 23, 1999 and November 5, 1999 [known as “cycle 923”], PCS will prepay your pharmacy for those claims even though it has not yet received payment from Premier____ PCS believes that certain rights exist that will allow PCS to collect most, if not all, of the money due to pharmacies for this time period. In the event PCS is unsuccessful in these efforts, future reimbursements may be adjusted accordingly to offset amounts not received from Premier.
The total amount paid by PCS to the pharmacies for cycle 923 was $1,089,367.00. PCS informed the network pharmacies that it did not intend to pay the charges for the succeeding cycles unless and until funds were received by PCS through the receivership for those claims.
¶ 14 In December 2000, PCS filed a proof of claim in the Premier receivership for drug reimbursements in the amount of $1,877,489.20, an amount that included cycle 923 and additional reimbursements that had accrued between November 5 and November 15, 1999. PCS represented in its proof of claim that it was entitled to retain the rebate monies it was holding to offset the amount of its claim. Premier’s Receiver allowed PCS’s claim as a general creditor of the estate. Ultimately, the Receiver indicated that Premier’s assets were only sufficient to pay a relatively small percentage of the claims of general creditors.
¶ 15 PCS retained the rebate funds to offset its claims against Premier. Alleging that PCS had breached its contract by refusing to pay Premier the rebate funds, Premier filed this action to recover the unpaid funds.
¶ 16 The parties filed simultaneous motions for summary judgment. PCS relied on A.R.S. § 20-638 and a common law right of setoff to support its retention of the rebate funds as an offset against the money owed by Premier to PCS. Section 20-638, entitled “Offsets,” is part of an article within our state insurance statutes governing the rehabilitation and liquidation of insolvent insurers. See A.R.S. § 20-638. Subsection (A) provides:
In all cases of mutual debts or mutual credits between the insurer and another person in connection with any action or proceeding under this article, such credits and debts shall be set off and the balance only shall be allowed or paid, except as provided in subsection B of this section.
A.R.S. § 20-638(A) (emphasis added). PCS contended that the amounts owing from Pre mier for drug reimbursements and the amounts being held by PCS for manufacturer drug rebates were mutual debts that could be offset under this statute.
¶ 17 Premier argued that the rebate funds belonged to Premier, were being wrongfully withheld by PCS, and could not be offset because there was no mutuality of obligation. Premier contended that PCS held the rebate funds as an agent, trustee, or fiduciary of Premier and therefore PCS’s obligation to pay the funds was not “mutual” with the obligation of Premier to reimburse PCS for pharmaceutical claims.
¶ 18 PCS denied that it was Premier’s agent, trustee, or fiduciary with respect to the rebates and asserted that its obligation to Premier was a simple contractual one of debt, not one of trust or agency. PCS relied on language in the Agreement that provides that the parties are “independent contractors” and that “they shall have no other legal relationship under or in connection with this Agreement.”
¶ 19 The trial judge granted summary judgment to PCS. He found the determinative question was whether “mutuality” of capacity and obligation existed between the parties and concluded that the authorities cited by PCS established there was “no agency or fiduciary relationship here sufficient to overcome a finding of mutuality of capacity and obligation.” Judgment was entered in favor of PCS allowing the setoff, and this timely appeal followed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. sections 12-120.21(A)(3) (2003) and -2101(B) (2003).
ANALYSIS
¶20 The issue Premier presents for our review is whether the trial court erred as a matter of law in determining that PCS was entitled to offset the rebate funds it was holding against its claim for drug reimbursement expense. We review the grant of summary judgment de novo to determine whether any genuine issues of material fact exist and whether the trial court correctly applied the law. See Bentivegna v. Powers Steel & Wire Prods., Inc., 206 Ariz. 581, 584, ¶ 10, 81 P.3d 1040, 1043 (App.2003).
¶21 The right of offset, or setoff, allows entities owing each other money to apply their mutual debts against each other, thereby avoiding “the absurdity of making A pay B when B owes A.” Citizens Bank v. Strumpf 516 U.S. 16, 18, 116 S.Ct. 286, 133 L.Ed.2d 258 (1995) (quoting Studley v. Boyl-ston Nat’l Bank, 229 U.S. 523, 528, 33 S.Ct. 806, 57 L.Ed. 1313 (1913)). To qualify for offset under A.R.S. § 20-638(A), the obligations must be “mutual debts.” The requisites for mutuality are not defined in our insurance company receivership statutes, and the parties have not cited nor have we found any Arizona appellate decision interpreting “mutual debts” in this context.
¶22 If the legislature has not defined a word or phrase in a statute, we will consider respected dictionary definitions. See State v. Wise, 137 Ariz. 468, 470 n. 3, 671 P.2d 909, 911 n. 3 (1983). We will also consider whether the word or phrase has an accepted common law meaning. See A.R.S. § 1-201 (2002) (adopting common law so far as it is consistent with Arizona’s constitution, laws, or established customs of the people); see also Pleak v. Entrada Prop. Owners’ Ass’n, 207 Ariz. 418, 422, ¶ 12, 87 P.3d 831, 835 (2004) (“Absent a clear manifestation of legislative intent to abrogate the common law, we interpret statutes with ‘every intendment in favor of consistency with the common law.’ ”) (quoting In re Thelen’s Estate, 9 Ariz.App. 157, 160-61, 450 P.2d 123, 126-27 (1969)).
¶23 The term “mutual” commonly means reciprocal. See Black’s Law Dictionary 1039 (7th ed.1999). A “debt” in this context means a sum of money due another. Id. at 410. The phrase “mutual debts” has been defined as “[cjross-debts of the same kind and quality between two persons.” Id. at 411. An oft-repeated common law definition was stated by Judge Cardozo in 1920: “To be mutual, [the debts] must be due to and from the same persons in the same capacity.” Beecher v. Peter A. Vogt Mfg. Co., 227 N.Y. 468, 125 N.E. 831, 833 (1920) (citing Dale v. Cooke, 4 Johns. Ch. 11 (1819)). See also Prudential Reinsurance Co. v. Superior Court (Garamendi), 3 Cal.4th 1118, 14 Cal.Rptr.2d 749, 842 P.2d 48, 53 (1992) (citing Beecher, 125 N.E. at 831); Farmers’ Bank & Trust Co.’s Receiver v. Brown, 249 Ky. 820, 61 S.W.2d 628, 628 (1933) (acknowledging debts must be reciprocally owed between the same parties and in the same capacity to be set off); accord Comm’r of Ins. v. Munich Am. Reinsurance Co., 429 Mass. 140, 706 N.E.2d 694, 696 (1999); Bank of Crab Orchard v. Myers, 120 Neb. 84, 231 N.W. 513, 515 (1930); Hampton Roads Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Cobum Motor Car Co., 158 Va. 675, 164 S.E. 723, 726 (1932).
¶24 Case law interpreting the analogous bankruptcy statute, 11 U.S.C. § 553 (1984), is also instructive and provides that mutuality exists if the debt is owed in the same right and between the same parties, standing in the same capacity. See In re Westchester Structures, Inc., 181 B.R. 730, 739 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.1995); Photo Mechanical Servs., Inc. v. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., 179 B.R. 604, 615 (Bankr.D.Minn.1995).
¶ 25 On the basis of these authorities, we hold that debts may be offset under A.R.S. § 20-638(A) as “mutual debts” if the obligations are due to and from the same parties in the same capacities.
Same Parties
¶26 Premier initially contends that mutuality is lacking because its obligation for drug reimbursement was owed to the network pharmacies, not to PCS. The interpretation of a contract is a question of law for this court if the contract terms are plain and unambiguous. See Chandler Med. Bldg. Partners v. Chandler Dental Group, 175 Ariz. 273, 277, 855 P.2d 787, 791 (App.1993). We disagree with Premier because its contractual obligation under the Agreement ran directly to PCS. Section 3.2 of the Agreement required Premier to pay to PCS all “amounts disbursed or to be disbursed by PCS” in connection with claims for pharmacy benefits to Premier members. (Emphasis added.) PCS was authorized to “establish a payment cycle for reimbursement” and advise Premier “via facsimile” of the “charges applicable” to such cycle, after which Premier was obliged to remit by wire “within 48 hours.” The Agreement obligated PCS, not Premier, to pay the dispensing pharmacies and did not require PCS to prepay network pharmacy claims as a condition precedent to payment by Premier.
¶ 27 To be mutual and therefore eligible to be set off, the obligations must be reciprocally owed between the same parties. See supra ¶¶ 22-25. If, as here, the reciprocal obligations of the mutual debtors arise out of the same contract, the requirement of “same parties” will typically be satisfied.
¶28 Premier’s drug reimbursement obligation was owed to PCS, and PCS owed rebate funds to Premier. The obligations were owed between the “same parties.”
Same Capacity
¶ 29 Premier further contends that the obligations were not owed in the same capacity because PCS was a general creditor of Premier with respect to drug reimbursements but PCS acted in the capacity of an agent, trustee, or fiduciary on behalf of Premier when collecting and forwarding the rebate funds. We must therefore decide whether the Agreement imposed upon PCS any special duties that transformed PCS from an ordinary contracting party into an agent, trustee, or fiduciary.
¶ 30 As we recognized when considering the requirement of “same parties,” PCS’s obligation to collect and pay rebate funds to Premier arises out of the same contract as Premier’s obligation to make drug reimbursement payments to PCS. If reciprocal obligations arise out of the same contract, it is more likely that the obligations will be owed in the same capacity. In McReynolds v. Cherokee Insurance Co., 815 S.W.2d 201 (Tenn.Ct.App.1990), the court rejected the argument of an insurance company receiver that the insurance agents had dealt with the insurer in two different capacities, “collecting agent for premiums and creditor as to profit share.” Id. at 207. Emphasizing that the “agency agreement and the profit sharing agreement were part and parcel of the same contract” and part of the mutual consideration therefor, the court held that the insurer and these agents had acted in the same capacity. Id.
V 31 Moreover, if the reciprocal obligations arise out of the same contract and the parties have expressly characterized their legal relationship, such characterization will be persuasive on the issue of the parties’ capacities. See Taylor v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 175 Ariz. 148, 152, 854 P.2d 1134, 1138 (1993) (indicating that we “attempt to enforce a contract according to the parties’ intent”). The Agreement between Premier and PCS provides that the parties are “independent contractors” and that “they shall have no other legal relationship under or in connection with this Agreement.” This language strongly supports PCS’s position that the obligations were owed by each in the same capacity, as independent contracting parties.
¶ 32 Rather than creating a fiduciary relationship, the Agreement created a contractual arrangement whereby PCS agreed to perform services and Premier agreed to pay for those services. See In re Koreag, 961 F.2d 341, 353 (2nd Cir.1992) (“Purely commercial transactions do not give rise to a fiduciary relationship.”). A commercial contract creates a fiduciary relationship only when one party agrees to serve in a fiduciary capacity. See Morgan v. Am. Fid. Fire Ins. Co., 210 F.2d 53, 54-56 (8th Cir.1954) (holding that agent of insurer held collected premiums in a fiduciary capacity because agency agreement stated that agent was to receive and hold premiums “in a fiduciary capacity as trustee for” the insurer); see also Am. Nat’l Bank v. Nat’l Indem. Co., 222 F.2d 513, 516-17 (8th Cir.1955) (finding express trust created when parties used language “[a]ll moneys ... shall be held by ... the agent as a fiduciary trust for and on behalf of the Company”). The Agreement between PCS and Premier specified that the parties were independent contractors and did not purport to create a fiduciary relationship. If Premier had intended to create a fiduciary relationship, it could have negotiated for specific language in the Agreement to that effect. The Agreement does not contain such language.
¶ 33 Premier contends that the language in Section 9(F) of the Agreement — stating that PCS would receive rebates “[o)n behalf of Premier” — demonstrates that PCS was Premier’s agent and thus owed Premier a fiduciary duty to turn over the collected rebate funds. The mere fact that funds are collected “on behalf of’ another party does not, however, create a fiduciary relationship. For example, in Rodgers v. Roulette Records, Inc., 677 F.Supp. 731 (S.D.N.Y.1988), the court stated that the fact that a recording company collected royalties or fees that it was obligated to pass on to the recording artist did not make the recording company the artist’s fiduciary. Id. at 739. The Rodgers court determined that although the funds were collected “on behalf of’ the artist and there was an obligation to pay those funds to the artist, the contract did not create a fiduciary arrangement. Id.; see also McRey-nolds, 815 S.W.2d at 206-07 (holding that insurance agents could retain and set off the premiums owed to the insurer against profit shares owed by the insurer to the agents, despite the fact that the agents received premiums on behalf of the insurer).
¶ 34 Similarly, in Sanshoe Trading Corp. v. Mitsubishi Int’l Corp., 122 Misc.2d 585, 470 N.Y.S.2d 991, 993 (Sup.Ct.1984), aff'd, 104 A.D.2d 337, 479 N.Y.S.2d 149 (1984), the court held that a fiduciary relationship regarding funds collected did not exist between a sales agent and the company for whom the agent made sales, even though the company collected money that it had an obligation to pay to the agent. As the court noted, “[t]he mere fact that the proceeds from the sale of the footwear were collected and were to be distributed by the defendants ... does not make the defendants fiduciaries.” Id.
¶ 35 PCS was not acting as a fiduciary on behalf of Premier. The parties entered into an ordinary contractual relationship. The fact that the rebates were collected by PCS “on behalf of’ Premier did not change the capacity in which PCS acted. The rebate funds represented an obligation that made PCS a debtor of, not a fiduciary to, Premier. See Downey v. Humphreys, 102 Cal.App.2d 323, 227 P.2d 484, 490 (1951) (describing the obligation to pay money as a debt and stating that “[a] debt is not a trust” and does not create a fiduciary relationship).
¶36 Premier.also argues that mutual capacity was lacking because PCS’s obligation to collect and pay rebate funds to Premier created an agency relationship. PCS does not dispute that it was contractually obligated to pay the rebate funds to Premier after subtracting its fifteen percent fee. But PCS insists that the obligation was simply an ordinary debt.
¶ 37 The party asserting an agency relationship has the burden of proving it. Salt River Valley Water Users’ Ass’n v. Giglio, 113 Ariz. 190, 195, 549 P.2d 162, 167 (1976); Brown v. Ariz. Dep’t of Real Estate, 181 Ariz. 320, 326, 890 P.2d 615, 621 (App. 1995). Agency is a question of intent and generally the agent must be acting under the control of the principal and for the principal’s benefit. Salt River Valley Water Users’ Ass’n, 113 Ariz. at 195, 549 P.2d at 167.
¶ 38 In determining whether an agency relationship existed between two parties, a court must find that the principal had the right to control the purported agent’s conduct for the transaction at issue. We must consider whether Premier had the right to control the manner in which PCS negotiated and collected the rebates. See Valley Nat’l Bank v. Milmoe, 74 Ariz. 290, 295-96, 248 P.2d 740, 743 (1952); Nava v. Truly Nolen Exterminating, 140 Ariz. 497, 500, 683 P.2d 296, 299 (App.1984) (stating that “[rjeservation by the asserted ‘principal’ of the right to control the transaction is essential to the existence of an agency relationship”); see also Restatement (Second) of Agency § 1 (1958) (defining agency as “the fiduciary relation which results from the manifestation of consent by one person to another that the other shall act on his behalf and subject to his control”).
¶ 39 Premier acknowledges that PCS was not subject to Premier’s control in regard to its efforts to acquire rebates. The declaration of Lisa Schuldes, a representative of PCS, confirms:
Under the Agreement, [PCS] arranged the rebate programs with drug manufacturers. In that regard, [PCS] took the steps it felt [were] appropriate to secure rebates. Premier did not dictate how [PCS] secured such rebates and did not control the manner in which [PCS] secured such rebates. Rather, [PCS] acted on its own accord and utilized the methods that it felt [were] appropriate in securing such rebates. Again, Premier did not control how [PCS] went about securing rebates.
¶ 40 Premier emphasizes that once the rebates were acquired, PCS lacked any discretion and was obligated to turn over the funds. We recognize, however, that contractual obligations to deliver property or goods to another are often considered debts for purposes of setoff. See In re Bevill, Bresler & Schulman Asset Mgmt., 896 F.2d 54, 59 (3rd Cir.1990) (stating that “contractual obligations are debts for purposes of setoff’ when one party is obligated to turn property over to another party); In re Energy Coop., Inc., 814 F.2d 1226, 1232-33 (7th Cir.1987) (determining that debt could have been set off against creditor’s claim for payment due on exchange agreement if creditor failed to deliver oil to debtor under oil exchange contract); Argus Industries, Inc. v. Liodas, 443 F.2d 1255, 1259 (9th Cir.1971) (recognizing creditor’s failure to deliver goods to debtor as required by contract is a debt that may be offset against creditor’s claim for payment on contract). Neither an agency nor a fiduciary relationship is created simply because one party is obligated to turn property over to another party.
¶ 41 Because of the absence of language in the Agreement creating an agency relationship and the lack of control by Premier over PCS’s efforts to obtain the rebates, we conclude that an agency relationship did not exist between Premier and PCS with respect to PCS’s obligation to pay rebate funds to Premier. Additionally, for the same reasons that PCS is not a fiduciary to or an agent of Premier, we also conclude that PCS is not a trustee in relation to Premier.
¶42 PCS owed money to Premier under the Agreement, and Premier in turn owed money to PCS under the Agreement. Because these reciprocal obligations were owed by the same parties in the same capacity, they constituted “mutual debts” under A.R.S. § 20-638(A) and PCS was entitled to retain the rebate funds as an offset against the money owed to PCS by Premier.
Premier’s Argument That PCS Improperly “Purchased” The Drug Reimbursement Claims
¶43 Finally, citing A.R.S. § 20-638(B), Premier asserts that PCS is not entitled to an offset under § 20-638(A) because PCS, in effect, “purchased” the drug reimbursement cycle 923 claims from the network pharmacies when PCS deviated from its usual practice and paid these claims without first receiving payment from Premier. The pertinent portion of subsection (B) provides:
B. No offset shall be allowed in favor of any such person where ... the obligation of the insurer to such person was purchased by or transferred to such person with a view of its being used as an offset—
A.R.S. § 20-638(B). Premier’s argument is flawed because PCS did not purchase or receive by transfer the drug reimbursement claim for cycle 923 expenditures. As explained previously, Premier’s drug reimbursement obligation was owed to PCS no matter whether PCS had already paid the pharmacies. That PCS deviated from its customary practice of receiving payment from Premier before paying the pharmacies does not change the fact that Premier owed PCS for the cycle 923 claims both before and after PCS paid the pharmacies.
CONCLUSION
¶ 44 For these reasons, PCS was entitled to retain the rebate funds as an offset against the debt owed by Premier, and the trial court correctly granted summary judgment to PCS.
¶45 PCS requests reasonable attorneys’ fees on appeal in accordance with A.R.S. § 12-341.01 (2003). This dispute arises out of a contract and in our discretion we grant PCS’s request for an award of fees on appeal, in an amount to be determined after PCS has complied with Arizona Rule of Civil Appellate Procedure 21(c).
¶46 The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
CONCURRING: JEFFERSON L. LANKFORD, Presiding Judge, and JAMES B. SULT, Judge.
. This action was initiated by the Receiver and Special Deputy Receiver of Premier Healthcare, Inc. We use "Premier" to refer to Premier Healthcare, Inc. prior to the commencement of receivership and to the Receiver and Special Deputy Receiver after receivership, unless the context requires otherwise. Also, AdvancePCS is the successor to PCS Health Systems, Inc. and we refer to them individually and jointly simply as "PCS.”
. The amount of rebates expected for any given period could not be determined precisely in advance. PCS invoiced the manufacturers based upon estimated rebate amounts. The actual manufacturer payments could vary depending upon drug pricing and differences in contract interpretation between each manufacturer and PCS. Rebate distributions to Premier were based upon the timing of payments received by PCS from the manufacturers. For example, invoices for fourth-quarter 1999 rebates were not sent to the manufacturers until the beginning of March 2000, and the first distributions for that period were not expected until the end of May 2000.
. Premier asserts that the PCS decision to prepay cycle 923 was a deliberate attempt to shore up its claim to an offset from the rebate funds it was holding because the two amounts were roughly equal; that is, PCS claimed $1.1 million for drug reimbursement and had $1.15 million in hand from rebates. Premier points out that PCS said as much in its notice to the pharmacies when it referred to certain "rights” that would allow PCS to collect these sums from Premier.
. Because of our resolution of this issue, we do not reach PCS’s argument that Premier is judicially estopped to deny that its drug reimbursement obligation was owed to PCS because Premier’s Receiver accepted PCS’s claim against Premier’s estate.
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OPINION
IRVINE, Judge.
¶ 1 Petitioner Miles Ward, Jr., seeks review of the trial court’s orders summarily dismissing both his petition and supplemental petition for post-conviction relief. For the reasons that follow, we grant relief in part and deny it in part. In the course of our decision, we hold that the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), applies to all “Rule 32 of-right” post-conviction relief proceedings not yet final on direct review when Blakely was decided. We also hold that Ward did not waive the right to a jury determination of the facts used to aggravate his sentences when he waived the right to a jury trial on the offenses charged. We join with the majority of courts that have held that a waiver of the right to a jury trial in the context of a plea agreement cannot be interpreted as a valid waiver of the right to a jury trial for sentencing proceedings, unless the record shows that the defendant knew, first, that he had this right, and second, that by pleading guilty, he was waiving that right.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2 Pursuant to a plea agreement, Ward pled guilty to kidnapping, a Class 2 felony, and theft of a credit card, a Class 5 felony. Although the parties did not agree to any specific sentence, the plea agreement stipulated that Ward would be sentenced to no less than the presumptive term for each offense. The factual basis was as follows:
THE COURT: Let’s talk about the factual basis, first of all, in the 2003 matter. This is for the Kidnapping and Theft of a Credit Card. What did you do back on November 24th of 2002 that would constitute these type offenses?
THE DEFENDANT: Your Honor, I used a credit card and—
THE COURT: And this was a credit card, I assume, that was stolen from someone else?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And you didn’t have permission to be using that credit card?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: That was here in Mari-copa County?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And then in regard to the Kidnapping, did you restrain someone? And this is — the victim’s name is Shigao T[.], and is that the person that you restrained?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, ma’am.
THE COURT: Was that with the purpose of robbing that person?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, ma’am.
THE COURT: And did all of this occur here in Maricopa County in the Tempe area?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, ma’am.
¶ 3 Prior to sentencing, Ward filed a motion for change of counsel. Because Ward did not set forth any grounds to support a change of counsel, the trial court denied the motion. At sentencing, the trial judge told Ward that for kidnapping:
I am going to sentence you to an aggravated term of eight years____
I do believe that the aggravated term is appropriate in your case because of the trauma that you inflicted upon the victim. This offense was committed for pecuniary gain. It was very cruel, and heinous and caused him a lot of physical and mental trauma, and had a lasting impact on him.
Relying on these same aggravating factors, the trial judge then sentenced Ward to an aggravated term of two years for theft of a credit card.
¶ 4 Ward timely commenced his “Rule 32 of-right” post-conviction relief proceeding, and appointed counsel filed a petition for post-conviction relief. Ward claimed that he had been denied his right to counsel when the trial court denied his motion for change of counsel. The State filed a response and argued that Ward had failed to state a color-able claim. In a minute entry setting forth its reasons in full, the trial court found no colorable claim, and summarily dismissed the petition for post-conviction relief. Ward timely petitioned this court for review, and the State responded.
¶ 5 Before we considered this matter, Blakely was decided. We granted Ward’s motion to stay this matter and remanded the matter back to the superior court to allow Ward to supplement his petition for post-conviction relief with a Blakely claim. Ward presented his Blakely claim, the State responded, and the trial court denied relief. The trial court found that:
At the time Defendant pled guilty, the Supreme Court had not construed the Sixth Amendment to require that a defendant had a right to have a jury determine any aggravating factors that would increase his sentence. Thus, Defendant had no such right at that time. At the change of plea proceeding, the Court advised Defendant of the constitutional rights he was waiving when he entered his pleas, and Defendant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived those rights. The Court was certainly not required to advise Defendant of a right that he did not have at that time, and by entering his pleas Defendant waived any non-jurisdictional defenses. The fact that there has been a change of the law subsequent to Defendant’s change of plea and sentencing hearings does not lead to the conclusion that his plea was involuntary.
The trial court also found “that ... because Blakely was decided after Defendant pled guilty and was sentenced, ...” Blakely was not retroactive to his case.
¶6 We allowed Ward to supplement his petition for review. In the supplemental petition, Ward argues that Blakely applies to his case, and that he did not waive his right to a jury determination of the aggravating factors. The State responded and concedes that the trial court erred when it found that Blakely was not retroactive to Ward’s case. Nevertheless, the State argues that we should find no abuse of the trial court’s discretion because Ward waived his right to a jury on all issues when he entered into his plea agreement. Furthermore, the State argues, the fact that the law changed after Ward had pled guilty does not render his plea involuntary.
DISCUSSION
¶ 7 We will reverse a trial court’s summary dismissal of post-conviction relief proceedings only if there is an abuse of discretion. State v. Watton, 164 Ariz. 323, 325, 793 P.2d 80, 82 (1990). A court abuses its discretion if the reasons given for its action are “legally incorrect.” State v. Chapple, 135 Ariz. 281, 297 n. 18, 660 P.2d 1208, 1224 n. 18 (1983). Because Ward’s “Rule 32 of-right” proceeding is the functional equivalent of a direct appeal, and because the proceeding was not yet final when Blakely was decided, Blakely applies. Furthermore, because the record does not reflect that Ward knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to have a jury find beyond a reasonable doubt any aggravating factors, the trial court’s finding of waiver is unsupported.
A. Applicability of Blakely to Rule 32 Of-Right Proceedings
¶ 8 Generally under Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 305, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989) (plurality), new constitutional rules do not apply retroactively to cases on collateral review. Because post-conviction relief proceedings are generally “collateral,” we begin our analysis with a discussion of the nature of Arizona’s “Rule 32 of-right” post-conviction relief proceeding.
¶ 9 Arizona’s constitution guarantees that every criminal defendant “shall have ... the right to appeal in all eases.” Ariz. Const, art. 2, § 24. For many defendants, that means the right to a direct appeal. But for defendants like Ward who plead guilty, the right of direct appeal is waived. Ariz. R.Crim. P. 17.1(e). Nevertheless,
In accord with art. 2, § 24, however, th[at] rule [] [17.1(e)] specifically allow[s] the defendant to “seek review ... by filing a petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to Rule 32.” Ariz. R.Crim. P. 17.1(e)[]; Wilson v. Ellis, 176 Ariz. 121, 123, 859 P.2d 744, 746 (1993) (“It was precisely because of art. 2, § 24 that this court expressly left open the avenue of appellate review by PCR in lieu of direct appeal when it amended the rules with respect to cases involving [guilty pleas].”). Thus, for such defendants, including the defendants in the cases before us, a Rule 32 proceeding is the only means available for exercising the constitutional right to appellate review. As we recently explained, “[t]hat right cannot be waived merely by a plea or admission.” Wilson, 176 Ariz. at 123, 859 P.2d at 746.
Montgomery v. Sheldon, 181 Ariz. 256, 258-59, 889 P.2d 614, 616-17 (1995), op. supp., 182 Ariz. 118, 893 P.2d 1281 (1995). Rule 32 incorporates this appeal right: “Any person who pled guilty ... shall have the right to file a post-conviction relief proceeding, and this proceeding shall be known as a Rule 32 of-right proceeding.” Ariz. R.Crim. P. 32.1. Thus, even though this matter is a post-conviction relief proceeding, by virtue of Article 2, Section 24 of the Arizona Constitution, as interpreted by Montgomery, it is the functional equivalent of a direct appeal.
¶ 10 The next step in our analysis is to determine whether Ward’s Rule 32 of-right proceeding was pending when Blakely was decided. Blakely applies to all convictions not yet final on direct review the day Blakely was decided, even if the defendant was sentenced before the decision. State v. Febles, 210 Ariz. 589, 592, ¶ 7, 115 P.3d 629, 632 (App.2005); State v. Miranda-Cabrera, 209 Ariz. 220, 226, ¶ 26, 99 P.3d 35, 41 (App. 2004); State v. Tschilar, 200 Ariz. 427, 432, ¶ 15, 27 P.3d 331, 336 (App.2001).
¶ 11 A conviction is final when “a judgment of conviction has been rendered, the availability of appeal exhausted, and the time for a petition for certiorari elapsed or a petition for certiorari finally denied.” State v. Towery, 204 Ariz. 386, 389-90, ¶ 8, 64 P.3d 828, 831-32 (2003) (quoting Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 321 n. 6, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987)). Here the parties agree that Ward’s Rule 32 of-right proceeding was not yet final when Blakely was decided because Ward’s case was still on review in this court. Thus, Blakely applies to Ward’s ease.
B. The Effect of the Plea Agreement
¶ 12 We must now decide whether Ward waived his right to have a jury find beyond a reasonable doubt aggravating factors when he entered into his plea agreement. We conclude that he did not waive his rights based on (1) a record that lacks the constitutionally required “knowing and intelligent relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege,” Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 482, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.E]d.2d 378 (1981), (2) the express language in Blakely, which itself was a plea agreement case, and (3) the lack of any persuasive authority to the contrary.
¶ 13 It is true that, like Blakely, Ward waived his right to a jury trial on the offenses charged when he entered into his plea agreement. It is also true that this waiver was made knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently, and that it appears affirmatively in the record as required. Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938); Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 243, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969) (court cannot presume a valid waiver of the jury right from a silent record). Nevertheless, this waiver cannot be interpreted as a valid waiver of a fundamental right that was unknown to Ward at the time he entered into his plea agreement. Although some constitutional rights may be waived without actual knowledge of the right involved, the right to a jury trial is a fundamental right and may not be waived without the defendant’s knowledge, and absent a voluntary and intelligent waiver. State v. Butrick, 113 Ariz. 563, 565-66, 558 P.2d 908, 910-11 (1976). Here of course, Ward was not advised of, and did not knowingly waive, his right to a jury determination on any fact necessary to increase his sentence beyond the presumptive term. Whether the right existed when Ward pled guilty or not does not change the analysis because Blakely applies to all eases not yet final on direct review. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 328, 107 S.Ct. 708 (new constitutional rules apply to all cases on direct review).
¶ 14 Of note here is our decision in Aragon v. Wilkinson, 209 Ariz. 61, 97 P.3d 886 (App. 2004). In Aragon, the parties entered into a plea agreement. Id. at 63, ¶ 2, 97 P.3d at 888. The trial court accepted the plea agreement and scheduled sentencing for July 9, 2004. Id. Prior to sentencing, on June 24, Blakely was decided. Id. at 63-64, ¶ 3, 97 P.3d at 888-89. In light of Blakely, the state asked Aragon to amend the plea agreement by signing a waiver of her Sixth Amendment right to have a jury determine facts that might be used to support the imposition of an aggravated sentence. Id. She declined, and the state moved to withdraw from the plea agreement. Id. at ¶ 4. The trial court granted the motion and Aragon brought a special action to this court. Id.
¶ 15 One of the arguments advanced by the state was that Aragon had breached the plea agreement when she refused to sign a waiver of her jury right pursuant to Blakely. Id. at 65, ¶ 11, 97 P.3d at 890. We rejected that argument and stated:
The State contends that because Aragon pleaded guilty to avoid putting the victim through the trauma of a jury trial, Ara-gon’s refusal to waive her Sixth Amendment rights breaches her agreement not to subject the victim to a trial, thereby permitting the State to withdraw from the agreement. We disagree. Aragon waived her right to a jury trial for the guilt phase of the proceedings. She did not agree to waive any right to a jury trial for the sentencing phase should the law require one before an aggravated sentence can be imposed. Thus, she did not breach any term of the agreement.
Id. at ¶ 12.
¶ 16 In every reported decision we have found, all courts but two have held that a guilty plea waiver of the right to a jury trial does not validly waive the jury right pursuant to Blakely. See Lopez v. People, 113 P.3d 713, 727 (Colo.2005) (“A guilty plea waives the right to a jury trial on the issue of guilt but is not a stipulation to judicial sentencing”); State v. Curtis, 126 Wash.App. 459, 108 P.3d 1233, 1236, ¶ 12 (2005) (a waiver of the right to a jury trial in a guilty plea is not a valid waiver for the jury right pursuant to Blakely); State v. Fairbanks, 688 N.W.2d 333, 336-37 (Minn.App.2004) (review granted Jan. 20, 2005) (a waiver of the right to a jury trial does not extend to the sentence proceeding); Strong v. State, 817 N.E.2d 256, 258-59 (Ind.App.2004), aff'd on reh’g, 820 N.E.2d 688 (Ind.App.2005) (same); State v. Gornick, 196 Or.App. 397, 102 P.3d 734, 741 (2004) (defendant’s guilty plea did not constitute a waiver of the right to have a jury determine aggravating factors); People v. Solis-Martinez, No. 03CA1365, 121 P.3d 215, 2004 WL 2002525, at *2-3 (Colo.App. Sept.9, 2004) (rejecting state’s argument that defendant waived right to jury determination of aggravating factors by pleading guilty);
People v. Johnson, No. 03CA2339, 121 P.3d 285, 2005 WL 774416, at *2 (Colo.App. Apr.7, 2005) (same); Averitte v. State, 824 N.E.2d 1283, 1287-88 (Ind.App.2005) (jury trial waiver that failed to advise defendant of jury right under Blakely invalid); See also State v. Hagen, 690 N.W.2d 155, 158 (Minn.App. 2004) (effect of admission tantamount to jury waiver and absent express, knowing waiver, use of aggravating factors not found by jury invalid); State v. Aleman, 210 Ariz. 232, 245, ¶ 42, 109 P.3d 571, 584 (App.2005) (Florez, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (finding Boykin standard must be satisfied before defendant’s admissions of fact may be used for sentencing enhancements).
¶ 17 A panel of Division Two of this court recently issued an opinion and reached the same conclusion. State v. Brown, 210 Ariz. 534, 539, ¶ 12, 115 P.3d 128, 133 (App.2005). In Brown, the State contended McMullen had waived his right to a jury trial on the sentencing factors when he waived the right to a jury trial generally. Brown rejected the argument:
The state correctly notes that McMullen waived his right to a jury trial in the plea agreement and that he did so orally at the change-of-plea hearing. But that right related only to the guilt phase on the substantive offense. Before a defendant may be deemed to have waived a constitutional right such as the right to a jury trial, it must be clear that the defendant knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently relinquished that right. Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 243 n. 5, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1712 n. 5, 23 L.Ed.2d 274, 280 n. 5 (1969); see also Ariz. R.Crim. P. 17.1(b), 18.1, 16A and 17 A.R.S. (setting forth criteria for pleading guilty and waiving right to jury trial); Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 1023, 82 L.Ed. 1461, 1466 (1938) (defendant’s waiver of constitutional rights may only be based on intentional relinquishment of known right).
Id. at ¶ 11.
¶ 18 These opinions, and ours, are fully supported by the Blakely opinion itself. In fact, Blakely compels this result. As noted, Blakely was a plea agreement case, and like Ward, Blakely waived his right to a jury trial. It is fair to assume that if Blakely’s waiver of his right to a jury trial served as a waiver to the right to a jury determination of aggravating factors, the court would have said so, and would not have remanded the case for further proceedings. Instead, Blakely expressly sets forth two circumstances in which a defendant who pleads guilty may waive the right to a jury determination on aggravating factors. Specifically, the court stated:
When a defendant pleads guilty [and necessarily waives the right to a jury trial], the State is free to seek judicial sentence enhancements so long as the defendant either stipulates to the relevant facts or consents to judicial factfinding. If appropriate waivers are procured, States may continue to offer judicial factfinding as a matter of course to all defendants who plead guilty.
Blakely, 124 S.Ct. at 2541 (internal citations omitted). Not surprisingly, we have found no persuasive authority to support the proposition that the waiver of the right to a jury trial extends to the sentencing proceedings.
¶ 19 As noted, we have found two cases in which the court reached a contrary result. In Higginbotham v. State, 826 N.E.2d 5 (Ind. App.2005), the court held that by pleading guilty and agreeing to a specific sentence, Higginbotham waived his right to a jury on all issues. Id. at 7. On appeal, Higginbotham argued that the trial court had violated his right to a jury trial because the court imposed an enhanced sentence using facts not found by a jury or admitted by Higginbotham during the guilty plea hearing, as required by Blakely. Id. at 6.
¶ 20 The court rejected the claim, stating that a plea agreement “is contractual in nature and binds the defendant.” Id. (citation omitted). The court held that when the trial court had accepted the plea, all parties were bound by its provisions. The court then noted that “the right to a trial by jury ... is subject to knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver.” Id. (citation omitted). The court stated that Higginbotham had been advised of his right to a trial by jury and waived it at the guilty plea hearing. We are not persuaded by Higginbotham because (1) it decides that Higginbotham knowingly waived his jury right pursuant to Blakely when he was unaware of the right when he pled guilty, and (2) it ignores the express language in Blakely quoted above. We are similarly unpersuaded by State v. Anderson, 374 N.J.Super. 419, 864 A.2d 1174 (App.Div.2005), which reached the same result as Higginbotham, for much the same reasons.
¶ 21 The State argues that two preBlakely opinions, People v. Townsell, 209 Ill.2d 543, 283 Ill.Dec. 910, 809 N.E.2d 103 (2004) and United States v. Sowemimo, 335 F.3d 567 (7th Cir.2003), support its position that by entering into the plea agreement, Ward waived his right to have a jury determine aggravating factors pursuant to Blakely. In Townsell, the court did hold that Townsell’s guilty plea waived any jury trial right, including any claim based on Apprendi. Townsell, 283 Ill.Dec. 910, 809 N.E.2d at 104. As in Higginbotham, however, there is no explanation as to how Townsell knowingly waived a right that he was not aware of when he pled guilty. And Sowemimo does not stand for the proposition that a waiver of the right to a jury trial waives the right to a jury determination of aggravating factors. Sowemimo, 335 F.3d at 570. That case also dealt with an Apprendi claim, and the court simply stated that Sowemimo’s “guilty plea did not reserve this as an argument for appeal, and it is thus waived.” Id.
¶ 22 Lastly, the State argues that pursuant to State v. Murdaugh, 209 Ariz. 19, 97 P.3d 844 (2004), the fact that the law changed after Ward pled guilty does not render his plea involuntary. However, Murdaugh, and the case on which it relied, Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 25 L.Ed.2d 747 (1970), involved claims that the respective plea agreements were involuntary and coerced. In each case, the defendant was seeking to withdraw from the plea. In contrast Ward, like the defendant in Aragon, does not seek to withdraw from the plea. Rather, he seeks to invoke his right to a jury determination of the aggravating factors used to increase his sentence. See Brown, 210 Ariz. 534, 542, ¶23, 115 P.3d at 136. (Murdaugh “does not require a different result” because McMullen is not claiming his plea is involuntary, he is invoking his right to a jury trial on sentencing facts).
¶ 23 Finally, we note that even if Mur-daugh could be interpreted as the State urges, the validity of such interpretation would be highly questionable in light of the express language in Blakely.
III. CONCLUSION
¶24 The United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Blakely applies to all “Rule 32 of-right” post-conviction relief proceedings not yet final on direct review when Blakely was decided, and a waiver of the right to a jury trial for the guilt phase of the proceedings does not extend to the sentencing phase. We grant review of the petition for review and the supplemental petition for review, but we deny relief on the petition for review. We grant relief on the supplemental petition for review because the trial court abused its discretion when it summarily dismissed Ward’s Blakely claim. We vacate the order of summary dismissal and remand this matter for further proceedings consistent with this decision and the supreme court’s decision in State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, 115 P.3d 601 (2005).
G. MURRAY SNOW, P.J., and SHELDON H. WEISBERG, J., concur.
. Kidnapping, a Class 2 felony, carries a presumptive sentence of 5 years and a maximum sentence of 12.5 years. Theft of a credit card, a Class 5 felony, carries a presumptive sentence of 1.5 years and a maximum of 2.5 years. Ariz.Rev. Stat. §§ 13-701, -702, and-702.01 (2001).
. Although we grant review of both the petition and supplemental petition for review, we deny relief on the claim presented in the petition for review. Thus, we only address the issues presented in the supplemental petition for review.
. See Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 236-44, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973).
. Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000).
. Federal cases deciding the waiver question are inapplicable. In Arizona, a defendant cannot waive the constitutional right of appeal in a plea agreement. State v. Ethington, 121 Ariz. 572, 573-74, 592 P.2d 768, 769-70 (1979)(right to appeal is not negotiable in plea bargaining and as a matter of public policy a defendant will be permitted to bring a timely appeal). In contrast, in federal court the statutory right of appeal is negotiable. United States v. McKinney, 406 F.3d 744, 745-46 (5th Cir.2005). Thus most federal courts have held that if a defendant waived the right to appeal in the plea agreement, the defendant cannot appeal on the grounds that the guilty plea is involuntary based on Blakely. See United States v. Green, 405 F.3d 1180, 1190-91 (10th Cir.2005) and cases cited therein.
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OPINION
EHRLICH, J.
¶ 1 The Maricopa County Justice Court, Scottsdale Precinct, denied the motion of Janis Villalpando for appointment of a special prosecutor for charges filed against her after her arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol (“DUI”). Villalpando then filed a special action in the Maricopa County Superior Court to challenge that ruling. The superior court accepted jurisdiction, but it denied Villalpando the relief she requested, and Villalpando appealed its decision to this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes §§ 12-120.21(A)(1) (2003) and 12-2101(B) (2003). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the superior court.
FACTS AND RELEVANT PROCEEDINGS
¶2 Villalpando, who was at the time an attorney in the Scottsdale City Attorney’s Office, was arrested in Scottsdale for DUI. Because of her employment, the Scottsdale City Court transferred Villalpando’s case to the Maricopa County Justice Court, Scottsdale Precinct, a transfer not at issue. The Scottsdale City Prosecutor (“Scottsdale Prosecutor”) made a limited appearance in the justice court to inform the court that, because Villalpando was a city employee, he would later “notify this Court of substitute counsel.”
¶ 3 The Scottsdale Prosecutor indeed subsequently moved to withdraw as counsel due to his conflict of interest. In the motion, he advised the justice court that the Mesa City Prosecutor (“Mesa Prosecutor”) was willing to assume responsibility for the case. Villal-pando did not respond and therefore apparently did not oppose the motion. Accordingly, the justice of the peace signed an order of substitution.
¶ 4 Several months after the order of substitution was filed, however, Villalpando filed a motion in the justice court for appointment of a special prosecutor. She argued that, once the Scottsdale Prosecutor had called his conflict to the court’s attention, his involvement in the case should have ceased. By taking the additional step of recommending a successor, she contended, the Scottsdale Prosecutor had perpetuated his conflict in violation of Villalpando’s due-process rights under both the Arizona and United States Constitutions.
¶ 5 The justice court denied Villalpando’s motion. Villalpando then filed a special action in the superior court. The court accepted jurisdiction, but it found “no appearance of impropriety, no actual conflict, and no error in the action of the Scottsdale City Prosecutor’s Office in referring the instant case to the Mesa City Prosecutor’s Office for prosecution____” Accordingly, it denied relief, and Villalpando appealed its judgment.
DISCUSSION
¶ 6 We review the judgment for an abuse of the superior court’s discretion, which occurs if the court erred in its application of the law or when the record does not substantially support its decision. Merlina v. Jejna, 208 Ariz. 1, 3 ¶ 6, 90 P.3d 202, 204 (App.2004). A ruling on a motion to disqualify counsel is one within the court’s discretion to make, “limited only by the applicable legal principles.” Smart Indus. Corp. Mfg. v. Superior Court (St.Germaine), 179 Ariz. 141, 145, 876 P.2d 1176, 1180 (App.1994).
¶7 Villalpando does not contend that the Mesa Prosecutor has an independent conflict of interest that would disqualify him or his office, and she does not dispute the Mesa Prosecutor’s declaration that he has never been under the “supervision, guidance, or control” of the Scottsdale Prosecutor. Villalpando’s contention is that, once the Scottsdale Prosecutor had identified his conflict of interest, he was disqualified from making any further decisions related to her case without “perpetuating” that conflict. Thus, the sole issue is whether a conflict-barred prosecutor’s nomination of substitute counsel violates a defendant’s federal and state due-process rights to “fundamental fairness.”
¶ 8 Without question, certain prosecutorial conflicts may implicate due-process concerns, see, e.g., State v. Counterman, 8 Ariz.App. 526, 529-30, 448 P.2d 96, 99-100 (1969), and a court does have the authority to disqualify a prosecutor or a prosecutor’s office for a conflict of interest. E.g., Turbin v. Superior Court, 165 Ariz. 195, 199, 797 P.2d 734, 738 (App.1990). A defendant does not state a claim for a violation of his due-process rights, however, unless the conflict is so severe as to deprive him of fundamental fairness in a manner “shocking to the universal sense of justice.” Oshrin v. Coulter, 142 Ariz. 109, 111, 688 P.2d 1001, 1003 (1984) (quoting Crouch v. Justice of Peace Court, 7 Ariz.App. 460, 466, 440 P.2d 1000, 1006 (1968)).
Because there is no bright-line rule for determining whether a conflict rises to the level of a due-process violation, each case must be analyzed on the facts peculiar to it. As the Supreme Court has explained:
[D]ue process “is not a technical conception with a fixed content unrelated to time, place and circumstances.” Rather, the phrase expresses the requirement of “fundamental fairness,” a requirement whose meaning can be as opaque as its importance is lofty. Applying the Due Process Clause is therefore an uncertain enterprise [that] must discover what “fundamental fairness” consists of in a particular situation by first considering any relevant precedents and then by assessing the several interests that are at stake.
Lassiter v. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 452 U.S. 18, 24-25, 101 S.Ct. 2153, 68 L.Ed.2d 640 (1981) (quoting Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U.S. 886, 895, 81 S.Ct. 1743, 6 L.Ed.2d 1230 (1961)). Thus, before we consider whether Villalpando’s due-process rights were violated by the Scottsdale Prosecutor’s nomination of the Mesa Prosecutor, we must consider the nature of the Scottsdale Prosecutor’s conflict.
¶ 9 Because Villalpando did not object to the substitution of the Mesa Prosecutor when the motion for substitution was made, the justice court’s approval of that substitution was in effect the appointment of a “special prosecutor.” See State v. Latigue, 108 Ariz. 521, 523, 502 P.2d 1340, 1342 (1972) (After the disqualification of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, it was “necessary that the County Attorney secure the appointment of a special prosecutor if he wishes to continue the prosecution of this case”). In this context, Villalpando’s motion to appoint a special prosecutor was a motion to disqualify the Mesa Prosecutor, the special prosecutor already appointed, on the basis that he was infected with the Scottsdale Prosecutor’s conflict of interest as the result of having been recommended by him.
¶ 10 The parties to a criminal action are the defendant and the State. State v. Lam-berton, 183 Ariz. 47, 49-50, 899 P.2d 939, 941-42 (1995). In Villalpando’s case, the Mesa Prosecutor became the State’s counsel. The Arizona Supreme Court has cautioned that a party should not be allowed to interfere with her opponent’s attorney-client relationship except “in extreme circumstances,” thereby putting the burden on Villalpando to show sufficient reason why the Mesa Prosecutor should be disqualified. Alexander v. Superior Court (State), 141 Ariz. 157, 161, 685 P.2d 1309, 1313 (1984). It also has advised to “view with suspicion” motions by opposing counsel to disqualify a party’s attorney based upon his conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety. Gomez v. Supe rior Court, 149 Ariz. 223, 226, 717 P.2d 902, 905 (1986).
¶ 11 Even so, a prosecutor’s duty to avoid a conflict of interest is prime because his paramount duty is to the principle of “fairness.” In other words, his interest is not so much to prevail as to ensure that “justice shall be done.” Pool v. Superior Court (State), 139 Ariz. 98, 103, 677 P.2d 261, 266 (1984) (quoting Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88, 55 S.Ct. 629, 79 L.Ed. 1314 (1935)).
Public confidence in the criminal justice system is maintained by assuring that it operates in a fair and impartial manner. This confidence is eroded when a prosecutor has a conflict or personal interest in the criminal case which he is handling.
Turbin, 165 Ariz. at 198, 797 P.2d at 737 (citing Latigue, 108 Ariz. at 523, 502 P.2d at 1342). See State v. Hughes, 193 Ariz. 72, 80, 969 P.2d 1184, 1192 (1998) (“The prosecutor has an obligation to seek justice, not merely a conviction, and must refrain from using improper methods to obtain a conviction.”) (citing, inter alia, Pool, 139 Ariz. at 103, 677 P.2d at 266); State v. Rodriguez, 192 Ariz. 58, 64 ¶ 33, 961 P.2d 1006, 1012 (1998) (A prosecutor’s responsibilities extend “beyond the duty to convict defendants. Pursuant to its role of ‘minister of justice,’ the prosecution has a duty to see that defendants receive a fair trial.”) (citing Ariz. R. Sup.Ct. 42, E.R. 3.8, cmt.[l] (“A prosecutor has the responsibility of a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate. This responsibility carries with it specific obligations to see that the defendant is accorded procedural justice and that guilt is decided upon the basis of sufficient evidence.”)); State v. Freader, 144 Ariz. 224, 227, 696 P.2d 1373, 1376 (App.1985) (A prosecutor has special ethical duties.).
¶ 12 Any interest that is inconsistent with the prosecutor’s duty to safeguard justice is a conflict that potentially could violate a defendant’s right to fundamental fairness. For example, if a prosecutor has a financial stake in the outcome of a prosecution, the conflict between that interest and the duties of the public office clearly presents constitutional concerns. See, e.g., Ganger v. Peyton, 379 F.2d 709, 712-13 (4th Cir.1967), cited in Counterman, 8 Ariz.App. at 530, 448 P.2d at 99. Additionally, a prosecutor’s potential access to or use of confidential information obtained through his prior representation of the defendant could undermine the fairness of the prosecution. See, e.g., State ex rel. Romley v. Superior Court (Pearson), 184 Ariz. 223, 908 P.2d 37 (App.1995); State v. Rupp, 120 Ariz. 490, 586 P.2d 1302 (App.1978).
¶ 13 The record does not permit an evaluation of Villalpando’s motives in seeking the disqualification of the Mesa Prosecutor. The only harm that she has postulated from the substitution of prosecutors is the following from her opening brief:
Lower court prosecutors (the city prosecutors, not their assistant prosecutors) are aware of each other’s prosecutorial philosophies and practices. There are vast differences between the policies of the many valley city prosecutors. Scottsdale may very well have chosen the Mesa prosecutor’s office because there is an understanding between the two head prosecutors on how conflict cases, or drunk driving cases, should be handled. So, a prosecutor forced to withdraw from a case may still exert a strong influence over its outcome by assigning it to a particular city prosecutor’s office.
¶ 14 There are several difficulties with Vil-lalpando’s argument, not the least of which is the lack of any factual support. Indeed, her suggestion that the Scottsdale Prosecutor recommended the Mesa Prosecutor to the justice court for some nefarious purpose is entirely speculative. Additionally, she fails to identify any conflict on the part of either the Scottsdale Prosecutor or the Mesa Prosecutor, arguing only that the former’s nomina tion of the latter as his successor gives rise to a constitutionally infirm “appearance of impropriety.”
¶ 15 The concern with an attorney’s appearance of impropriety stems from the American Bar Association’s former Model Code of Professional Responsibility Canon 9 and continues as part of an analysis of counsel’s conflict of interest. State ex rel. Romley v. Superior Court (Flores), 181 Ariz. 378, 383, 891 P.2d 246, 251 (App.1995) (quoting Gomez, 149 Ariz. at 225, 717 P.2d at 904). In Flores, the trial court disqualified the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office based on an “appearance of impropriety.” Id. at 379-80, 891 P.2d at 247—48. Although this court reversed on appeal, we held that the appearance of prosecutorial impropriety should be avoided in order to maintain the public’s confidence in the administration of justice. See id. (When “dealing with ‘appearance,’ both to the public as well as to individual defendants, trial courts must carefully scrutinize any case with, for example, a high public profile or strong political overtones.”). This concern is consistent with “the ultimate goal” for any prosecution, which “is to maintain both public and individual confidence in the integrity of our judicial system.” Pearson, 184 Ariz. at 229, 908 P.2d at 43.
¶ 16 Nonetheless, the mere “appearance of impropriety” rarely is sufficient to constitute a constitutional violation. In Counterman, for example, the defendant challenged a city’s prosecution of him on charges related to domestic violence because one of the assistant city attorneys, uninvolved in that criminal prosecution, had represented the defendant’s former wife in their divorce proceedings. 8 Ariz.App. at 529, 448 P.2d at 99. On review, this court concluded that “the mere representation of the defendant’s former wife by an Assistant City Attorney did not present an actual conflict of interest in relation to the State’s responsibility in seeing that justice was done in prosecuting the defendant.” Id. at 530, 448 P.2d at 100. Ultimately, this court affirmed Counterman’s conviction, concluding that “no conflict of interest ... [had] deprived] the defendant of the fundamental fairness” ensured by the Due Process Clauses. Id.
¶ 17 Counterman demonstrates that a defendant’s right to fundamental fairness is not violated whenever the slightest “appearance of impropriety” can be insinuated. Certainly, the mere suggestion of impropriety is “too slender a reed” to warrant the disqualification of an entire prosecutorial office. Flores, 181 Ariz. at 383, 891 P.2d at 251 (citing Sellers v. Superior Court (Dunlap), 154 Ariz. 281, 289, 742 P.2d 292, 300 (App.1987)). Thus, a court should not impute an “appearance conflict” based solely on an employment relationship to a fully distinct and independent prosecutorial office. In fact, the only eases in which a court has upheld the “perpetuation” of an “apparent conflict” have involved either the threat of an improper use of confidential information or a judicial officer’s control over a matter after recusal. See, e.g., Fields-D’Arpino v. Rest. Assoc., Inc., 39 F.Supp.2d 412, 417 (S.D.N.Y.1999) (holding that a conflict was “perpetuated” due to inadequate screening procedures).
¶ 18 In this ease, the Scottsdale Prosecutor sought to avoid any appearance of impropriety by asking an independent prosecutorial office to pursue the charges against Villal-pando, thereby mitigating claims that Villal-pando, as an employee of the City of Scottsdale, would receive preferential treatment. See, e.g., Kennedy v. L.D., 430 N.W.2d 833, 837 (Minn.1988) (“It is improper for prosecutors to participate in eases which involve personal friends or relatives ... [or in which] the defendant is a current or former employee of the prosecutor’s office____”). Because the Scottsdale Prosecutor’s conflict was based entirely on Villalpando’s employment, his procurement of an order permitting his withdrawal was sufficient to defeat any “appearance of impropriety.”
¶ 19 Villalpando’s claim that the Mesa Prosecutor might violate her rights to “fundamental fairness” is based solely on speculation. Without any evidence, and Villalpando concedes that she has none, we will “assume that [a] prosecutor [is] acting in good faith.” State v. Boozer, 80 Ariz. 8, 12, 291 P.2d 786, 788 (1955). We “will not presume that the prosecutor will seek defendants’ convictions at all costs .... ” Flores, 181 Ariz. at 382, 891 P.2d at 250. See also State v. Schumacher, 97 Ariz. 354, 357, 400 P.2d 584, 586 (1965) (Mere conjecture “ ‘certainly cannot amount to the deprivation of a constitutional right.’ ”) (Quoting United States ex rel. Cooper v. Reincke, 333 F.2d 608, 613 (2d Cir.1964)). We therefore decline Villalpan-do’s invitation to assume that the Scottsdale Prosecutor would knowingly nominate substitute counsel who would disregard his ethical duties and, in Villalpando’s words, “put [her] through the wringer, instead of reviewing the facts of the crime and [her] circumstances before decision [sic] how to charge the ease or what plea agreement to offer.” The record contains no evidence of any such conduct or practice.
¶ 20 We further conclude that to establish by this court’s fíat a system of judicial oversight, such as the one suggested by Villalpando, would constitute an inappropriate interference by the judicial branch with the broad discretion entrusted to the executive branch. A prosecutor “is properly vested with both the power to charge ... and the discretion to proceed to trial once a criminal action has been filed.” State v. Ramsey, 171 Ariz. 409, 413, 831 P.2d 408, 412 (App.1992). A court does not have the authority to interfere with the prosecutor’s exercise of his discretion “unless he is acting illegally or in excess of his powers.” State v. Murphy, 113 Ariz. 416, 418, 555 P.2d 1110, 1112 (1976). Accord State v. Superior Court (Wing), 180 Ariz. 384, 387, 884 P.2d 270, 273 (App.1994).
¶21 It appears that the method for arranging for a new prosecutor when a conflict arises is established by the respective city prosecutor’s offices, who make informal, reciprocal agreements with other city prosecutor’s offices for assistance, subject to judicial approval of the substitution. As long as the prosecuting agency selected is not independently subject to disqualification and the disqualified prosecutor or prosecutor’s office refrains from further participation, we see no reason to interfere with this exercise of discretion. In other words, the recommendation to the court of who shall pursue a prosecution is left to the prosecutor’s broad discretion, a discretion with which a court should not interfere absent extraordinary circumstances.
¶22 Villalpando has failed to meet the burden of establishing that the Scottsdale Prosecutor acted illegally or exceeded his powers by arranging for a substitute prose-cutorial agency. His recommendation was subject both to approval by the court and to attack by Villalpando for any of the bases upon which a prosecutor may be disqualified for a cause personal to that prosecutor or his agency.
¶ 23 Although not factually similar, we regard Rupp, 120 Ariz. 490, 586 P.2d 1302, as sufficiently analogous to support our analysis. In Rupp, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office was disqualified after Rupp’s defense attorney became the Maricopa County Attorney. A member of the Coconino County Attorney’s Office, Gerald Till, was named as special prosecutor. Till arranged for a Deputy Maricopa County Attorney to represent the State during a calendar call, and Till and this deputy also discussed judges whom they would strike. When the assigned judge was identified, the deputy advised the court at Till’s instruction that the State would exercise its privilege of striking the assigned judge from hearing the case. Id. at 496, 586 P.2d at 1307. Rupp then unsuccessfully moved to disqualify Till. The ruling was challenged on appeal, and this court held:
The question of disqualifying Till called for a balancing of the effects of the previous objectionable conduct and the possibility of further similar involvement against the delay involved in finding and bringing another special prosecutor into the case. We believe that under all of the circumstances presented there was a reasonable basis for the trial court’s refusal to order a second change of prosecutor. We accordingly find no error and no prejudice to the appellants by the court’s action.
Id. at 495-96, 586 P.2d at 1307-08 (citations omitted).
¶ 24 The opinion in Rupp stands for the proposition that not every contact between a conflicted prosecutor’s office and a special prosecutor warrants disqualification of the special prosecutor. The facts of this case are more benign from Villalpando’s perspective than those of Rupp because, apart from a request to act as special prosecutor, there is no evidence of any contact between the Scottsdale Prosecutor and the Mesa Prosecutor relating to Villalpando’s case.
¶25 APAAC maintains that Villalpando’s argument is similar to that rejected in State v. Eastlack, 180 Ariz. 243, 883 P.2d 999 (1994). In Eastlack, the defendant successfully moved to disqualify a judge and then contended that the presiding judge, who made a reassignment to another judge, was himself biased and should not have been allowed to make the reassignment. In rejecting this argument, the supreme court noted that the reassignment judge had made no substantive rulings involving the merits of the case but had simply performed “the mere preliminary function” of assigning the case to an impartial tribunal. Id. at 254, 883 P.2d at 1010. The court also held that there was no legal basis for a random selection of judges and that the defendant had cited no authority requiring a superior court to do so. Id.
¶26 Villalpando attempts to distinguish Eastlack because the case involved a change of judge and not a change of prosecutor. The distinction is one that weakens Villalpando’s argument, however. As the United States Supreme Court has made clear, “prosecutors may not necessarily be held to as stringent a standard of disinterest as judges” because, in our adversarial system, “[prosecutors] are necessarily permitted to be zealous in their enforcement of the law.” Young v. United States ex rel Vuitton et Fils S.A., 481 U.S. 787, 807, 107 S.Ct. 2124, 95 L.Ed.2d 740 (1987) (quoting Marshall, 446 U.S. at 248, 100 S.Ct. 1610). The Court has not therefore found the same constitutional threat in prosecutorial conflicts of interest as might be constitutionally “intolerable” if experienced by a judge. Id. (citing Marshall, 446 U.S. at 250-52, 100 S.Ct. 1610). See also Dick v. Scroggy, 882 F.2d 192, 199 (6th Cir.1989) (Celebrezze, J., concurring) (Merely the “appearance” of prosecutorial impropriety “is insufficient” to violate a defendant’s due-process right to “fundamental fairness.”). Thus, if a conflicted judge may reassign a case to another judge without violating a litigant’s due-process rights, a conflicted prosecutor may suggest a substitute prosecutor for judicial approval.
¶ 27 Villalpando argues next that Arizona should adopt a formal method for the substitution of conflicted prosecutors to bring Arizona in line with the majority of other jurisdictions. She claims that twenty-six states have statutory systems for conflict substitutions. Although she asserts that only New Mexico allows a prosecutor with a conflict to choose a successor, she does not account for the remaining states. Furthermore, the existence of statutory systems elsewhere does not establish that informal systems are improper, and none of the case law from other jurisdictions cited by Villalpando supports such a conclusion.
¶ 28 The case of Commonwealth v. Breigh-ner, 453 Pa.Super. 477, 684 A.2d 143 (1996), is distinguishable. In Breighner, the Adams County District Attorney who initiated a criminal prosecution disqualified himself due to a conflict of interest that subsequently developed, and designated the Cumberland County District Attorney to take over the prosecution. Id. at 145. The Cumberland County District Attorney then was appointed an assistant district attorney to the Adams County District Attorney’s office for the purpose of conferring jurisdiction upon him, thus giving rise to some unavoidable supervision, guidance and control on the part of the conflicted prosecutor. Id. at 147. In contrast, as Villalpando concedes, the Scottsdale Prosecutor exercised no such control over the Mesa Prosecutor after the substitution.
¶ 29 The case of Kahree v. Western Electric Co., 82 F.R.D. 196 (D.N.J.1979), does not involve a criminal prosecution but, rather, the court’s general power to supervise the course of class actions. The district court refused to permit disqualified counsel in a class action to choose their successors. Class members would be conclusively bound by the result of the action prosecuted by the class representative, and the court’s selection of counsel for the class had to be guided by the best interests of those members and “not the entrepreneurial initiative” of the named plaintiff’s counsel. Id. at 199.
¶30 The court in Hartgraves v. State, 5 Okla.Crim. 266, 114 P. 343 (1911), held that a prosecutor who had been disqualified could not designate an attorney who was privately employed by the prosecuting witness to represent the State in presenting the case to the grand jury. Under an Oklahoma statute, no one was permitted to be present during grand jury sessions except witnesses and officers duly authorized by law. “A county attorney has no right to turn a defendant over to his enemies, after having first armed them with the entire power of the state to be used as they see fit in his prosecution.” Id. at 346.
¶ 31 Villalpando cites the following passage from Hartgraves: “We desire to say in addition that the county attorney, being disqualified in this case, was without power or authority to appoint any one to represent him.” Id. Applying that quotation to this case is misleading because the holding is based on an older Oklahoman statute that has since been amended. The former statute required the trial court to appoint a replacement for a county attorney. See id. (citing Snyder’s Comp. Laws of Okla.1909, § 1598). However, the statute now vests such power in either an assistant county attorney or the Oklahoma Attorney General. See 19 Okla. Stat. Ann. § 215.9 (2000). Thus, the Hart-graves opinion does not aid our analysis of this matter.
¶ 32 In Williams v. Ellis, 184 Ind. 307, 112 N.E. 98 (1916), the court held that a statute that allowed the circuit court to appoint a special prosecutor if the elected prosecutor was absent from the circuit also permitted the court to appoint a special prosecutor when the prosecutor was disqualified due to a conflict of interest. Id. at 102. Villalpando cites this case for the notion that a district attorney does not have the authority to appoint a special prosecutor, but the holding is not so broad. In Ellis, the court rejected the relator’s argument that a trial court could play no role in the selection of a special prosecutor for a prosecutor who had suffered a conflict. Id. at 102-03, The court refuted the notion, advanced by the relator, that the office must remain fallow because the prosecutor had a conflict that precluded him from naming a replacement. Id. at 103.
¶ 33 Like the Indiana court, we fully expect and require our trial courts to review the nomination of a substitute prosecutorial agency, see, e.g., Latigue, 108 Ariz. at 523, 502 P.2d at 1342, as was done by the justice court without objection from Villalpando. We will not limit the trial court’s independent authority and obligation to ensure that a prosecutorial conflict is cured by the new appointment. See id.; cf. Torres, 206 Ariz. at 55 n. 3 ¶ 11, 75 P.3d at 145 n. 3 (noting court’s inherent authority to ensure defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel is protected). We simply hold that when a prosecutor’s conflict is merely due to the defendant’s employment by the same office or other such appearance-based conflicts, the prosecutor does not “perpetuate” the conflict by nominating a successor office to the court, nor does the court violate the defendant’s due-process rights by appointing that nominee.
CONCLUSION
¶34 The judgment of the superior court upholding the decision of the justice court is affirmed.
CONCURRING: BARKER, P.J. and PORTLEY, J.
. "The Due Process Clause of the Arizona Constitution is construed similarly to the same clause in the United States Constitution.” State v. Kaiser, 204 Ariz. 514, 516 n. 2 ¶ 1, 65 P.3d 463, 465 n. 2 (App.2003) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 1162, 124 S.Ct. 1174, 157 L.Ed.2d 1207 (2004); see also State v. Farley, 199 Ariz. 542, 544-45 ¶ 12, 19 P.3d 1258, 1260-61 (App.2001).
. The Phoenix City Prosecutor and the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council ("AP-AAC”) are amici curiae. Both appear in support of the Mesa City Prosecutor’s Office.
. A defendant has a right to "fundamental fairness” as a matter of both substantive and procedural due process. See, e.g., United States v. Lilly, 983 F.2d 300, 309 (1st Cir.1992) (A substantive due-process violation "occurs when government conduct violates ‘fundamental fairness’ and is ‘shocking to the universal sense of justice.’ ”) (Quoting Kinsella v. United States ex rel. Singleton, 361 U.S. 234, 246, 80 S.Ct. 297, 4 L.Ed.2d 268 (1960)); Marshall v. Jerrico, Inc., 446 U.S. 238, 242, 100 S.Ct. 1610, 64 L.Ed.2d 182 (1980) (The right to procedural due process "entitles a person to an impartial and disinterested tribunal in both civil and criminal cases,” one that "preserves both the appearance and reality of fairness, 'generating the feeling, so important to a popular government, that justice has been done.' ”) (Quoting Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Comm. v. McGrath, 341 U.S. 123, 172, 71 S.Ct. 624, 95 L.Ed. 817 (1951) (Frankfurter, J., concurring) ).
. Villalpando calls attention to a court’s authority to appoint a particular attorney to represent a criminal defendant. State v. Torres, 206 Ariz. 52, 55 n. 3 ¶ 11, 75 P.3d 142, 145 n. 3 (App.2003), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 208 Ariz. 340, 93 P.3d 1056 (2004). The appointment of defense counsel in a criminal case implicates a defendant's constitutional right to counsel, a concern irrelevant to this case.
. The Arizona Supreme Court developed factors to consider when a court is faced with a motion to disqualify opposing counsel: (1) whether the motion is being made for the purposes of harassment; (2) whether the moving party will be damaged if the motion is denied; (3) whether there is an alternative solution or whether the proposed solution is the least damaging possible under the circumstances and (4) whether the possibility of public suspicion will outweigh any benefits that might accrue due to continued representation. Alexander, 141 Ariz. at 165, 685 P.2d at 1317.
. Villalpando posits two scenarios that she insists illustrate how the Scottsdale Prosecutor’s nomination of the Mesa Prosecutor as his successor would culminate in a violation of her due-process rights. In the first of these hypothetical examples, the Mesa Prosecutor would give Villal-pando a "lenient” plea, thus prompting suspicion that the Mesa Prosecutor was selected to make the Scottsdale Prosecutor’s friend’s "problems” "disappear.” In the second hypothetical example, the Scottsdale Prosecutor selects the Mesa Prosecutor because he either knows of or actually requests strenuous prosecution by the Mesa Prosecutor with no leniency and no reduced charge by plea agreement for Villalpando. The motive supposedly would be to have Villalpando removed from her position as a City of Scottsdale civil attorney, thereby creating a vacancy for the Scottsdale Prosecutor who wishes to change positions.
To accept either of these scenarios without a shred of evidentiary support would require us to assume a deliberate breach of the duties and obligations of each of these prosecutors toward the justice system, a conclusion we are unwilling to draw. See State v. Noriega, 142 Ariz. 474, 486, 690 P.2d 775, 787 (1984) (A prosecutor’s refusal to plea bargain due to a personal dislike of the accused’s counsel is conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice which could, under appropriate facts, warrant discipline.), overruled, on other grounds, State v. Burge, 167 Ariz. 25, 804 P.2d 754 (1990). Moreover, Villalpando’s suggestion that she would receive favorable treatment under the first scenario could not be considered a violation of her due-process rights, because she would be receiving a benefit rather than suffering a harm.
. Villalpando maintains that the Scottsdale Prosecutor should have submitted to the justice court a list of four different prosecuting agencies willing to take the case from which list the court would have chosen, perhaps by random selection.
. Villalpando argues that the justice court’s decision agreeing to the substitution of prosecutors was meaningless because it was done “without constitutional analysis.” We disagree. First, Villalpando did not at the time oppose the substitution of the Mesa Prosecutor for the Scottsdale Prosecutor. Second, the substitution was pre sumptively legitimate unless or until the court was presented with a valid reason for not accepting the recommendation. Third, she now has been able to assert her constitutional arguments.
. The opinion in Eastlack was based upon the court's earlier decision in State v. Watkins, 125 Ariz. 570, 611 P.2d 923 (1980), in which the court rejected the argument that a disqualified presiding judge was also disqualified from reassigning the case. "Appellant alleges it was improper, or at least displayed an appearance of impropriety, to permit a judge who has been dismissed for cause to subsequently appoint the judge ultimately presiding at sentencing. Appellant, however, cites no authority for this novel proposition, nor do we choose to adopt such a rule.” Id. at 575, 611 P.2d at 928.
. We do not mean to ignore the principle that a prosecutor owes certain duties of fairness to the judicial system similar to those of a judge. See State v. Polan, 78 Ariz. 253, 261, 278 P.2d 432, 438 (1954) (A prosecutor acts in a semi-judicial capacity and is required to follow principle alone, without bias or prejudice.). Nevertheless, a prosecutor remains an advocate and the defendant’s adversary.
. Villalpando notes that this court has cited Hartgraves with approval. See Corbin v. Broadman, 6 Ariz.App. 436, 433 P.2d 289 (1967). However, this court cited Hartgraves in Corbin for general propositions related to the safeguards of the grand-jury process, see id. at 444, 433 P.2d at 296, not for any notion regarding the process to secure the appointments of successor prosecutors.
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OPINION
BARKER, Judge.
¶ 1 This case requires us to determine when an arbitration clause in a contract of adhesion may be enforced. The trial court refused to enforce the clause here. Because we find that the arbitration clause in this case was neither contrary to appellees’ reasonable expectations nor substantively unconscionable, we reverse.
Facts and Procedural Background
¶2 Appellees, and the class of claimants they seek to represent, each purchased a home from appellants Pulte Home Corporation or Del Webb Communities, Incorporated. The homes were purchased through sales agents: appellants Steve Canning, James McGrath, Chris Lewis, and Pamela Davis. The subdivisions are known as Springfield Lakes and Solera, in Chandler, Arizona. Appellees have alleged they “were not provided with full, complete and accurate disclosures” when they purchased their homes. Specifically, appellees assert that they and the other home purchasers were not told that the homes were in close proximity to an “aerobatic box” used for Federal Aviation Administration pilot training procedures and a jet engine test facility operating twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They allege that these conditions have had a significant adverse impact on their ability to use their homes, consequently causing the value of their homes to diminish. Accordingly, they filed claims for violation of subdivision reporting statutes, breach of contract, consumer fraud, civil racketeering, negligence and negligence per se, fraudulent misrepresentation or concealment, negligent misrepresentation, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, and rescission.
¶3 Appellants moved to dismiss or stay the action and to compel appellees to pursue their claims by arbitration. They relied in the trial court, and also rely here, upon a provision in each of the appellees’ home purchase contracts containing virtually identical language:
Any controversy, claim or dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement or your purchase of the Home (other than claims under the Limited Warranty) shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the Construction Industry Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the Federal Arbitration Act (Title No. 9 of the United States Code) and judgment rendered by an arbitrator(s) may be confirmed, entered and enforced in any court having jurisdiction.
Appellants contended the arbitration clause applies with equal force to claims against any of the appellants. This is so, they argued, because (1) the claims were based upon the same allegations, (2) appellees asserted that appellants had acted in concert, and (3) the individual appellants were agents of the corporate defendants.
¶4 Appellants also argued in the trial court that appellees’ request for class action treatment did not affect their obligation to proceed by arbitration because the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) has Supplementary Rules for Class Arbitrations to accommodate potential class arbitration.
¶ 5 In response to appellants’ motion, ap-pellees did not dispute that, if enforceable, the arbitration clause would apply to their claims against all appellants and did not dispute that treatment as a class action would not be foreclosed by submitting to arbitration. Their response focused entirely upon their contention that the arbitration clause was not enforceable.
¶ 6 Appellees’ enforcement argument is that the arbitration clause is part of a contract of adhesion and is invalid because it violated their reasonable expectations and was unconscionable. They assert their reasonable expectations were contravened by the failure of the arbitration clause to disclose that they were relinquishing the right to a trial by jury and the failure to disclose the costs of arbitration. They further contend that the potentially applicable fees for arbitration through the AAA, as required by the arbitration clause, are substantively oppressive and unconscionable in their own right. Appellees submitted in the trial court virtually identical statements from five of the homeowners to the effect that they were unaware of the arbitration provision when they signed the contract, arbitration had not been explained to them, they did not understand they were waiving the right to trial by jury, they did not understand the high costs and fees for arbitration and could not afford them, and that being forced to pay such costs would prevent them from obtaining any remedy for their injuries.
¶7 The superior court denied appellants’ motion, ruling as follows:
The Court specifically finds that the arbitration clauses in each of the Purchase Agreements ... which are adhesion contracts ... are unenforceable clauses because [they are] contrary to the reasonable expectations of the [appellees] and under the circumstances are unconscionable. The Court specifically finds that the arbitration provision is defective because of the lack of conspicuous and express language of a waiver of the fundamental right to a jury trial [citing Broemmer v. Abortion Services of Phoenix, Ltd., 173 Ariz. 148, 840 P.2d 1013 (1992) ] and does not constitute a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of same ...; and because of the lack of notice that AAA arbitration can involve substantial fees which they must pay and which the Court specifically holds should be included in an arbitration clause (and which in the Court’s view, should also be in bold or other conspicuous type just as the waiver of the right to a jury should be).
A formal order was entered. Appellants timely appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-2101.01(A)(1) (2003).
Discussion
If 8 Appellants contend the trial court erred by denying their motion to compel arbitration on the basis that it violated the appellees’ reasonable expectations and was unconscionable. As discussed below, reasonable expectations and unconscionability have been held by the Arizona Supreme Court to constitute separate theories of relief. Infra ¶ 39. We address some preliminary matters and then address each primary issue in turn.
1. Preliminary Matters
a. Choice of Law
¶ 9 Appellants assert that the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16 (1999) (“FAA”), applies to the arbitration clause in this case and mandates application of the arbitration clause. While we agree that the FAA applies, that statute has been construed to permit the application of state law to void arbitration clauses under certain circumstances. Specifically, the United States Supreme Court has held that states may regulate arbitration clauses “under general contract law principles and they may invalidate an arbitration clause ‘upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.’” Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, 513 U.S. 265, 281, 115 S.Ct. 834, 130 L.Ed.2d 753 (1995) (quoting 9 U.S.C. § 2) (emphasis added). This authority is limited:
What states may not do is decide that a contract is fair enough to enforce all its basic terms (price, service, credit), but not fair enough to enforce its arbitration clause. The Act makes any such state policy unlawful, for that kind of policy would place arbitration clauses on an unequal ‘footing’ directly contrary to the Act’s language and Congress’ intent.
Id.
¶ 10 Because of this policy, “[generally applicable contract defenses, such as fraud, duress, or unconscionability, may be applied to invalidate arbitration agreements without contravening § 2” of the FAA. Doctor’s Assocs., Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681, 687, 116 S.Ct. 1652, 134 L.Ed.2d 902 (1996). Courts may not, however, “invalidate arbitration agreements under state laws applicable only to arbitration provisions.” Id.
¶ 11 Accordingly, Arizona contract law may be applied if it is contract law applicable to contracts generally and not simply arbitration clauses. Both the doctrines of reasonable expectations and substantive un-conscionability are such doctrines. Darner Motor Sales, Inc. v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co., 140 Ariz. 383, 392, 682 P.2d 388, 397 (1984) (“In adopting this rule [of reasonable expectations] we do not create a special field of contract law____”); Maxwell v. Fid. Fin. Servs., Inc., 184 Ariz. 82, 87-88, 907 P.2d 51, 56-57 (1995) (“This court previously has noted the rule that ‘reasonable expectations’ and unconscionability are two distinct grounds for invalidating or limiting the enforcement of a contract____”). Arizona law pertaining to reasonable expectations and substantive unconscionability is applicable here.
b. Enforceability of the Arbitration Clause as to the Claims Against All Appellants
¶ 12 Appellants argue that the arbitration clause in this case applies to require arbitration of appellees’ claims against all appellants. Appellees contend that appellants have raised this issue for the first time on appeal and urge us to refuse to address it.
¶ 13 The record demonstrates that appellants did make this argument in the superior court in their motion to compel arbitration. Appellees’ response to that motion did not dispute the point. The trial court was therefore justified in concluding that the question was not in dispute. We do not find it significant, as appellees suggest, that the trial court’s minute entry failed to address it. Moreover, having not disputed appellants’ argument in the trial court proceedings, appel-lees have waived any challenge to it on appeal. ABC Supply, Inc. v. Edwards, 191 Ariz. 48, 50, 952 P.2d 286, 288 (App.1996). Thus, the arbitration clause, if enforceable, is applicable to all appellants.
c. The Impact of Class Action Issues
¶ 14 Appellants also assert that the enforceable nature of the arbitration agreement is not affected by appellees’ desire to obtain class action treatment for their claims. Appellees did not dispute this contention in the trial court proceedings when appellants raised it in their motion to compel arbitration. Here, they assert that we need not address the issue as, they contend, costs incurred on an individual basis are sufficient to render the clause unenforceable.
¶ 15 Appellants represented to the trial court, and appellees did not deny, that the AAA has adopted rules for class arbitrations to make possible the administration of potential class claims in arbitration. Further, the United States Supreme Court has recently held that, under an arbitration clause with “sweeping language concerning the scope of questions committed to arbitration, the question whether the parties intended to have class action treatment available in arbitration is a question of contract interpretation and arbitration procedures which was to be resolved by the arbitrator.” Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444, 453, 123 S.Ct. 2402, 156 L.Ed.2d 414 (2003). The breadth of the arbitration clause in this case, supra ¶ 3, matches that of the clause in Bazzle: “All disputes, claims, or controversies arising from or relating to this contract or the relationships which result from this contract ... shall be resolved by binding arbitration----” Id. at 448, 123 S.Ct. 2402. Thus, we do not find that the presence of a potential class renders this arbitration clause unenforceable.
2. Reasonable Expectations
¶ 16 We consider that reasonable-expectations claims may present questions of both fact and law. See Averett v. Farmers Ins. Co. of Ariz., 177 Ariz. 531, 534, 869 P.2d 505, 508 (1994) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Contracts (“Restatement”) § 211 cmt. f (1981)) (remanding for fact finder to determine if contract was “beyond the range of reasonable expectations”); Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co. v. White, 204 Ariz. 500, 507, ¶ 19, 65 P.3d 449, 456 (App.2003) (finding “no facts to support a ‘reasonable expectations’ revision of [an] insurance policy”). We must defer, absent clear error, to the factual findings upon which the trial court’s conclusions are based. In re Estate of Jung, 210 Ariz. 202, 204, ¶ 11, 109 P.3d 97, 99 (App.2005) (“We are bound by a trial court’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous.”). We review the trial court’s conclusions of law, however, de novo. Id.
¶ 17 In this case, the trial court found that the arbitration clause violated the doctrine of reasonable expectations on two separate grounds: (1) that the waiver of a jury trial was not explicitly referenced and “knowingly” made and (2) the lack of notice as to what the trial court considered to be substantial fees for the arbitration that appellees must pay. We address in this section the reasonable-expectations claim as to the waiver of jury trial. We take up the reasonable-expectations claim as to the amount of costs after we address substantive unconscionability.
a. Arizona’s Reasonable-Expectations Doctrine
¶ 18 The seminal case in Arizona as to reasonable expectations is Darner Motor Sales, Inc. v. Universal Underwriters Insurance Co., 140 Ariz. 383, 682 P.2d 388. In Darner our supreme court adopted the doctrine of reasonable expectations as set forth in Restatement § 211:
Standardized Agreements
(1) Except as stated in Subsection (3), where a party to an agreement signs or otherwise manifests assent to a writing and has reason to believe that like writings are regularly used to embody terms of agreements of the same type, he adopts the writing as an integrated agreement with respect to the terms included in the writing.
(2) Such a writing is interpreted wherever reasonable as treating alike all those similarly situated, without regard to their knowledge or understanding of the standard terms of the writing.
(3) Where the other party has reason to believe that the party manifesting such assent would not do so if he knew that the writing contained a particular term, the term is not part of the agreement.
Id. at 391, 682 P.2d at 396. As set forth in § 211(1), Darner begins from the proposition that when a contract with standardized terms is signed, the signing party “adopts the writing ... with respect to the terms included in the writing.” Id. As set forth in § 211(3), it is only when “the other party has reason to believe” that the signing party would not accept the term that the term may be struck from the agreement. Id. Under Darner, therefore, the arbitration clause in this case is presumptively valid and enforceable, whether or not any appellee read it or appreciated its full effect, unless the reasonable-expectations limitation set forth in § 211(3) applies. Accord Broemmer, 173 Ariz. at 151, 840 P.2d at 1016 (“Our conclusion that the contract was one of adhesion is not, of itself, determinative of its enforceability.”).
¶ 19 In defining the scope of the subsection 3 limitation, Darner expressly held that terms are beyond the range of reasonable expectation if one party to the contract “has reason to believe that the [other party] would not have accepted the agreement if he had known that the agreement contained the particular term.” 140 Ariz. at 391-92, 682 P.2d at 396-97 (quoting Restatement § 211 cmt. f). This reason to believe may be (1) shown “by the prior negotiations,” (2) “inferred from the circumstances,” (3) “inferred from the fact that the term is bizarre or oppressive,” (4) proved because the term “eviscerates the non-standard terms explicitly agreed to,” or (5) proved if the term “eliminates the dominant purpose of the transaction.” Id. at 392, 682 P.2d at 397 (quoting Restatement § 211 cmt. f). The Darner court further held that the doctrine of reasonable expectations (6) “requires drafting of provisions which can be understood if the customer does attempt to check on his rights.” Id. at 394, 682 P.2d at 399. We are also required to consider (7) any other facts relevant to the issue of what appellees reasonably expected in this contract. Id. at 393, 682 P.2d at 398 (quoting Smith v. Melson, Inc., 135 Ariz. 119, 121, 659 P.2d 1264, 1266 (1983) (“A contract should be read in light of the parties’ intentions as reflected by their language and in view of all the circumstances.”)).
b. Applying the Reasonable-Expectations Doctrine
¶ 20 We use the seven factors above as a guide in determining whether the clause here either violates the adhering parties’ reasonable expectations or creates a fact question requiring submission to a finder of fact. As to factor (1) “prior negotiations,” there are no inferences or facts to suggest that any appellee believed there would or would not be an arbitration clause in the contracts. The same holds true as to factor (2), what we can “infer[ ] from the circumstances.” These contracts were for the sale of homes. There is no record of any discussion or circumstances that go to the presence or absence of an arbitration clause in the contracts.
¶21 As to factor (3), a question as to reasonable expectations may be inferred if the terms at issue are “bizarre or oppressive.” Id. There is a strong public policy, both federal and state, favoring arbitration. See Moses H. Cone Mem’l Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 24, 103 S.Ct. 927, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983) (“[The FAA] is a congressional declaration of a liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements, notwithstanding any state substantive or procedural policies to the contrary.”); Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Mandile, 192 Ariz. 216, 220, 963 P.2d 295, 299 (App.1997) (“Arizona has enacted the Uniform Arbitration Act____Our public policy strongly favors arbitration as an expeditious and relatively inexpensive method of resolving disputes.”).
¶ 22 We acknowledge that some arbitration clauses may contain terms that are “bizarre or oppressive.” See Stevens/Leinweber/Sul-lens, Inc. v. Holm Dev. and Mgmt., Inc., 165 Ariz. 25, 30, 795 P.2d 1308, 1313 (App.1990) (setting aside an arbitration provision that gave one party the absolute option of selecting either arbitration or litigation and of reconsidering its choice at any time prior to final judgment, finding it so “grossly inequitable” as to run “counter to the philosophy of encouraging arbitration”). However, there is nothing unusual about the arbitration clause at issue here that would create a question of fact on whether the clause is “bizarre or oppressive.”
¶23 Factor (4) requires us to consider whether the terms at issue “eviscerate[ ] the non-standard terms explicitly agreed to.” Darner, 140 Ariz. at 392, 682 P.2d at 397 (quoting Restatement § 211 cmt. f). Appel-lees have made no such allegation. Factor (5) is a related inquiry: whether the terms would “eliminate[] the dominant purpose of the transaction.” Id. The dominant purpose of the transaction in this case is the purchase of a home. The arbitration clause here does not undercut this basic purpose. The Aver-ett case, 177 Ariz. 531, 869 P.2d 505, illustrates this point. In Averett, an insured entered an insurance contract, purchasing increased limits to $500,000. Id. at 533, 869 P.2d at 507. An exclusion left the limits for family members at the prior, standard level of $30,000. Id. at 532, 869 P.2d at 506. The dominant purpose of the contract in Averett was to provide increased insurance coverage, but the clause at issue in Averett eliminated that purpose as to family members. Id. at 532-34, 869 P.2d at 506-08. The supreme court accordingly remanded for a fact finder to consider whether the clause was outside the insured’s reasonable expectations. Id. at 535, 869 P.2d at 509. Here, the presence or absence of an arbitration clause does not eliminate the dominant purpose of the transaction: the purchase of a home.
¶ 24 Factor (6) is whether the clause “can be understood if the customer does attempt to check on his rights.” Darner, 140 Ariz. at 394, 682 P.2d at 399. The arbitration clause specifically refers to “the Construction Industry Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the Federal Arbitration Act.” Had there been any question about whether those rules permitted a jury trial, simply reviewing them would have answered that question.
¶ 25 Finally, factor (7) is whether there are any other relevant facts not included in the prior categories. The underlying premise of a reasonable-expectations argument is a claim by the party seeking to invoke the doctrine that the party would not have entered the contract had he or she known the clause was present. Though not dispositive, there is no affidavit asserting that, had ap-pellees known of the arbitration clause in the contracts, they would not have entered the purchase contracts for the homes.
¶26 Considering all of the factors, it is clear to us on this record that the reasonable-expectations doctrine does not prohibit application of the arbitration clause in these contracts. Appellees, however, attempt to avoid the conclusion that they did not satisfy the Darner criteria by relying on Broemmer, 173 Ariz. 148, 840 P.2d 1013. Appellees claim that the language in Broemmer referring to the lack of a “conspicuous or explicit waiver of the fundamental right to a jury trial or any evidence that such rights were knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived” means that the arbitration clause here was outside their reasonable expectations. Id. at 152, 840 P.2d at 1017. Appel-lees advance two related arguments: First, that any arbitration clause must conspicuously or explicitly waive the right to jury trial in order to be valid, and second, that any waiver of the right to jury trial must be knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently made. We reject these arguments.
c. Must Jury Rights Be Conspicuously or Explicitly Waived?
¶ 27 Appellees’ first argument is that the lack of a conspicuous and explicit waiver of their jury trial rights removed the arbitration clause from their reasonable expectations. As noted above, appellees do not assert that, as a matter of fact, they did not understand that an agreement to arbitrate all disputes was a substitution of arbitration for court proceedings. Their factual claim was that they were not aware that the contract contained such a provision. Indeed, an agreement to submit disputes to arbitration is necessarily an agreement to forego dispute resolution by a jury. Madden v. Kaiser Found. Hosp., 17 Cal.3d 699, 131 Cal.Rptr. 882, 552 P.2d 1178, 1187 (1976). As the Madden court observed, “to predicate the legality of a consensual arbitration agreement upon the parties’ express waiver of jury trial would be as artificial as it would be disastrous.” Id.; accord Snowden v. Check Point Check Cashing, 290 F.3d 631, 637 (4th Cir.2002) (“Common sense dictates that we reject this argument. ‘[T]he loss of the right to a jury trial is a necessary and fairly obvious consequence of an agreement to arbitrate.’ ”) (quoting Sydnor v. Conseco Fin. Servicing Corp., 252 F.3d 302, 307 (4th Cir. 2001)); Pierson v. Dean, Witter, Reynolds, Inc., 742 F.2d 334, 339 (7th Cir.1984) (“[Parties] cannot use their failure to inquire about the ramifications of [the arbitration] clause to avoid the consequences of agreed-to arbitration.”). Thus, we interpret the arbitration clause as an effective statement that the right to jury trial will not be afforded.
¶ 28 Returning to the claim that appellees were unaware of the clause, we note that fact questions on a reasonable-expectations theory may be raised “if the adhering party never had an opportunity to read the term, or if it is illegible or otherwise hidden from view.” Darner, 140 Ariz. at 392, 682 P.2d at 397 (quoting Restatement § 211 cmt. f); see Rocz v. Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc., 154 Ariz. 462, 466, 743 P.2d 971, 975 (App.1987) (noting customer was bound by clearly worded arbitration clause whether or not she read it). Here, however, the record shows that the arbitration clause began with a bold “ARBITRATION.” The font size for the text was neither abnormally small nor different from the other contract provisions. The page containing the arbitration provision was initialed by appellees. The page contained a total of only eight paragraphs on one of the contracts; as to the other contract the pertinent page only contained seven paragraphs. Thus, the arbitration clause in these cases was not obscure.
¶ 29 Accordingly, we conclude that the lack of a conspicuous and explicit waiver of the right to jury trial does not mean the arbitration clause was beyond appellees’ reasonable expectations. The test from Damer must be applied. The arbitration clause in the contracts here passes that test.
d. Must a Jury Trial Be “Knowingly” Waived in a Civil Setting?
¶ 30 Appellees’ second argument is that the waiver of jury trial rights in this setting must be made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. It is well established in federal jurisprudence that a test of waiver applied to other constitutional rights, i.e., that waiver be shown to be an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege, is not applied to the right to a jury trial in a civil action. See, for examination of federal authorities, 9 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2321 (2d ed.1995), citing, inter alia, U.S. v. Moore, 340 U.S. 616, 621, 71 S.Ct. 524, 95 L.Ed. 582 (1951) (failure to demand jury trial in accordance with requirements of civil rule is waiver). As the authors of the treatise explain, “[w]aiver by failure to make a timely demand is complete even though it was inadvertent and unintended and regardless of explanation or excuse.” 9 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2321 (2d ed.1995).
¶ 31 Arizona law is in accord. Obtaining a jury trial in civil litigation is not automatic. As in federal courts, waivers are routinely imposed for failure of a party to comply with the procedure required to request a jury trial. Pursuant to Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 38(b), a jury trial must be demanded “in writing at any time after the commencement of the action, but not later than the date of setting the case for trial or ten days after a motion to set the case for trial is served, whichever first occurs.” Parties who wish to preserve the right must take affirmative action, and failure to act constitutes waiver. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 38(d); Johnson v. Mofford, 193 Ariz. 540, 547, ¶ 36, 975 P.2d 130, 137 (App.1998) (“The right to a jury trial is waived by failing to object to a proceeding without a jury and failing to request a jury.”). The right to a jury trial may also be waived by failure to appear and participate in mandatory, court-supervised, arbitration. See Ariz. R. Civ. P. 74(k); Lane v. City of Tempe, 202 Ariz. 306, 307-08, ¶¶ 7-11, 44 P.3d 986, 987-88 (2002).
¶ 32 The United States Supreme Court has explained that, “[ajlmost without exception, the requirement of a knowing and intelligent waiver has been applied only to those rights that the Constitution guarantees,” at or before trial, “to a criminal defendant in order to preserve a fair trial.” Schneckloth v. Busta-mante, 412 U.S. 218, 237, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). “Our cases do not reflect an uncritical demand for a knowing and intelligent waiver in every situation where a person has failed to invoke a constitutional protection.” Id. at 235, 93 S.Ct. 2041. In Schneckloth, for example, the court held that the requirement of a “knowing and intelligent waiver” does not apply to a determination whether consent to search is voluntary for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 241, 93 S.Ct. 2041. In the context of procedural due process rights, the Court described its cases as indicating only that “every reasonable presumption should be indulged against ... waiver” and that waiver would not be presumed. Id. at 235 n. 16, 93 S.Ct. 2041 (citation omitted).
¶ 33 Thus, we reject appellees’ arguments that an arbitration clause can only be effective through knowing and voluntary consent. The arbitration clause here is consistent with appellees’ reasonable expectations under Arizona contract law.
e. But what about Broemmer?
¶34 Appellees argue, however, that the Arizona Supreme Court’s language in Bro-emmer requires us to strike the arbitration clause. We disagree.
¶ 35 In Broemmer the court used a reasonable-expectations theory to strike an “Agreement to Arbitrate” signed prior to a patient undergoing a clinical abortion. 173 Ariz. at 149, 840 P.2d at 1014. Part of the reason for the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision was the fact that “there was no conspicuous or explicit waiver of the fundamental right to a jury or any evidence that such rights were knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived.” Id. at 152, 840 P.2d at 1017. Ap-pellees focus on this language to argue that Broemmer adopted a rule that any waiver of a civil jury trial must be “knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently” made in order for an arbitration agreement to be upheld. This was not the holding in Broemmer. Broem-mer expressly rejected such a rule. It stated:
[W]e decline the invitation to write a sweeping, legislative rule concerning all agreements to arbitrate. Instead, we decide this case.
Id. at 153, 840 P.2d at 1018. Thus, Broem-mer did not announce a new rule supplanting Darner and the doctrine of reasonable expectations set forth therein.
¶ 36 Broemmer is also distinguishable on the facts. Broemmer did not invalidate the “Agreement to Arbitrate” in that case solely on the grounds that it did not contain an express waiver of the right to a jury trial. Although the court referred to that factor, Id. at 152, 840 P.2d at 1017, the case involved other significant and complicating factors that are not present here. First, the party seeking to set aside the arbitration clause was a young woman claiming to be the victim of medical malpractice. Id. at 149-50, 840 P.2d at 1014-15. She was seeking an abortion and experiencing great stress at the time the arbitration agreement had been signed. Id. Second, the Broemmer court was particularly impressed by what it found to be an unfair term in the arbitration clause: the requirement that the arbitrator be a physician in the same medical specialty as the doctor rendering the medical services to her. Id. at 152, 840 P.2d at 1017. Third, the Broemmer court found reason to question the circumstances under which the agreement was signed, as a condition to receive medical care and without explanation. Id. at 151, 840 P.2d at 1016.
¶ 37 In this ease, the arbitration clause was part of a commercial transaction. The factors of potential physical injury, an emotionally charged setting for the signing of the contract, and an arbitrator arguably biased toward the party who drafted the clause, are not present. Broemmer did not replace Darner as applied to arbitration agreements. Broemmer applied the principles from Darner and found the “Agreement to Arbitrate” violated those principles. Broemmer did not establish a “sweeping legislative rule concerning all agreements to arbitrate.” Id. at 153, 840 P.2d at 1018. Applying the principles from Darner to the facts here results in an enforceable arbitration clause. Thus, Broemmer and Darner are both consistent with upholding the arbitration agreement in this case.
f. Summary re Reasonable Expectations
¶ 38 Arizona’s reasonable-expectations doctrine, as expressed in Darner and its progeny, does not mandate separate reasonable-expectations standards as to arbitration clauses or jury trials. Broemmer did not create a new rule applicable to all standardized contracts with arbitration clauses. It applied Darner. We likewise decline to adopt a sweeping rale that precludes application of an arbitration clause that is consistent with Darner and the doctrine of reasonable expectations. We are not at liberty to create a separate “reasonable expectations” rule for arbitration clauses. Were we to do so we would run afoul of Supreme Court decisions and the FAA. See Mlied-Bruce Terminix Cos., 513 U.S. at 281, 115 S.Ct. 834 (“What States may not do is decide that a contract is fair enough to enforce all its basic terms (price, service, credit), but not fair enough to enforce its arbitration clause.”).
3. Substantive Unconscionability
¶39 Our supreme court has explained “that ‘reasonable expectations’ and unconscionability are two distinct grounds for invalidating or limiting the enforcement of a contract.” Maxwell, 184 Ariz. at 88, 907 P.2d at 57. Even when contract provisions are “ ‘consistent with the reasonable expectations of the party they are unenforceable if they are oppressive or unconscionable.” Id. (quoting Broemmer, 173 Ariz. at 151, 840 P.2d at 1016). “Substantive unconseionability concerns the actual terms of the contract and examines the relative fairness of the obligations assumed.” Maxwell, 184 Ariz. at 89, 907 P.2d at 58 (citation omitted). Factors showing substantive unconscionability include “contract terms so one-sided as to oppress or unfairly surprise an innocent party, an overall imbalance in the obligations and rights imposed by the bargain, and significant cost-price disparity.” Id.
¶ 40 “[T]he determination of unconscionability is to be made by the court as a matter of law.” Id. at 87, 907 P.2d at 56. But a court “cannot make its determination without first making factual findings.” Id. Thus, we will defer to the trial court’s factual findings, if any, but review the determination of unconscionability and any conclusions de novo.
¶41 In Green Tree Financial Corp.-Alabama v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79, 121 S.Ct. 513, 148 L.Ed.2d 373 (2000), Randolph wished to have nullified an arbitration clause. She contended that the “arbitration agreement’s silence with respect to costs and fees creat[ed] a risk that she [would] be required to bear prohibitive arbitration costs ... and thereby force[d] her to forego” her claims. Id. at 90, 121 S.Ct. 513. The Court recognized that the existence of large arbitration costs could preclude a litigant from effectively vindicating her right, but found the record absent of any proof of those costs. Id. at 81, 121 S.Ct. 513. Thus, the Court deemed the “risk” of prohibitive costs “too speculative to justify the invalidation of [the] arbitration agreement.” Id. at 91, 121 S.Ct. 513.
¶ 42 The Court has made it clear that arbitration is appropriate only “[s]o long as the prospective litigant effectively may vindicate” his or her rights in the arbitral forum. Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20, 28, 111 S.Ct. 1647, 114 L.Ed.2d 26 (1991) (discussing statutory rights). As such, arbitration costs are directly related to a litigant’s ability to pursue such a claim. Blair v. Scott Specialty Gases, 283 F.3d 595, 605 (3rd Cir.2002). Arizona courts explain that the primary purpose of arbitration is to provide an inexpensive and speedy final disposition of disputes, as an alternative to litigation. Canon Sch. Dist., No. 50 v. W.E.S. Const. Co., Inc., 180 Ariz. 148, 152, 882 P.2d 1274, 1278 (1994); Rancho Pescado, Inc. v. N.W. Mut. Life Ins. Co., 140 Ariz. 174, 182-83, 680 P.2d 1235, 1243-44 (App.1984) (holding that the “primary attraction of arbitration” is providing an “expeditious and inexpensive method of dispute resolution”).
¶ 43 In Randolph, the Supreme Court adopted a case-by-case approach to determining whether fees imposed under an arbitration agreement deny a potential litigant the opportunity to vindicate his or her rights. 531 U.S. at 92, 121 S.Ct. 513. It also placed the burden upon the party seeking to invalidate the agreement to demonstrate that arbitration would be prohibitively expensive. Id.
¶44 Additionally, Randolph dictates that arbitration agreements are enforceable in the absence of individualized evidence to establish that the costs of arbitration are prohibitive. Id. at 91-92, 121 S.Ct. 513. “To invalidate the [arbitration] agreement on that [speculative] basis would undermine the liberal federal policy favoring arbitration.” Id. at 91, 121 S.Ct. 513 (citation and internal quotation omitted); see also Sydnor, 252 F.3d at 306 (“[F]ailure of an arbitration agreement to address costs and fees does not alone make the agreement unenforceable.”). Arizona has the same policy favoring arbitration. See A.R.S. § 12-1501 (stating that arbitration agreements are generally enforceable).
¶45 Appellees represented to the superior court that costs to proceed as the arbitration clause required, under the Construction Industry Arbitration Rules of the AAA, would require an initial filing fee of $6,000 for claims between $500,000 and $1,000,000, plus a case service fee of $2,500. Applying the rules of class arbitration would trigger an additional $3,250 filing fee. Claims may be heard by one or three arbitrators at the discretion of the AAA, and these arbitrators must be compensated at their stated rate for conference and study time (a rate not part of the record). In addition, parties to arbitration must pay for rental of a hearing room. Appellees also argued that, depending on the ultimate size of the class and whether punitive damages were recoverable, the actual amount at issue could be much larger, which would affect the arbitration fees. Appellants did not dispute the fee schedule set out by appellees. Thus, we accept the amounts that are of record as accurate.
¶ 46 Appellees’ claims are for amounts between $500,000 and $1,000,000. The costs of record are small when compared to the amount they seek to recover and compared to the amount they would likely have to pay in litigation expenses if arbitration were not available.
¶ 47 The affidavits submitted by the five named appellees stated they could not afford the cost of arbitration, either because they are retired and live on a “modest fixed income” or self-employed and live on a “low fixed income.” In those affidavits, appellees further stated that a cost of “even a thousand dollars” for arbitration would disallow them from bringing the lawsuit. The affidavits offer no specific facts regarding appellees’ financial situations, only eonclusory statements. There is no showing of assets or why arbitration costs would be a hardship, let alone a prohibitive hardship as required by Randolph, 531 U.S. at 91-92, 121 S.Ct. 513. Also, appellees ignore the fact that the rules of arbitration applicable here allow for the deferral or reduction of the administrative fees associated with arbitration. The applicable AAA rule provides that [“t]he AAA may, in the event of extreme hardship on the part of any party, defer or reduce the administrative fees.” AAA Construction Industry Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures R.50 (2003).
¶ 48 The appellees who provided affidavits assert that even $1,000 in costs would preclude them from arbitrating their case. Ap-pellees do not explain how they expect to litigate (as opposed to arbitrate) claims of $500,000 to $1,000,000 for less than $1,000 in costs. One obvious possibility is that an attorney would take the case on a contingency basis and advance costs. That same possibility would apply to arbitration.
¶49 On this record, appellees have not met their burden of proving arbitration will be prohibitively expensive. Randolph, 531 U.S. at 92, 121 S.Ct. 513. They have not shown that any arbitration costs or fees at all will be incurred, let alone prohibitively expensive ones, as they may qualify for deferral or waiver of all fees. They do not even show arbitration will put them in any worse position than litigation in allowing them to pursue their claims. As such, the allegation that the arbitration clause is substantively unconscionable on this record is speculative at best. Enforcement of the arbitration agreement under such circumstances does not “oppress or unfairly surprise” appellees and result in “an overall imbalance in the obligations and rights imposed by the bargain.” Maxwell, 184 Ariz. at 89, 907 P.2d at 58. The arbitration clause here is not substantively unconscionable.
4. Reasonable Expectations and the Arbitration Fee Schedule
¶ 50 Though a different legal theory, appellees’ reasonable expectations argument based on the allegedly prohibitive arbitration fees also fails. We apply the seven factors from Darner that we set forth earlier. Supra ¶ 19.
¶ 51 As to factors (1) and (2), there were no prior negotiations or circumstances at the time of the contract that refer to the presence or absence of fees for arbitration. As to factor (3), the fee schedule is neither “bizarre or oppressive.” The overall fee schedule itself is a graduated one, allowing for fees as low as $125 for a claim of $10,000 or less and $375 for a claim of $75,000 or less. AAA Supplementary Procedures for the Resolution of Consumer-Related Disputes C-8 (2003). As discussed, the fee schedule also contains a hardship provision to defer or waive all or part of the administrative fees and costs for a particular claimant.
¶ 52 As to factors (4) and (5), the fee schedule does not undercut any “nonstandard terms explicitly agreed to” or “eliminate the dominant purpose of the transaction,” which in this case is the purchase of a home. As to factor (6), the fee schedule is clearly available if the signing party attempted “to check on his rights.” And, as to the broad category (7) factors, there is nothing in the record that shows that appellants, at the time the contract was entered, had “reason to believe” appellees would not have signed the contract had they known of the potential for arbitration fees.
¶ 53 The fee schedule in this case, on the record, complies with Arizona’s law of reasonable expectations.
5. Attorneys’ Fees on Appeal
¶ 54 Appellants have requested an award of attorneys’ fees on appeal pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-341.0KA) (2003), under which fees may be awarded to the prevailing party in a matter arising out of contract. In the exercise of our discretion, we decline to award fees. Appellants may recover their appellate costs pursuant to Arizona Rule of Civil Appellate Procedure 21(a).
Conclusion
¶ 55 For the reasons above, we reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion. The arbitration clause here is enforceable.
CONCURRING: MAURICE PORTLEY and SUSAN A. EHRLICH, JJ.
. We refer to all appellants collectively as "appellants” unless the context otherwise requires.
. The only difference between the arbitration clause in the different contracts is that contracts in the Solera subdivision included a reference to arbitration of any dispute relating to "purchase or construction” of the home. This difference does not affect our analysis.
. The AAA is a "non-profit public service organization," that “assists in the design and administration of dispute resolution systems.” Cooper v. MRM Inv. Co., 367 F.3d 493, 497 n. 1 (6th Cir.2004).
. Citing Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444, 123 S.Ct. 2402, 156 L.Ed.2d 414 (2003), appellants also asserted in the trial court that it was for the arbitrator to determine whether the arbitration provisions in appellees’ contracts permitted treatment of the dispute as a class action.
. Appellees contend alternatively that the trial court erred by denying the motion with respect to all appellees when the record contained no information of any kind to support a finding of financial hardship for any but five of the appel-lees. Though we address the sufficiency of information as to the five, infra ¶¶ 47-49, we need not address the alternative issue as we reverse on other grounds.
. The pertinent language of § 2 of the FAA is similar to the Arizona statute. Arizona law provides that
A written agreement to submit any existing controversy to arbitration or a provision in a written contract to submit to arbitration any controversy thereafter arising between the parties is valid, enforceable and irrevocable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.
A.R.S. § 12-1501 (2003) (emphasis added). Section 2 of the FAA is as follows:
A written provision in any maritime transaction or a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce to settle by arbitration a controversy thereafter arising out of such contract or transaction, or the refusal to perform the whole or any part thereof, or an agreement in writing to submit to arbitration an existing controversy arising out of such a contract, transaction, or refusal, shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.
. The full text of comment f is as follows:
Although customers typically adhere to standardized agreements and are bound by them without even appearing to know the standard terms in detail, they are not bound to unknown terms which are beyond the range of reasonable expectation. A debtor who delivers a check to his creditor with the amount blank does not authorize the insertion of an infinite figure. Similarly, a party who adheres to the other party’s standard terms does not assent to a term if the other party has reason to believe that the adhering party would not have accepted the agreement if he had known that the agreement contained the particular term. Such a belief or assumption may be shown by the prior negotiations or inferred from the circumstances. Reason to believe may be inferred from the fact that the term is bizarre or oppressive, from the fact that it eviscerates the non-standard terms explicitly agreed to, or from the fact that it eliminates the dominant purpose of the transaction. The inference is reinforced if the adhering party never had an opportunity to read the term, or if it is illegible or otherwise hidden from view. This rule is closely related to the policy against unconscionable terms and the rule of interpretation against the draftsman.
. This may include, as we reference below, infra ¶ 28, the physical size and location of the terms in the contract document.
. The documents are available publicly, on-line, at American Arbitration Ass’n, Rules and Procedures, http://www.adr.org /RuiesProcedures and FindLaw, Laws: Cases and Codes: U.S.Code: Title 9: Section 1, http://findlaw .com/casecode /uscodes/9/Chapt erst'1/sections /section — l.html, respectively, (last visited Sept. 6, 2005).
. In Rocz, this court held that an arbitration agreement was not outside reasonable expectations for a customer account with a securities dealer and that the customer was presumed to have consented absent any contract ambiguity and “absent oppressive or unconscionable terms.” 154 Ariz. at 466-67, 743 P.2d at 975-76.
. The agreement in Randolph provided "no indication of the rules under which arbitration [would] proceed or the costs,” and there was no indication in the record that Randolph’s claim would be arbitrated under any consumer-protective scheme. 531 U.S. at 94, 121 S.Ct. 513 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting).
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OPINION
PELANDER, Chief Judge.
¶ 1 The Pinal County Sheriffs Department (PCSD) terminated appellee Richard Serb’s employment as a PCSD detention officer after he assaulted a fully restrained inmate. Serb appealed to the Pinal County Employee Merit System Commission (“Commission”) pursuant to A.R.S. § 11-356(B). After an evidentiary hearing, the Commission overturned PCSD’s termination decision, without imposing any other disciplinary measure, and granted Serb’s request for reinstatement with full back pay and benefits. PCSD then filed this action for judicial review. See AR.S. §§ 11-356(D), 12-901 to 12-914. Based on its administrative review of the record, the superior court affirmed the Commission’s decision and awarded attorney fees to Serb. On appeal, appellant Pinal County argues the Commission erred in revoking PCSD’s disciplinary action. We agree and, therefore, reverse the decisions of the superi- or court and the Commission.
BACKGROUND
¶2 Although the material facts are undisputed, as the parties acknowledged at oral argument in this court, we review the evidence adduced at the hearing and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to upholding the Commission’s decision. See Rios Moreno v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 178 Ariz. 365, 367, 873 P.2d 703, 705 (App.1994). In August 2002, Serb was on duty in the Pinal County Jail when he observed an inmate sliding a note under the door of a cell. When Serb ordered him to stop, the inmate cursed at him, walked to another cell, and slid another note under the door. Serb then ordered the inmate to “lock down” by returning to his cell and closing the door. The inmate again cursed at Serb, who repeated the order to “lock down.” The inmate then started walking away from his cell, so Serb left his desk to meet him. The inmate continued cursing but returned to his cell and slammed the door closed “so hard that it popped back open.”
¶ 3 Serb entered the cell, and the inmate took “an aggressive stance.” Serb placed him in handcuffs, took him to the “attorney booth,” and went back to check on the rest of the unit. While in the “attorney booth,” the inmate kicked and banged on the door and was “verbally abusive” to officers walking past. When Serb and another officer went in to talk to the inmate, he continued his “verbal abuse.” The inmate again made an “aggressive move,” and the officers restrained him. They took the inmate to the “multi purpose room” and put him in a “restraint chair,” leaving one hand free.
¶ 4 Another officer later reported to Serb that the inmate had removed some screws from a nearby electrical outlet. Serb and his sergeant went to the room, took the screws from the inmate, and restrained his other hand. Serb told the inmate he would be charged with destruction of property, and the inmate continued cursing at Serb. Serb then told the inmate, “You are not very smart, are you?” The inmate responded, ‘Well, you are not either.” Serb replied, “Yeah, but the difference between me and you is I go home everyday.” The inmate then said, “You’re going home to that f* * * * * * b* * * :|: wife of yours.” Serb then slapped the inmate across the face while he was still in full restraints. According to another officer who witnessed the incident, Serb walked out the door of the room, “put his hands up on the wall for a couple seconds, turned, [and] walked back into the room.” He then removed either his duty belt or “belt keeper,” threw it down, and stated, “Let this mother f* * * * * out of the chair and see how bad he really is.”
¶ 5 Serb’s sergeant ordered him out of the room, and shortly thereafter Serb reported to his superiors the fact that he had struck the inmate. Serb testified that the inmate’s comment about his wife had “hit the wrong button at that moment in time” because she had significant health problems and on “[t]hat particular day [he] was worried about her.” After an internal affairs investigation, PCSD charged Serb with violations of the Pinal County Employee Uniform Merit Rules and the Pinal County Sheriffs Discipline Policy Manual and General Orders, and terminated his employment.
¶ 6 At the conclusion of its hearing, the Commission (by a three to one vote, with the fifth member abstaining) rejected the termination and reinstated Serb to his position. This appeal followed the superior court’s af-firmance of that decision.
DISCUSSION
¶ 7 The county contends that in reviewing PCSD’s decision to fire Serb, “[t]he Merit Commission and Superior Court failed to apply the required deferential standard of review.” The county also maintains “[t]he Merit Commission had no authority to revoke the discipline.” We review de novo the superior court’s ruling affirming the Commission’s decision and “may substitute our opinion for that of the superior court because we are reviewing the same record.” See M & M Auto Storage Pool, Inc. v. Chemical Waste Mgmh, Inc., 164 Ariz. 139, 143, 791 P.2d 665, 669 (App.1990); see also Pima County v. Pima County Merit Sys. Comm’n, 189 Ariz. 566, 569, 944 P.2d 508, 511 (App. 1997) (Mathis) (absent trial de novo in superior court, “same standards of review apply on appeal from the superior court to this court”).
¶8 We also review de novo the administrative decision to determine “whether the Merit Commission acted illegally, arbitrarily, or capriciously, or whether it abused its discretion.” Id; see also Maricopa County v. Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. 367, 370, 723 P.2d 716, 719 (App.1986). In making that determination, we focus on and independently review the legal question of “[w]hether substantial evidence supports the Merit Commission’s findings.” Mathis, 189 Ariz. at 569, 944 P.2d at 511. And, we recognize the different functions served by merit commis sions and courts in this context. Because the Commission acts as a quasi-judicial, fact-finding body, it, not this court, determines the credibility of witnesses, reconciles conflicting evidence, and weighs the sufficiency of the evidence presented to it in the appeal process. Id. at 568, 944 P.2d at 510; see also Pima County v. Pima County Law Enforcement Merit Sys. Council, 128 Ariz. 62, 63, 623 P.2d 851, 853 (App.1980) (Klein).
¶ 9 The County Employee Merit System authorizes a county employer, or “appointing authority,” to dismiss an employee “by written order, stating specifically the reasons for the action.” A.R.S. § 11-356(A). A merit commission may modify or revoke the decision of an appointing authority “only if its action was arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause, or the penalty imposed was ‘so disproportionate ... as to be shocking to a sense of fairness.’ ” Pima County v. Pima County Merit Sys. Comm’n, 186 Ariz. 379, 381, 923 P.2d 845, 847 (App. 1996) (Logan), quoting Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 372, 723 P.2d at 721.
¶ 10 An appointing authority’s disciplinary action is “arbitrary” if it is “ ‘unreasoning action, without consideration and in disregard of the facts and circumstances.’” Mathis, 189 Ariz. at 568, 944 P.2d at 510, quoting Tucson Pub. Sch. Dist. No. 1 v. Green, 17 Ariz.App. 91, 94, 495 P.2d 861, 864 (1972). Reasonable cause implies “some substantial shortcoming which renders the continuance of the officer in his position detrimental to the discipline or efficiency of the service.” Civil Serv. Comm’n v. Livingston, 22 Ariz.App. 183, 187, 525 P.2d 949, 953 (1974). If a commission finds that “the evidence does not support the charge,” it must revoke the disciplinary order as arbitrary or lacking reasonable cause. Mathis, 189 Ariz. at 568, 944 P.2d at 510.
¶ 11 Here, although it conducted a full-day evidentiary hearing, the Commission did not expressly find whether the evidence supported or failed to support the charges against Serb. Its written “findings of fact” merely describe the testimony of the various witnesses and state that Serb “allegedly assaulted a restrained inmate by hitting [him] in the face with his open hand. Serb also allegedly was using rude and insulting language as to put the inmate in an aggravated state.” But based on uncontroverted evidence adduced at the hearing and the commissioners’ recorded, post-hearing discussion about the charges, it is clear that Serb’s having committed the acts charged was undisputed. 8 In fact, Serb admitted to having hit the inmate, and the evidence was uncon-troverted that Serb subsequently had asked other officers to let the inmate “up out of the chair and ... see how bad he is.”
¶ 12 Thus, because the Commission implicitly “determine[d] the evidence supported] the charge[s],” some form of disciplinary action “not otherwise prohibited” was warranted. Id. at 568, 569, 944 P.2d at 510, 511. In its deliberations and decision, the Commission apparently questioned the permissibility of PCSD’s termination decision and focused on a portion of PCSD’s Discipline Policy Manual (the manual) that addressed excessive force. That section provided progressive discipline for first, second, and third offenses that also “depended] on [the] extent of injury.” The Commission concluded that the section of the manual “regarding Excessive Force was vague in that it said that it depends on the extent of the injuries and the minimum discipline action for a [first] Offense ranged from a Performance Improvement Recommendation to 15 days off.” To the extent that statement suggests that termination was not permitted, we disagree.
f 13 The very first paragraph of the manual’s pertinent section on which the Commission relied states: “Although it is the intent of the Pinal County Sheriffs Department to use progressive discipline whenever possible, it is not required to do so. The severity of the infraction will determine at which level the disciplinary measures will begin.” In addition, that section of the manual states that “[t]he acts and/or infractions listed herein are ... meant as guidelines” and that “[t]he Sheriff has the discretion to make changes and alterations to these standards as needed.” Thus, the manual permitted PCSD to apply a harsher disciplinary measure, including dismissal, for serious infractions.
¶ 14 Additionally, Serb was charged with violations of the Pinal County Uniform Merit Rules and the PCSD General Orders. See n. 4, supra. Those violations, which the Commission failed to address, also would have permitted PCSD to terminate Serb.
¶ 15 Because the evidence supported the charges against Serb and because dismissal was “within the range of permissible disciplinary acts,” Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 372, 723 P.2d at 721, the Commission could not revoke PCSD’s action entirely and could only modify PCSD’s order under limited circumstances. A merit commission may modify the discipline imposed if it determines “the penalty imposed was ‘so disproportionate ... as to be shocking to a sense of fairness.’ ” Logan, 186 Ariz. at 381, 923 P.2d at 847, quoting Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 372, 723 P.2d at 721; see also Mathis, 189 Ariz. at 568-69, 944 P.2d at 510-11. While noting the difficulty of applying that rather subjective standard, Logan, 186 Ariz. at 381, 923 P.2d at 847, this court has outlined several factors to consider:
“[I]t may be ventured that a result is shocking to one’s sense of fairness if the sanction imposed is so grave in its impact on the individual subjected to it that it is disproportionate to the misconduct, incompetence, failure or turpitude of the individual, or to the harm or risk of harm to the agency or institution, or to the public generally visited or threatened by the derelictions of the individuals. Additional factors would be the prospect of deterrence of the individual or of others in like situations, and therefore a reasonable prospect of recurrence of derelictions by the individual or persons similarly employed. There is also the element that the sanctions reflect the standards of society to be applied to the offense involved.
Paramount too, in cases of sanctions for agencies like the police, is the principle that it is the agency and not the courts which, before the public, must justify the integrity and efficiency of their operations.”
Id., quoting Pell v. Bd. of Educ. of Union Free Sch. Dist. No. 1, 34 N.Y.2d 222, 356 N.Y.S.2d 833, 313 N.E.2d 321, 327-28 (1974). Finally, as we noted in Logan, id., the Gott-sponer court also focused on whether the employee had been “treated differently from other, similarly situated employees.” 150 Ariz. at 373, 723 P.2d at 722.
¶ 16 In this ease, termination undoubtedly affected Serb negatively, particularly financially. But, we cannot say that impact is “disproportionate to the sustained charge.” Logan, 186 Ariz. at 381, 923 P.2d at 847. As the Commission noted, Serb’s actions in striking a fully restrained inmate and then profanely suggesting that other officers allow him to fight the inmate were completely inappropriate for any detention officer, particularly one in a supervisory position as was Serb. In addition, the Commission did not find, nor can we say, that the impact on Serb is disproportionate to the harm or risk of harm to PCSD. Rather, the record supports the county’s assertion that “[t]here was a legitimate concern that Serb’s conduct would bring discredit to the department.”
¶ 17 Likewise, although we cannot speculate on the likelihood that Serb would commit a similar act in the future, the county’s position that “[i]t is crucial that the PCSD be able to deter such behavior,” is not unreasonable. PCSD could reasonably conclude that deterring other officers from assaulting fully restrained inmates in response to mere verbal provocation is critical, and we cannot find it “shocking” for PCSD to terminate an offending officer as a means of accomplishing that goal. Nor does PCSD’s choice of sanction for Serb’s behavior clearly fall outside the “standards of society.” Logan, 186 Ariz. at 381, 923 P.2d at 847. In fact, Serb entered a diversion program to avoid being charged with aggravated assault as a result of the incident. We cannot say, therefore, that discharging Serb was an excessive or arbitrary response to what society clearly views as a serious offense.
¶ 18 Finally, we must consider PCSD’s treatment of similarly situated employees. The Commission heard testimony that another officer had struck an inmate in handcuffs in 1997. The witness testified that he “believe[d]” that the officer in that prior incident had merely been demoted. But, the record does not suggest that the inmate in that incident had been fully restrained or that the other officer had continued to curse at and threaten the inmate after having hit him. No evidence was presented that the other officer had reported to the same supervi-sores) as did Serb or that the same standards of behavior or discipline had been in effect at the time. Thus, the record does not establish, and the Commission did not find, that Serb was “similarly situated” to that officer; nor does Serb so argue. Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 372-73, 723 P.2d at 721-22; cf. Mitchell v. Toledo Hosp., 964 F.2d 577, 583 (6th Cir.1992) (in federal employment discrimination case, “similarly situated” means individuals with whom the plaintiff compares “must have dealt with the same supervisor, have been subject to the same standards and have engaged in the same conduct without such differentiating or mitigating circumstances that would distinguish their conduct or the employer’s treatment of them for it”).
¶ 19 In the end, as we pointed out in Logan, PCSD “alone ‘must justify to the public the integrity and efficiency of its operations.’ ” 186 Ariz. at 382, 923 P.2d at 848, quoting Bishop v. Law Enforcement Merit Sys. Council, 119 Ariz. 417, 421, 581 P.2d 262, 266 (App.1978). The Commission stated that PCSD “had not sustained its burden to prove the punishment was reasonable,” but PCSD bore no burden of proving the reasonableness of its actions. Rather, the Commission’s revocation of PCSD’s order of dismissal and reinstatement of Serb hinged on his having proven PCSD’s disciplinary action was arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause, findings neither made by the Commission nor supported by the record. And, even had the Commission decided to modify the termination, it would have been required to first determine that PCSD’s action was “shocking to a sense of fairness.” Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 372, 723 P.2d at 721.
¶ 20 Although a majority of the Commission members found it “shocking to their sense of fairness that Serb be discharged using the Sheriffs Discipline Policy Manual as a basis,” the Commission cited no evidence to support that finding, and we find none. Similarly, the Commission expressed its “belie[f] that the Sheriffs gauge for punishment was arbitrary and capricious,” but again, cited no evidence to support any finding that PCSD’s termination decision constituted “‘unreasoning action, without consideration and in disregard of the facts and circumstances.’ ” Mathis, 189 Ariz. at 568, 944 P.2d at 510, quoting Green, 17 Ariz.App. at 94, 495 P.2d at 864; see also Ariz. Dep’t of Corrections v. State Personnel Bd., 202 Ariz. 598, ¶ 10, 48 P.3d 1208, 1210 (App.2002) (“A disciplinary action is not arbitrary if it falls within the range of permissible discipline.”).
¶ 21 In the absence of any actual findings of fact by the Commission, and finding no reasoned basis or substantial factual support for its ultimate conclusions, we conclude the Commission erred in revoking Serb’s termination. See Logan, 186 Ariz. at 382, 923 P.2d at 848 (Commission erred in reinstating three discharged employees when record contradicted “Commission’s finding that the Department’s sanction against [employees] was arbitrarily imposed” and did not support a finding that dismissal “was shockingly disproportionate to the offense”); Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 372, 723 P.2d at 721 (“Although the Commission’s order states the sanction against Gottsponer was arbitrarily imposed, we find no evidence to support such a finding.”). “[I]t was not the Commission’s prerogative, nor is it the courts’, to merely substitute its opinion for that of the Department.” Logan, 186 Ariz. at 382, 923 P.2d at 848.
DISPOSITION
¶ 22 The superior court’s judgment affirming the Commission’s decision is reversed, and the case is remanded for entry of an order reversing the Commission’s decision and reinstating the disciplinary action imposed by PCSD. As a necessary corollary to this result, the attorney fee and back pay awards in favor of Serb also are reversed. See Bentivegna v. Powers Steel & Wire Prods., Inc., 206 Ariz. 581, ¶ 26, 81 P.3d 1040, 1047 (App.2004) (award of attorney fees under A.R.S. § 12-341.01 reversed following reversal on appeal because recipient party was no longer “prevailing party”).
FLÓREZ, P.J. and ESPINOSA, J., concurring.
. Although PCSD was the named plaintiff and appeared as such in the caption throughout the proceedings below, the superior court apparently concluded Pinal County, not PCSD, was the proper party, and the notice of appeal and briefs were filed on behalf of the county.
. When placed in a "restraint chair,” an inmate is bound to the chair by shoulder straps with his or her hands and feet restrained with straps as well.
. Serb testified he could not recall what had happened after he had initially walked out of the room and then had reentered.
. Specifically, PCSD’s order of dismissal set forth the following statement of charges and conclusion:
Charge (1) Violation of Pinal County Employee Uniform Merit Rule 12.1C (9) The employee has engaged in conduct, on or off duty that is of such a nature that it would tend to bring discredit to the County.
Charge (2) Violation of Pinal County Employee Uniform Merit Rule 12.1(C)(25) Any other improper conduct or performance of such severity as to constitute cause for disciplinary action.
Charge (3) Violation of Pinal County Sheriff's Discipline Policy Manual. Use of excessive force, Use of rude or insulting language or conduct offensive to the public or other employees.
Charge (4) Violation of Pinal County Sheriff's Department General Orders: General Conduct. Employees shall maintain a high level of moral conduct which wUl not impair their ability to perform their duties as an employee of the department or causes [sic] the department to be brought into dis[re]pute.
CONCLUSION: On August 13, 2002 Corporal Serb struck a restrained inmate, was verbally abusive, removed his duty belt and requested the release of the inmate with the intent of engaging in further aggressive behavior. His actions represent excessive force in violation of the Pinal County Sheriff's Discipline Policy Manual, the Pinal County Sheriff's Department General Orders and Pinal County Merit rules 12.1(C) rules 9, and 25.
. In support of that contention, the county relies largely on Pima County v. Pima County Law Enforcement Merit System Council, 209 Ariz. 204, 99 P.3d 19 (App.2004) (Harvey), in which this court concluded that "the Council exceeded its statutoiy authority [under A.R.S. § 38-1003] when it applied a nondeferential standard in reviewing [the sheriff’s] personnel decision.” Id. ¶ 7. We note, however, that our supreme court granted review in that case and currently has it under advisement. No. CV-04-0356-PR (Ariz. Mar. 22, 2005). We further note that the supreme court also granted review of a case in which Division One of this court affirmed the superior court’s judgment upholding a merit system commission’s decision to modify discipline (termination) a sheriff’s department had imposed against a detention officer. Maricopa County Sheriff's Office v. Maricopa County Employee Merit Sys. Comm'n, No. 1 CA-CV 03-0028 (memorandum decision filed January 8, 2004) (Juarez), review granted, No. CV-04-0046-PR (Ariz. June 29, 2004).
. The Pinal County Uniform Merit Rules mirror these requirements for terminating an employee for a disciplinary reason.
. Similarly, although the Pinal County Uniform Merit Rules do not mention any "shocking to a sense of fairness” standard, they provide: “If, after the hearing, a majority of the Commission determines that the appealed action was arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause, the action shall be revoked or modified. Otherwise the action shall be affirmed.”
. During the Commission's post-hearing deliberations, the chairman stated: "I don't think there is any question among those of us that have listened today that there was inappropriate behavior, several different inappropriate behaviors. That has been agreed to, I think, by all parties.”
. The two witnesses on whose testimony Serb primarily relies, Sergeant Stokes and Lieutenant Lairmore, acknowledged that Serb's conduct was a "serious infraction” and violated other rules. Although the Commission's chairman characterized Serb's conduct as "accidental and a lapse of judgment,” the Commission did not find or suggest that Serb’s "inappropriate behavior” was minor or insignificant.
. The Commission members exhibited some confusion after the hearing on whether they had authority to modify the discipline and apparently concluded they could take no action other than upholding or rejecting PCSD's termination decision. The member who moved to "reject dismissal as proper punishment,” however, also remarked that “[p]unishment is called for.”
. In support of the Commission’s decision, Serb variously asserts he was a "valued and respected employee who consistently performed his job”; the inmate "was not physically hurt by the single slap” and filed no grievance or legal action against Serb; and Serb had merely displayed a “lapse in judgment” Even had the Commission cited or relied on such "mitigating facts,” however, they do not establish arbitrariness in, or lack of reasonable cause for, PCSD’s order of dismissal; nor do they render that sanction "so disproportionate under the circumstances to shock one's sense of fairness.” Logan, 186 Ariz. at 382, 923 P.2d at 848 (Commission's decision to reinstate discharged detention officers not justified despite evidence that officers had been provoked by inmate, lacked supervision, and had “high performance ratings”); Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. at 372, 723 P.2d at 721 (Commission's findings that "Gottsponer was an excellent nurse, had no previous record of disciplinaiy actions, ... was guilty of nothing more than bad judgment, [and] her supervisors [had] overreacted in demoting her” did not justify Commission’s modification of disciplinary action).
. At oral argument in this court, Serb urged for the first time that we should remand the case to the Commission so it could "start over,” apply “correct standards,” and "get it right.” But, because he did not argue that in his brief and cites no authority to support those new requests now, we decline that belated proposal. See Van Loan v. Van Loan, 116 Ariz. 272, 274, 569 P.2d 214, 216 (1977) (issues and arguments raised for first time at oral argument on appeal are untimely and generally deemed waived).
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OPINION
OROZCO, Judge.
¶ 1 In this appeal from summary judgment to the Mesa City Clerk and the City of Mesa (the City defendants), we conclude that municipal ordinances setting rates charged for city-owned utility services are administrative acts and therefore are not subject to referendum.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶ 2 On June 21, 2004, the Mesa City Council adopted four ordinances that adjusted the City’s water, wastewater, gas, and solid waste utility rates. Stop Exploiting Taxpayers (SET) registered with the Arizona Secretary of State as a political committee and filed an application for a referendum petition number with the Mesa City Clerk to begin collecting Mesa voter signatures to refer the four utility ordinances in a single referendum for voter approval at the next city election. When SET filed the application, a deputy city clerk advised SET that it should file four separate applications for each ordinance. SET rejected the suggestion, and at SET’s request, the clerk issued only one petition for SET’s proposed referendum.
¶ 3 After SET returned the petition bearing the collected signatures to the clerk, the Mesa City Clerk and Mesa City Attorney notified SET that it would not transmit the referendum petition to the Maricopa County Recorder for certification because utility rate making was an administrative act that was not subject to referendum and it was unlawful to refer four separate ordinances in one petition.
¶ 4 SET filed a Special Action asking the trial court to order the City defendants to transmit the petition for certification. The trial court considered cross-motions for summary judgment and granted judgment to the City defendants. SET filed a timely appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) section 12-120.21 (2003).
MOOTNESS
¶ 5 The City defendants request that the appeal be dismissed as moot because the City of Mesa has adopted ordinances and resolutions readjusting the utility rates that are the subject of this appeal. They argue that because the utility rates at issue are no longer in effect, a referendum election on whether to approve or disapprove those rates is no longer required.
¶ 6 Generally, a court will not consider moot questions. Lana v. Woodbum, 211 Ariz. 62, 65, ¶ 9, 116 P.3d 1222, 1225 (App. 2005) (citing Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 2 v. Phoenix Employee Relations Bd., 133 Ariz. 126, 127, 650 P.2d 428, 429 (1982)). A court, however, will address moot questions if the issues are of great public importance or are capable of repetition yet evading review. Id. This issue on appeal satisfies either cri-terio. We therefore deny the City defendants’ motion to dismiss the appeal as moot.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 7 In reviewing an appeal from summary judgment in which the material facts are undisputed, we consider whether the trial court correctly applied substantive law to the facts. Faz v. Ford Motor Credit Co., 191 Ariz. 191, 193, 953 P.2d 935, 937 (App.1997). For reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment.
DISCUSSION
¶ 8 Determining whether the ordinance is subject to referendum depends on whether a municipal ordinance setting utility rates is an administrative or legislative act to determine.
¶ 9 Although the constitutional right to referendum is broadly construed, Lawrence v. Jones, 199 Ariz. 446, 449, ¶ 7, 18 P.3d 1245, 1248 (App.2001), only legislative acts are subject to referendum. Redelsperger v. City of Avondale, 207 Ariz. 430, 432, ¶ 9, 87 P.3d 843, 845 (App.2004); Wennerstrom v. City of Mesa, 169 Ariz. 485, 488, 821 P.2d 146, 149 (1991). Executive and administrative acts are not subject to referendum to avoid hampering the efficient administration of local governments. Id.
¶ 10 In Wennerstrom, the Arizona Supreme Court set forth the pertinent factors to distinguish between legislative and administrative acts. 169 Ariz. at 489, 821 P.2d at 150. Legislative acts generally relate to subjects of a permanent and general character which prescribe new policies or plans. Id.; Redelsperger, 207 Ariz. at 433, ¶ 15, 87 P.3d at 846. See 5 Eugene MeQuillin, The Law of Municipal Corporations § 16.54 (3d rev. ed.1999); 6 Sandra M. Stevenson, An-tieau On Local Government Law § 87.04 (2d ed.2005). Administrative acts are generally temporary, specific in subject matter, and intended to execute existing policies or plans. Id.
¶ 11 The four challenged ordinances exhibit the characteristics of administrative acts. First, the ordinances list specific utility services that the City provides and contain schedules modifying the rates charged to users for those services. Second, the ordinances do not affect the underlying statutes and ordinances through which the City of Mesa owns and operates its utilities. Finally, utility rate changes are considered annually as part of the City’s budget process and are subject to change in future budgets. Because the ordinances are administrative acts, they are not subject to referendum.
¶ 12 Nevertheless, SET argues that even if rate increases are generally administrative, these ordinances are legislative acts that are referable because the City Council passed them to implement a general tax increase under the guise of a utility rate change. To support its claim, SET cites the City Council meeting minutes which contain comments that the proposed increases were driven by the need to generate revenues for the general fund far more than the need to cover increased utility operating costs. It also references statements that the city staff and council members made acknowledging that utility revenue increases were necessary to balance the city budget. The City defendants have also acknowledged that Mesa’s utility operations have historically provided excess revenue which has been used to support other services, including police and fire protection.
¶ 13 Although Arizona appellate courts have not previously addressed the issue, other jurisdictions have held that utility rates are not taxes even if some of the proceeds transferred to the general fund are used for other governmental programs. See United States v. City of Columbia, Mo., 914 F.2d 151, 155 (8th Cir.1990) (holding utility rate that included profit component is not a tax); Gen. Textile Printing & Processing Corp. v. City of Rocky Mount, 908 F.Supp. 1295, 1304 (E.D.N.C.1995) (“The profits from the utilities help finance the City’s costs of governing. This fact alone does not convert the charge into a tax....”); Apodaca v. Wilson, 86 N.M. 516, 525 P.2d 876, 885-86 (1974) (determining utility fees transferred to general fund not a tax); Walker v. Brigham City, 856 P.2d 347, 351 (Utah 1993) (concluding city utility rates yielding excess revenue does not constitute a tax or unconstitutional taking). See generally 12 MeQuillin, supra at § 35.38 (discussing general rule that rates charged for city-owned utilities ordinarily are not taxes). We find these authorities persuasive.
¶ 14 The significant differences between a utility rate and a tax may be summarized as follows:
While the payment of a tax does not transfer ownership, the payment of a ... utility rate ... transfers ownership of water and electricity. And, while failure to pay a tax results in civil, sometimes criminal penalties, the failure to pay a portion of a utility rate results in termination of services. [A consumer’s] obligation to pay the [rate] arises only from [the consumer’s] consensual purchase of the City’s property; it does not arise automatically, as does tax liability____
United States v. City of Columbia, Mo., 914 F.2d at 155. Additionally, a customer is charged a utility rate as part of the of price of consuming the City’s utilities and related services. Id.
¶ 15 The City’s use of revenues from its utility services to offset other costs of governing does not automatically convert utility rates into a tax. The utility rate increases do not share the characteristics of a tax increase, primarily because the City’s residents are charged the utility rates for the services they receive. Additionally, the City’s budget director avowed that while the utility rate changes will increase the City’s revenues by a projected $ 8 million, the preliminary budget that was presented to the City Council shows that the operating costs will increase to approximately $8.85 million. The meeting minutes also include substantial debate directly related to the expense of providing utility services. Discussions involved the need to address escalating maintenance and operational costs to the utilities, aging infrastructure, and understaffing. For these reasons, we are not persuaded by SET’s argument that the City passed a tax disguised as a utility rate increase.
¶ 16 SET next argues that the Mesa City Charter makes the referendum applicable to increases in utility rates. It relies on the following charter provision:
Ordinances levying taxes or granting, renewing, or extending a franchise or regulating the rate charged by any public utility for its services, except as otherwise provided in this Charter, shall not be classified as emergency measures. (Emphasis added).
Mesa City Charter, art. 2, § 212.
¶ 17 SET begins with the legal proposition that legislative acts that do not contain emergency clauses are subject to a thirty-day delay in becoming effective to allow citizens to exercise their right of referendum. See A.R.S. § 19-142.B (2002); Israel v. Town of Cave Creek, 196 Ariz. 150, 154, ¶ 22, 993 P.2d 1114, 1118 (App.1999). SET reasons that because the city charter declares that ordinances regulating public utility rates cannot be classified as emergency measures, the rates charged for City-owned utility services also cannot be deemed emergencies. SET asserts that a rate increase for City-owned utility services therefore must be legislative acts that are subject to referendum. Though this argument was not raised in the trial court and was therefore waived, Maricopa County v. State, 187 Ariz. 275, 281, 928 P.2d 699, 705 (App.1996), we exercise our discretion and address the merits.
¶ 18 SET’s argument fails because § 212, which they contend prohibits City-owned utility rates from being classified as emergency measures, does not apply to City-owned utility services. Another charter provision, § 210, differentiates between “public utilities” and “City-owned utilities.” Section 210(C) empowers the Council to enact ordinances to “[r]egulate rates and fees charged by public utilities and fix rates and fees for City-owned utilities.” (Emphasis added). Within the Mesa City Charter, a public utility and a City-owned utility are two different types of entities that are not interchangeable in meaning. Section 212 therefore is inapplicable, and we reject SET’s argument that the Mesa City Charter makes utility rate increases subject to referendum.
¶ 19 SET next contends that Arizona case law has already determined that utility rate setting is a legislative function. SET cites cases involving the Arizona Corporation Commission, including Simms v. Round Valley Light & Power Co., 80 Ariz. 145, 294 P.2d 378 (1956). Simms states that in exercising its rate-making power, the Commission has “a range of legislative discretion.” Id. at 154, 294 P.2d at 384.
¶20 SET’s argument overlooks the status of the Arizona Corporation Commission as a fourth branch of government, wholly separate from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In areas in which the Corporation Commission is given exclusive power, it is supreme subject to judicial review. State v. Tucson Gas, Elec. Light & Power Co., 15 Ariz. 294, 306, 138 P. 781, 786 (1914). The Commission neither owns, operates, nor manages utility companies but is constitutionally empowered to prescribe reasonable rates and charges for public service corporations. Ariz. Const, art. 15, § 3. In setting rates, the Commission is not pursuing a plan already adopted by a legislative body and is not engaged in setting rates within an annual budgeting process. Cases such as Simms address the proper standard by which courts review Commission orders. Simms does not analyze whether Commission actions are administrative or legislative. The Commission’s unique constitutional authority makes the referendum power inapplicable to Commission actions. Therefore, cases involving the Commission’s authority are not persuasive in deciding whether a municipality fixing rates for City-owned utilities is also engaged in legislative action.
¶ 21 Finally, SET urges this court to follow those states which have found that setting utility rates is a legislative action subject to the referendum power.
¶22 In Wennerstrom, the Arizona Supreme Court acknowledged the difficulty in applying the standards it adopted with respect to distinguishing administrative from legislative acts, noting that other jurisdictions have found cases addressing this issue to be irreconcilable. 169 Ariz. at 489, 821 P.2d at 150. See generally 5 McQuillin, supra at §§ 16.55-16.58, § 35.37 (comparing cases addressing whether setting utility rates is legislative or administrative).
¶ 23 Cases finding rate setting for municipally-owned utilities to be an administrative act include: In re Mitchell, 44 Ill.App.2d 361, 194 N.E.2d 560 (1963); Johnson v. City of Alamogordo, 121 N.M. 232, 910 P.2d 308, 313 (1996); In re Sup.Ct. Adjudication of Initiative Petitions in Norman, Okla. No. 74-1 and 74-2, 534 P.2d 3, 7 (Okla.1975). Contra McKinley v. City of Fraser, 366 Mich. 104, 114 N.W.2d 341 (1962) (holding initiative power may be used to set city sewage disposal system charges); Walker, 856 P.2d at 349 (stating that fixing electric rates for municipally owned utility is legislative act).
¶24 Differences among jurisdictions with respect to deeming an action legislative or administrative often result from that state’s unique constitutional and statutory provisions creating the referendum power and the need to reconcile related statutory provisions. E.g., McKinley, 114 N.W.2d at 343 (reasoning that using initiative power to set rates for city sewer permitted because home rule act authorized initiative and referendum powers “on all matters within the scope of its [the city’s] powers”); Hoover v. Carpenter, 188 Neb. 405, 197 N.W.2d 11, 13 (1972) (adopting rule that the language of the governing legislative provision and the facts of each case determines whether municipal ordinance is subject to the right of referendum). There are no Arizona statutory or constitutional provisions which conflict with deciding that municipal rate increases are administrative acts that are not subject to referendum.
¶ 25 Instead, determining that utility rate increases are subject to referendum would be inconsistent with other statutory provisions. In evaluating the relationship between setting rates for municipal utilities and Arizona statutes governing municipal utilities, we consider A.R.S. §§ 9-521 to -540 (1996), the comprehensive regulatory scheme that permits municipalities to issue bonds to finance its utility services. The purpose of these statutes is to insure the marketability of the bonds. 1970 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 89, § 1. To give effect to this intent, the revenue pledged to bond repayment must be secure.
¶ 26 Mesa voters approved the issuance of the revenue bonds which support the utilities involved in this appeal. The bonds are to be repaid solely out of utility revenues. A.R.S. § 9-524.A.4 (1996). Mesa’s governing body is required to establish charges sufficient to repay those bonds at a rate not less than one hundred twenty-five percent of the rate in effect on the date of determination. A.R.S. § 9-530.C (Supp.2004).
¶ 27 The Arizona League of Cities of Towns and several municipalities jointly filed an amicus brief with this court emphasizing potential problems if utility rate setting is subject to referendum. They assert that freezing rates at a current level would directly violate the provisions of AR.S. § 9-531.B (1996), which states that bond resolutions are deemed to be contracts with the bond holders that may be enforced by court action. One of the many provisions in a bond resolution, as well as the statutory scheme itself, is a mandate that the governing body adjust rates from time to time to keep the utility on a self-sufficient basis. See A.R.S. § 9-530.C. This statute would be ineffective if it could be circumvented by referendum. In setting utility rates the City of Mesa must act in accordance with A.R.S §§ 9-521 to -540. This is further indicia that it is engaged in an administrative function under the tests set forth in Wennerstrom.
CONCLUSION
1128 We conclude that the City of Mesa ordinances challenged by SET are not subject to referendum. We therefore affirm the judgment of the trial court. Because we find these ordinances result from administrative action when analyzed under the test set forth in Wennerstrom, we do not consider whether separate referendum petitions were required for each ordinance.
CONCURRING: ANN A. SCOTT TIMMER and JOHN C. GEMMILL, JJ.
. Qualified electors of municipal corporations may circulate petitions and refer legislation, which their elected representatives have enacted, to a popular vote. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(8). A person or organization intending to refer city legislation is required to submit to the city clerk an application, which includes the person's or the organization's intent to circulate or file a petition and a description of no more than one hundred words of the main provisions of the measure to be referred. Ariz.Rev.Stat. (A.R.S.) §§ 19-141, -111 (2002). The person or organization must also apply for an official petition number. A.R.S. § 19-111.A.
Generally, a person or organization is required to file the signed petitions, containing the requisite number of signatures, with the city clerk within thirty days after the city council passed the measure to be referred. A.R.S. §§ 19-141, - 142.A (2002). Within fifteen days of the referendum being filed, the city clerk must count the signatures to be verified to determine if they exceed the minimum number of required signatures and to select at random, five per cent of the total signatures eligible for verification by the county recorder. A.R.S. § 19-121.01 (2002) Within ten days of receiving the signatures sheets from the city clerk, the county recorder is required to verify and certify the signatures. A.R.S. § 19-121.02 (Supp.2005).
If the city clerk refuses to accept and file a timely presented petition for referendum or if the clerk refuses to transmit the signature sheets to the county recorder for certification, the clerk must provide the person submitting the petition with a written statement of the reason for the refusal. A.R.S. § 19-122.A (2002). Within ten calendar days after the refusal, any citizen may apply to the superior court for a writ of mandamus to compel the city clerk to file the petition or proposal or transmit the signature sheets or file a complaint with the county attorney or the attorney general. A.R.S. § 19-121.A (2002).
. Because the record does not show that the City Council passed the rate increases as a disguised tax increase, we need not decide whether a disguised tax would be referable.
. SET asserts that this issue was raised in its response to the City defendants' motion for summary judgment. However, while a footnote in the response refers to the charter generally, it does not refer to the section upon which SET now relies nor does it contain the substance of the argument on appeal. Although appellate courts generally do not consider issues not raised in the trial court, that rule is procedural rather than jurisdictional, and we may consider the merits. Larsen v. Nissan Motor Corp. in U.S.A., 194 Ariz. 142, 147, ¶ 12, 978 P.2d 119, 124 (App.1998).
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SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION
McGREGOR, Chief Justice.
¶ 1 A jury convicted Albert Martinez Car-reon of first degree murder and sentenced Carreon to death. The jury also convicted Carreon of several non-capital offenses, for which the trial judge imposed various terms of imprisonment. We affirmed his convictions and sentence of death in State v. Car-reon, 210 Ariz. 54, 74 ¶ 100,107 P.3d 900, 920 (2005).
¶ 2 In a supplemental brief filed after the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), Car-reon challenged the procedure by which the trial court imposed aggravated sentences for his non-capital convictions. Carreon contends that the Sixth Amendment required a jury, not a judge, to find all of the aggravating factors on which the court relied in sentencing him. In our previous opinion in this case, we stated that we would address this issue in a supplemental opinion. Car-reon, 210 Ariz. at 76 ¶ 125, 107 P.3d at 922. This is that opinion. We find no error.
I.
¶ 3 The trial judge sentenced Carreon to aggravated prison terms on his non-capital convictions pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) § 13-604 (2001) and § 13-702 (2001). Carreon does not assert that the trial judge erred in relying upon these statutes. Carreon does not dispute that his use of a deadly weapon during the commission of his crimes brought him within the ambit of § 13-604 and does not argue that any sentence imposed for his non-capital offenses fell outside the sentencing range allowed under § 13-604 when one or more of the § 13-702.C aggravators are present. Carreon also acknowledges that the State proved to the jury that he previously had been convicted of two felonies and that he committed the offenses while on release from the Department of Corrections. Carreon’s only claim is that the trial judge violated his Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury by finding and relying upon aggravators other than those found by the jury.
¶ 4 Although the trial judge did not make specific findings of aggravation under A.R.S. § 13-702.C, he made the following statement with regard to the non-capital sentences:
The defendant, as proven during the course of the trial, did have prior felony convictions and was on release at the time he committed these offenses. I further find that he’s a stone-cold killer and a danger to society, all of which aggravating factors call for the maximum possible terms to be imposed.
¶ 5 The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant’s right to a trial by jury. That right continues through sentencing. The Sixth Amendment, however,
does not remove from a trial judge the traditional sentencing discretion afforded the judge, so long as the judge exercises that discretion within a sentencing range established by the fact of a prior conviction, facts found by a jury, or facts admitted by a defendant. Once a jury finds the facts legally essential to expose a defendant to a statutory sentencing range, the sentencing judge may consider additional factors in determining what sentence to impose, so long as the sentence falls within the established range.
State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578 ¶ 16, 115 P.3d 618 (2005).
¶ 6 The State alleged and proved at trial that Carreon had previously been convicted of two felonies, kidnapping and aggravated assault. The presence of this aggravator alone exposed Carreon to the aggravated sentencing l’ange of § 13-604.
¶ 7 Nonetheless, Carreon alleges that the trial judge violated his Sixth Amendment right by finding additional aggravating factors that were not admitted by him, not implicit in the jury’s verdict, and not presented to the jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt. We explicitly rejected Car-reon’s argument in Martinez. Under our holding there, once constitutionally permitted factors made Carreon eligible for aggravated sentences, the trial judge could “find and consider additional factors relevant to the imposition of a sentence up to the maximum prescribed in [the sentencing] statute.” Martinez, 210 Ariz. at 584 ¶ 26, 115 P.3d at 625.
II.
¶8 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Carreon’s non-capital sentences.
CONCURRING: REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN and ANDREW D. HURWITZ, Justices.
. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5.3 of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 13-4031 (2001).
. Only those facts that increase the maximum sentence to which a defendant is exposed are legally essential to the defendant’s sentence. State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578 ¶21, 115 P.3d 618 (2005).
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OPINION
SULT, Judge.
¶ 1 Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) § 12-911(A)(1) (2003) permits the superior court, while a judicial review proceeding is pending, to stay the implementation of a state administrative agency decision when it finds “good cause” to do so. What the legislature meant when it created this standard is the subject of this opinion.
¶ 2 We are asked by the City of Phoenix, intervenor in this liquor license proceeding, to adopt from the jurisprudence dealing with an original proceeding for a preliminary injunction a stringent test for stay relief that requires a substantial likelihood of success, harm to the petitioner that not only outweighs any harm accruing to other parties but is also irreparable, and some public policy rationale favoring a stay. Petitioner P & P Mehta suggests a less exacting approach which requires demonstrating only some substantive merit to the request for review and harm to the petitioner from immediate implementation of the agency decision that would be greater than any harm the agency or other parties would suffer if a stay were granted. Faced with these competing interpretations of the statutory standard, we choose that proposed by Petitioner, as we explain.
BACKGROUND
¶ 3 Petitioner, the owner of a convenience store, sought the issuance of a permanent liquor license from the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control. Petitioner had recently purchased the store and had been selling liquor under an interim permit that was based on the prior owner’s license. The City of Phoenix intervened and opposed the application, arguing that important neighborhood values were significantly diminished by the sale of liquor at Petitioner’s establishment. The Department agreed, denying Petitioner a license and finding that he had failed to show that the best interests of the community would be served by its issuance. However, the Department did allow Petitioner to continue operating under the interim permit in order to initiate judicial review proceedings and seek a stay of the agency decision from the superior court.
¶ 4 Petitioner timely filed a complaint for judicial review and requested a stay of the Department’s decision, essentially asking to continue operating under the permit until the review could be completed. The superior court denied the request, finding that although Petitioner would be irreparably harmed if the stay was not granted, Petitioner had failed to demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. The court also commented that the public interest supporting the Department’s decision was strong, but the court did not specifically describe this interest or explain why protecting it outweighed the harm to Petitioner.
¶5 Petitioner brought this special action seeking review of the superior court’s denial of the stay request arguing, inter alia, that the superior court had applied too stringent a standard in assessing the request. We granted an interlocutory stay of proceedings, preserving Petitioner’s right to continue operating under the interim permit pending our resolution of the dispositive question; namely, what is the meaning of “good cause” in § 12-911(A)(1).
ANALYSIS
¶ 6 Judicial review of a state administrative agency’s decision is governed by A.R.S. §§ 12-901 to -914 (2008). Section 12-911(A)(1) deals specifically with the superior court’s power to stay the agency decision pending completion of its review. This provision permits the court
[w]ith or without bond, unless required by the statute under authority of which the administrative decision was entered, and before or after answer, [to] stay the decision in whole or in part pending final disposition of the case, after notice to the agency and for good cause shorn ____
A.R.S. § 12-911(A)(1) (emphasis added). This statute is supplemented by Rule 3(a) of the Rules of Procedure for Judicial Review of Administrative Decisions which provides that “[a] motion for stay of an administrative decision shall not be granted without good cause and without reasonable notice to all parties.” Rule 3(b) adds that the court may condition the stay “upon the filing of a bond ... or upon such other conditions as the court directs.”
¶ 7 The superior court in this case did not rely on these authorities when it denied Petitioner’s stay request. Rather, citing Shoen v. Shoen, 167 Ariz. 58, 804 P.2d 787 (App.1990), the court applied the criteria normally employed to evaluate an application for a preliminary injunction in an original proceeding. In Shoen, dissident corporate shareholders brought an action in superior court against other shareholders and as part of the action sought a preliminary injunction to cancel the issuance of certain stock to the others. Id. In discussing the basis upon which such relief could be granted, the Shoen court delineated the “four traditional equitable criteria” that an applicant for a preliminary injunction must satisfy:
1) A strong likelihood that he will succeed at trial on the merits;
2) The possibility of irreparable injury to him not remediable by damages if the requested relief is not granted;
3) A balance of hardships favors himself; and
4) Public policy favors the injunction.
Id. at 63, 804 P.2d at 792.
¶ 8 We would not reverse the superior court for applying these criteria rather than § 12-911(A)(1) if we could conclude, as the City suggests, that the legislature intended the statute’s “good cause” standard to mirror Shoen’s “traditional equitable criteria.” Petitioner, however, challenges this interpretation arguing that there is no basis to suppose the legislature intended such a strict standard. To resolve this dispute, we begin by examining whether the process of applying for a preliminary injunction is so similar to the process of seeking a stay of an administrative agency decision that employing the same evaluative criteria for both is a reasonable construction of legislative intent.
¶ 9 Considering the first Shoen criterion, a “strong likelihood of success,” we acknowledge the appropriateness of requiring an applicant for a preliminary injunction to make such a showing when he first seeks to enjoin personal or property rights of another. A court should not wield its injunctive power to disrupt the settled rights of others without first requiring from the applicant significant evidence that he is on legally solid ground. For purposes of our analysis, the point is that because the applicant has not been subject to a prior determination on the merits of his claim, it is entirely possible that he will be able to make the requisite showing.
¶ 10 Compare this scenario to the petitioner seeking to stay an agency decision. This petitioner has just lost on the merits at the administrative level. To nonetheless require him to demonstrate at the inception of the review process a significant probability of success asks the near-impossible. Except in the most egregious instances of agency error, this effort will fail.
¶ 11 If we read § 12-911(A)(1) to nevertheless require such a showing, we effectively place the availability of stay orders out of reach in most instances. This would be equivalent to holding that the legislature created an essentially illusory remedy, and would simply not be a plausible construction of legislative intent. A standard interpretive directive to courts is to construe statutes to reach sensible results. Lake Havasu City v. Mohave County, 138 Ariz. 552, 557, 675 P.2d 1371, 1376 (App.1983). In the context of § 12-911(A)(1) “good cause,” a requirement that a petitioner must show a “strong likeli hood of success” is not a sensible result. We therefore decline to incorporate this requirement into the statute.
¶ 12 When we reject the first Shoen criterion, we do not suggest that the merits of a petitioner’s claim of agency error are irrelevant. The legislature did not intend to confer an unconditional right to a stay or it would have said so. By conditioning a stay upon a showing of “good cause,” the legislature intended that some degree of merit be demonstrated before the court would interfere with the implementation of the agency decision. What degree of merit should be required is dealt with later in this opinion.
¶ 13 We next consider the harm criterion. To require, as Shoen does, that asserted harm must qualify as “irreparable” before it can be weighed against other claims of harm seems an appropriate burden in the injunction context for the same reason as “strong likelihood of success;” that is, a court employing its injunctive power to disrupt settled rights of others should do so only for the most deserving of applicants. In the context of a request for a stay of an agency decision, however, such a burden seems unnecessary. Certainly, some degree of harm should be required in order to justify a stay, and presumably no stay would be sought in the absence of harm. But we see no compelling reason why the harm asserted should have to qualify as “irreparable” even before it can be measured against the claims of harm made by other parties.
¶ 14 In almost every review situation there will be competing harms alleged. The petitioner will assert harm to his interests, the agency will assert harm to the public interest implicated in its area of regulatory concern, and other participating parties, as here, will argue that a stay would adversely impact their interests. The overriding concern for the court should be to determine in whose favor the balance tips; that is, who stands to suffer the most from an adverse decision. That a petitioner may be able to demonstrate “irreparable” harm will strengthen his position, but this should not be required before he is permitted onto the scale. If the court determines that his harm outweighs any harm to the interests of other parties, this should suffice.
¶ 15 This critique of just the first two Shoen criteria is enough to demonstrate that Shoen’s test for obtaining a preliminary injunction does not provide an appropriate template by which to judge whether a stay of an administrative agency’s decision should be granted. In saying this, we acknowledge that other jurisdictions do apply a more stringent test to a request for a stay of an agency decision. This is true, for example, in the federal system where the courts apply a four-part test quite similar to the Shoen test that was first enunciated in Virginia Petroleum Jobbers Association v. Federal Power Commission, 259 F.2d 921 (D.C.Cir.1958). The federal test inquires “(1) Has the petitioner made a strong showing that it is likely to prevail on the merits of its appeal ... (2) Has the petitioner shown that without such relief, it will be irreparably injured ... (3) Would the issuance of a stay substantially harm other parties interested in the proceedings ... (4) Where lies the public interest?” 259 F.2d at 925. Some state courts have adopted this test wholly or partially when construing their administrative procedure acts, although none of these statutes to our knowledge has the “good cause” language of § 12-911(A)(1). See Public Employment Relations Board v. Stohr, 279 N.W.2d 286, 291 (Iowa 1979), and cases cited therein.
¶ 16 Other state courts have specifically rejected the federal test as not reflective of local legislative intent. See, e.g., Brackman v. Board of Nursing, 250 Mont. 368, 820 P.2d 1314, 1316 (1991). Still others have determined, without reference to federal prece dent, that a stay of an agency decision simply does not equate to a preliminary injunction. See, e.g., State v. Trueblood, 767 N.E.2d 1011, 1013-14 (Ind.App.2002). Illinois has specifically declined to engraft onto its statutory stay provision those prerequisites traditionally applied to obtaining a preliminary injunction. Marsh v. Illinois Racing Board, 179 Ill.2d 488, 228 Ill.Dec. 692, 689 N.E.2d 1113 (1997). Significantly, the Illinois statute has the same “good cause” standard as Arizona, id. at 1116 (citing 735 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/3-111(a)(l)(West 1994)), which the Marsh court described as “ ‘intended to give the court broad judicial discretion to grant or deny a stay of an administrative decision without applying traditional standards applicable for the issuance of injunctions,’” id. at 1117 (quoting Ardt v. Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, 154 Ill.2d 138, 180 Ill. Dec. 713, 607 N.E.2d 1226, 1230 (1992)).
¶ 17 Arizona’s attitude toward the federal test can be gleaned from an historical review of legislative activity in connection with Arizona’s administrative procedure provisions. On two prior occasions, Arizona adopted portions of the Model State Administrative Procedure Act, a model act promulgated in 1961 and again in 1981 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. See 1970 Ariz. Sess. Laws, eh. 101 (the 1961 Act) & 1986 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 232 (the 1981 Act). Both model acts contained a provision authorizing a stay pending judicial review of agency action, but neither used a “good cause” standard. The 1961 version authorized a court to order a stay simply “upon appropriate terms.” Model State Administrative Procedure Act § 15 (1961). The 1981 version, however, considerably restricted the court’s discretion, permitting a stay only upon a petitioner’s satisfying a four-part test derived from the federal test of Virginia Petroleum Jobbers. Model State Administrative Procedure Act § 5-111 cmt. (1981).
¶ 18 It is significant that in 1986 our legislature did not adopt the 1981 Model Act’s restrictive stay provision patterned on the federal test. Rather, both in 1970 and 1986 the legislature elected to retain the “good cause” standard for obtaining a stay that it had first enacted in 1954 when it added the judicial review provisions that still exist today as §§ 12-901 through -914. See 1954 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 97. And with one exception not material here, § 12-911(A)(1) has remained essentially unchanged since 1954. In our opinion, by declining in 1986 to replace the “good cause” standard with the federal approach suggested by the Model Act, the legislature provided a clear indication that it did not intend that the superior court’s discretion to consider stay requests should be as circumscribed as that of the federal court.
¶ 19 Summarizing our analysis, we decline to attribute to our legislature an intention to incorporate the “strong likelihood of sue-cess/irreparable harm” test into the meaning of “good cause” and thereby effectively render illusory the stay remedy it created. Rather, we believe that the legislature’s historical treatment of Arizona’s administrative procedure act demonstrates that the legislature intended “good cause” to involve a less exacting standard. We therefore conclude that the superior court erred when it applied Shoen to Petitioner’s stay request. Accordingly, we must remand to permit the court to again judge the request pursuant to the proper standard, which brings us to the primary purpose of this opinion: what constitutes “good cause” under § 12-911(A)(1)?
¶ 20 We begin with the substantive merit that a petitioner must demonstrate to justify his request. Clearly, the threshold cannot be set so high as to create the almost insurmountable hurdle of the Shoen “strong likelihood” test. By the same token, it cannot be so low that it effectively eviscerates the “good cause” requirement. See Moore v. Mankowitz, 127 Ill.App.3d 1050, 83 Ill.Dec. 199, 469 N.E.2d 1133 (1984) (“Without some limitation on the right to a stay, the requirement of good cause would allow any administrative action to be suspended even though the plaintiff had no possibility of ultimately prevailing on the merits.”).
¶21 Oregon, a state that does not follow the federal model, has formulated a test for substantive merit that adopts the middle ground between the federal test and no test at all. The Oregon legislature has established “[a] colorable claim of error” as one of two requirements for obtaining a stay. Oregon Revised Statutes § 183.482(3) (2003). In construing this phrase the Oregon Court of Appeals first explained that it does not mean “a showing that the petitioner is reasonably likely to prevail on appeal.” Bergerson v. Salemr-Keizer School District, 185 Or.App. 649, 60 P.3d 1126, 1132 (2003) (quoting State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Balderas, 172 Or.App. 223, 18 P.3d 434, 437 (Or.2001)). Rather, it requires “something less.” Ber-gerson, 60 P.3d at 1132. As defined by the Bergerson court, a “colorable claim” is an assertion that “is seemingly valid, genuine, or plausible, under the circumstances of the case.” Id.
¶ 22 We think the Oregon concept of “col-orable claim” accurately reflects what our legislature wished to accomplish when it established the “good cause” framework of § 12-911(A)(1). As a testing mechanism, we believe that “colorable claim” will assist both the superior court and practitioners in identifying those petitions with sufficient merit to warrant consideration for a stay. We therefore hold that a petitioner seeking a stay of an agency decision must demonstrate, as regards substantive merit, that his petition presents a seemingly valid, genuine, or plausible claim under the circumstances of the case; that is, that he has a “colorable claim.”
¶23 Turning again to harm, as earlier discussed, “good cause” must include a component of harm to the petitioner. Attributing a degree to the harm, such as “irreparable,” is not required, but it is not enough for the petitioner simply to demonstrate some harm. Instead, the petitioner’s harm must be weighed against the harm that would accrue to the agency or other parties to the proceedings. Only if the court concludes that the balance of harm tips in favor of the petitioner has he shown the “harm” necessary to constitute “good cause.”
¶ 24 A further note regarding this balancing of harms process: the court should not overlook the tools at its disposal to mitigate potential harm to the agency’s interest or that of another party. Rule 3(b) permits the court to set appropriate conditions upon a stay request and, if monetary or performance considerations are involved, require a security or performance bond of the petitioner. Employing these mitigating tools may allay the harm to others sufficiently to permit the court to find that the balance of harm favors a petitioner.
CONCLUSION
¶ 25 Petitioner has presented a question of law that is of first impression and statewide importance. Accordingly, we exercise our discretion to accept jurisdiction of the petition and rule on the merits. See Fairness and Accountability in Insurance Reform v. Greene, 180 Ariz. 582, 586, 886 P.2d 1338, 1342 (1994). Because the trial court erred in the standard it applied to Petitioner’s request for stay, we grant relief to the extent of remanding this matter to the trial court to consider whether Petitioner has shown “good cause” to stay the implementation of the Department’s decision. In this context, “good cause” means that Petitioner has shown a colorable claim and that the balance of harm favors granting the stay. Petitioner shall be permitted to operate under the interim permit until the superior court has considered and ruled upon the request for stay.
CONCURRING: DONN KESSLER, Presiding Judge and JEFFERSON L. LANKFORD, Judge.
. Regarding the third Shoen criterion, balancing the harms, our analysis indicates that such a process should be part of a "good cause” proceeding. As for the fourth criterion, that a requested injunction should comport with public policy, such a concern does not seem to have any independent applicability in the context of judicial review of agency decisions. Judicial review petitions are numerous and routine and are not likely as a rule to implicate any significant public policy concerns, other than the public interest inherent in the area of regulatory responsibility assigned to the affected agency. This interest, of course, is taken into account in the balancing of harms process.
. The legislature has assigned the provisions of Arizona’s administrative procedure act to separate titles of the revised statutes. The bulk of the provisions are found in title 41 (A.R.S. §§ 41-1001 through 41-1092.12 (2004 & Supp.2005)). The judicial review provisions, however, are found in title 12 (A.R.S. §§ 12-901 through 12-914 (2003)).
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OPINION
HOWARD, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 Appellant Benson Hospital challenges the superior court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of appellee Abdulkadir Hourani in his appeal of the Hospital’s suspension of his hospital privileges. The Hospital also argues that the court erred by denying its cross-motion for summary judgment. We affirm the court’s denial of the Hospital’s motion, but reverse the granting of Hourani’s motion, finding that factual issues precluded summary judgment.
¶2 The procedural facts relevant to this appeal are undisputed. Abdulkadir Hourani is a board-certified, pulmonary critical-care specialist licensed to practice medicine in Arizona. From 2000 to 2002, he was employed by EmCare, Inc., which contracted with Benson Hospital to provide it emergency room physicians. In December 2000, the Hospital’s Medical Staff Executive Committee began investigating the quality of Houra-ni’s care at the Hospital and subsequently voted to recommend to the Governing Board that it revoke Hourani’s privileges to practice medicine at the Hospital. The Executive Committee informed Hourani of its decision, and Hourani requested a hearing. After the hearing, the hearing officer issued a report, stating that, of the eight cases discussed in his report, “variances” had occurred in three of the cases in which “the care varie[d] from the norm that has been established in Emergency Medicine.” However, the hearing offi- eer made no official recommendation to revoke Hourani’s hospital privileges, stating at the hearing that “it is up to the Medical Staff to decide whether privileges are revoked or not revoked.” After considering the hearing officer’s report, the Executive Committee remained in favor of recommending to the Governing Board that it revoke Hourani’s privileges.
¶ 3 Hourani appealed the Executive Committee’s recommendation to the Appellate Review Committee. After a hearing, the Appellate Review Committee adopted the Executive Committee’s recommendation for revocation. The Governing Board subsequently accepted this recommendation and revoked Hourani’s privileges to practice medicine at Benson Hospital. Hourani sought injunctive relief from the superior court, arguing that the Hospital’s proceedings had denied him due process. Hourani moved for summary judgment, and the Hospital cross-moved for summary judgment. The superior court denied the Hospital’s motion but granted Hourani’s motion and ordered that his privileges be reinstated.
DENIAL OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT
¶4 Benson Hospital first argues that the superior court erred as a matter of law in denying its cross-motion for summary judgment, in which it had argued A.R.S. § 36-445.02(B) required the court to affirm a revocation of privileges that is based on substantial evidence. Although the denial of summary judgment is usually not an appeal-able order, Bothell v. Two Point Acres, Inc., 192 Ariz. 313, ¶ 7, 965 P.2d 47, 50 (App.1998), an appellate court may review a denial if it was based on a point of law. Strojnik v. Gen. Ins. Co. of Am., 201 Ariz. 430, ¶ 11, 36 P.3d 1200, 1203 (App.2001). Here, the court denied the Hospital’s motion based on its interpretation of § 36-445.02(B). Furthermore, if we were to agree with the Hospital that we were required to uphold a decision supported by substantial evidence despite procedural errors, we would necessarily vacate the summary judgment in favor of Hourani without considering the procedural errors the superior court identified. We therefore address the Hospital’s argument and review the denial de novo. See Strojnik, 201 Ariz. 430, ¶ 11, 36 P.3d at 1203.
¶ 5 Section 36-445, A.R.S., requires licensed hospitals to have their medical staffs evaluated through peer review. In order to “encourage full and frank discussions and decision-making” in a process that can be both time consuming and contentious, Scap-patura v. Baptist Hospital, 120 Ariz. 204, 210, 584 P.2d 1195, 1201 (App.1978), the legislature granted immunity to physicians engaging in peer review under § 36-445.02(B) by limiting any legal remedy to injunctive relief, providing:
No hospital or outpatient surgical center and no individual involved in carrying out review or disciplinary duties or functions of a hospital or center pursuant to § 36-445 may be liable in damages to any person who is denied the privilege to practice in a hospital or center or whose privileges are suspended, limited or revoked. The only legal action which may be maintained by a licensed health care provider based on the performance or nonperformance of such duties and functions is an action for injunctive relief seeking to correct an erroneous decision or procedure. The review shall be limited to a review of the record. If the record shows that the denial, revocation, limitation or suspension of membership or privileges is supported by substantial evidence, no injunction shall issue. In such actions, the prevailing party shall be awarded taxable costs, but no other monetary relief shall be awarded.
¶ 6 The Hospital contended in its motion that the record contains substantial evidence supporting the revocation of Hourani’s privileges; therefore, it argued, regardless of any procedural violations, § 36-445.02(B) requires that “no injunction shall issue” and the courts must uphold the Governing Board’s decision. Hourani countered that, even if substantial evidence exists to support the Board’s decision, § 36-445.02(B) entitles him to injunctive relief to remedy the Hospital’s violation of its revocation procedures.
¶ 7 In interpreting a statute, our primary goal is to ascertain the legislature’s intent. Ziemak v. Schnakenberg, 210 Ariz. 442, ¶ 14, 111 P.3d 1042, 1046 (App.2005). If the statute is clear and unambiguous, we apply the plain meaning of the statute. See id. When an ambiguity exists, however, we attempt to determine legislative intent by considering “the statute’s context, subject matter, historical background, effects and consequences, and spirit and purpose.” Zamora v. Reinstein, 185 Ariz. 272, 275, 915 P.2d 1227, 1230 (1996). In construing a statute, “ “we consider the statutory scheme as a whole and presume that the legislature does not include statutory provisions which are redundant, void, inert, trivial, superfluous, or contradictory.’ ” Parrot v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 210 Ariz. 143, ¶ 9, 108 P.3d 922, 924 (App.2005), quoting State v. McDermott, 208 Ariz. 332, ¶ 5, 93 P.3d 532, 534 (App.2004).
¶8 We find that language in § 36-445.02(B) could support either party’s interpretation. The statute provides that a physician may file “an action for injunctive relief seeking to correct an erroneous decision or procedure.” Id. However, it also states that an injunction shall not be issued if the decision “is supported by substantial evidence.” Id. Because those provisions could be interpreted as inconsistent, the language is ambiguous, and we must look beyond the language of the statute to determine the intent of the legislature.
¶ 9 The Arizona legislature enacted the state’s first statutorily mandated peer review requirement in 1971. 1971 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 203, § 1. The statutes mandated peer review of physicians practicing in hospitals and provided immunity to those participating in the peer review process for decisions made “without malice and in good faith.” Id. They did not specifically provide for any judicial review of a final peer review decision. In 1984, the legislature amended § 36-445.02 and removed all liability for those involved in peer review activities, added hospitals themselves to the immunity provision, and only permitted a plaintiff to seek injunctive relief for an erroneous decision or procedure occurring during the peer review process. 1984 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 119, § 1; see Goodman v. Samaritan Health Sys., 195 Ariz. 502, ¶ 20, 990 P.2d 1061, 1066 (App.1999); Gilbert v. Bd. of Med. Exam’rs, 155 Ariz. 169, 178, 745 P.2d 617, 626 (App.1987).
¶ 10 After the statute was enacted but prior to the amendment of § 36-445.02 in 1984, this court espoused the general rule that the exclusion of a physician from staff privileges in a private hospital was not subject to judicial review. Peterson v. Tucson Gen. Hosp., Inc., 114 Ariz. 66, 69, 559 P.2d 186, 189 (App.1976). Even so, this court found that the prohibition against judicial review did not apply when “there is a contention that the hospital failed to conform to procedural requirements set forth in a hospital’s constitution, bylaws, or rules and regulations.” Id.; see also Holmes v. Hoemako Hosp., 117 Ariz. 403, 404, 573 P.2d 477, 478 (1977) (courts have authority to review both “procedural and substantive aspects” of suspension of a physician’s privileges); Bock v. John C. Lincoln Hosp., 145 Ariz. 432, 433, 702 P.2d 253, 254 (App.1985) (“Since ... the hospital breached its own procedural requirements, we have full authority to consider this case.”).
¶ 11 In its 1984 revision, the legislature did not express any intent to limit a court’s authority to review a decision based on- a procedural defect; instead, the legislature appeared to codify the courts’ opinions by amending the statute to permit aggrieved parties to file “an action for injunctive relief seeking to correct an erroneous decision or procedure.” § 36-445.02(B). Furthermore, because we presume that the legislature did not include a provision that is “inert, trivial, [or] superfluous,” Parrot, 210 Ariz. 143, ¶ 9, 108 P.3d at 924, we cannot find that the legislature granted physicians a right of action to correct an erroneous procedure and then, two sentences later, withheld any remedy for an erroneous procedure if substantial evidence supports the decision. Rather, we conclude that the legislature intended to allow courts to review the proceedings for both procedural and substantive errors, employing a deferential standard of review.
¶ 12 We therefore conclude that § 36-445.02(B) permits a physician to bring an action to correct an erroneous decision or procedure and, if error is proved, entitles the physician to injunctive relief. Based on this conclusion, we reject the Hospital’s argument that the court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment.
GRANT OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT
¶ 13 The Hospital next argues that the court erred in granting Hourani’s motion for summary judgment, contending that questions of material fact exist that precluded judgment. A motion for summary judgment should only be granted if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(c), 16 A.R.S., Pt. 2; see also Orme Sch. v. Reeves, 166 Ariz. 301, 309, 802 P.2d 1000, 1008 (1990). We review a trial court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the facts and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Link v. Pima County, 193 Ariz. 336, ¶ 12, 972 P.2d 669, 673 (App.1998).
¶ 14 In granting Hourani’s motion, the court identified four defects in the Hospital’s revocation proceedings. The court found that there were no genuine issues of material fact on these violations and that Hourani was entitled to injunctive relief; the court ordered the Hospital to withdraw its revocation of Hourani’s privileges “unless and until proper procedures are followed in accordance with the Bylaws.”
¶ 15 The court’s first identified procedural defect, which the parties had not argued, was that the hearing officer had failed to recommend a sanction. In his report to the Executive Committee, the hearing officer detailed Hourani’s alleged “variances” but did not recommend any specific action on them. The court found that, under the Hospital’s bylaws, the Executive Committee is bound to consider the hearing officer’s findings as well as recommendations. However, the court said: “In this case, the executive committee could not have considered what was not provided. The failure of the hearing officer to have included recommendations not only deprived the executive committee of the benefit of those recommendations, but similarly deprived the Appellate Review Committee and the Governing Board.”
¶ 16 The Appellate Review Committee is only required to consider the hearing officer’s report; it is not bound by it in any way. And Hourani did not present any evidence that he has suffered any prejudice from the hearing officer’s failure to recommend a sanction. Therefore, particularly in the absence of any timely objection by Hourani, we do not find that, as a matter of law, the hearing officer’s failure to make a recommendation invalidates the proceeding.
¶ 17 The court next found that the peer review process was procedurally flawed because Dr. Andrew Mayberry was appointed to the Appellate Review Committee as the practitioner peer. The Hospital’s bylaws require that the Appellate Review Committee be composed of three members, two members of the Governing Board and one practitioner peer. The bylaws further provide that the practitioner peer “shall not be in direct economic competition with the affected Practitioner and shall be a peer of the Practitioner in a similar specialty under similar circumstances.”
¶ 18 The court noted that the record was not clear as to what Mayberry’s specialty is. Nevertheless, the court determined’that, in order to qualify as a peer “in a similar specialty under similar circumstances,” Mayber-ry had to be in direct economic competition with Hourani. Based on this analysis, the court concluded that Mayberry did not qualify as a practitioner peer under the Hospital’s bylaws and was ineligible to serve on the Appellate Review Committee.
¶ 19 The requirement that Mayberry have a “similar specialty” does not logically mean that he must practice emergency medicine or be in direct economic competition with Hour-ani. He could be in a similar specialty, satisfying the second criterion, without being in direct economic competition with Hourani, which would violate the first criterion. Furthermore, the record shows that Hourani was a contract physician employed by EmCare, Inc., whereas Mayberry was employed by Benson Hospital. And nothing in the record requires the conclusion that these two physicians competed for the same patients. Construing the facts and all reasonable inferences against Hourani, see Link, 193 Ariz. 336, ¶ 12, 972 P.2d at 673, we find that a question of fact exists on whether Mayberry was in direct economic competition with Hourani. See Pariser v. Christian Health Care Sys., Inc., 816 F.2d 1248, 1251 (8th Cir.1987) (fact that executive committee member was only other internal medical specialist in area insufficient to show “sufficient economic competition m peer review process).
¶ 20 The court also found as a procedural flaw that Andrew Mayberry had served on both the Executive Committee and the Appellate Review Committee, noting that “it is implicit in the very nature of ‘appellate review' that the review be made by an impartial officer or group” and that “no one can be truly impartial in reviewing his or her own actions.” In essence, the court found that, as a matter of law, Mayberry’s participation in the Executive Committee’s investigation of Hourani’s actions disqualified him from later adjudicating this action on the Appellate Review Committee. But the Hospital’s bylaws contain no prohibition against a member of the Executive Committee serving on the Appellate Review Committee. Therefore, May-berry was only disqualified if his presence on both committees deprived Hourani of due process. See Holmes v. Hoemako Hosp., 117 Ariz. 403, 405, 573 P.2d 477, 479 (1977); Bock v. John C. Lincoln Hosp., 145 Ariz. 432, 433, 702 P.2d 253, 254 (App.1985) (hospital privilege actions reviewed for fundamental due process violation).
¶ 21 Due process of law contemplates a “‘fair trial in a fair tribunal.’” United States v. Superior Court, 144 Ariz. 265, 280, 697 P.2d 658, 673 (1985), quoting In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136, 75 S.Ct. 623, 625, 99 L.Ed. 942, 946 (1955). All decision makers, judges and administrative tribunals alike, are entitled to a presumption of “honesty and integrity.” Pavlik, 195 Ariz. 148, ¶ 24, 985 P.2d at 639. When confronted with the dual roles held by an administrative fact-finder in an analogous situation, the United States Supreme Court held in Withrow v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35, 58, 95 S.Ct. 1456, 1470, 43 L.Ed.2d 712, 730 (1975), that “the combination of investigative and adjudicative functions does not, without more, constitute a due process violation” by creating an unconstitutional risk of bias. Citing Withrow, Division One of this court subsequently held that, when an administrative agency has both investigative and adjudicative responsibilities, “it will be necessary for the agency to receive the results of investigations, to make preliminary decisions or approve the filing of formal charges, and then to participate in the resulting hearings. This type of procedure does not violate due process of law.” DeGroot v. Ariz. Racing Comm’n, 141 Ariz. 331, 341, 686 P.2d 1301, 1311 (App.1984); see also Duffield v. Charleston Area Med. Ctr., Inc., 503 F.2d 512, 519 (4th Cir.1974) (action of investigatory committee was “administrative step in bringing the issue to a head” that did not disqualify that committee’s members from sitting on adjudicatory committee); Leonard v. Bd. of Dirs., Prowers County Hosp. Dist., 673 P.2d 1019, 1024-25 (Colo.Ct. App.1983); accord In re Crooks, 51 Cal.3d 1090, 275 Cal.Rptr. 420, 800 P.2d 898, 904 (1990); In re Zoarski, 227 Conn. 784, 632 A.2d 1114, 1121 (1993). Accordingly, the fact that Mayberry initially served on the committee that recommended revocation of Hourani’s privileges is insufficient, in and of itself, to disqualify Mayberry from later reviewing that action on appeal.
¶ 22 Hourani argues that these cases are distinguishable because Mayberry sat on both the Executive Committee that decided to bring charges and the Appellate Review Committee that reviewed the Executive Committee’s decision. But the principles announced in Withrow and DeGroot apply equally here. Because the Governing Board was the final decision-maker in revoking Hourani’s privileges, the fact that the prior proceeding was termed “appellate” is of no import, as it was merely preliminary to the Governing Board’s final decision.
¶ 23 Nevertheless, a plaintiff may challenge a decision maker’s impartiality by “demonstrat[ing] that the mind of the decision maker is ‘irrevocably closed’ on the particular issues being decided.” Havasu Heights Ranch & Dev. Corp. v. Desert Valley Wood Prods., Inc., 167 Ariz. 383, 387, 807 P.2d 1119, 1123 (App.1990), citing Fed. Trade Comm’n v. Cement Inst., 333 U.S. 683, 701, 68 S.Ct. 793, 803, 92 L.Ed. 1010, 1034 (1948). However, “mere exposure to evidence presented in nonadversary investigative procedures is insufficient in itself to impugn the fairness of the [decision maker] at a later adversary hearing.” Withrow, 421 U.S. at 55, 95 S.Ct. at 1468, 43 L.Ed.2d at 728. To be successful, a plaintiff must show that any bias or predetermination of the facts is based on an “extrajudical source” that results in a decision based on something other than what the decision maker learned from participating in the case. United States v. Grinnell Corp., 384 U.S. 563, 583, 86 S.Ct. 1698, 1710, 16 L.Ed.2d 778, 793 (1966); see also Havasu Heights, 167 Ariz. at 387, 807 P.2d at 1123.
¶ 24 Hourani did not present any evidence that Mayberry had received information from an “extrajudicial source” or was unable to fairly evaluate the findings by the hearing officer and discuss the matter with other members of the Appellate Review Committee in deciding what sanction to impose. Therefore, Hourani failed to overcome the presumption of Mayberry’s “honesty and integrity.” Pavlik, 195 Ariz. 148, ¶ 24, 985 P.2d at 639. Construing the facts and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the Hospital, see Link, 193 Ariz. 336, ¶ 12, 972 P.2d at 673, we cannot conclude that Mayberry’s presence on the Appellate Review Committee denied Hourani the right to a fair hearing.
¶ 25 In a supplemental citation of authority, Hourani relies on two cases to support his claim that Mayberry should have been disqualified. Hourani first cites Yaqub v. Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, 122 Cal.App.4th 474, 18 Cal.Rptr.3d 780, 788 (2004), for the proposition that, when individuals serve on both an appellate review body as well as the panel that makes the initial decision, such action “strain[s] the bounds of due process.” But, in Yaqub, the court invalidated the revocation of privileges because the hearing officer had an actual financial bias that disqualified him. The court then warned that, in any future hearing that might occur in which neither side had counsel, the attorney who had advised the panel in its investigative endeavors should be precluded from also advising the board in its adjudicative duties. We find this dictum both inapplicable to the situation here and unpersuasive.
¶ 26 Hourani also cites Yaqub for the proposition that a disciplinary panel member should be precluded from “sitting on [an appellate] panel and reviewing its own decision made in a previous hearing.” Id. at 789. But the court made this statement in the context of quoting the trial court’s reasoning for rejecting the argument raised under a California statute, which prohibited individuals from serving dual roles. Accordingly, we find Yaqub inapplicable to this case.
¶ 27 Hourani’s second supplemental citation of authority is an unpublished district court opinion from Louisiana. Other than two exceptions that do not apply to this, case, unpublished decisions “shall not be regarded as precedent nor cited in any court.” Ariz. R. Civ.App. P. 28(c), 17B A.R.S. This prohibition extends to federal district court memorandum decisions. See Walden Books Co. v. Dep’t of Revenue, 198 Ariz. 584, ¶ 21, 12 P.3d 809, 814 (App.2000) (rule prohibiting citation of memorandum decisions applies to memorandum decisions by any court). We therefore refuse to consider it.
¶28 Finally, the court found that Dr. Carter Mayberry should have recused himself from “any voice or vote” on the Governing Board when it voted to revoke Hourani’s privileges. The court’s ruling is unclear as to why Carter Mayberry should have recused himself, but Hourani defends the decision based on Mayberry’s participation as a member of the Executive Committee. Again, the bylaws do not prohibit a member from serving on both the Executive Committee and the Governing Board. And Hourani did not present any evidence that Mayber-ry’s participation on the Executive Committee “irrevocably closed” his mind on whether the Governing Board should revoke Houra-ni’s privileges. Havasu Heights, 167 Ariz. at 387, 807 P.2d at 1123. Accordingly, we are unable to conclude as a matter of law that Carter Mayberry’s failure to recuse himself violated Hourani’s fair hearing rights.
DISPOSITION
¶ 29 We affirm the superior court’s denial of the Hospital’s cross-motion for summary judgment. But, because we find as a matter of law that the unchallenged lack of a recommendation from the hearing officer was insufficient to invalidate the process and that questions of material fact exist on whether other procedural violations occurred during Hourani’s revocation proceedings, we reverse the judgment on this issue and remand this matter to the superior court for further proceedings.
BRAMMER and ECKERSTROM, JJ., concurring.
. At the hearing before the superior court, the Hospital conceded that an "egregious" procedural violation would authorize injunctive relief. Neither the history of the statute nor its wording justifies any distinction between those procedural violations that are egregious and those that are material but not egregious.
. Hourani did not bring this defect or the other alleged defects to the attention of the hearing officer, the Appellate Review Committee, or the Governing Board. At any time during this process, all of the alleged defects could have been corrected. Hourani cannot allow procedural defects to continue and await the final outcome before complaining about them. See DeGroot v. Ariz. Racing Comm’n, 141 Ariz. 331, 340, 686 P.2d 1301, 1310 (App.1984) (failure to raise issue before administrative tribunal precludes judicial review of that issue unless issue is jurisdictional); see also Duffteld v. Charleston Area Med. Ctr., 503 F.2d 512, 515 (4th Cir.1974) (claim of bias and prejudice must be raised promptly after knowledge of alleged disqualification); accord Neal v. City of Kingman, 169 Ariz. 133, 136, 817 P.2d 937, 940 (1991); Pavlik v. Chinle Unified Sch. Dist. No. 24, 195 Ariz. 148, ¶ 8, 985 P.2d 633, 636 (App.1999). Although these cases did not arise in a § 36-445.02(B) context, this waiver principle advances the intent of the statute by limiting the role of the courts in reviewing hospital proceedings.
But, as Hourani notes, the Hospital did not argue Hourani's waiver before the superior court. On appeal from summary judgment, an appellant may not advance new theories or raise new issues to secure reversal. Mitchell v. Gamble, 207 Ariz. 364, ¶ 16, 86 P.3d 944, 949-50 (App.2004). We therefore will not consider Hourani’s arguments waived.
. Although the Hospital does not dispute that Hourani was entitled to due process, we do not necessarily agree that the concept of constitutional due process applies to this situation. Other jurisdictions have also questioned this proposition. See Pariser v. Christian Health Care Sys., Inc., 816 F.2d 1248, 1251 (8th Cir.1987); Modaber v. Culpeper Mem’l Hosp., Inc., 674 F.2d 1023, 1026 (4th Cir.1982); Campbell v. St. Mary’s Hosp., 312 Minn. 379, 252 N.W.2d 581, 585-86 (1977); Ritterband v. Axelrod, 149 Misc.2d 135, 562 N.Y.S.2d 605, 608 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1990). Nevertheless, the parties have argued this issue as one of due process and we evaluate their positions with that constraint. Moreover, the bylaws are a contract. Samaritan Health Sys. v. Superior Court, 194 Ariz. 284, ¶ 12, 981 P.2d 584, 588 (App. 1998). Accordingly, the Hospital must comply with the covenant of good faith and fair dealing implied in every contract. See Kuehn v. Stanley, 208 Ariz. 124, 1129, 91 P.3d 346, 354 (App.2004).
. Carter Mayberry is the brother of Andrew May-berry.
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OPINION
HALL, Judge.
¶ 1 Appellant Janet Vales appeals from the trial court’s orders granting summary judgment to appellee Kings Hill Condominium Association (Kings Hill) and denying her motion for a new trial. Vales, the owner of a Kings Hill condominium unit, filed a complaint in superior court challenging the validity of a “no-rental” amendment to the condominium declaration. The trial court ruled that the amendment was validly enacted and Kings Hill was entitled to judgment as a matter of law and that, in any event, Vales’ action was time-barred. For the reasons discussed below, we vacate the trial court’s orders and remand for proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 The relevant facts are undisputed. On December 29, 1969, Kings Hill, a forty-two unit condominium complex, recorded a “Declaration of Restrictions, Establishment of Board of Management and Lien Rights (Declaration). In August 1999, Vales purchased a Kings Hill unit from her uncle’s trust. From the time of her acquisition, Vales never occupied the condominium as her personal residence. Instead, she leased the property through a rental company.
¶ 3 On March 24, 2000, Kings Hill mailed ballots to the forty-two condominium owners, proposing a “no-rental” amendment to the Declaration. The ballot stated in pertinent part:
The following “No Rental Clause” has been approved by the board members of the Kings Hill Condominium to be added to our Declaration of Restrictions. We are presenting it to the Home Owners for your approval. Please read and sign. “Notwithstanding any provision herein to the contrary, no owner of a unit shall rent or lease such unit, provided that any owner renting or leasing a unit at the time of adoption of this provision may continue renting or leasing such unit, except that such right to continue the renting or leasing of the unit shall terminate on March 26, 2000 or upon the first to occur of the following events: (1) Sale of the unit by the person(s) who are owner(s) at the time of adoption of this provision^] (2) death of the owner(s)[,j (3) the owner(s) as of the date of adoption of this provision ceases to rent or lease the unit for more than three (3) consecutive months.”
¶ 4 Section 22 of the Declaration provided that it could be amended by majority vote of the unit owners. Twenty-four of the forty-two unit owners voted to approve the amendment, with Vales casting a dissenting ballot. On May 12, 2000, Kings Hill recorded the amendment, but with the following additional language added:
No owner of a unit shall lease such unit for business, speculative investment or other similar purposes for any period of time which will extend more than three (3) years after the date of recordation of this amendment or June 1, 2003, whichever comes first.
¶ 5 After the recording of the amendment, Vales continued to lease her unit. At or about the time her unit became vacant on March 31, 2008, Vales attempted to secure new tenants through the rental company. The rental company executed a four-month lease agreement with two prospective tenants, but the tenants cancelled the agreement when they learned that Kings Hill intended to enforce the Declaration’s no-rental restriction as of June 1, 2003. With the cancellation of the lease, Vales suffered a $6600 loss in rental income.
¶ 6 On May 20, 2003, more than three years after the recording of the amendment, Vales filed a complaint against Kings Hill seeking declaratory relief and monetary damages for breach of contract and intentional interference with contract. In its answer, Kings Hill countered that the amendment’s passage complied with all of the Declaration’s requirements and that, in any event, Vales’ complaint was time-barred. After the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court ruled in a signed minute entry, stating:
That pursuant to Section 22 of the Declaration of Restrictions, all owners are subject to the regulation set forth in the [Declaration];
That the amendment restricting the ability of owners to lease their premises was passed in accordance with the applicable [Declaration], The amendment was properly enacted.
That the amendment was enacted and adopted in conformity with old Chapter 4.1 of Title 33 of the Arizona Revised Statutes. That older chapter did not specify and/or mandate a particular percentage of owners that would be necessary to adopt an amendment to [the] existing [Declaration]. As a consequence, the requirement of existing A.R.S. § 33-1227(D) [requiring unanimous consent] is inapplicable to these factual circumstances.
That under these factual circumstances, A.R.S. § 33-12[0]l(B) and (D) mandate that Section 22 of the Declarations of Restrictions [requiring passage of an amendment by a simple majority] is controlling; and
Further, that A.R.S. § 33-1227(B) providing a 1 year statute of limitation is applicable.
The Court thus finds that there exists no genuine issue of material fact and further that [Kings Hill] is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
¶ 7 Vales filed a motion for new trial on the basis that the judgment was not justified by the evidence or was contrary to law. See Ariz. R. Civ. P. 59(a)(8). The trial court denied the motion and Vales timely appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) section 12-2101(B) (2003).
DISCUSSION
¶8 On appeal, Vales contends that the trial court erred by determining that her claim is time-barred by the one-year statute of repose set forth in A.R.S. § 33-1227(B) (2000) and by finding that the passage of the amendment complied with the Declaration’s requirements.
¶ 9 Summary judgment may be granted when “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and [] the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(c). In reviewing a summary judgment in a case involving undisputed material facts, we independently review the trial court’s application of the law to the facts. Canady v. Prescott Canyon Estates Homeowners Ass’n, 204 Ariz. 91, 92, ¶ 6, 60 P.3d 231, 232 (App.2002). Additionally, we review the interpretation and application of statutes de novo. Levitan v. State, Registrar of Contractors, 201 Ariz. 225, 226, ¶ 4, 33 P.3d 796, 797 (App.2001).
I. Applicability of § 33-1227(B)’s One-Year Limitations Period
¶ 10 Vales contends that the trial court erred in finding her claim time-barred pursuant to § 33-1227(B), arguing that the trial court could not “pick and choose which of the new provisions” of the Condominium Act (the Act), A.R.S. §§ 33-1201 to -1270 (2000 & Supp.2005), apply to this case. Specifically, Vales claims the trial court erred in determining she was required to challenge the amendment within one year under § 33-1227(B) while holding the unanimity requirement of § 33-1227(D) inapplicable.
¶ 11 As background to consideration of Vales’ argument, we first analyze whether the trial court correctly determined that passage of the amendment required only majority approval pursuant to § 22 of the Declaration rather than unanimous approval under § 33-1227(D). When the Declaration was recorded in 1969, Title 33, Chapter 4.1, Arizona’s “first generation” condominium statute, governed the formation of condominium associations. See A.R.S. §§ 33-551 to -561 (1985), added by 1962 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 89, § 1. In 1985, the legislature adopted the Act, a modified version of the Uniform Condominium Act, U.C.A. §§ 1-101 to 5-110, 7 U.L.A. 101 (1978), replacing Chapter 4.1. See 1985 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 192, § 3. Various paragraphs in § 33-1201 define the Act’s applicability to condominium associations formed before its January 1, 1986 effective date. Paragraph B provides that the Act applies to all preexisting condominiums to the extent that the Act “does not conflict with the declarations, articles or bylaws of the condominium.” Paragraph C explains that the Act applies to the extent that its provisions “are not in conflict with former chapter 4.1 ... or declarations, bylaws or plats of condominiums adopted pursuant to former chapter 4.1____” Paragraph D sets forth that “[a]mendments shall be adopted in conformity with the procedures and requirements specified in the declarations, bylaws and plats which were adopted pursuant to former chapter 4.1____”
¶ 12 Thus, the Act governs the Declaration, which was created in 1969, only to the extent it does not conflict with any provisions in the Declaration. Additionally, the Act applies to the Declaration only to the extent it does not conflict with former Chapter 4.1. See Mountain View Condo. Homeowners Ass’n, Inc. v. Scott, 180 Ariz. 216, 219-20, 883 P.2d 453, 456-57 (App.1994) (holding that to the extent the provisions of the Act do not conflict with provisions of the former Chapter 4.1, the Act applies to condominiums created before January 1,1986).
¶ 13 Because the Declaration’s majority-vote requirement conflicted with the una nimity requirement in the Act, the trial court accepted Kings Hill’s argument that its no-rental amendment, even though it was proposed in 2000, was subject to approval by a simple majority of the unit owners. This part of the trial court’s ruling was correct.
¶ 14 Neither the Declaration nor former Chapter 4.1 establish a limitation on the length of time in which a unit owner may challenge an amendment to the Declaration. Therefore, according to Kings Hill, the one-year limitation period set forth in § 33-1227(B) of the Act is applicable and the trial court correctly found that Vales’ complaint, which was filed more than three years after the amendment was recorded, was time-barred.
¶ 15 Section 33-1227(B) provides: “An action to challenge the validity of an amendment adopted by the association pursuant to this section shall not be brought more than one year after the amendment is recorded.” (Emphasis added.) Section 33-1227, entitled “Amendment of declaration,” recognizes that a condominium declaration may need to be amended at various times during its life, and establishes general requirements for consent by specified percentages of unit owners before an amendment may take effect, with certain exceptions. Section 33-1227(A) states the basic rule that the declaration “may be amended only by a vote of the unit owners to which at least sixty-seven per cent of the votes in the association are allocated, or any larger majority the declaration specifies.” One exception to the basic rule is § 33-1227(D), the unanimity requirement previously discussed, which provides that “an amendment shall not create or increase special declarant rights, increase the number of units or change the boundaries of any unit, the allocated interests of a unit or the uses to which any unit is restricted, in the absence of unanimous consent of the unit owners.” (Emphasis added.) In our view, because the amendment was not subject to either § 33-1227(A)’s or § 33-1227(D)’s voting percentage provisions but was passed pursuant to the Declaration’s majority-vote provision, § 33-1227(B)’s one-year limitations period, which applies to “amendment[s] adopted by the association pursuant to this section is inapplicable. See Citadel Care Ctr. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Revenue, 200 Ariz. 286, 290, ¶ 13, 25 P.3d 1158, 1162 (App.2001) (noting that statutory language should be interpreted in conjunction with other provisions of the statute); see also Kent K. v. Bobby M., 210 Ariz. 279, 283, ¶ 14, 110 P.3d 1013, 1017 (2005) (explaining that when a statute is clear and unambiguous, courts apply its plain language and need not engage in any other means of statutory interpretation).
¶ 16 In the absence of an applicable statute of limitations provision within former Chapter 4.1 or the Act, we examine the general limitations statutes in Title 12, Chapter 5, to determine whether Vales’ claims were time-barred. Vales alleged three counts in her complaint. In count one, as supplemented by the summary judgment proceedings, she sought a declaratory judgment that the amendment was invalid for various reasons. In count two, Vales alleged a breach of contract, asserting that Kings Hill violated the terms of the Declaration when it recorded the no-rental restriction on May 12, 2000. In count three, Vales alleged that Kings Hill committed the tort of intentional interference with contract by interfering with her contractual relationship with a tenant scheduled to commence leasing the unit in December 2003.
¶ 17 We have previously noted “the question of whether and when statutes of limitations are applicable to declaratory relief actions is a less than clear area of the law.” Western Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Evans, 130 Ariz. 333, 335, 636 P.2d 111, 113 (App.1981). The leading approach appears to be that the applicable statute of limitations should be determined by “examin[ing] the substance of that action to identify the relationship out of which the claim arises and the relief sought----” Solnick v. Whalen, 49 N.Y.2d 224, 425 N.Y.S.2d 68, 401 N.E.2d 190, 195 (1980). It is clear here that the determination of rights sought by Vales in her declaratory judgment claim, namely, a declaration by the court that the amendment is invalid and violates her contract rights under the Declaration, is simply a precursor to her breach of contract claim in count two. Thus, even assuming that Vales’ breach of contract claim is governed by the general four-year limitation period of A.R.S. § 12-550 (2003) and not the longer six-year period for written contracts involving an action for debt established by A.R.S. § 12-548 (2003), counts one and two of her complaint are not time-barred because Vales filed her complaint on May 20, 2003, less than four years after Kings Hill recorded the amendment in May 2000.
¶ 18 The tort claim alleged in count three, intentional interference with contract, was required to be filed within two years of accrual pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-542 (2003). See Clark v. AiResearch Mfg. Co. of Ariz., Inc., 138 Ariz. 240, 243, 673 P.2d 984, 987 (App.1983) (explaining that actions for interference with contract are subject to the § 12-542 two-year limitation). As previously mentioned, ¶ 5 swpra, two prospective tenants either withdrew from or declined to enter a rental agreement in 2003 when informed of Kings Hills’ position that it would enforce the no-rental clause as of June 1, 2003. Therefore, this claim (which in any event would not have been governed by § 33-1227(B)’s one-year limitations period for challenging the validity of an amendment) is also not time-barred by the applicable two-year period. Therefore, the trial court erred in dismissing Vales’ complaint on limitations grounds.
II. Validity of the Amendment
¶ 19 We next consider whether the trial court appropriately granted summary judgment to Kings Hill on the basis that the no-rental amendment was passed in accordance with the applicable Declaration provisions. See Glaze v. Marcus, 151 Ariz. 538, 540, 729 P.2d 342, 344 (App.1986) (noting that we affirm a trial court’s grant of summary judgment if it is correct for any reason). Vales contends that the amendment as recorded is “void as a matter of law” because its language varies from the language of the amendment approved by the vote of the unit owners. See La Esperanza Townhome Assoc., Inc. v. Title Sec. Agency of Ariz., 142 Ariz. 235, 240, 689 P.2d 178, 183 (1984) (holding that new plat was “null and void” as an attempt to amend the declaration without meeting percentage approval requirement). Kings Hill counters that the failure to resubmit the altered amendment to the unit owners for approval was an oversight and that such a mistake should not invalidate the entire amendment, citing Villas at Hidden Lakes Condominium Ass’n v. Geupel Construction, 174 Ariz. 72, 76-77, 847 P.2d 117, 121-22 (App.1992), and Watson Construction v. Amfac Mortgage, 124 Ariz. 570, 576, 606 P.2d 421, 427 (App.1979). Kings Hill also relatedly argues that, in any event, the additional language benefitted Vales by permitting her to lease the unit for three additional years.
¶ 20 Section 22 of the Declaration states that “[tjhese restrictions and covenants may be amended, in whole or in part, at any time by a majority vote of the then owners of lots within the property herein concerned.” Thus, pursuant to the plain language of the Declaration, any amendment to the Declaration requires approval by a majority of the unit owners. To the extent that Kings Hill is arguing that the entire amendment as recorded is valid because the altered amendment was substantially the same as that approved by the unit owners, we disagree. The additional language added by Kings Hill imposed an absolute three-year time limitation on a unit owner’s ability to rent the unit. This is not a situation, as in Villas and Watson, in which minor errors were made that did not alter the substance of the instrument. Therefore, because the additional language was not approved by the unit owners, the three-year limitation is invalid. We disagree, however, with Vales’ contention that the invalid addition necessarily renders the entire recorded amendment void. Instead, in order to give effect to the actual intention of the majority of the unit owners who approved the no-rental amendment, its insertion by Kings Hill may be disregarded as mere surplusage. See Fortner v. Johnson, 404 S.W.2d 892, 900 (Tex.Civ. App.1966) (clause that is inconsistent with intent of contracting parties should be disregarded).
¶21 The remaining question is whether that portion of the recorded amendment that was approved by a majority of the unit owners entitles Kings Hill to judgment as a matter of law. The relevant portion of the approved amendment provides:
[N]o owner of a unit shall rent or lease such unit, provided that any owner renting or leasing a unit at the time of adoption of this provision may continue renting or leasing such unit, except that such right to continue the renting or leasing of the unit shall terminate on March 26, 2000 or upon the first to occur of the following events: (1) Sale of the unit by the person(s) who are owner(s) at the time of adoption of this provision^] (2) death of the owner(s)[,] (3) the owner(s) as of the date of adoption of this provision ceases to rent or lease the unit for more than three (3) consecutive months.
¶ 22 Initially, we note that the language of the amendment is ambiguous because it can reasonably be construed as having more than one meaning. See Scholten v. Blackhawk Partners, 184 Ariz. 326, 329, 909 P.2d 393, 396 (App.1995); see also Burke v. Voices-tream Wireless Corp. II, 207 Ariz. 393, 395, ¶ 11, 87 P.3d 81, 83 (App.2004) (“[Wjhether a contract is ambiguous is a question of law that we review de novo.”). Was its intent to terminate the right of all unit owners from leasing their units after March 26, 2000 or were unit owners who were leasing a unit at the time of its adoption permitted to continue doing so until the occurrence of one of the three listed events?
¶23 In resolving this apparent ambiguity, we are guided by rules of construction that apply to restrictive covenants. First, as with any other contract, the intent of the parties to the amended condominium declaration must be ascertained from the language of the amendment. See O’Malley Inv. & Realty Co. v. Trimble, 5 Ariz.App. 10, 17, 422 P.2d 740, 747 (1967). Second, “[r]e-strictions which are not absolutely clear are to be interpreted in the ordinary and popular sense, related to circumstances under which they were used, having in mind their purpose and general situation.” Riley v. Stoves, 22 Ariz.App. 223, 226, 526 P.2d 747, 750 (1974). Last, restrictive covenants are “strictly construed against the persons seeking to enforce them and any ambiguities or doubts as to their effect should be resolved in favor of the free use and enjoyment of the property and against restrictions.” Duffy v. Sunburst Farms East Mut. Water & Agric. Co., 124 Ariz. 413, 417, 604 P.2d 1124, 1128 (1979) (quoting Grossman v. Hatley, 21 Ariz.App. 581, 583, 522 P.2d 46, 48 (1974)); see also Burke, 207 Ariz. at 396, ¶ 13, 87 P.3d at 84 (“If the language of a restrictive covenant is judged to be ambiguous, it should be construed in favor of the free use of the land.”).
¶ 24 Here, the ballot setting forth the proposed amendment was mailed to unit owners only two days before March 26, 2000 and was not approved by a majority of the unit owners until April 2, 2000. In addition to the obvious problems that would arise with a retroactive restriction, a no-rental restriction effective March 26, 2000 would render the remaining contingencies meaningless before the amendment was even passed. As such, the March 26, 2000 date is unenforceable.
¶ 25 After striking that language, the amendment now provides:
[N]o owner of a unit shall rent or lease such unit, provided that any owner renting or leasing a unit at the time of adoption of this provision may continue renting or leasing such unit, except that such right to continue the renting or leasing of the unit shall terminate on March -26, 2QQQ-or upon the first to occur of the following events: (1) Sale of the unit by the person(s) who are owner(s) at the time of adoption of this provision^] (2) death of the owner(s)[,] (3) the owner(s) as of the date of adoption of this provision ceases to rent or lease the unit for more than three (3) consecutive months.
As redacted, the amendment is valid only if we can conclude that the majority of unit owners would have approved the amendment absent the unenforceable date restriction. See O’Malley Inv. & Realty Co., 5 Ariz.App. at 17, 422 P.2d at 747 (‘Whether a contract is entire or severable is a question of the intention of the parties, to be ascertained from the language employed and the subject matter of the contract.”); see also Randolph v. Gros-cost, 195 Ariz. 423, 427, ¶ 15, 989 P.2d 751, 755 (1999) (establishing severability test for initiative measures: ‘We will first consider whether the valid portion, considered separately, can operate independently and is enforceable and workable. If it is, we will uphold it unless doing so would produce a result so irrational or absurd” that one would not have been adopted without the other).
¶ 26 Given that the clear intent of the unit owners who voted in favor of the amendment was to phase out the right of owners to lease their units, we believe that they would have approved the amendment absent the date restriction. Accordingly, we sever that portion of the amendment that refers to a termination date of March 26, 2000, thereby leaving the remainder of the amendment to accomplish the primary intent of the unit owners. Under the amendment as we have construed it, Vales was entitled to lease her unit unless she was precluded from doing so under the third contingency, namely, that she “eease[d] to rent or lease the unit for more than three (3) consecutive months.” Based on the record, it is unclear whether this terminating event occurred; therefore, Kings Hill is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
CONCLUSION
¶ 27 In summary, the trial court erred when it found that Vales’ complaint was time-barred pursuant to § 33-1227(B). The trial court further erred when it determined as a matter of law that the no-rental amendment prevented Vales from leasing her condominium unit. As Kings Hill did not prevail on appeal, we deny its request for attorneys’ fees made pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-341.01(A) (2003).
¶ 28 For the foregoing reasons and those set forth in the accompanying Memorandum Decision, we vacate the trial court’s grant of summary judgment and remand for proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
CONCURRING: G. MURRAY SNOW, and PATRICIA K. NORRIS, Judges.
. Although the parties and the trial court referred to § 33-1227(B) as a "statute of limitations,” it is more accurately described as a statute of repose because it bars any cause of action to challenge the validity of an amendment not filed within one year of recordation regardless of accrual. See 54 C.J.S. Limitations of Actions § 4 (1987) (distinguishing between "statutes of limitation” and "statutes of repose”).
. Vales raises several additional issues regarding the validity of the amendment that we address in a separate Memorandum Decision. See ARCAP 28(g).
. The complete text of § 33-1201 provides:
A. This chapter applies to all condominiums created within this state on or after January 1, 1986.
B. This chapter applies to all condominiums created before January 1, 1986 to the extent that this chapter does not conflict with the declarations, articles or bylaws of the condominium.
C. With respect to condominiums created before January 1, 1986, this chapter applies to the extent the provisions of this chapter are not in conflict with former chapter 4.1 of this title, in effect before January 1, 1986, or declarations, bylaws or plats of condominiums adopted pursuant to former chapter 4.1 of this title. The provisions of former chapter 4.1 of this title and the declarations, bylaws or plats adopted pursuant to that chapter control, except as provided in subsection D of this section.
D. The provisions of former chapter 4.1 of this title, in effect before January 1, 1986, do not apply to condominiums created on or after January 1, 1986. The repeal of chapter 4.1 of this title does not invalidate condominiums created pursuant to chapter 4.1 of this title or future amendment to declarations, bylaws and plats of these condominiums if the amendments are permitted by this chapter. Amendments shall be adopted in conformity with the procedures and requirements specified in the declarations, bylaws and plats which were adopted pursuant to former chapter 4.1 of this title. If amendments grant to a person any rights, powers or privileges permitted by this chapter, all correlative obligations, liabilities and restrictions in this chapter also apply to that person.
E. Any unit owners' association created before January 1, 1986 may elect to be subject to the provisions of this chapter by amending its condominium documents to conform with the requirements of this chapter. The amendment must be adopted in conformity with the condominium documents and must be permitted by this chapter. If an amendment grants to a person a right, power or privilege permitted by this chapter, all correlative obligations, liabilities and restrictions in this chapter also apply.
. In Villas, the recorded amendment incorrectly referred to the recorded docket number of an earlier declaration that had been revoked. 174 Ariz. at 76, 847 P.2d at 121. In Watson, we rejected the argument that a deed of trust was defective because it lacked a caption as required by A.R.S. § 11-480 (Supp.2005). 124 Ariz. at 576, 606 P.2d at 427.
. In all probability, Kings Hill likewise perceived the inherent ambiguity of the amendment and sought to add the additional three-year extension language in an effort to provide a specific date after which units could not be leased in any event.
. Our construction of the amendment further fulfills the intent of the unit owners by preventing subsequent purchasers from buying a unit and then leasing it as they would be able to do if we voided the amendment in its entirety.
|
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OPINION
GEMMILL, Judge.
¶ 1 The marriage of David G. Kohler (“David”) and Gwendolyn L. Kohler (“Gwen dolyn”) was dissolved by decree entered April 20, 2004. David appeals two provisions of that decree involving the division of marital property. We hold that the trial court appropriately exercised its discretion in declining to deduct any costs of a future sale of the marital residence from Gwendolyn’s interest in the residence because the evidence was insufficient to establish that a sale of the property was imminent or the estimated costs of such a sale. We also decide that the equitable exemption from division as community property of a portion of a spouse’s pension benefits, recognized by our supreme court in Kelly v. Kelly, 198 Ariz, 307, 9 P.3d 1046 (2000), may be applicable to David’s pension benefits. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s refusal to deduct any costs of sale of the marital residence, but we vacate the court’s decision regarding the division of David’s pension and remand for further proceedings.
I.
¶ 2 In reviewing the apportionment of community property, we consider the evidence in a light most favorable to upholding the trial court’s ruling and will sustain that ruling if the evidence reasonably supports it. Gutierrez v. Gutierrez, 193 Ariz. 343, 346, ¶ 5, 972 P.2d 676, 679 (App.1998). We will not disturb the trial court’s equitable apportionment of community property absent an abuse of discretion. Id. An abuse of discretion may occur when a trial court commits an error of law in the process of exercising its discretion. Fuentes ¶. Fuentes, 209 Ariz. 51, 56, ¶ 23, 97 P.3d 876, 881 (App.2004).
II.
¶ 3 The trial court awarded the marital residence to David and granted Gwendolyn an equitable lien for her share of the community’s equity in the property. The trial court also ordered that David and Gwendolyn would share the costs of refinancing the loan on the residence if David elected to refinance in order to pay Gwendolyn her equitable share. The trial court declined to order that a portion of the future costs of a sale of the residence also be deducted from Gwendolyn’s share, and David contends this was error.
¶ 4 David testified he had no current plans to sell the property. On appeal, however, he argues that the trial court’s failure to charge Gwendolyn’s share with one half of the anticipated costs of a future sale was inequitable because his election to keep the home effectively saved Gwendolyn several thousand dollars that he will be forced to pay when, if ever, he sells the home. He maintains that the failure to charge Gwendolyn’s interest with these costs constitutes an inequitable reduction of his share of the equity. Gwendolyn counters that the trial court properly declined to apply a eost-of-sale deduction because the court did not order the residence sold and David had no plans to sell it.
¶ 5 This specific issue has been addressed in other jurisdictions. For example, the Washington Court of Appeals considered the propriety of the deduction of the anticipated costs of sale from a spouse’s share of an asset in In re Marriage of Berg, 47 Wash. App. 754, 737 P.2d 680 (1987). The court determined that in order to justify deduction of costs of the sale, there must be evidence in the record (1) showing that the party receiving the asset intends an imminent sale and (2) supporting the estimated costs of sale. Id. at 683. Accord Virgin v. Virgin, 990 P.2d 1040, 1049 (Alaska 1999); In re Marriage of Kopplin, 74 Or.App. 368, 703 P.2d 251, 253 (1985); In re Marriage of Stenshoel, 72 Wash.App. 800, 866 P.2d 635, 641-42 (1993). See also Taber v. Taber, 626 So.2d 1089, 1089-90 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1993) (deducting estimated costs of sale inappropriate in absence of evidence that sale imminent); In re Marriage of Benkendorf, 252 Ill.App.3d 429, 191 Ill.Dec. 863, 624 N.E.2d 1241, 1245-46 (1993) (same); Carlson v. Carlson, 127 N.C.App. 87, 487 S.E.2d 784, 786-87 (1997) (same). We find these authorities persuasive.
¶ 6 In the absence of evidence that a sale is likely to occur in the near Mure, it is speculative to allow a deduction of the costs of a hypothetical sale from the share of the equity awarded to the spouse not receiving the property. As explained in Carlson:
[T]he expenses of a future sale of an asset are uncertain in both occurrence and amount. For example, the property owner may die and thus never sell the asset. In any event, even if the sale does take place in the future, unless the sale is imminent, there is no reasonable basis upon which to predict the amount of expenses related to the sale.
Id. at 786-87 (citations omitted). Even if the evidence demonstrates that a sale of the property is imminent, there must be competent evidence upon which a finding can be made of the anticipated costs of sale. See Virgin, 990 P.2d at 1049 (affirming denial of deduction for costs of sale of home because husband did not introduce any evidence of the anticipated costs of sale); Berg, 737 P.2d at 683. Also, it will generally be inequitable to reduce one party’s share of the community property by anticipated costs that are not expected to be incurred in the near future. See Carlson at 786; see also Brett R. Turner, Equitable Distribution of Property § 7.03, at 506 (2d. ed. 1994) (“[W]here owning spouse has no plan to sell the asset in the immediate future, costs of sale are ordinarily not a proper deduction.”).
¶ 7 A trial court’s resolution of this issue involves a fact-intensive inquiry into the intent and circumstances of the party receiving the asset. See Berg, 737 P.2d at 683. If the trial court has not ordered that the property be sold and the evidence does not demonstrate that a sale is imminent, the anticipated costs of sale generally should not be deducted from the parties’ shares of community equity. Id.; Virgin, 990 P.2d at 1049. There may be instances, however, in which the trial court may appropriately exercise its discretion to deduct the anticipated costs of sale if supported by the evidence and if the court has considered the deduction as part of an overall division of the community property that is equitable.
¶ 8 The evidence presented here did not justify a deduction for the costs of a sale. David testified that he did not have the immediate intent to sell the home. He explained that his desire was to buy Gwendolyn’s community interest in the home. Further, the trial court made no finding as to the projected costs of a sale, and David does not suggest on appeal that he presented evidence on this point. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining to reduce Gwendolyn’s interest in the property by one half of the costs of a hypothetical sale.
III.
¶ 9 David participated in the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System during the marriage. The trial court found his entire retirement account to be a community asset and ordered that it be divided equally. Relying upon Kelly, David argues that the entire account was not divisible as a community asset because his contributions to that account were, at least in part, made in lieu of Social Security contributions and should therefore be' deemed his sole and separate property.
¶ 10 Generally, community property includes all assets acquired during marriage except by gift, devise, or descent. See Ariz. Rev.Stat. § 25-211(1) (2000). Our supreme court has held that the portion of a pension or retirement benefit earned during marriage may be divided as community property even though it will not be received until after dissolution of the relationship. See Van Loan v. Van Loan, 116 Ariz. 272, 273-74, 569 P.2d 214, 215-16 (1977). “Social Security bears many characteristics of a pension and would ordinarily be considered community property under state law principles.” Kelly, 198 Ariz. at 308, ¶ 5, 9 P.3d at 1047. Federal law, however, prohibits state courts from dividing Social Security as community property. 42 U.S.C. § 407 (2000); see Kelly, 198 Ariz. at 308, ¶ 5, 9 P.3d at 1047.
¶ 11 In Kelly, our supreme court considered whether a portion of a husband’s retirement plan should be exempt from division as community property because his eontribu- tions to the plan were in lieu of Social Security contributions. The husband participated in a federal retirement program and did not make Social Security contributions. Id. at ¶ 1. The wife in Kelly participated in a different federal retirement program and part of her salary was paid into the Social Security system. Id. In accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 407(a), the wife’s accrued Social Security benefits were her sole and separate property and not subject to division in the dissolution proceeding even though they were paid from community property earned during the marriage. Id. at ¶2. The husband asked the trial court to consider a portion of his benefits as separate property to compensate for this inequity. Id. at ¶ 3. The trial court refused his request, but our supreme court held that this was error. Id. at ¶ 5.
¶ 12 The supreme court reasoned that the equitable distribution of community property is a matter of fairness dependent on the facts of each case. Id. at 309, ¶ 8, 9 P.3d at 1048. Applying that concept of fairness, the court agreed with the husband that spouses who do not participate in Social Security must be treated the same as spouses who do participate and who therefore enjoy an exemption of that asset from distribution upon dissolution. Id. at ¶ 9. The wife had paid a portion of her salary — which was community property — into the Social Security system and the accrued benefits, if not for federal law, would have been divisible as community property in Arizona.
Viewed another way, it can be seen that in the absence of social security contributions, the community could have spent, saved, or invested those funds as it saw fit. In each instance the resulting asset, if any, would have been divisible as community property. But, as matters presently stand, community funds have been diverted to the separate benefit of one spouse. We believe this situation compels an equitable response____
[A] present value ... should be placed on the social security benefits [husband] would have received had he participated in that system during the marriage. This necessarily will require a reconstruction of his wages. The social security calculation can then be deducted from the present value of [husband’s] pension---- The remainder, if any, is what may be divided as community property.
Id. at ¶¶ 10-11 (citation omitted). See also Cornbleth v. Cornbleth, 397 Pa.Super. 421, 580 A.2d 369, 372 (1990) (describing the same calculation).
¶ 13 David asked the trial court to apply Kelly, but the court determined that Kelly was not applicable primarily because “only one of the parties participated in a retirement plan” whereas in Kelly both spouses had retirement plans distinct from social security. We disagree and conclude that the Kelly exemption may be applicable if Gwendolyn accrued Social Security benefits from her contributions to Social Security during the marriage.
¶ 14 Gwendolyn may not have participated in a private retirement plan while married to David, but she was employed during the marriage and Social Security contributions were withheld from her paychecks. Although these Social Security contributions consisted of community funds, any Social Security benefits resulting from those contributions will be payable to her alone under federal law. See Kelly, 198 Ariz. at 309, ¶ 10, 9 P.3d at 1048. David, on the other hand, made no Social Security contributions during the time he participated in the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System and therefore accrued no Social Security benefits. If Gwendolyn accrued Social Security benefits as a result of her contributions to the system during the marriage, then David may be entitled to have a portion of his contributions to his retirement plan treated as Social Security contributions and the present value of the hypothetical Social Security benefit designated as his sole and separate property. See id. at ¶ 11.
¶ 15 We do not believe our supreme court’s analysis and holding in Kelly hinged on the fact that both parties participated in retirement plans separate from Social Security. Rather, the court addressed the inequity created when both spouses were employed during the marriage but only one spouse earned a Social Security benefit, and the court fashioned a remedy intended “to place the parties in the position they would have been had both participated in social security.” Id. at ¶ 12; see also Schneeman v. Schneeman, 420 Pa.Super. 65, 615 A.2d 1369, 1375 (1992) (“By providing the employee-spouse with sole ownership of that part of the pension which would have otherwise been contributed to Social Security benefits, we have equated, as nearly as possible, employee-spouses who contribute to Social Security benefits and those who contribute to only a separate pension fund which is not statutorily exempt from marital property.”). We conclude, therefore, that the trial court erred in its legal ruling that the equitable exemption endorsed in Kelly could not be applied in David’s favor.
¶ 16 The supreme court in Kelly recognized that this exemption for pension contributions made in lieu of Social Security should be applied only if necessary to achieve equity. See Kelly, 198 Ariz. at 309-10 n. 2, ¶ 13, 9 P.3d at 1048-49 n. 2. For example, the court in Kelly cited with approval McClain v. McClain, 693 A.2d 1355 (Pa.Super.Ct.1997), in which the court declined to apply the exemption in favor of a husband because the wife had no pension, she had worked only one year during the marriage, and any accrued Social Security benefit was “certainly minuscule.” McClain, 693 A.2d at 1359; Kelly, 198 Ariz. at 309-10 n. 2, ¶ 13, 9 P.3d at 1048-49 n. 2. Accordingly, on remand the trial court must consider whether applying the Kelly exemption in favor of David is fair and equitable.
¶ 17 As part of this analysis, the trial court should make a threshold determination whether Gwendolyn accrued Social Security benefits during the marriage. Although “[n]o attempt to value [wifej’s expected social security benefits is called for here,” see Kelly, 198 Ariz. at 309, ¶ 11, 9 P.3d at 1048, the court should consider whether Gwendolyn accrued benefits that were more than merely “minuscule” before applying the Kelly exemption in favor of David. See McClain, 693 A.2d at 1359; Kelly, 198 Ariz. at 309-10 n. 2, ¶ 13, 9 P.3d at 1048-49 n. 2.
¶ 18 We vacate that portion of the decree dividing David’s pension and remand this matter for further consideration in accordance with Kelly and this opinion.
IV.
¶ 19 Because Kelly imposes a rule of equity and fairness, the trial court is not precluded from re-evaluating the overall equities, if a portion of David’s pension is excluded from the community property, to determine whether the distribution of property or award of spousal maintenance should be adjusted. See Birt v. Birt, 208 Ariz. 546, 555, ¶ 31, 96 P.3d 544, 553 (App.2004) (holding that because property division established in a decree was vacated, trial court could reconsider issue of spousal maintenance).
¶ 20 The trial court’s refusal to deduct any costs of sale of the marital residence is affirmed. The portion of the decree dividing David’s Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System pension is vacated. This matter is remanded to the trial court to consider application of the Kelly exemption to a portion of David’s pension and, if deemed necessary in the exercise of the court’s equitable discretion, for re-evaluation of the distribution of property and award of spousal maintenance under Arizona law.
CONCURRING: SUSAN A. EHRLICH, Presiding Judge and G. MURRAY SNOW, Judge.
. David did not provide a transcript on appeal. See ARCAP 11(b)(1). In the absence of a transcript, an appellate court will presume that the record supports the trial court’s rulings. Baker v. Baker, 183 Ariz. 70, 73, 900 P.2d 764, 767 (App.1995); Johnson v. Elson 192 Ariz. 486, 489, 967 P.2d 1022, 1025 (App.1998).
. The trial court's order stated:
The Court has reviewed Kelly v. Kelly, 198 Ariz. 307 [9 P.3d 1046] (2000) and finds that the present matter is distinct and different from the facts presented in Kelly, and therefore Kelly is not applicable. In this case, only one of the parties participated in a retirement plan. In Kelly both parties were federal employees with retirement pensions of which one had a component that included Social Security. No part of Father’s pension benefits will be considered separate properly for the purpose of division of the retirement. Even if Mother has received Social Security benefits, they are not subject to division nor is it appropriate to attempt to calculate what Father would have received if he had participated in the Social Security system and deduct that amount from the Retirement benefits. Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo, 439 U.S. 572 [99 S.Ct. 802, 59 L.Ed.2d 1] (1979) as quoted in Kelly v. Kelly. Mother shall be entitled to her share of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System as calculated by the number of months of marriage divided by the number of months the pension accrued times 50 percent.
. We also note that our supreme court acknowledged but rejected the argument that allowing this exemption would create an imbalance whenever there was a disparity between the salaries of each spouse. "[S]uch an inequity is not of our making, nor can it be worse than the situation that presently exists under the law.” Kelly at ¶ 12.
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OPINION
SNOW, Judge.
¶ 1 Katherine Martens seeks special action review of the denial of her motion for a protective order. Upon review, we hold that the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) appropriately denied Marten’s request.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 Martens sustained a psychiatric industrial injury with related physical complications in 1991. Her claim has remained open since that time. She has received treatment for stress-related injuries and conditions from: her family practice physicians, a psychologist, psychiatrists, a pain medication and physical medicine specialist, a Temporo-mandibular-Joint (“TMJ”) specialist, a dentist, a dermatologist, and a gastroenterologist. Martens has remained on temporary disability status for almost thirteen years. She has not been released to work activities.
¶3 Pursuant to statute, the carrier may request the employee “from time to time” to submit herself for follow-up medical examinations by physicians and specialists whom the carrier designates. Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 23-1026(A) (1995) (“An employee ... shall submit [herjself for medical examination from time to time at a place reasonably convenient for the employee, if and when requested by the ... carrier.”); Ariz. Admin. Code (“A.A.C.”) R20-5-114 (“If ... a party requests an examination of a claimant by a physician,” the party shall provide the claimant with at least fifteen days’ advance notice.). In June 2004, the carrier, State of Arizona Risk Management, scheduled Martens for a series of independent medical examinations (“IMEs”), including one independent psychiatric examination (“IPE”) with Patricia Crellin, M.D. Martens’ long time friend, Ervin Matthews, attended some of the IMEs to provide Martens with emotional support. Prior to the IPE with Dr. Crellin, however, Columbia Medical Consulting, which coordinates Dr. Crellin’s appointments, notified Martens’ counsel in writing that Martens would not be permitted to bring anyone other than her physician or attorney to the IPE.
¶4 In response to Columbia’s refusal to allow Matthews to attend the IPE with Martens, Martens filed a motion for protective order. In her motion Martens argued that so long as Matthews did not interfere with the examination, Martens should be allowed to bring him pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-1026(B), A.A.C. R20-5-114, and Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 35.
¶ 5 The ALJ denied the motion, and Martens requested review. In the interim, Martens and her psychologist, Richard Kapp, Ph.D., attended the IPE in question with Dr. Crellin. The ALJ then issued a Decision upon Review supplementing and affirming the prior denial. In the Decision upon Review, the ALJ also found the motion moot because Martens had attended the IPE that was the subject of the motion. Martens filed a petition seeking special action review from this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 12-120.21(A)(2) (2003), 23-951(A) (1995), and Arizona Rule of Procedure for Special Actions 10.
ANALYSIS
¶ 6 Although the legal issue here is moot because the claimant attended the IPE in question without Matthews in attendance, see Burton v. Indus. Comm’n, 166 Ariz. 238, 239, 801 P.2d 473, 474 (App.1990) (“If petitioner has to submit to the medical examination without the use of a tape recorder, the issue will become moot.”), we exercise our discretion to review this issue in light of its likely recurrence. See Fry’s Food Stores of Ariz. v. Indus. Comm’n, 177 Ariz. 264, 266, 866 P.2d 1350, 1352 (1994).
¶ 7 Both our statutes and administrative regulations permit the Industrial Commission of Arizona (“ICA”), employers, and carriers to request an IME of a claimant. A.R.S. § 23-1026CA); A.A.C. R20-5-114(A). On special action review, Martens argues that the statute, the administrative regulation, and the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure allow her to bring her friend with her to an examination.
A. The Statute
¶ 8 Arizona Revised Statutes § 23-1026(B) states, “The request for the medical examination shall fix a time and place having regard to the convenience of the employee, [her] physical condition and [her] ability to attend. The employee may have a physician present at the examination if procured and paid for by himself.” Martens argues that this lan guage does not limit her to having only a physician present during her examination.
¶ 9 In Burton, however, we have already held that while a claimant could bring a tape recording to an examination, the statute did not provide the claimant with the right to have persons other than the claimant’s physician present. 166 Ariz. at 240, 801 P.2d at 475. We noted “[a] tape recorder is not in the ‘same class’ as a person. Under the principle of expressio unius est exclusio alterius, the statute precludes the presence of all persons except for a physician of a claimant’s choosing.” Id.; see State v. Gonzales, 206 Ariz. 469, 471, ¶ 11, 80 P.Sd 276, 278 (App.2003) (explaining that “the rule of ex-pressio unius est exclusio alterius ... is a rule of statutory construction meaning the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another”). Michigan courts, in continuing a statute very similar to ours, determined:
[The statute] provides that “[t]he employee shall have the right to have a physician provided and paid for by himself or herself present at the examination.” However, § 385 is silent as to whether an employee has the right to have an attorney present during the examination. We ... apply the rule of statutory construction, expressio unius est exclusio alterius — the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another. We find that an employee may only be accompanied by a personal physician during a physical examination requested by the employer or its insurance carrier. To hold otherwise would render as surplusage the above-quoted sentence from § 385 which expressly prescribes that the employee has the right to have a physician present. Therefore, we hold that § 385 does not grant an employee the right to have counsel present during a physical examination requested by an employer, or its insurance carrier.
Feld v. Robert & Charles Beauty Salon, 435 Mich. 352, 459 N.W.2d 279, 280 (1990).
¶ 10 In Pedro v. Glenn, 8 Ariz.App. 332, 334-35, 446 P.2d 31 (1968), we noted that at least some examinations can be affected by the presence of third parties and held that the trial court had abused its discretion by permitting counsel and a court reporter to attend a party’s psychiatric examination.
It is a useless procedure to conduct a psychiatric examination if the examination cannot be conducted in the atmosphere most conducive to permitting the examining physician to reach a sound professional opinion. There are many facets to the personal background of an individual which are essential in a psychiatric examination. There are questions in relation to this type of examination which go beyond the questions usually asked of a patient or an ex-aminee in the usual physical examination.
Id.
¶ 11 The statute at issue here provides Martens no right to have anyone present other than a physician for whom Martens has arranged. The ALJ was correct in determining that Dr. Crellin had no obligation to admit Matthews during the examination.
B. The Administrative Regulation
¶ 12 Martens also argues that A.A.C. R20-5-114(E) gives the ALJ power to allow Martens’ friend to attend a defense medical examination. In appropriate cases, A.A.C. R20-5-114(E) grants discretion to an ALJ “[t]o protect a claimant from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.” To do so, “[an ALJ] may order, upon good cause shown, ... [t]hat the examination not be held” or “[t]hat the examination may be conducted only on specified terms and conditions, including a designation of the time, place, and examining physician.” A.A.C. R20-5-114(E).
¶ 13 Martens argues that this regulation gives an ALJ the authority, in appropriate cases, to allow a third party to be present during an examination. The carrier, however, takes the position that an ALJ cannot order that someone other than a physician be present on behalf of the claimant because A.R.S. § 23-1026(B) prohibits it. The carrier notes that statutes take precedence over any administrative rules to the contrary. Gen. Tire Co. v. Indus. Comrn’n, 156 Ariz. 174, 178, 750 P.2d 1377, 1381 (App.1988). Thus, the carrier asserts the ALJ lacks authority to enter an order that is inconsistent with the applicable statute.
¶ 14 We agree that the statute limits the right of the claimant to insist that others besides a physician be present during an examination. A.R.S. § 23-1026(B) (“The employee may have a physician present at the examination if procured and paid for by [her]self.”). But the statute does not limit the prerogative of the ALJ in appropriate circumstances to allow a third party to attend an examination. The regulation, by its own terms, authorizes the ALJ to take appropriate measures to protect a claimant from “annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense” upon good cause shown. A.A.C. R20-5-114(E). Such measures may include allowing a third person to attend an examination of the employee.
¶ 15 While the ALJ here was of the view that the statute prevented her from allowing Matthews’ presence at the IPE, the ALJ nevertheless did not err by declining to grant the protective order. Despite the ALJ’s conclusion that the statute prevented her from allowing Matthews’ attendance, the ALJ nevertheless considered whether Martens had established good cause under the regulation for Matthews to be allowed to attend her IPE with Dr. Crellin. The ALJ determined that the claimant had not established good cause:
I have considered whether there is good cause under Rule 114 to order that the applicant be permitted to have a friend present during the IME with Dr. Crellin or at future IMEs. I do not find good cause. The mere fact that the applicant, whose claim has been open for over 12 years, and who has injuries being treated by doctors in various specialities has undergone 20 IME’s does not of itself constitute “annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.”
¶ 16 We review the ALJ’s determination for an abuse of her discretion. Kaibab Industries v. Industrial Comm’n, 196 Ariz. 601, 605, ¶ 10, 2 P.3d 691, 695 (App.2000). Given Martens failure on special action to point to any facts demonstrating that the ALJ abused her discretion in making the above determination, we do not question the ALJ’s conclusion.
C. The Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure
¶ 17 Martens argues that Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 35 allows her to have a representative present during the examination. Rule 35(a) provides in part, “The person to be examined shall have the right to have a representative present during the examination, unless the presence of that representative may adversely affect the outcome of the examination.”
¶ 18 Rule 35 is inapplicable to this case, however, because ICA proceedings are not governed by the rules of civil procedure. A.R.S. § 23-941(F) (“Except as otherwise provided in this section and rules or procedure established by the commission, the administrative law judge is not bound by ... formal rules of procedure.”); Tabler v. Indus. Comm’n, 202 Ariz. 518, 521, ¶ 10, 47 P.3d 1156, 1159 (App.2002). Further, an employee’s limited statutory right under A.R.S. § 23-1026(B) to have a physician present at an examination is inconsistent with an employee’s right under Rule 35 to have an unspecified representative present absent some effect on the examination. To the extent that Martens argues that the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure should be applied to ICA matters, it is not within this court’s jurisdiction to amend either the applicable legislation or the scope of the civil rules. Matters of policy are better directed to the legislature, rather than to the courts. Roosevelt Elementary Sch. Dist. No. 66 v. State, 205 Ariz. 584, 591, ¶ 33, 74 P.3d 258, 265 (App.2003).
¶ 19 Martens also points out that the other physicians did not object to having Matthews present during Martens’ other examinations. However, the practice of the other physicians does not compel Dr. Crellin to admit Matthews.
CONCLUSION
¶20 Having reviewed the applicable law, we determine that the ALJ appropriately denied Marten’s motion for a protective order. We therefore affirm the award and decision upon review.
CONCURRING: PATRICK IRVINE and PATRICIA A. OROZCO, Judges.
|
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OPINION
ECKERSTROM, Judge.
¶ 1 In this action for the wrongful death of their teenage son, Zachary, plaintiffs/appellants Kelly Tissicino and Kirk Nielson appeal from the grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant/appellee Juanita Peterson on their claim of negligent entrustment. Genuine issues of material fact exist as to (1) whether Juanita had the right to control the gun she had provided to her adult son, Timothy, and which he used to shoot Zachary, and (2) whether Juanita knew Timothy was incompetent to use it safely. A genuine issue of material fact also exists as to whether Timothy’s shooting of Zachary was a supervening cause of his death that was unforeseeable to Juanita. Accordingly, we reverse summary judgment and remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings.
¶ 2 In reviewing the trial court’s ruling, we view the facts in the light most favorable to Tissicino and Nielson, the parties against whom summary judgment was granted. See Great Am. Mtg., Inc. v. Statewide Ins. Co., 189 Ariz. 123, 124, 938 P.2d 1124, 1125 (App.1997). Juanita’s husband, Don, originally had given the gun to Timothy about twenty years earlier, and Don had retaken possession of the gun because Timothy’s brother had used it in a crime. At that time, Don had stated to Timothy, “I’m going to hang onto [the gun] because you let your brother go into your room and take it.” For the next twenty years, the gun remained in Don’s and Juanita’s possession. Juanita testified at her deposition that Don had stored the gun in a drawer and had kept it for protection and that after Don had moved to a nursing home, Juanita had placed the gun in a typewriter ease in the closet in a bedroom where Timothy stored clothes and other personal property.
¶ 3 Juanita testified that Timothy had never asked for the gun; rather, she had eventually requested that Timothy take the gun because she did not like having a gun around the house. Juanita also conceded she had been aware that Timothy had abused alcohol and drank regularly at the time she had given him the gun, that she had consumed alcohol with him in the four months preceding the shooting, and that Timothy accidentally had shot himself with a gun on a previous occasion. Within one or two weeks after Juanita gave the gun to Timothy, he shot Zachary accidentally. Timothy erroneously believed the gun was unloaded and pulled the trigger while pointing the gun at Zachary. Timothy admitted at his deposition that he was intoxicated at the time.
¶ 4 After Zachary’s death, Timothy pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven year’s in prison. Before sentencing, Timothy underwent a battery of intelligence and proficiency tests. Those tests- revealed that Timothy had a below average intelligence quotient (IQ) of seventy-four, and his reading, spelling, and math skills were at a grade school level. After testing, psychologists determined he also suffered from brain damage and a cognitive disorder.
¶ 5 Juanita wrote a letter to the sentencing judge explaining that, while pregnant with Timothy, she had been the victim of extreme domestic violence. She added that she had used alcohol during that pregnancy. She stated that Timothy had suffered head trauma resulting from a serious automobile accident in 1977 and numerous motorcycle accidents. Juanita also maintained that Timothy had suffered from learning difficulties throughout his school career and eventually had been placed into special education classes. She acknowledged in the letter to the sentencing judge that she was aware that Timothy had abused alcohol since the age of fourteen. Timothy’s lawyer asserted in a sentencing memorandum that “Tim’s long history of alcohol abuse and the strong possibility that he suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome ... along with the extensively documented mental deficiencies Tim suffers from, call into question Tim’s ability to reason right from wrong or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.”
¶ 6 Tissicino and Nielson brought a wrongful death action against Juanita, but Juanita moved for summary judgment, arguing, inter alia, that she owed no duty to Tissicino, Nielson, or Zachary, because “a defendant [cannot] ‘negligently entrust’ property to its lawful owner,” and Timothy was the undisputed owner of the gun. The trial court agreed, finding that Restatement (Second) of Torts § 390 (1965), was inapplicable because “in the cases under Restatement § 390, the liable party actually owned the chattel,” and there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether Juanita owned the gun. The trial court also found that Tissicino and Nielson had presented insufficient facts to demonstrate that Juanita knew or should have known her providing the gun to Timothy posed an unreasonable risk of harm to others. “We review the propriety of summary judgment de novo.” AHCCCS v. Bentley, 187 Ariz. 229, 231, 928 P.2d 653, 655 (App.1996). A motion for summary judgment should be granted when no genuine issues of material fact exist so that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.
¶ 7 Tissicino and Nielson argue there was a genuine issue of material fact as to who owned the gun and whether Juanita negligently had entrusted the gun to Timothy because she knew or should have known that providing a gun to him posed an unreasonable risk of harm to others. Tissicino and Nielson claim Juanita’s duty arises under Restatement (Second) § 390, which states:
One who supplies directly or through a third person a chattel for the use of another whom the supplier knows or has reason to know to be likely because of his youth, inexperience, or otherwise, to use it in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical harm to himself and others whom the supplier should expect to share in or be endangered by its use, is subject to liability for the physical harm resulting to them.
¶ 8 At the outset, we disagree that plaintiffs were required to establish Juanita owned the gun in order to maintain their claim against her for negligent entrustment pursuant to § 390. Although Arizona courts have not yet squarely addressed this issue, there are eases that suggest a defendant’s ownership of a chattel is not a prerequisite to liability for negligent entrustment. See State Farm Auto. Ins. Co. v. Dressier, 153 Ariz. 527, 529-30, 738 P.2d 1134, 1136-37 (App. 1987) (“[Negligent entrustment liability is theoretically possible in a case where the defendant neither owned, maintained nor used the vehicle in question____”); Lumber-mens Mut. Cas. Co. v. Kosies, 124 Ariz. 136, 138, 602 P.2d 517, 519 (App.1979) (“In order to prove negligent entrustment it is necessary for the plaintiff to show ... that the defendant owned or controlled the motor vehicle concerned____”) (emphasis added).
¶ 9 The plain language of § 390 does not make ownership a material element. Section 390 is “a special application of the rule stated in [Restatement (Second) of Torts] § 308 [ (1965) ].” Restatement § 390 cmt. b. Section 308 provides as follows:
It is negligence to permit a third person to use a thing or to engage in an activity which is under the control of the actor, if the actor knows or should know that such person intends or is likely to use the thing or to conduct himself in the activity in such a manner as to create an unreasonable risk of harm to others.
(Emphasis added.) In defining control, comment a to § 308 states that
[t]he words “under the control of the actor” are used to indicate that the third person is entitled to possess or use the thing or engage in the activity only by the consent of the actor, and that the actor has reason to believe that by withholding consent he can prevent the third person from using the thing or engaging in the activity.
¶ 10 A majority of other jurisdictions have defined right to control the chattel as the essential element of a negligent entrustment claim, rather than ownership. See, e.g., Mills v. Crone, 63 Ark.App. 45, 973 S.W.2d 828, 831 (1998) (“According to the Restatement, one is not liable for negligent entrustment of a thing if he has no right to control its use.”); Zedella v. Gibson, 165 Ill.2d 181, 209 Ill.Dec. 27, 650 N.E.2d 1000, 1003 (1995) (defining entrustment under the restatement “with reference to the right of control of the subject property”); Green v. Harris, 70 P.3d 866, 871 (Okla.2003) (acknowledging that, although negligent entrustment usually involves ownership, possession and control is actual requirement).
¶ 11 We conclude that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Juanita had the right to control the gun. As noted, in assessing whether genuine issues of material fact exist, we view the facts and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party that opposed summary judgment. Wilson v. U.S. Elevator Corp., 193 Ariz. 251, ¶ 2, 972 P.2d 235, 236-37 (App.1998). Summary judgment is only proper if the facts produced in support of the claim have so little probative value that a reasonable jury could not agree with the conclusion advanced by the proponent. Id. ¶ 5.
¶ 12 The parties do not dispute that Don, Juanita’s husband, had owned the gun and had given it to Timothy. Nor do they dispute that Don reasserted control of the gun after Timothy’s brother had used it to commit a crime and after Don had stated to Timothy, “I am going to hang onto it because you let your brother go into your room and take it.” Moreover, deposition testimony es tablished that Don had possessed the weapon and had kept it for protection for nearly twenty years without any effort by Timothy to claim it or otherwise possess it. From these facts, a jury could infer that Timothy had abandoned his ownership interest in it. See 1 Am.Jur.2d Abandoned, Lost and Unclaimed Property § 3 (2005) (“[T]he term ‘abandonment,’ as applied to personal property ... means the act of voluntarily and intentionally relinquishing a known right----”); see also Benjamin v. Lindner Aviation, Inc., 534 N.W.2d 400, 406 (Iowa 1995) (“Abandoned property belongs to the finder of the property against all others, including the former owner.”). Even assuming Timothy still technically owned the gun after Don had reasserted control over it, an owner forfeits the legal right to regain possession and control of personal property from one who adversely controls it after the passage of two years. See A.R.S. § 12-542(5) (setting forth two-year limitations period for bringing conversion action to recover possession of personal property).
¶ 13 Juanita maintains that, after Don originally gave the gun to Timothy, he merely continued to hold it for Timothy during the twenty years, thus creating a bailor/bailee relationship wherein Timothy continued to possess a superior right to control the property. See Nava v. Truly Nolen Exterminating of Houston, Inc., 140 Ariz. 497, 500, 683 P.2d 296, 299 (App.1984) (“Where personal property is delivered ... in trust for a specific purpose, with the ... implied agreement that the property will be returned or accounted for when the purpose is accomplished, the transaction constitutes a bailment.”). But Don’s reassertion of control over the gun, his statement implying that he was the arbiter of who could possess it, and Timothy’s arguable acquiescence for twenty years, all contradict Juanita’s theory that Don was holding the gun in trust for Timothy’s use. Therefore, a jury reasonably could conclude that Timothy had abandoned any ownership interest he may have had in the gun, that Don was not merely holding it for him as a bailee, and that Don and Timothy both believed that Don had the legal right to control it.
¶ 14 Finally, a jury reasonably could conclude that Juanita’s continued possession of the gun after her husband had moved to a nursing home, her act of hiding it in a typewriter case, and her ultimate decision to give it to Timothy for reasons of her own all indicated that the gun had been under her control when she had entrusted it to Timothy. Thus, the court erred by granting summary judgment in favor of Juanita on the ground that she was not the “owner” and therefore had no duty to refrain from providing the firearm to Timothy. Rather, there existed a material issue of fact as to whether Juanita had the right to control the gun to the extent she had the power to possess it, relocate it, and withhold her consent to its use by Timothy.
¶ 15 The trial court also found that under “no reasonable interpretation of the facts of this case” could a jury conclude Juanita “knew or should have known that providing the firearm to her adult son presented an unreasonable risk of harm to Zachary.” The trial court further observed that to find otherwise,
the Court would have to find that the law requires the owner of a firearm to thoroughly examine and consider the constellation of characteristics of an apparently competent person which may potentially present an unreasonable risk of harm to others. While this may be a salutary policy, it is not yet the policy or the law of the state of Arizona.
We do not agree with the trial court that the “salutary policy” is not yet the law in Arizona. Section 390 of the Restatement (Second) specifically requires the entrustor of a chattel to consider the characteristics of the entrustee, such as “youth, inexperience, or otherwise” in evaluating whether the latter might use the chattel in a manner that would pose “an unreasonable risk of physical harm to himself and others.” See Martin v. Schroeder, 209 Ariz. 531, n. 1, 105 P.3d 577, 579 n. 1 (App.2005) (equating § 390 with negligent entrustment in Arizona).
¶ 16 Timothy’s “constellation of characteristics” — alcohol abuse, mental impairment including cognitive dysfunction, and a prior accident with a gun — and Juanita’s undisputed awareness of them, together created a genuine issue of material fact on the question of whether Juanita should have known that an unreasonable risk of physical harm would be created if she gave Timothy the gun. See id. ¶ 19 (suggesting that knowledge of son’s contemporaneous marijuana use at the time parents bought him a gun would be a jury question under § 390).
¶ 17 Juanita also argues that any negligence by her in entrusting the gun to Timothy was not the proximate cause of Zachary’s death because Timothy’s criminal act in recklessly shooting Zachary constituted a superseding cause. But, a superseding cause relieves an original tortfeasor of liability only when “an intervening act of another was unforeseeable by a reasonable person in the position of the original actor and when, looking backward, after the event, the intervening act appears extraordinary.” Ontiveros v. Borak, 136 Ariz. 500, 506, 667 P.2d 200, 206 (1983). Moreover, the issue of causation is ordinarily a question of fact for the jury to decide. Id. at 508, 667 P.2d at 208. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Tissicino and Nielson, a jury could reasonably conclude that Timothy’s accidental shooting of Zachary was foreseeable to Juanita, given her awareness that he was mentally impaired, abused alcohol, and had shot himself accidentally on a previous occasion. Thus, Tissicino and Nielson raised a question of material fact on whether Juanita’s negligent entrustment of the gun to Timothy was a proximate cause of Zachary’s death.
¶ 18 Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Juanita Peterson and remand for proceedings consistent with this decision.
Concurring: JOSEPH W. HOWARD, Presiding Judge and J. WILLIAM BRAMMER, JR., Judge.
. Juanita maintains that we should not address the common law doctrine of abandonment in evaluating the question of ownership and control because Tissicino and Nielson never raised that specific legal doctrine in their opposition to summary judgment. However, they have squarely challenged, both on appeal and below, the trial court's conclusion that Timothy owned the gun and, in so doing, have emphasized Don’s prolonged possession of the gun without objection by Timothy. Juanita further complains that she was not provided an opportunity to address the law of abandonment in the context of this case because we ordered no supplemental briefing on the topic. Yet, Juanita has declined to specify how we have erred in applying the principles of abandonment, although she could have done so in her otherwise comprehensive motion for reconsideration.
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CUNNINGHAM, J.
The contested question on this appeal is whether paragraph 2954, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1901, barred the prosecution of this action. The appellant contends that the prosecution is barred by the statute, for the reason the facts show that the action was not prosecuted ■within the time permitted by law for the prosecution of such action. Appellant admits that the action was commenced when the suit was filed, and that the suit was filed less than four years after the cause of action accrued, but he insists that the plaintiff must diligently prosecute the action, else the operation of the statute of limitations will not be suspended by the mere commencement of the action. In this contention of the law appellant has the support of authority. The rule is stated in 25 Cyc. 1290, as follows:
“While it has been held that the actual commencement of a suit is sufficient to stop the running of the statute of limitations, without regard to, or dependence on, any after diligence of plaintiff in its prosecution, it seems to be well established that if a suit is voluntarily abandoned, or dismissed, or is not proceeded with, for a considerable period of time, the operation of the statute will not be suspended.”
There is no element of abandonment or dismissal in this record. Was the suit proceeded with within such time as to suspend the operation of the statute? This is the question for our consideration. Its solution depends upon the meaning to be given to paragraph 2954, supra, and the showing made by plaintiff in excusing the admitted delay in effecting service of process.
Paragraph 2954, supra, is as follows:
“Actions for debt where the indebtedness is evidenced by or founded upon any contract in writing, executed within this territory (state), shall be commenced and prosecuted within four years after the cause of action shall have accrued and not afterward.”
The facts disclosed by the evidence, and not controverted, are that plaintiff, after commencing his action by filing his complaint, immediately sued out a summons. The summons was delivered to plaintiff’s attorney who promptly sent it out, with a copy of the complaint, for service on the defendant. Three efforts were made within a few months’ time after receiving the summons to have defendant served, but all failed. Inquiry of defendant’s relatives failed to disclose his place of residence to plaintiff’s attorney or to the officers to whom plaintiff sent the papers for service. When inquiry failed to locate defendant, plaintiff’s attorney suspended his efforts in that respect, and trusted to his client to locate the defendant. "When he was located, the original summons had been lost. Plaintiff’s attorney sued out another summons on February 15, 1913, which was served on the same day. About that date plaintiff made an effort to induce defendant to settle the note, but failed. Was this delay incident to the finding of the defendant for service such a delay as would permit the statute to run, notwithstanding the commencement of the action within four years ?
The question of good faith in the commencement and thereafter in the prosecution of an action such as will stop the running of the statute of limitations is one of fact when a complaint has been timely filed and summons timely issued, but a considerable delay is shown before service of process is secured. In this case that question was really the question tried. The plaintiff introduced substantial evidence tending to show his good faith in the prosecution of the suit. The summons was issued immediately upon the filing of the complaint, and three active efforts were made to have the process served, but without success. This evidence was not controverted by contradictory evidence. The court necessarily found that plaintiff’s efforts and acts were made and performed in good faith and with reasonable diligence. The evidence offered sufficiently supports that finding. This fact determined, nothing remained to be tried, and judgment followed. The judgment is responsive to the issue joined, and supported by substantial evidence.
The judgment is affirmed.
FRANKLIN, O. J., and ROSS, J., concur.
|
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PER CURIAM.
Plaintiffs commenced this action, praying for a writ of mandamus compelling the appellees, as members of the board of supervisors of Graham county, to re-establish the boundaries of election precinct No. 1 of said county so as to include therein only the territory covered by the corporate limits of the incorporated town of Safford, and exclude all territory lying outside of such corporate limits included in said precinct No. 1 as now defined. Plaintiffs alleged reasons and grounds for such change in the boundaries of said precinct: First. That two proposed laws have been initiated to be voted upon at the general state election to be held on November 3, 1914. One of said proposed laws is a constitutional amendment, which by its terms, if it becomes effective, will prohibit the importation and sale of intoxicating liquors of any kind within the state of Arizona after the 1st day of January, 1915. That the other proposed law is in its nature also a constitutional amendment, by the terms of which, if an election has been held, or is hereafter held, upon the question of prohibition throughout the state, and if a majority of the votes cast on such question shall be or were against prohibition, each and every town or precinct where a majority of the votes cast on such question shall be or were against prohibition shall be deemed to have voted against prohibition, and the sale of intoxicating liquors shall thereafter be permitted; and when the vote cast in such town or precinct is in favor of prohibition the said town or precinct shall be deemed to have voted in favor of prohibition, and thereafter the sale of intoxicating liquors shall be prohibited therein. The plaintiffs allege that they are qualified electors and resident taxpayers of and within the town of Safford.
The respondents, as members of such board of supervisors, answered by objecting to the right of the plaintiffs to maintain the action, demurred to the complaint upon the grounds that the facts stated are not sufficient to constitute a cause of action or justify the relief demanded, and returned alleging that they as such board had, prior to June, 1914, established a convenient number of election precincts within Graham county, and had defined the boundaries thereof as the law requires, and that precinct No. 1 was at that date established by respondents, and that at their regular June, 1914, meeting they appointed the necessary election officers for said precinct No. 1 for holding the general election called to be held on the 3d day of November, 1914.
The parties have stipulated that the pleadings state all the facts. The cause was submitted to the court upon the pleadings. Judgment was rendered for the appellees, and the writ denied, from which judgment, and from the order refusing a new trial, plaintiffs have appealed.
The question of parties has not been greatly pressed by counsel, and from the view we take of the ease on the merits we will concede, without deciding, that the plaintiffs have shown such an interest in the litigation as will justify the court in considering the cause on its merits. "We do not decide the question whether the complaint upon its face discloses a defect of parties plaintiff. The vital decisive question is whether the facts stated constitute a cause of action—justify the relief demanded. No good purpose would be served by setting forth the allegations of the complaint in detail, but would extend this opinion to undue length. The controlling facts appear above.
Appellants contend that paragraph 2913, Civil Code of Arizona of 1913, casts upon appellees the plain legal duty to establish convenient election precincts for the accommodation of the voters of Graham county, and that election precinct No. 1, as established and. existing, including the corporate limits of the town of'Salford .with a large territory lying outside of such corporate limits, in view of the pending enactment of the proposed laws, is not a convenient election precinct for the use of voters of the town of Salford. Paragraph 2913, sv/pra, is as follows:
“The board of supervisors of each county must, prior to each general election, establish a convenient number of election precincts therein, and define the boundaries thereof when possible. ’ ’
The word “convenient,” as defined by Webster, is “fit, or adapted to an end; suitable; becoming; appropriate”; as used in our statute, supra, it qualifies the word “number.’r Tlie word means, as used, “a fit, suitable, or appropriate”' number of election precincts, in order that the voters may have a reasonable opportunity to cast their votes. The precincts must have designated polling places, and the number of precincts must be sufficient to accommodate the needs of the voters in casting their votes. What are a convenient, fit, suitable or appropriate number of election precincts to answer the purpose is left exclusively to the determination of the board of supervisors. When the board has determined that question, it must then establish such number of precincts and define their boundaries when possible. These duties have been performed, as we gather from the complaint. In the performance of these duties—at least, in determining the convenient number of election precincts—the board clearly exercised a discretion within its jurisdiction. Its determination is conclusive upon the courts, and cannot be reviewed, except it be shown that the determination is the result of abuse of discretion, and injury results from such abuse.
This action is not based upon the abuse of discretion lodged with the board of supervisors, but it is based upon a failure of the board to exercise the discretion in a particular manner, and upon a claim that injury may result to some one by reason thereof. “The writ of mandamus may be issued . . . to compel the performance of an act which the law specially enjoins. ...” Paragraph 1553, Ariz. Civ. Code 1913. “The writ . . . will not be granted to control the action of any inferior court, board, or officer, wherein their acts are of a judicial character, or in which they are called upon to exercise discretion.” In re Woffenden, 1 Ariz. 237, 25 Pac. 647. Nor to command in what manner the act shall be performed. Osborn v. Clark, 1 Ariz. 397, 25 Pac. 797. It is a remedy to compel the performance of a duty required by law, when the party seeking relief has no other legal remedy, and the duty sought to be enforced is clear and indisputable. Both requisites must concur in every ease. Bayard v. United States, 127 U. S. 246, 32 L. Ed. 116, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1223. The law enjoining the duty must be in force; otherwise no duty exists. Certainly the board of supervisors cannot be compelled to perform an act that may, in the future, be required, in the event a proposed law becomes effective.
It is clear from the complaint and return that the board of supervisors of Graham county have failed to perform no act which the law specially enjoins with respect to establishing a convenient number of election precincts in Graham county and in defining the boundaries of election precinct No. 1. This court has no power to compel the board to define the boundaries of precinct No. 1, so as to make such boundaries conform to the corporate boundaries of the town of Safford, for any purpose. This would be clearly an act controlling the acts of the board, and commanding in what manner the board shall perform its duty. It is the settled law of this jurisdiction that this cannot be done. We find no error in the record.
The judgment is affirmed.
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ROSS, J.
The facts briefly stated are: May Harris, the mother of plaintiff, filed under the homestead laws of the United States on the northwest quarter of section 15, township 9 south, range 23 west, Gr. & S. R. meridian, containing one hundred and sixty acres, in October, 1903. In 1906 she married the defendant and appellee. In 1907, and before making final proof, she died, leaving surviving her the appellant daughter and appellee husband. The appellee, after the death of his wife, continued the acts of cultivation and improvement and made final proof. Pinal certificate was issued March 10, and patent in June, 1913, to the heirs of the deceased entrywoman. March 31, 1913, the appellee, as administrator of the estate of the deceased entrywoman, secured a decree of the superior court of Yuma county, in probate, determining and declaring that appellee and appellant were the surviving heirs of the deceased, and distributing said one hundred and sixty acre homestead, two-thirds in fee to appellant, and one-third to appellee for life, with remainder to appellant. A certified copy of the decree of distribution was, on April 4, 1913, caused to be filed and recorded by appellee with the county recorder of Yuma county, in Book 38 Deeds, at page 292.
In addition to the above facts, the complaint alleges that appellant was not represented in such proceedings, and had no knowledge of them; that the court had no jurisdiction to enter the decree ascertaining and declaring the heirs, or to make the distribution of the homestead; and that the certified copy of decree, as recorded, was a cloud upon her title. Prayer for vacation and annulment of decree.
The answer consisted of a general demurrer, some denials, and a counterclaim, in which appellee set forth the nature and extent of his title to one-third of the land and premises, and asked that his title to such one-third be quieted. In short, appellee claims a life estate in one-third of the land as one of the donees or patentees, just as appellant is the donee of the other two-thirds, and the other one-third subject to appellee’s life estate. The case was tried to the court without a jury, and judgment entered in favor of appellee quieting his title to a life estate in one-third of the homestead. The appeal is from this judgment.
The appellant in her brief says that the question as to whether the appellee “is the owner of and entitled to an estate for life in an undivided one-third of the real property” is “the meat of the case.” That is the question to which both parties have principally directed their briefs, and for that reason we shall overlook other minor points affecting the procedure, and decide the ease finally on its -merits.
The decree of the superior court in probate distributing the real property as part of the estate of the entrywoman was void for the reason that it was no part of her estate. The court was without jurisdiction to make the order. Demars v. Hickey, 13 Wyo. 371, 80 Pac. 521, 81 Pac. 705; Gjerstadengen v. Van Duzen, 7 N. D. 612, 66 Am. St. Rep. 679, 76 N. W. 233. In this case, in speaking of the rights of the deceased entrywoman, the court said: “The land sold did not belong to the estate of Olia Mikkleson, deceased. She filed upon it as a homestead in her lifetime; but she died before the patent was issued, and even before her right to demand a patent had accrued. The law gave her no such interest in the land as could be transmitted by her to her heirs. Upon her death all her rights in the land under her homestead entry ceased, and her heirs became entitled, under the statute, to a patent, not because they had succeeded to her equitable interest, but because the law gave them preference as new homesteaders, allowing to them the benefit of the residence of their ancestor upon the land. It is apparent from the statute (section 2291, U. S. Rev. Stats. [U. S. Comp. Stats. 1901, p. 1390; 6 Red. Stats. Ann., p. 292]) that Congress did not intend to vest in the homesteader an interest which could be inherited under the laws of the state where the real estate might be situated, the same as other real estate, but to withhold from him such interest, and specifically designate the persons who, on his death, should be entitled to secure the right which the original entryman would have obtained had he survived. What authority there is on the point supports our view. See Bernier v. Bernier, 147 U. S. 242, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 244 [37 L. Ed. 152] ; Chapman v. Price, 32 Kan. 446, 4 Pac. 807; Bernier v. Bernier, 72 Mich. 43, 47, 40 N. W. 50. In Bernier v. Bernier, 147 U. S. 242, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 244 [37 L. Ed. 152], the court say: ‘The object of the sections in question was, as well observed by counsel, to provide the method of completing the homestead claim and obtaining the patent therefor, and not to establish a line of descent or rules of distribution of the deceased entryman’s estate. They point out the conditions on which the homestead claim may be perfected, and a patent obtained, and these conditions differ with the different positions in which the family of the deceased is left upon his death.’ ”
Section 2291, referred to, provides that, in case a widow makes an entry under the homestead laiv, her heirs or devisees, in case of her death, may make final proof as therein prescribed, whereupon they shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases.
Section 2292 provides that, in case both the father and mother should die, “leaving an infant child or children under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall enure to the "benefit of such infant child or children. ...” 'In Bernier v. Bernier, supra, it is said: “Section 2292, in providing only for minor heirs, must be construed, not as repealing the provisions of section 2291, but as in harmony with them, and as only intended to give the fee of the land to the minor children exclusively when there are no other heirs. ’ ’
This construction of sections 2291 and 2292 is binding upon this court, and if, under the laws of Arizona, the appellee, as the surviving husband of the deceased entrywoman, is an heir entitled to a heritable interest in any estate belonging to the intestate, the portion of the homestead passing to him as such heir is measured by the share he would have inherited had the homestead been an asset of the estate. That is, he is made, by the federal law, the donee to that extent. Section 2291 says, in effect, that, if a widow having filed on land shall die before final proof and patent, her heirs or devisees shall be entitled to the patent upon a compliance with the law. The patent in this case was issued to the heirs generally, the entry-woman having died intestate, and the matter of determining who are the heirs and their respective shares of the homestead was left open to be decided by the law of the state. This is the view adopted by the Secretary of the Interior in the case of the Heirs of May Lyon (this case), 40 Land Dee. Dept. Int. 489.
In Hutchinson Investment Co. v. Caldwell, 152 U. S. 65, 38 L. Ed. 356, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 504, Chief Justice PULLER, in discussing the word “heirs” as it occurs in the pre-emption laws, and fin context, as in section 2291, said: “Undoubtedly the word ‘heirs’ was used as meaning, as at common law, those capable of inheriting; but it does not follow that the question as to who possessed that capability was thereby designed to be determined otherwise than by the law of the state which was both the situs of the land and the domicile of the owner. The object sought to be attained by Congress was that those who would have taken the land on the death of the pre-emptor, if the patent had issued to him, should still obtain it notwithstanding his death, an object which would be in part defeated by the exclusion of any who would have so taken by the local law if the title had vested in him. In other words, Titus intended to acquire the title, and had complied, or was proceeding to comply, in good faith, with the requirements of the law to perfect his right to it, and by this statute that right could be perfected after his death for the benefit of those who would have been entitled if his death had occurred after patent instead of before. If the provision admitted of more than one construction, that one should be adopted which best seems to carry out the purposes .of the act. Bernier v. Bernier, 147 U. S. 242, 37 L. Ed. 152 [13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 244].”
According to the rule here laid down, the appellant and appellee should receive interest in the homestead in the manner and proportion as defined in section 1092, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1913, which reads as follows:
“Where any person having title to any estate of inheritance, real, personal or mixed, shall die intestate as to such estate, and shall leave a surviving husband or wife, the estate of such intestate shall descend and pass as follows:
“ (1) If the deceased have a child or children, or their descendants, the surviving husband or wife shall take one-third of the separate personal estate of deceased, and the balance of such separate personál estate shall go to the child or children of the deceased and their descendants. The surviving husband or wife shall also be entitled to an estate for life in one-third of the land of the intestate, with remainder to the child or children of the intestate and their descendants.”
The decree in the superior court in probate distributed the real property in accordance with the provisions of this section, and, while the court had no jurisdiction of the subject matter, and was without power to enter the judgment, still its record would not be a cloud on appellee’s title, as it was a useless and meaningless paper correctly describing the respective interest of the appellant and appellee.
The judgment appealed from correctly decreed to appellee a life estate to one-third of the one hundred and sixty acres, with remainder to appellant.
Judgment is affirmed.
FRANKLIN, C. J., and CUNNINGHAM, J., concur.
NOTE.—On the right of entryman to devise claim or interest in public land, see note in 34 L. E. A. (N. S.) 397.
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CUNNINGHAM, J.
The plaintiff sues, upon an implied contract, to recover the reasonable value of services rendered and supplies furnished defendant at defendant’s instance and request. The defendant pleaded a general denial; that is, he answered, denying the allegations of the complaint setting forth the cause of action. He answered specially, setting forth an express contract of lease of a ranch for a term of one year, entered into between plaintiff and defendant, and alleged that the services and supplies complained of were rendered and furnished by plaintiff pursuant to the covenants and agreements of said contract of lease, and that the contract of lease was fully performed by plaintiff and defendant before the commencement of this action.
The plaintiff replied to defendant’s special answer, denying that plaintiff and defendant entered into a contract of lease for one year, but alleged the facts to be that they entered into a verbal agreement for a lease for five years, and agreed “that the plaintiff should go to said ranch as soon as he could conveniently arrange his affairs and commence the work of cultivation upon said premises.” It is alleged that plaintiff did go on the ranch on December 5, 1912, and commence the work of cultivating the premises, “and did continue the work of clearing, plowing and cultivating the said premises and the raising and harvesting of crops thereon, and did expend certain moneys, as alleged in the complaint herein, for the purchase of seed and other supplies, all with the full knowledge and acquiescence of the defendant. . . . ” It is alleged that the defendant refused to grant plaintiff the lease for five years, containing the covenants and agreements understood by the parties, and that defendant repudiated the contract at the end of one year, and, on January 5, 1914, ejected plaintiff from the premises.
Appellant contends that the reply sets forth facts that constitute a departure in pleading from the original cause of action set forth in the complaint, and that the court erred in refusing to strike out the reply for that reason, relying upon paragraph 424, Civil Code of 1913. The statute is _as follows:
“It shall not be necessary for the plaintiff to deny any special matter of defense pleaded by the defendant, but the same shall be regarded as denied unless expressly admitted; but when the answer contains new matter the plaintiff may reply thereto, specifically denying each allegation contro verted by him; and he may also allege, in ordinary and concise language, any new matter not inconsistent with the complaint constituting an answer to such new matter in the answer.”
The answer of the defendant setting up a contract for a lease for one- years and its performance, is in legal effect an answer setting up a different contract from the contract sued upon, and is, if established, a complete defense to the action. Such an answer does not constitute an answer containing new matter, calling for a reply under the statute, supra. Simmons v. Green, 35 Ohio St. 104.
If the matter pleaded in the reply tends to support and justify the complaint, such matter is not a departure in pleading. Fanning v. Insurance Co., 37 Ohio St. 344; Shirts v. Irons, 47 Ind. 445; 9 Cyc. 747. The reply sets up a verbal agreement for leasing real estate for five years; an entry and occupation of the premises for one year; the rendering of services and furnishing of supplies by the lessee, during his occupancy of one year, in accordance with the terms of the verbal lease; and the termination of the occupancy by the lessor at the end of one year. These facts are asserted in the reply in support of, and as justifying, the recovery upon an implied promise to pay the reasonable worth of the services rendered and supplies furnished and not paid for.
A parol agreement for a lease of real estate for more than one year is void, under paragraph 3272, Civil Code of 1913. Taylor’s Landlord & Tenant, ninth edition, volume 1, section 80, page 103, says:
“It has been held, and, apparently on sound reasons, that the mere fact that one goes into possession under a lease for more than one year, void under the statute of frauds, does not create a yearly tenancy, the lease vests no term whatever, and in the absence of any other agreement, express or implied, the tenancy is at will”; citing Reeder v. Sayre, 70 N. Y. 184, 26 Am. Rep. 567; Laughran v. Smith, 75 N. Y. 209, and Talamo v. Spitzmiller, 120 N. Y. 37, 17 Am. St. Rep. 607, 8 L. R. A. 221, 23 N. E. 980.
The plaintiff rendered services and furnished supplies under a contract void under the statute. The defendant exercised his undoubted right to terminate the tenancy at any time. Plaintiff alleges that defendant elected to termi nate the tenancy at the end of one year and recovered possession. No recovery can he had on the contract, for- the reason that it is void. No damages eonld be recovered for a breach of the contract, for the same reason, and, upon the same principle, the contract being void, the value of plaintiff’s services rendered and supplies furnished cannot be concluded by its terms. Butcher Steel Works v. Atkinson, 68 Ill. 421, Wonsettler v. Lee, 40 Kan. 367, 19 Pac. 862, Brashear v. Rabenstein, 71 Kan. 455, 80 Pac. 950, Williams v. Bemis, 108 Mass. 91, 11 Am. Rep. 318, Browne on Statute of Frauds, 118, and many other authorities, support the rule.
In Browne on Statute of Frauds (cited in Butcher Steel Works v. Atkinson, supra) it is said:
“One who has rendered services in execution of a verbal contract, which, on account of the statute, cannot be enforced against the other party, can recover the value of the services upon a quantum meruit.”
See, also, Shute v. Dorr, 5 Wend. (N. Y.) 204.
In the light of this rule, which is unquestionably sound in reason and justice, plaintiff’s so-called reply stated only facts which tended to support and justify his complaint, and, when considered with the complaint, the facts stated become mere matters of inducement, not made the basis for recovery, and do not state a different or inconsistent cause of action. Therefore, the reply does not constitute a departure. The reply was unnecessary, and may have been properly stricken out for that reason, and still all the facts stated therein may have been received in evidence under the original complaint; but a refusal to strike unnecessary matters from a pleading is not, ordinarily, treated as reversible error, and the necessity to treat such refusal as reversible error -does not appear in this record.
The appellant contends that the evidence fails to sustain the verdict, assigning a number of grounds as reasons for the error. We will not state them in detail, but will discuss the questions raised. The controlling issue for trial was whether the plaintiff rendered services and furnished supplies with the understanding that he would have the right to occupy and cultivate defendant’s lands for five years, and at the end of one year, or a less time, defendant repudiated the contract, thereby depriving plaintiff of the right to further occupy and cultivate the lands, and thereby receive compensation for his services rendered and supplies furnished, to his injury.
The evidence is without conflict that the parties entered into a parol agreement, to the effect that defendant would grant plaintiff a lease of the ranch for a term of five years, and that plaintiff would go to the ranch, as soon as convenient to him, and commence the cultivation of the lands; that the crops to be raised should be suitable for feed for use in raising hogs; that the crops raised should be divided, share and share alike, upon the premises. Plaintiff in his reply is bound by the allegations that he was obligated, at his expense, to feed and keep the horses furnished him by defendant, and “that plaintiff agreed with the defendant to cultivate the said premises during the term aforesaid, and to deliver to the defendant one-half of all the crops produced on said farm during said term, said crops to be divided on the premises. . . . ” Plaintiff began his occupancy of the premises, under the parol agreement, on December 20, 1913, and commenced clearing and cultivating the lands, thereby performing, as he claimed, his part of the parol contract in substantial conformity with its requirements. Disputes arose from the manner in which plaintiff was performing the understanding had. Plaintiff insisted that he was to have certain horses, wagon and farming tools, that he should be the judge of the kinds of crops planted and the quantity of ground devoted to any particular crop, and that he should have the use of the dwelling-house except one room. On the other hand, defendant insisted that plaintiff should plant alfalfa seed, and that plaintiff should use water for irrigating the crops. Many other objections were raised. Plaintiff testified that, on May. 25, 1913, after some of these disputes had arisen, when plaintiff had found the wagon furnished him unsuitable for his work, he was informed by defendant that defendant “would not do his part”—evidently meaning that defendant informed plaintiff on May 25, 1913, that he (defendant) would not carry out the verbal agreement for a five-year term.
The parties then attempted to come to an understanding for a five-year lease along other lines than first agreed upon. Plaintiff testified in substance that the parties agreed that a written lease was necessary for the protection of both parties. In this connection he detailed what each did. The defendant caused to be prepared a written lease and presented it to plaintiff. Plaintiff refused to accept it because of certain conditions in it not in the original verbal agreement. Defendant admitted that his lease, as written, contained at least two provisions not agreed upon in the original understanding. The plaintiff caused to be prepared a written lease containing provisions modifying the original agreement, but they were intended by plaintiff to meet conditions insisted upon by defendant. Plaintiff presented this lease to defendant, who refused to consider it at all. Plaintiff testified:
“In his lease [referring to defendant’s lease] he was to divide the crop. I divided the crop and presented him with a written lease for five years, and he said he wouldn’t sign it, because I had put other conditions in it. ... I made another effort to get a written lease. . . . This was after I had. been there the major part of the year. I tried on July 28th and in October. I refused to sign the one he tendered me for a reason. ... I refused to sign his lease, and he refused to sign mine. The thing was at an end. I couldn’t go on with the rest of it. He told me on May 25th he would not do his part. He did his part during that one year. He gave me half of what was raised out there for the one year. He has not questioned it in any way, shape or form. ’ ’
It is clear from plaintiff’s evidence that the parties realized on May 25, 1913, that the parol lease was at an end. Certainly defendant repudiated and thereby absolutely terminated the contract under which plaintiff’s occupancy began, and under which plaintiff had occupied and cultivated the premises up to that date. From that date plaintiff’s occupancy and cultivation was referable to some other contract, express or implied. Plaintiff testified that defendant “left me uninterrupted until the end of the year. He served notice on me through the postoffice (during November, 1913). The notice said that at the end of the year, which was December 20th, the lease would be terminated. I went out there in 1912, which would be one year from the date I went out there, but the lease was for five years.” Plaintiff evidently understood the reference to the lease, in the notice served on him, to mean the verbal lease for five years. It could have meant, and most probably did actually mean and have reference to, the term of occupancy then existing. The verbal lease was ended on May 25, 1913, by defendant’s informing the plaintiff that he (defendant) would not perform its terms.
Thereafter the minds of the parties never met in an understanding as to the character of the occupancy, and the occupancy having been terminated at the end of the year by the notice of defendant finally acquiesced in by plaintiff, and the further fact that the crops raised by plaintiff during that year were divided upon the premises, each receiving his share, would raise in law an implied tenancy from year to year. 1 Taylor’s Landlord & Tenant, 9th ed., sec. 56. The evidence of the plaintiff is conclusive upon this record that that tenancy, whatever it may be called, has terminated and is finally closed. The only matter that we have to deal with pertains to the prior term of occupancy beginning with December 20, 1912, and ending with May 25, 1913.
On May 25, 1913, the defendant informed plaintiff that he (the defendant) would not further perform his part of the parol agreement, meaning that he would not grant a lease for five years. Defendant had the legal right to repudiate the parol agreement, because such agreement was a lease of real estate for a period longer than one year, and was void under the statute of frauds. Paragraph 3272, Civ. Code 1913. While the defendant had the undoubted right to terminate the parol lease, as he did on the 25th day of May, 1913, by doing so he became liable to plaintiff upon an implied promise to pay plaintiff the reasonable value of plaintiff’s services rendered upon the faith of the parol agreement, for which he received no compensation, because the parol agreement was terminated without plaintiff’s consent, and deprived him of the right to earn his compensation, and he had no other recourse. Wonsettler v. Lee, supra; Brashear v. Rabenstein, supra; Williams v. Bemis, supra.
This right to recover does not extend to the value of seed planted, or the labor and the horse feed furnished in planting, cultivating, and harvesting the crops, during the remaining part of that year, for the reason plaintiff necessarily received compensation for those things in a division of the crops. The right to recover, if at all, must arise from the services rendered, by plaintiff, in clearing the lands and preparing them for future planting, cultivation and harvesting, because he has rendered services with that understanding on the faith of the parol agreement. Such services were performed on the faith of a future profit from planting, cultivating and harvesting, and when the agreement was terminated, the plaintiff was thereby deprived of the right to earn the compensation. The reasonable worth of his services so rendered thereby became the measure of his injury. The record is silent as to what services of the nature rendered are reasonably worth. Plaintiff testified that his work was worth $100 per month during the entire year. He and other witnesses testified that wages for farm laborers had been paid, some at $25, some at $30, and some at $35 per month, with board, and that board was worth $22.50 per month. The services rendered were substantially such as plaintiff rendered during the year. Plaintiff furnished his own board. There is no claim that plaintiff’s services were of a peculiar nature, and, for that reason, of value exceeding that of the highest paid farm labor in that vicinity, except the statement of plaintiff that his services were worth $100 per month. If the jury believed they were worth at the rate of $100 per month from December 20, 1912, to May 25, 1913, five months and five days, then the extreme amount plaintiff could have recovered, for the full period of time, was $516.50. If the jury believed the other evidence, including plaintiff’s evidence, that plaintiff’s services, for the said five months and five days, were reasonably worth as much as the highest paid wages, viz., $35 per month and board, and that plaintiff furnished his own board, and that board was worth $22.50 per month, then plaintiff would be entitled to recover the sum of $297.08. The evidence received, most favorable to plaintiff, would not give him the right to recover a sum equal to $540, as found by the jury. The evidence, therefore, fails to sustain the verdict as alleged. The court erred in refusing a new trial for the same reason.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded, with instructions to grant a new trial.
Reversed and remanded.
ROSS, C. J., and FRANKLIN, J., concur.
Rehearing pending.
|
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FRANKLIN, C. J.
This cause, originated in the superior court of Apache county. It was removed to the superior court of Navajo county upon a change of venue, and tried there January 11, 1913. The cause was tried upon the amended complaint and answer to the amended complaint. The amended complaint alleges a copartnership between the parties, and prays for an accounting and an adjustment and settlement of the copartnership affairs. The answer to the amended complaint is, in substance, a general denial. From a judgment in favor of plaintiffs for the sum of $490 and an order overruling a motion for a new trial, defendant appeals.
Defendant and appellant presents seven assignments of error. These assignments, except the one hereinafter quoted, are not essential to a decision, because they have been disposed of by a consideration of similar assignments on a similar record in the case of Brown v. Greer, ante, p. 222, 141 Pac. 843. The only assignment necessary to consider is as follows:
“The court erred in refusing the appellant’s demand for a trial by a jury in said cases Nos. 347 and 348 made at the opening of the court on said 11th day of January, 1913; it appearing that there had been no call of the calendar on the first Monday of any month since said cases Nos. 347 and 348 were docketed in this court.”
Section 23 of article 2, Constitution of Arizona, provides:
“The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, but provision may be made by law for a jury of a number of less than twelve in courts not of record, and for a verdict by nine or more jurors in civil cases in any court of record, and for waiving of a jury in civil cases where the consent of the parties interested is given thereto. ’ ’
The court refused the demand of defendant and appellant for a jury, on the ground that the application, under the statutes and rules of court of Navajo county superior court, was made too late. The record does not support this view. Nothing appears in the record to show that defendant and appellant had waived his demand for a jury or had had a previous opportunity to make an application. The pleadings in this cause, however, disclose that it is wholly an equitable action. In the absence of a constitutional or statutory provision, it is the well-settled general rule that in such cases the failure of the court to submit issues to a jury is not error.
The provision of the Constitution quoted does not give the right to a trial by jury, but its purpose is to guarantee the preservation of the right. In other words, it does not create or extend the right, but by its declaration there is guaranteed the preservation of such right as it existed when the Constitution was adopted. State v. Cobb, 24 Okl. 662, 24 L. R. A. (N. S.) 639, and cases cited, 104 Pac. 361.
“In the absence of express constitutional or statutory provision there is no right to a jury trial in suits in equity.” 24 Cyc. 111.
"We must therefore determine if there is a statutory provision in Arizona giving to the appellant such a right. Consulting the laws in force when the Constitution was adopted, we find in paragraph 1389, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1901, it is provided that:
“In all cases, both at law and in equity, either party shall have the right to submit all issues of fact to a jury.”
The laws in effect before this statute was enacted were somewhat ambiguous as to the right to a jury trial in equity cases. They required construction and there was much doubt as to the legislative intent to give such right. Where there is doubt that the right exists, it is, perhaps, uniformly held by the courts that such right will be denied. 24 Cyc. 112, and cases cited.
The ease of Henry v. Mayer, 6 Ariz. 103, 53 Pac. 590, was an equity case. Against the objection of the plaintiff the court submitted certain issues in the form of interrogatories, to the jury and following the verdict of the jury the court found for the defendant. The supreme court held that the adoption by the trial court in its decree of the findings of the jury was discretionary, and must be regarded as simply the findings of the court, and not of the jury, in so far as a review upon the appeal is concerned.
The case of Egan v. Estrada, 6 Ariz. 248, 56 Pac. 721, which was also an equity case, was submitted to a jury on general and special issues. The lower court in this case also rendered judgment following the verdict. Construing the laws in effect prior to 1901, the supreme court of the territory held, in the two cases last cited, that the verdict of a jury in an equity ease was advisory only.
Taggart Mercantile Co. v. Clack, 8 Ariz. 295, 71 Pac. 925, was an equity case which was submitted to a jury. This ease it is true was decided since the code of 1901 went into effect, but the court’s attention was directed to the provisions of paragraph 1427, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1901, which provides:
“In all eases, whether law or chancery, where more than one material issue of fact is joined, interrogatories may, under proper instructions, be submitted to the jury by the court in writing, and they shall he answered by the jury: Provided, that such interrogatories shall be plain, terse, direct and simple, shall each be confined to a single question of fact, and shall be so framed as to be answered by yes or no, and shall be so answered.”
The court held this statute to be directory only, and that the matter of the submission of interrogatories under it, in any case, is left in the discretion of the trial court, and that error could not be predicated upon the form of the interrogatories which were submitted to the jury, inasmuch as the answers could at most only be advisory. As authority for the decision, it quoted the cases of Henry v. Mayer, 6 Ariz. 103, 53 Pac. 590, and Egan v. Estrada, 6 Ariz. 248, 56 Pac. 721, evidently overlooking paragraph 1389, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1901. The case of Dooley v. Burlington Gold Min. Co., 12 Ariz. 332, 100 Pac. 797, was also one in equity, which was submitted to a jury, and a general verdict finding the issues in favor of the plaintiff was rendered. On considering a motion for a new trial, the court ordered:
“That the ease be continued for submission to another jury, unless the parties should express a willingness that the court make findings and render judgment upon the present record and testimony.”
This the parties stipulated be done. The appellant claimed that he was compelled to relinquish his right to a jury. "While the court quoted with approval the ease of Taggart Mercantile Co. v. Clack, supra, containing general observations on the functions of the chancellor in an equity case, the decision turned upon a stipulation by the parties with respect to a submission of the issues to a jury. The court slid:
“If, as he assumes, the court was about to commit error by refusing a trial by jury, his remedy to preserve his rights was not to consent to such a course, but to object thereto. Having asked the court to dispense with the jury, he may not now complain that the court erred in complying with his request. ’ ’
In.none of the Arizona cases have the provisions of paragraph 1389, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1901, so far as the right to have the submission of the issues in an equity case to the jury is concerned, been discussed, or the effect thereof construed. Had such provision not been overlooked, and its force escaped the attention of the court in the Taggart case, we are persuaded the decision would have been different. In the determination of this question, therefore, we approach it unembarrassed by any prior decision in this jurisdiction. In plain and unambiguous language the statute says that in all cases, both in law and in equity, either party shall have the right to submit all issues of fact to a jury. Such language requires no construction, no interpretation. With the policy and wisdom of such a provision we have nothing to do. Whether we should write it if such power was ours were an idle speculation. If it is a valid statutory enactment, we have no right to disregard the language and thereby extirpate it—root and branch—from the body of the law. If the legislature had the power to do this, a court has no choice but to enforce the law as promulgated. This power seems to be fully recognized in Basey v. Gallagher, 20 Wall. 670, 22 L. Ed. 452, wherein the supreme court of the United States, in construing a provision of the Montana statute, speaking through Mr. Justice FIELD, said:
“Ordinarily, where there has been an examination before a jury of a disputed fact, and a special finding made, the court will follow it. But whether it does so or not must depend upon the question whether it is satisfied with the verdict. This discretion to disregard the findings of the jury may undoubtedly be qualified by statute; but we do not find anything in the statute of Montana, regulating proceedings in civil eases, which affects this discretion. ’ ’
No jealous disposition for the retention of power, no sacred regard for the purity and inviolability of the chancellor’s conscience, should cause this court to narrow the legislative intent by any forced construction, or cause it to hesitate in the application of a plain statutory requirement. It has been observed with some wit that the chancellor’s conscience is no longer than the chancellor’s foot. The intimation is that one chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot; the insinuation being what an uncertain measure this would be. But what, if any, truth may be contained in such witticism, or how far the temperament of the legislature with regard to a chancellor’s conscience may have been influenced in that direction, it is not necessary to consider. So forcible objections may be urged in the administration of the equity powers of the court in such manner. All such considerations however, go to the expediency of conferring the right and not to its observance when given. If the right did exist at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, then by the provisions of that instrument such right shall remain inviolate. If such right ought not exist, the people have the power by an amendment to their organic law to take it away.
In view of the statutory history of this matter, and the expressions by the supreme court of the territory concerning statutes bearing on this subject, but unlike the one now before us, it is at once apparent that the legislature has made a most persistent and vigorous effort to give by statute, as plain as language could express it, the right to have the issues in an equity case submitted to a jury. We are persuaded that this effort of the law-making power has been accomplished. That the legislature had the power to enact the statute is not questioned. That an imperative mandate of the law may not be disregarded by this court, but must be sanctioned and have its intended application, is clear. The right to a trial by jury in any ease is a most substantial right and, where it has been given its observance should be rigidly enforced. Granting the power to enact it, there remains nothing to do but enforce it. There is no ambiguity in it. There is no doubt about it. It says just what it means. That is:
“In all eases, both at law and in equity, either party shall have the right to submit all issues of fact to a jury.”
Such right exists, and therefore, it must be respected and ■ observed. The appellant was denied this right and complains. We must reverse this case in order that such right may not be denied him.
However, it may not be amiss to say that upon a new trial of this case, if a jury be not waived, the provisions of paragraph 542, Revised Statutes of Arizona, Civil Code, 1913, and the ruling of this court in the ease of Costello v. Gleeson, 15 Ariz. 280, 138 Pac. 544, must not be overlooked. In the Glee - n case, even under the statute of 1901, we held it to be the duty of the court to submit, by special interrogatories, such issues of fact as the nature of the case demanded, instead of permitting the jury to return a general verdict.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded, with directions to grant a new trial.
CUNNINGHAM, J, and SMITH, Superior Judge, concur.
ROSS, J., being disqualified and announcing his disqualification in open court, the remaining judges, under section 3 of article 6 of the Constitution, called in Hon. FRANK 0. SMITH, Judge of the superior court of the state of Arizona, in and for the county of Yavapai, to sit with them in the hearing of this case.
Application for rehearing denied.
|
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ROSS, J.
The defendant and appellant was convicted of selling intoxicating liquors in a prohibition district in Graham county. He appeals from judgment of conviction and order refusing his motion for a new trial. He assigns as errors the overruling of his general demurrer to the indictment and the giving of an instruction.
The material or charging part of the indictment is as follows:
“The said Moses A. duff on or about the 1st day of July, A. D. 1913, and before the finding of this indictment, at the county of Graham, state of Arizona, after a local option election had been held in that subdivision of Graham county in. which this act occurred and said election had resulted in favor of prohibition, and after the board of supervisors of Graham county had made the order declaring the result of said election, and after the board of supervisors had made the order of prohibition and had caused said order to be published as required by law, did willfully and unlawfully, within the prescribed bounds of prohibition, sell and exchange to one-Henry Oleson one pint of alcohol, an intoxicating liquor; said sale being then and there made with the purpose of evading the provisions of the local option law of Arizona, being title 43 of the Revised Statutes of 1901.”
The Arizona local option law (chapter 43, Rev. Stats. 1901 ^ title 31, Rev. Stats. 1913) was originally lifted from the local option laws of Texas, and the section thereof (3829, Rev. Stats. 1913) by which the indictment is to be tested has remained unchanged. According to the rulings of the Texas courts, this indictment is sufficient. Sedberry v. State, 14 Tex. App. 233; Key v. State, 37 Tex. Cr. 77, 38 S. W. 773; Willis v. State, 37 Tex. Cr. 82, 38 S. W. 776; Shilling v. State (Tex. Cr. App.), 51 S. W. 240.
The offense charged is purely statutory, and the general rule is that an indictment or information that employs the language of the statute defining the crime or equivalent language, is sufficient. The language laid in this indictment, describing the offense, asserts the essentials of the crime defined by section 3829, supra. The demurrer was properly overruled.
The prosecuting witness Oleson testified to several sales of liquor to him by appellant, giving dates of three of his purchases, one in June, one July 20th, and one in August, 1913. He testified to sales made by appellant to other persons. The evidence was to the effect: That appellant owned a drug-store- and carried a stock of liquor therein. That in July he received- in one' shipment a barrel of whisky, one of grape brandy, one of sherry wine, and one of blackberry cordial. That it was a common thing for three or four men addicted to strong drink to congregate in appellant’s corral, a short distance from the drug-store, early of mornings before the people of the village were around, and, while no one saw them drinking, they would become intoxicated. The prosecuting witness was frequently seen going to and from the drug-store in an intoxicated condition, and was twice seen in the drugstore placing something in his pocket that looked like a bottle. The theory of the defense seemed to be: (1) That prosecuting witness procured liquor from Miami or Globe; or (2) that he stole it from appellant’s drug-store, or both, and that what was sold him by appellant was barrette, Chamberlain’s Heart Remedy and Jamaica Ginger. Appellant testified that he never sold any liquor at all.” We detail this evidence for the purpose of showing the hypothesis upon which the instruction complained of was given by the court. There is no complaint here of the admission of the evidence showing the different sales of liquor to the prosecuting witness or other persons.
The objection to the instruction is that it fails to define and limit the purpose of allowing proof of other sales. The appellant’s criticism is not directed to the whole instruction, hut to a part of it only. We give the whole instruction, which is as follows:
“As I stated to you, the date of the offense relied upon is alleged in the indictment to have been July 1st. However, as stated by the county attorney, the date is July 20th, and that is the date you are to consider on which the offense was committed, if at all. Evidence has been introduced relative to other and distinct acts of the defendant. This evidence is to be considered by you, and has been admitted by the court for the purpose of aiding you in determining whether the defendant did or did not commit the act charged on July 20th. Evidence of distinct and separate acts has been admitted as corroborative of the principal charge, in so far as it tends to throw light on the main charge. You are not trying him for the commission of any of these other acts, and should not find him guilty merely because you may find from the evidence that he has committed other specific offenses not alleged in this indictment. You are trying him for the commission of the crime alleged in the indictment alone, and should not find him guilty unless, upon the whole evidence, you can say that he is proven guilty of that charge beyond a reasonable doubt. In other words, in so far as the evidence of other acts of the defendant throws light upon the commission of the offense charged in the indictment, you have the right to consider it. If it does not throw such light, you should disregard it.”
While we would not commend this instruction as a model, when applied to the facts of this case, it seems to us that the jury must have understood therefrom that evidence of other sales of liquor by the defendant was to be considered by them in connection with the theory of the defense and to show the improbability of the contention that the prosecuting witness stole the liquor or brought it from Miami or Globe when he and others had bought it from appellant at different times, or the improbability of all the bottled goods sold by appellant to the prosecuting witness being barrette, or Chamberlain’s Heart Remedy, or Jamaica Ginger. The jury were told that a conviction could be had only on the particular sale of July 20, 1913, the sale elected by. the state, and that that sale must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. That evidence of other sales was for the purpose of corroboration and to throw light on the offense charged, to wit, the sale of July 20th.
The law recognizes that it is almost impossible to secure convictions for violations of the local option and other liquor laws, if the evidence is confined to a single sale, as ordinarily the criminal act is witnessed only by the buyer and seller; but observation and common knowledge teach that isolated and secret sales make up and constitute the business or sometimes an important feature of the business of the accused in these cases, and, for that reason, the facts and circumstances of other sales than the particular one charged are admitted as in corroboration of and to throw light on the offense charged. Childress v. State, 48 Tex. Cr. 617, 90 S. W. 30; State v. Peterson, 98 Minn. 210, 108 N. W. 6.
Most of the sales testified to in this case were sales made to the prosecuting witness. The appellant denied ever making any sale to him. This being the issue, why was not proof of other sales to the prosecuting witness than the one relied upon relevant, whether supported by his testimony alone or by other witnesses as corroborating evidence of the offense charged? There was no direct testimony of sales by appellant to third parties, except the testimony of the prosecuting witness, and those sales, if believed by the jury to have been made, were relevant as a circumstance tending to show that appellant was in the business of violating the local option law. There is one thing certain from the record, and that is that, if appellant disposed of intoxicating liquors at all, he was doing it secretly and under cover to avoid detection, and, if a plan or scheme of that kind was followed, the evidence of other sales was competent and relevant to corroborate and throw light upon the offense charged, as stated in the instruction. It must be borne in mind, however, that we are not passing upon the question of the admissibility of the evidence in the record, as that is not questioned, but are considering the correctness of the instruction as applied to the evidence. The appellant failed and neglected to ask any instruction covering his views of the law pertaining to the evidence of other crimes limiting and defining its purposes. He had the right to do that, and had he done so, it would have called the trial court’s attention to the defects of which he now complains and afforded an opportunity for their correction. We think the instruction should have limited and defined the purpose of the evidence of other sales to show system, plan, knowledge or intent, as the case may be, and to rebut defenses set up by the appellant. Childress v. State, supra; State v. Marshall, 2 Kan. App. 792, 44 Pac. 49; State v. Coulter, 40 Kan. 87, 19 Pac. 368.
The Kansas cases cited by appellant as condemning the instruction here given we will notice. In State v. Nield, 4 Kan. App. 626, 636, 45 Pac. 623, 626, the court said:
“Upon the trial of the ease upon its merits, the testimony of numerous witnesses was admitted, tending to show various unlawful sales of intoxicating liquors other than those upon which the state, by direction of the court, elected to rely for conviction. The defendant requested the court to instruct the jury not to take into consideration the evidence as to such other sales in determining the guilt or innocence of the defendant as to the particular sales upon which the state elected to rely. This the court refused, and nothing upon the subject was given in the general instructions. In this, we think, the court erred. While it is proper, in the first place, for the state to introduce evidence concerning any unlawful sales made by the defendant, yet, when an election has been made of a particular transaction upon which the state relies for conviction, the evidence as to other illegal sales is practically eliminated from the case. It cannot be used or referred to merely for the purpose of bolstering up and strengthening the case made by the state upon the elected transaction; and the defendant is entitled to have the jury so instructed. ’ ’
We must confess our inability to follow the reasoning of this case wherein it is stated that evidence of unlawful sales, other than the ones charged or relied upon, is “proper,” and therefore admissible, but not to be taken into consideration by the jury. We conceive that such evidence is not substantive evidence of the particular offense charged, and that the jury should be so advised. But, if evidence is admissible at all, it is upon the ground that it tends to prove in some manner the issue between the state and the appellant. If it has not that effect, it is incompetent and should be rejected. If it is competent for the state in the first place to prove several substantive offenses and thereafter elect from them the one relied upon for a conviction, it is because of the peculiar character of the unlawful acts. It must be because they are cognated offenses and so interrelated that each characterizes the other. The question in State v. Reynolds, 5 Kan. App. 515, 47 Pac. 573, was one of evidence and not instructions. In this case the sale was admitted, and there was no dispute as to the ingredients of the liquid. The only question was as to whether it was intoxicating. In such circumstances the court held, and we think properly so, that evidence of other unlawful sales was incompetent.
We are satisfied that upon the whole case substantial justice was done, and that the jury was not misled into rendering a wrong verdict by reason of language used in the instruction complained of.
Judgment affirmed.
FRANKLIN, 0. J., and CUNNINGHAM, J., concur.
Application for rehearing denied.
NOTE.—As to evidence of other crimes in prosecution for violation of liquor law, see note in 62 L. B. A. '230, 290, 325.
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PER CURIAM.
The appellant, plaintiff below, sued the appellee, defendant, for damages for personal injury alleged to have occurred on January 23, 1912, and while he was in the employment of the defendant company. The cause of action is set forth in two counts. In one count the injury is alleged to have been caused by a servant or employee of the defendant, to wit, an engineer, and in the other count the injury is alleged to have been occasioned by the negligence of the defendant in employing and retaining in its employ an engineer incompetent, unskillful and unqualified to properly render and perform the services required of him.
Demurrers to the complaint were overruled. Defendant answered, setting up the defenses of contributory negligence, assumed risk and carelessness of a fellow-servant.
The case was tried to a jury. At the close of the plaintiff’s case, on motion of defendant, the first count was dismissed by the court on the ground that the evidence showed that the injury was caused by the carelessness of a fellow-servant. The defendant introduced its evidence, and plaintiff introduced evidence in rebuttál. After both parties had rested, the defendant moved for,a directed verdict in its favor which was granted by the court. Judgment upon the verdict was entered awarding costs to defendant.
Plaintiff assigns 20 errors which he says the trial court committed to his prejudice and damage. As we view the case, the only questions necessary for us to pass upon are: (1) Did the court err in dismissing the first count, and (2) in granting the instructed verdict on the second count?
The pleadings disclose that the engineer, through whose negligence the injury is alleged to have occurred, and the plaintiff were both employees of the common employer, the defendant. The evidence of the plaintiff alone was before the court when the court determined therefrom that the engineer and the plaintiff were fellow-servants and ordered the dismissal of the first count of the complaint. Upon the determination that plaintiff was injured because of the negligence of a fellow-servant, the court evidently took the view that plaintiff assumed the risks arising in his employment from the negligence of a fellow-servant, and that it was a question of law to be passed upon by the court.
At the time the motion to dismiss the first count was granted, evidence had been introduced by the plaintiff to the following effect, and for the purpose of the appeal it must be taken as true: The plaintiff at the time of the injury had been working for the defendant as a structural steel man; he Rad charge of what was known as the “Bull Gang,’.’ consist ing of himself and four or five other men; the duties of this gang of men were rather miscellaneous; as one witness testified, it was supposed “to do anything.” In other words, as soon as one job of structural steel work was completed, it was moved on to another of cognate character, but not the same álways in detail. For three days prior to the date of injury this gang had been employed in placing on top of ore bins steel girders weighing about 1,900 pounds. These girders had been raised 40 feet from the ground to the top of bins. This gang, without any outside help, had, by means of blocks and pulleys operated by hand power, lifted in place all of the girders, except one, when on the 23d day of January, 1912, the superintendent of the defendant told the plaintiff to get the last girder out of the way “as quick as you can.” This girder was on the railroad track, and the superintendent said, “Joe [plaintiff], get that thing [girder] out of there so the cars could get in.” Lee Hetrick, the yardmaster of the defendant, as such had under his control and charge a Brown hoist, and he suggested to plaintiff the use of this piece of machinery to raise the last girder. The Brown hoist gang and the Bull gang up to this time had never been brought together. The hoist was brought to the Bull gang by Hetrick and by him and plaintiff was placed for use in raising the girder. The men accompanying the Brown hoist were Hetrick, the engineer, and a Mexican. The hoist was operated by means of a locomotive engine, in charge of the engineer that accompanied it and who was one of the Brown hoist gang. The boom of the hoist was not long enough for the purpose of raising the girder, and Hetrick and one of the Bull gang men procured a telephone pole and spliced it on to the boom, extending the length of boom some 30 feet. The pulleys, blocks and cable were adjusted by plaintiff and Hetrick. One end of the cable was attached to a drum and the other end was, by means of an iron or steel grapple or hook, attached to the girder. Plaintiff had control of the end fastened to the girder, while the engineer of the locomotive engine operated the drum by means of power obtained from engine, so that, by winding the cable around the drum, the girder could be lifted from the ground. The engine was about 30 feet from the girder. When all was ready to begin the raising of the girder, plaintiff, having placed on girder the hook on his end of cable, signaled the engineer to lift girder six inches. The signal was made by hand and also by word of mouth. Plaintiff said to engineer, “Raise it up six inches.” The purpose of raising girder six inches was that a block might be placed under it, giving space to wrap the. end of cable around girder securely, so that it might be raised and put in place on top of bin. The engineer, instead of raising girder six inches, as he was told and signaled to do, suddenly jerked it up to a height of six feet. The hook slipped off it, and it fell, striking plaintiff, breaking one of his legs, and injuring the other. If the girder had been lifted six inches only, the hook would not have slipped off.
Plaintiff did not see the engineer before he was hurt and1 did not know who was the engineer in charge of engine when he was hurt. The Brown hoist crew and the structural crew had never come together before. The former crew was loaned to the latter just for the one purpose, the handling of the last. girder. Not only new instrumentalities, but new faces, were injected into the structural steel gang for the purpose of hastening the removal of this last girder from the railroad track so that it might be used. The Brown hoist and the crew that operated it had been used in loading cars with ore, but had never been employed in iron work construction before. They were brought from ore dump for this particular-job. The two crews were engaged in a different line of employment and had not come together in their work during-the time plaintiff had worked for .defendant, about 18 months,, and would not have come together on this special occasion, except for the expedition required in doing this particular-job that another department of defendant’s work might not be obstructed. It is not an unfair inference, from the evidence, that they came together at this time at the instance of the superintendent of defendant, although that fact is not directly sworn to by any witness. He told plaintiff to hurry up and get the girder out of the way of cars, and soon thereafter the yardmaster, Hetrick, was on the ground with the-Brown hoist and its crew joining in the work of placing the-girder on top of bin. The Brown hoist crew was under the-control of and received its orders from the yardmaster. Did the fact that, for the instant, the engineer was acting on signals from the plaintiff constitute him and plaintiff fellow- servants, and, if so, is it a question of fact to be submitted to-the jury, or is it a question of law to be determined by the court, as was done in this case ?
We may say that the courts are not agreed as to what constitutes fellow service. Many of them have adopted the narrow and somewhat harsh rule laid down by Chief Justice Shaw in Farwell v. Boston & W. R. Corp., 4 Met. (Mass.) 49, 38 Am. Dec. 339, decided in 1842, holding that all the employees of a common master were fellow-servants. Other courts of equal learning and respectability have made association and opportunity to watch over each other the test of fellow service. These latter states have adopted the so-called “departmental doctrine.” Labatt, in his exhaustive and learned work, “Master and Servant,” at section 1425, says:
“The decisions which actually turn upon it (departmental doctrine) seem to be confined to Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Louisiana, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Utah, Arizona and such federal courts as have avowedly followed the local rule.”
Southern Pacific Co. v. McGill, 5 Ariz. 36, 44 Pac. 302, relied upon by defendant as authority sustaining the court in passing upon the question we have here, as a question of law, has its interesting features. The question in that case was: as to whether a section foreman and the conductor upon whose train he was riding at the time' of the accident were fellow-servants. The trial court submitted the question to a jury. This action of the trial court was approved by a unanimous; court in a well-considered opinion reported in McGill v. Southern Pacific Co., 4 Ariz. 116, 33 Pac. 821. Upon a motion for a rehearing before the same court, with a change in its personnel, however, the decision was that they were fellow-servants and that the trial court erred in submitting the question to the jury. In both opinions the departmental doctrine is recognized, the first following the Hobson case, hereinafter discussed, and in the last the court said:
“ '. . . The truth is every case depends upon its own circumstances. No hard-and-fast line can be drawn which will suffice for every case.”
The fact is that the courts have over and over, again and again, refused to try to lay down any certain or definite rule by which fellow service may be determined, but have been contented largely in letting “every case depend upon its own circumstances, ’ ’ as was done in the McGill case.
When it is taken into consideration that this was a hurry-up job, and a departure from the usual way of performing, it was essential, suddenly bringing into co-operation crews from different lines of employment with no previous opportunity of exercising mutual influence on each other promotive of proper caution, it would seem that it should “depend upon its own circumstances.” To submit the question to the jury accords with the earliest pronouncement of the territorial supreme court, and is in line with the legislation of the country either establishing the departmental rule, as in California (Judd v. Letts, 158 Cal. 359, 41 L. R. A. (N. S.) 156, 111 Pac. 12), or entirely abrogating the common-law rule of fellow-servant, as was done by the Arizona Constitution of 1912.
Plaintiff’s cause of action, if he has one, accrued on January 23, 1912, and all defenses thereto existing before the adoption of the Constitution are preserved. Therefore the provision of the state Constitution forever abrogating the doctrine of fellow-servant is not involved in this case.
The question is whether plaintiff and the hoist engineer were as a fact, or as a matter of law, fellow-servants according to the rule recognized and existing under the territorial government of Arizona at the time of the injury.
The rule adopted by the supreme court of the territory of Arizona is the Illinois rule. This rule was adopted in Hobson v. N. M. & Ariz. R. R. Co., 2 Ariz. 171, 11 Pac. 545, filed August 2, 1886. The court, on page 180 (Pac. p. 549), quotes at length from C. & N. W. R. R. Co. v. Moranda, 93 Ill. 302, 34 Am. Rep. 168, and cites and comments upon a number of cases supporting the “separate department” rule. The court states:
“The real issue in this case is, as given in the instructions of the court, as follows: ‘If the jury believe from the' evidence in this case, and from all the circumstances in proof, that the plaintiff was employed by the defendant as a teamster for the purpose of drawing ties, and not employed as a hand on the train, . . . then the court instructs you that the plaintiff would not be considered in law in the same line of employment as the engine-driver. If you believe, however, from the evidence, that the plaintiff was employed by the defendant for the purpose of driving a team, and was also employed, and it was a part of his duty, to be connected with, and he formed a part of the working force of and on the construction train, then the court instructs you that it would be considered in law that he was employed in the same line of employment as the engine-driver; and in that case you would find for the defendant on that point, unless you believe from the evidence that the engine-driver was incompetent, and that such incompetence was known to the defendant prior to his employment, or that such incompeteney has been shown by the evidence to have been known to the defendant by some agent or officer of the defendant, prior to the accident, who had a right to remove him, and, having the power to remove him, failed to remove him.’ This was the gist of the case, and we take it that no other error would have worked an injury to defendant. Chicago etc. Ry. Co. v. Ross, 112 U. S. 377 [28 L. Ed. 787, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 184]; Brobst v. Brock, 10 Wall. 519 [19 L. Ed. 1002].”
The rule thus recognized has never been repudiated by the territorial supreme court. In the Moranda case (93 Ill. 302, 34 Am. Rep. 168), in the opinion of the court, page 185 of American Reports, it is said:
“It will be seen, by the cases cited, that, in all the eases wherein the right of action has been denied upon the ground that the injured servant and the offending servant were fellow-servants, the facts show that they were brought into personal consociation by their ordinary duties, or that at the time of the injury they were actually, co-operating in some particular work. And it also appears that in the cases where the action has been sustained no such relations existed. In the latter cases, this court has said they were not employed ‘in the same department of labor,’ and that the one is ‘not in the same line of employment with the other,’ ” etc.
In Chicago & Eastern Ill. R. R. Co. v. Kneirim, 152 Ill. 458, 43 Am. St. Rep. 259, 39 N. E. 324, two tests of the master’s liability under that rule are assumed to exist: First, “where they are directly co-operating with each other in a particular business in the same line of employment”; and, second, “where their duties are such as to bring them into habitual association, so that they may exercise a mutual influence upon, each other promotive of proper caution.”
In Bennett v. Chicago City Ry. Co., 243 Ill. 420, 430, 90 N. E. 735, 738, the court says:
“Under the decisions it is not sufficient to constitute two persons fellow-servants simply that they are working for the same master, but they must be brought into such relation, either by directly co-operating in the same work at the time of the injury or by their usual and habitual duties, that they may exercise an influence upon each other promotive of their mutual safety.” • ■
A host of Illinois cases are cited as sustaining this principle.
The rule is applied in Gathman v. City of Chicago, 127 Ill. App. 150, the facts of which, in all essential features, were very similar to the facts in this case. The plaintiff was required to make certain measurements of a bridge attachment. He notified the keeper of the bridge of his duties there and that it would be necessary to make one measurement while the bridge was down and one while it was lifted. Plaintiff told the keeper that he and his helper would go under the bridge and make the first measurement, and, when they were ready to have the bridge raised, the helper would call up from below, and notify him. The keeper said all right, and plaintiff and his helper- went below to make the measurements. Without warning, and before any signals were given, under the instructions of the keeper and at his direction the operator turned on the power which operated the bridge, and plaintiff- was injured. It was insisted that plaintiff and the operator and the keeper were fellow-servants with the-plaintiff. The court states that the rule that all servants of a common master are fellow-servants is not accurate; on. the contrary, “the generally prevailing rule that all servants of a common master are fellow-servants was rejected” in this state, “and it was held that, where a servant was employed in a department separate and distinct from that of a servant, whose negligence caused an injury, the master would be liable.” Chicago City Ry. Co. v. Leach, 208 Ill. 198, 100 Am. St. Rep. 216, 70 N. E. 222.
And again: “The servants -of the same master, to be co-employees so as to -exempt the master from liability on account of injuries sustained by one resulting from negligence of the other, shall be directly co-operating with each other in a particular business (i. e., the same line of employment) or their usual duties must bring them into habitual association, so that they may exercise a mutual influence upon each other promotive of proper caution.” Chicago & Alton R. R. Co. v. Hoyt, 122 Ill. 369, 12 N. E. 225.
This rule was adopted in the Hobson case by the territorial supreme court and was in force at the time of the injury.
In the Gathman case, supra, the court says, after stating the rule:
“And whether an employee whose negligence brings about the injury is in this sense a fellow-servant of the employee of a common master who is injured is a question of fact to be left to the jury under the above rules, unless the evidence is such that all reasonable minds must reach the conclusion that they stand in the said relation,”—citing Duffy v. Kivilin, 195 Ill. 630, 63 N. E. 503; Missouri etc. Co. v. Dillon, 206 Ill. 145, 69 N. E. 12; Illinois Third Vein Coal Co. v. Cioni, 215 Ill. 583, 74 N. E. 751.
In Chicago & A. R. R. Co. v. Swan, 176 Ill. 424, 429, 52 N. E. 916, 917, the court says:
“Whether different servants of the same master are fellow-servants, within the legal signification of that term, is a question of fact,'to be determined by the jury from all the circumstances of each ease. [Citing cases.] The definition ,of fellow-servants is a question of law. Whether a given case falls within that definition is a question of fact.”
In the Hobson case, supra, the question was submitted to the jury, and rightly so. In this ease the court decided, as a matter of law, that the hoist engineer and plaintiff were fellow-servants of a common master, notwithstanding the undisputed evidence was that these employees were employed in wholly separate departments of the master’s business, that plaintiff was engaged in repairing an ore bin, and that the hoist engineer was engaged in operating an engine and hoist. The inference may readily be drawn from this undisputed evidence that the plaintiff and the hoist engineer were or were not fellow-servants at the time of the injury.
Under the rule governing such a matter which obtains in this jurisdiction, and in view of the peculiar facts of this case, we are persuaded that the question presented is mani festly one of fact for submission to the jury. In its determination the jury would be required to find whether the negligence of the engineer was one of the risks which the plaintiff should be held to have assumed, and this result would depend on what should be ascertained to be their relation to each other, the extent to which they were brought in contact, and the connection of the duties to each other. In fine, whether or not, at the time plaintiff received the injury complained of, they sustained toward each other the relation of fellow-servants. We therefore conclude that the court erred in withdrawing from the jury the right to ascertain the cause of the accident, and if such accident was caused by the negligence of the engineer, and also the relation in which the engineer stood to the parties when it occurred.
It is the duty of the master to use proper diligence in the employment of competent men to perform the duties for which they are engaged, and after the employment it is also the duty of the master to keep himself advised as to their fitness and not retain in his employment servants who are incompetent. The failure of the corporation to perform its duty in these particulars is in substance the basis upon which appellant seeks to recover in the second count of the complaint.
Drawing from the evidence in the record all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff to be gathered therefrom, the evidence as to the ineompetency of the engineer is confined to the happening of the one particular accident which occasioned the injury to the plaintiff. We have not been cited to any case, nor has a somewhat extensive search through the books revealed an authority, wherein it is held that the single act of negligence would prove either incompetency or notice to the master. The simple fact that the engineer on this particular occasion may have been guilty of negligence is not sufficient to authorize the jury to find against the defendant on the second count. Conrad v. Gray, 109 Ala. 130, 19 South. 398, and cases cited.
If, upon a retrial of this ease, the evidence to support the allegations of the'second count is not stronger in this particular than the evidence presented in the record before us, we are of opinion that the plaintiff may not predicate error upon such a disposition of the second count as made by the lower court in the instant ease.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded, with directions to grant a new trial.
Application for rehearing denied.
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ROSS, C. J.
The appellant, who was defendant below, became sheriff of appellee county February 14, 1912, the day of admission to statehood. During his term, 1912-13, he received from the United States government for and on account of payment for the support and keeping of United States prisoners in the county jail of Maricopa County the sum of $6,741.75. Of this sum he paid to the county $3,372, but retained the balance of $3,369.75, claiming it as his own. This suit was brought by the county to recover the last-named sum, and it had judgment. The defendant has appealed from the judgment.
The appellant’s contention is that the sum sought to be recovered from him was “a compensation attached to the office of sheriff at the beginning of defendant’s term of office as sheriff of Maricopa County, which compensation could neither be diminished nor abolished during his term of office.” Appellant makes his claim to the moneys sued for under the provisions of paragraph 2601, Revised Statutes of 1901, which reads:
“The sheriff of the county wherein any United States prisoner is received and kept by him as required by law, shall have, receive, and retain for his own use fifty per cent of all money allowed and paid by the United States for receiving, supporting and keeping such prisoner or prisoners in said county jail.”
Prior to statehood, sheriffs were principally compensated for their services by fees. By paragraphs 2600, 2602, Revised Statutes of 1901, the boards of supervisors were empowered to make additional allowances to sheriffs, differing in amount according to class of county, and in paragraph 2602 this additional allowance is designated as “salary.” In Patty v. Greenlee County, 14 Ariz. 422, 130 Pac. 757, we hold, in effect, that notwithstanding the additional allowance was designated a “salary,” still the sheriffs of the state fell within the class of officers who had theretofore been compensated by the fee system, and that, the “fee system” having been abolished by section 17, article 22, of the Constitution, the legislature was empowered under the authority of section 4, article 12, of the Constitution, to enact laws fixing sheriffs’ salaries, and that the legislature had regulated and fixed the salary of sheriffs in chapter 93, page 591, Session Laws of 1912 (chapter 2, tit. 15, Civ. Code 1913). "While it is true that the contest in the Patty case was as to whether the salary fixed by the .board of supervisors or the one fixed by the legislature should control, in deciding that the legislative act took precedence and regulated the compensation of the sheriff, we said :
“The power of fixing, increasing, and decreasing the salaries of all officers of the state is made a legislative function by the Constitution, and its power in that respect is not limited or qualified, except that the compensation shall not ‘be increased or decreased during his term of office.' ”
And further on in the opinion is this statement:
“The salary of appellant, if ever properly fixed by the board of supervisors, was made at the first session of the legislature by general law, ‘fixed and definite.’ ”
The effect of that decision was that the salary or allowance mentioned in paragraphs 2600 and 2602, Revised Statutes of 1901, that could be allowed to sheriffs in addition to their fees, was not such a salary or compensation as to prevent the legislature from increasing or decreasing it during their terms of office. For, had we held that the inhibition of the Constitution as to increasing and decreasing of compensation applied to sheriffs, it would have resulted very disastrously to those officers, as in that event, the Constitution having admittedly abolished the fee system, sheriffs’ only compensation would have been such sums as the boards of supervisors in their discretion should allow, within the limits prescribed by sections 2600 and 2602, supra, and in certain contingencies the amounts received under paragraph 2601. The constitutional mandate to the legislature, as contained in section 4, article 12, was, when taken in connection with section 17, article 22, that it should enact laws placing all state and county officers on “fixed and definite salaries.” Paragraph 3228 provides that:
“In counties of the first class [Maricopa’s class], the county officers shall receive respectively, as full compensation for the services required of them by law, or by virtue of their office, the following salaries, to wit: . . .
‘ ‘ The sheriff, four thousand dollars per annum. ’ ’
However, if the sheriff should be allowed or permitted to retain money received by him from the United States for the support and keeping of United States prisoners, his salary would not be fixed and definite, but would be very indefinite; the amount depending upon the number of prisoners committed to the county jail and the length of time confined therein.
We are persuaded that the legislature would have exceeded its powers, had it in direct terms provided that the salary of sheriff should be $4,000 and 50 per cent of amount paid him by the general government for the care and support of its prisoners-committed to the county jail, for the. Constitution restricts the legislature’s powers to providing “fixed and definite salaries.” Inasmuch as the sums that boards of supervisors were allowed to give sheriffs under paragraphs 2600 and 2602 were mere allowances in addition to fees, if the appellant is right in his contention that he is entitled to keep the sum sued for, he would also be entitled to demand and recover the sums as provided in paragraphs 2600 and 2602, supra. Only those laws of the. territory of Arizona were continued in force, after admission, that were not repugnant to the Constitution (section 2, article .22). We think paragraph 2601, Revised Statutes of 1901, is in conflict with, and repugnant to, the provisions of the Constitution abolishing the fee system and providing for “fixed and definite” salaries of officers, by general law.
The appellant is entitled to, as his compensation, either the sums that he may be allowed by. the board of supervisors under paragraph 2600, and the sum that he.may receive as provided by paragraph 2601 for keeping federal prisoners, or he is entitled as full compensation to the sum of $4,000 as provided in paragraph 3228. We have already decided in the Patty ease that the salary fixed by the legislature is the “fixed and definite” salary to which he is entitled.
Judgment affirmed.
FRANKLIN and CUNNINGHAM, JJ., concur.
|
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CUNNINGHAM, J.
This action was commenced by the appellant as the holder for collection of the written instrument in suit. It acquired such instrument for the purpose of collection and suit on August 24, 1913, and after maturity, as appears from the face of the instrument. The defenses that may be interposed as between the original parties to the instrument are open to the maker in this action, for the reason the plaintiff is not shown to be an innocent holder for value before maturity, nor a holder without notice of such defenses. It is charged with notice of all facts connected with the transaction of which its principal, the promisee, had notice, or was charged with notice when he received the instrument.
The plaintiff assigns as error the order of the court overruling its objection to the introduction of any evidence by the defendant tending to support the allegations of his answer, for the reason such answer fails to set forth any defense. The answer sets forth that the written instrument upon which the action is founded is without consideration. The answer was verified by the defendant. Such answer may be so made by the express terms of paragraph 1358, subdivision 10, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1901, now appearing as paragraph 476, subdivision 9, Civil Code of Arizona of 1913. At the stage of the trial when the objection was made the objection was without merit. Without a doubt the answer set forth a defense in the particular that the instrument sued upon was without consideration, and defendant was entitled to support that defense by proof.
The further complaint is made that the court erred in admitting parol evidence, over the objection of plaintiff, tending to vary and contradict the terms of the written instrument in suit, as to the time of the payment of the sum of money mentioned therein, by the introduction of evidence of a parol, contemporaneous, verbal agreement which tends to vary and contradict the terms of such written instrument. This raises the principal question involved in the case, and its solution disposes of the controversy.
The evidence admitted of which appellant complains tends to support the allegations of defendant’s special answer. In brief, that part of the answer sets forth the facts and circumstances of the transaction leading up to, and resulting in, the execution of the instrument, and sets out the verbal agreement of the parties thereto, pursuant to which such instrument was delivered to the possession of the promisee. The ■objection to the introduction of such evidence had the effect to question the sufficiency of such answer to assert a defense, and we so consider the question.
Aseneio received the instrument as a memorandum of the balance due him, with the verbal agreement and understanding had with Ruby at the time of such receipt of the instrument that it was not payable by Ruby, the defendant, until the partnership note was collected by Ruby. This was, in brief, the defense interposed to which the alleged objectionable evidence tended to, and did, substantially establish. The ■question is: Did the instrument, by reason of the fact that it was placed in the promisee’s possession by the promisor, become a present, unconditional obligation of Ruby to pay ••according to its terms, notwithstanding the contemporaneous agreement and understanding that it was not such obligation until the partnership note was collected?
It is nowhere denied that Ruby signed his name to the instrument ; in fact, he wrote the instrument in suit, and so testified. His contention is that the Gordon note has not been ■collected and is still owing, and that this instrument is. not payable until the partnership, or Gordon, note is collected, and therefore upon no other condition is this instrument •binding.
This question was before the court in Burke v. Dulaney, 153 U. S. 228, 38 L. Ed. 698, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 816, wherein •the parties were the original parties to the instrument in suit. Justice HARLAN, speaking for the court, in an able opinion refers to and explains Burnes v. Scott, 117 U. S. 582, 29 L. Ed. 993, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 865, wherein the same question was involved in a suit between the indorsee and maker of a negotiable promissory note, saying:
“The' rule is settled that a negotiable instrument, in the hands of an innocent holder for value, cannot be contradicted, to his prejudice, by evidence of an oral agreement or understanding between the original parties variant from the terms of their written contract. . . . The issue here is between the original parties to the note. And the evidence offered by the appellant, and excluded by the court, did not in any true sense contradict the terms of the writing in suit, nor vary their legal import, but tended to show that the written instrument was never in fact, delivered as a present contract, unconditionally binding upon the obligor according to its terms from the time of such delivery, but was left in the hands of' Dulaney, to become an absolute obligation of the maker in the event of his electing, upon examination or investigation, to take the stipulated interest in the property in question. lit other words, according to the evidence offered and excluded, the written instrument, upon which this suit is based, was. not—except in a named contingency—to become a contract, or a promissory note which the payee could at any time rightfully transfer. Evidence of such an oral agreement would show that the contingency never happened, and would not be in contradiction of the writing. It would prove that there-never was any concluded, binding contract entitling the party who claimed the benefit of it to enforce its stipulations. The exclusion of parol evidence of such an agreement could be-justified only upon the ground that the mere possession of a, written instrument, in form a promissory note, by the person named in it as payee, is conclusive of his right to hold it as. the absolute obligation of the maker. While such possession is undoubtedly pi'ima facie—indeed, should be deemed strong— evidence that the instrument came to the hands of the payee-as an obligation of the maker, enforceable according to its-legal import, it is open to the latter to prove the circumstances under which possession was acquired, and to show that, there never was any complete, final delivery of the writing as the promissory note of the maker, payable at all events and according to its terms. The rule that excludes parol evidence in contradiction of a written agreement presupposes the existence, in fact, of such agreement at the time suit was brought. But the rule has no application if the writing was not delivered as a present contract.”
In support of this holding a number of cases are cited with comment, all sustaining the position. The reasons for the rule and the justness of it are beyond question.
The answer under consideration brings this case squarely within the rule stated, and the evidence shows that there never was any complete, final delivery of the writing as the promissory note of the maker, Ruby, payable at all events and according to its terms, for the reason it was made as a mere memorandum of the balance Aseneio was entitled to receive when the Gordon note was paid to Ruby, and was; delivered as such with the understanding of the parties that it should be payable when the Gordon note was paid, and in no other event. So considered, the court was entirely correct in receiving parol evidence in support of this defense. The contention of appellant that the court erred in admitting the evidence tending to show the parties agreed that this note was not payable until the Gordon note was paid cannot be sustained. The evidence of the defendant is sufficient to sustain the defense pleaded, and is sufficient to support the judgment dismissing the action. In abundance of caution the judgment should be modified, however, so as to conform to' the nature of the case proved. It is shown by the evidence that the instrument was intended to become a binding obligation upon the maker when the Gordon note is paid, and such it must remain.
The judgment is modified so as to dismiss this action without prejudice, and, as modified, the judgment is affirmed.
FRANKLIN, C. J., and ROSS, J., concur.
Application for rehearing denied.
|
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ROSS, C. J.
The appellee, Willis, as plaintiff, brought his action against the appellant city to restrain its mayor, common council and certain of its administrative officers from constructing a main-trunk sanitary sewer and septic tank, and to enjoin said officers of the city from assessing, equalizing, levying and collecting taxes upon his property and the property of others in like situation to defray the expenses of said construction.
It is shown that the mayor and common council, on August 18, 1913, adopted a resolution of intention as provided by law, wherein it was declared that the public health, interest and convenience of the city of Globe and its people required such sewer and septic tank, and that the improvement was of more than local or ordinary benefit, and was of general benefit to the whole city and its people, and made and constituted the city a district for the assessment of the costs-thereof, providing for the issuance of interest-bearing bonds for assessments amounting to more than $25; that thereafter, on September 11, 1913, the mayor and common council passed another resolution ordering the construction of said sewer and septic tank as provided by law. To both of these resolutions appellee filed petitions of referendum praying that the question of the improvement proposed and ordered be submitted “to a vote of the qualified electors of said city” for their approval or rejection. It is alleged that the city authorities, notwithstanding said referendum, were proceeding to make the said improvement.
The appellants demurred to the complaint both specially and generally. The demurrers were overruled, and judgment was entered in favor of appellee as prayed.
The proceedings of the mayor and common council are conceded to have been regular and in conformity with the provisions of chapter 14, title 7, Civil Code, entitled “Construction of Sewers, Waterworks and Lighting Plants, by Cities and Towns, the Assessment of the Cost Thereof on Property Benefited, and the Issuance of Bonds to Represent Such Assessment.” This chapter does not provide for a referendum in matters of local improvements by special assessments, but appellee contends that subdivision 8, section 1, article 4, of the state Constitution is applicable, and is authority for referring the question to the qualified electors of the city of Globe. It is as follows:
“The power of the initiative and the referendum are hereby further reserved to the qualified electors of every incorporated city, town, and county as to all local, city, town, or county matters on which incorporated cities, towns, and counties are or shall be empowered by general laws to legislate. ’ ’
In construing this provision of the Constitution as it affects the question before us, it should be borne in mind that there are some subjects of legislation by a city in which all the residents are alike interested, and others that directly affect particular persons or property, and in which the citizenry generally is not concerned. Judge Dillon, Municipal Corporations, volume 1, section 24, says:
“If we analyze the complex powers usually conferred upon a municipality in this country at the present time, we shall discover that these are of two general classes, namely: (1) Those which relate to health, good government, efficient police, etc., in which all the inhabitants have an equal interest and ought to have an equal voice. (2) Those which directly involve the expenditure of money, and especially those relating to local improvements, the expense of which ultimately falls upon the property owners. As respects these, the controlling voice ought to be with those who have to bear the burden. ’ ’
The undertaking by the council in this case was to impose on the real property situate in the city of Globe a special assessment to be apportioned according to benefits received. Only those persons owning realty in the city are affected, and they only, unless the Constitution provides a different rule, should be consulted. Those who pay no taxes and contribute nothing for the improvement certainly have no pecuniary interest in the matter.
It would be a reasonable and a workable construction of said provision of the Constitution if by it all the “qualified electors” of the city are held to have the power to invoke the referendum and to be entitled to vote thereon, when the questions involved are of a general character, such as those affecting the public health, good government or efficient police regulations, and we think that is the force and effect of such provision. If this provision be given the meaning urged by appellee, it runs counter to section 13, article 7, of the Constitution, reading as follows:
“Questions upon bond issues or special assessments shall be submitted to the vote of property taxpayers, who shall also in all respects be qualified electors of the state, and of the political subdivision thereof affected by such question.”
According to this provision, where a special assessment is sought to be imposed, the question shall be submitted to qualified electors who are property taxpayers, and, while in terms eligibility to vote is not confined to those who pay property tax in the political subdivision affected by the question, unquestionably that is what it means. Therefore a “qualified elector,” as used in the general referendum provision of the Constitution, would not be entitled to vote on the question of a special assessment or bond issue without the additional qualifications of residence and ownership of taxable property within the city of Globe.
Bonds issued by a municipality as evidence of it's obligations are included within the terms of this provision, as also special assessments for the payment of which it becomes liable, for in both cases the municipality, as such, is ‘ ‘ affected by such question.” But a municipality is not “affected” by a bond issue or a special assessment when it in no way incurs liability for their payment, even though it be constituted under the law the agency by and through which the bonds are issued or the special assessment is made. “Questions upon bond issues or special assessment”—-that is, questions affecting the primary liability of the municipality—must be submitted to the property taxpayers therein, otherwise qualified as electors. Bond issues and special assessments that do not become a direct charge against the municipality, and do not increase its indebtedness, cannot be said to “affect” it, and are not under this provision of the Constitution to be submitted to a vote as therein prescribed. That the first state legislature understood section 13, article 7, to mean what we have indicated is clearly shown by its legislation. Chapter 15, title 7, Civil Code, provides that cities and towns may issue investment bonds as personal obligations, but before doing so the question must be submitted to and approved by a majority of the qualified electors in and for any such city who shall also be property taxpayers thereof. Chapter 9, title 11, paragraph 2736, authorizes school districts to issue bonds as personal obligations in certain eases, after the question is submitted to and approved by a majority of the bona fide taxpayers in all other respects qualified electors of the district. Chapter 2, title 52, paragraphs 5266-5285, provides that counties, school districts, cities, towns or other municipal corporations-may in certain contingencies issue bonds as personal obligations when thereto authorized by “a majority of the property taxpayers, who must also, in all respects, be qualified electors, therein voting at said election.” A like provision is made for the issuing of bonds of irrigating districts in chapter 4, title 55.
All this legislation and section 13, article 7, of the Constitution irrefutably indicate the policy of leaving to those, and those only, who bear the burdens, the right, in the first instance, to say whether the obligation shall be assumed by the municipality. They deny as certainly as it is possible, the right of the general elector to participate in an election involving the question of bond issues, and from what is said hereafter it will be seen that the general elector is not entitled to vote on “special assessments or special taxation of property benefited” for the purpose of making local improvements. The construction given by the legislature to section • 13, article 7, of the Constitution is the reasonable and natural one, and fully preserves its meaning and purpose. Nor do we think it contravenes the general referendum provisions of the Constitution, but harmonizes and upholds both provisions, and gives the reasonable and fair intendment of both.
The Sewer Act (chapter 14, supra) provides that the real property benefited by the improvement shall be liable for all expenditures made for such improvement. It makes the amount assessed against each lot of land a lien thereon, and authorizes its sale for delinquency; creates a special fund, designated by the number or name of the assessment, which fund shall be used only in paying for improvement ordered; and provides for the issuance of serial bonds for assessments of $25 or over, and that the principal and interest -thereof shall be paid to the city treasurer, “who shall keep a fund designated by the name of said bonds, . . . and under no-circumstances shall said bonds or the interest thereon be paid out of any other fund.” There is written on the face of the bond:
“This bond is payable exclusively from said fund, and neither the municipality nor any officer thereof is to be holden for payment otherwise of its principal or interest.”
This is a legislative exemption of liability on the part of the city and its officers for special assessments, and at the same time a vestiture of power by the legislature in the city authorities to burden the real property owner with the expense incurred in the improvement, in proportion to the benefits received.
In Quill v. Indianapolis, 124 Ind. 292, at page 298, 23 N. E. 788, at page 790 (7 L. R. A. 681), in passing upon an improvement act very similar to ours, the court said:
' “If the assessments become delinquent the remedy of the holders of the bonds or certificates is confined to the property ; there is no liability against the city. The special fund provided for and the property are the sources from which the holders of the bonds and certificates must receive their pay, the city authorities acting merely as an agency for making and collecting the assessments, and as the custodian of the fund when the assessments are collected. In this they do not act as the agents of the city, but as special agents, to accomplish a public end. Board etc. v. Fullen, 111 Ind. 410 [12 N. E. 298, 13 N. E. 574].
‘ ‘ A fair interpretation of the statute requires that the character of the bonds, and the fact that they are payable out of a special street improvement fund, shall appear upon the face of the paper, thus making it apparent to the world that they are not to be regarded as the obligations of the corporation. While the common council and officers of the city are designated as the instruments to be used in executing the scheme devised, it1 is apparent all the way through that the entire expense of constructing an improvement for which bonds may be issued is to be borne exclusively by the property benefited.
“In Strieb v. Cox, 111 Ind. 299 [12 N. E. 481], it was held that bonds issued by the board of county commissioners for the purpose of raising money to pay for the construction of a free gravel road do not constitute an indebtedness against the county within the inhibition of article 13 of the state Constitution. The principles which uphold that decision fully sustain our conclusion in this. See, also, Board etc. v. Hill, 115 Ind. 316 [16 N. E. 156].
“Merely issuing bonds or certificates which show upon their face that they are issued in the course of constructing a street improvement, and that they are payable out of a special fund to be derived from assessments upon the property bounding on the streets, is very far from creating a debt against the city. An indebtedness cannot arise unless there is either a legal, equitable or moral obligation to pay a sum of money to another, who occupies the relation of creditor, and who has a legal or moral right to call upon or constrain the debtor to pay. State ex rel. v. Hawes, 112 Ind. 323 [14 N. E. 87], It is not always essential, in order to the existence of an indebtedness, that there should be an absolute legal right to coerce payment, as in that sense tbe state could never become indebted. Mayor v. Gill, 31 Md. 375. It is, however, essential to the idea of a debt that an obligation should have arisen out of a contract, express or implied, which entitles the holder thereof unconditionally to receive from the promisor a sum of money which the latter is under a legal or moral duty to pay, without regard to any future contingency. Assessments for street improvements are upheld on the ground that the adjacent property upon which the cost of the improvement is assessed is enhanced in value to an amount equal to the sum assessed against it, and that the owners have received peculiar benefit which the citizens do not share in common. Heick v. Voight, 110 Ind. 279 [11 N. E. 306]; Ross v. Stackhouse, 114 Ind. 200, 16 N. E. 501; Hammett v. Philadelphia, 65 Pa. 146 [3 Am. Rep. 615]; Chamberlain v. City of Cleveland, 34 Ohio St. 551.
“The municipality, as such, is not benefited by the improvement, and there is, hence, under the law in question, neither a legal nor moral obligation to pay. The moral and legal duty of the city to pay depends upon the contingency or condition of the special fund out of which payment is to be made. If the officers of the city discharge the duties devolved upon them by statute, their power over the subject is exhausted. They are nowhere authorized to create an indebtedness against the city as such.
“In Sackett v. City of New Albany, 88 Ind. 473 [45 Am. Rep. 467], speaking in reference to the constitutional inhibition now under consideration, this court said: ‘By “indebtedness, ’ ’ in this connection, we mean an agreement of some kind by the city to pay money where no suitable provision has been made for the prompt discharge of the obligation imposed by the agreement.’ Within the definition above stated it is abundantly clear that no indebtedness can possibly result against a city from the issuance of street improvement bonds. ’ ’
The Washington supreme court, in discussing the liability for “special assessments,” as those words appear in a provision of that state’s Constitution which is identical with section 6, article 9, of our Constitution, in Smith v. Seattle, 25 Wash. 300, 313, 65 Pac. 612, 617, said:
“The contention of the appellant that, because the Constitution has limited the indebtedness of cities for supplying the same with water, artificial light, and sewers to 5 per cent additional to the amount allowed for general indebtedness, local ássessment districts cannot be created for constructing water-mains, is not sound. The Constitution limits the general indebtedness of cities; yet in the ease of Baker v. Seattle, 2 Wash. 576, 27 Pac. 462, this court held that the indebtedness of local assessment districts for street improvements was not to be considered when computing the limit of municipal indebtedness. For the same reason the debts of local assessment districts for laying water-mains should not be considered as having any bearing on the limit of the indebtedness of cities for water, artificial light, and sewers.”
And in Austin v. Seattle, 2 Wash. 667, at page 673, 27 Pac. 557, at page 559, where- the same question- arose, the court said:
“It is a rule established by many authorities that, when a municipal corporation is about to order improvements of this class, it may do so without making itself primarily liable for the cost thereof. The city of Seattle has already done so to a large extent, and this court has held that the unpaid warrants issued by it, drawn upon, and payable out of, special assessment funds, do not constitute a part of its municipal indebtedness, within the meaning of the Constitution (Baker v. Seattle, 2 Wash. 576 [27 Pac. 462]), but it is competent for such a corporation to make itself primarily liable for such improvements, and to make their costs a part of its debt. ’ ’
In Iowa, under a local improvement plan somewhat like ours, the court, in Grunewald v. Cedar Rapids, 118 Iowa, 222, 226, 91 N. W. 1059, 1060, said:
“The second is that this tax, if a debt, is not an obligation of the city, but of each individual property holder. The municipality is bound to levy, collect, and .pay over, and is answerable for nothing save the performance of these duties. See Ft. Dodge Electric Light & Power Co. v. City of Ft. Dodge, 115 Iowa, 568, 89 N. W. 7. It is not obligated to pay the money from any other source. Its duties end in compelling others to pay. Beyond this its obligation does not extend. In Water Co. v. Woodward, 49 Iowa, 58—a somewhat similar case in principle—the court said: ‘The obligation- of t-he city is to levy the tax, and see that the amount collected is -applied to the specified purposes. If the special fund legally provided is not sufficient, then it may be well said the deficiency is not payable by the city, and it is difficult to conceive that there can be such a thing as a debt which is never to be paid. No burden is-created thereby, and there cannot be such indebtedness.’ ” 2 Page & Jones, Taxation by Assessment, sec. 1504.
In McGilvery v. Lewiston, 13 Idaho, 338, 347, 90 Pac. 348, 349, the court used this language:
“From an examination and consideration of the cases cited, it would seem that the courts have quite generally held that such obligations required to be paid out of special assessments levied against the property particularly benefited are not an ‘indebtedness or liability’ within the contemplation of the constitutional provision, and that the same may be incurred without submission to a vote of the people. In other words, it is held that the legislature has plenary power in such matters, and that, if the statutory provisions are followed and complied with, there can be no legal and valid cause of complaint upon the part of a property owner affected by the assessment. The following are some of the principal cases cited to this effect: People v. Pacheco, 27 Cal. 218; Meyer v. City and County of San Francisco, 150 Cal. 131, 10 L. R. A. (N. S.)110, 88 Pac. 722; Little v. City of Portland, 26 Or. 235, 37 Pac. 911; Atkinson v. City of Great Falls, 16 Mont. 372, 40 Pac. 877; City of Litchfield v. Ballou, 114 U. S. 190, 29 L. Ed. 132, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 820; Cooley’s Constitutional Limitations, 7th ed., 92; Davis v. City of Des Moines, 71 Iowa, 500, 32 N. W. 470; Corey v. City of Ft. Dodge, 133 Iowa, 666, 111 N. W. 6; Tuttle v. Polk, 92 Iowa, 433, 60 N. W. 733; City of Clinton v. Walliker, 98 Iowa, 655, 68 N. W. 431; Quill v. City of Indianapolis, 124 Ind. 292, 7 L. R. A. 681, 23 N. E. 788; 1 Dillon on Municipal Corporations, 477; Winston v. City of Spokane, 12 Wash. 524, 41 Pac. 888; Smith v. City of Seattle, 25 Wash. 300, 65 Pac. 612; Commissioners of Highways of Goshen v. Jackson, 165 Ill. 17, 45 N. E. 1000; Kansas City v. Ward, 134 Mo. 172, 35 S. W. 600; 1 Abbott on Municipal Corporations, sec. 340; 25 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, 1233; State v. Moss, 44 Wash. 91, 86 Pac. 1129; German-American Sav. Bank v. City of Spokane, 17 Wash. 315, 38 L. R. A. 259, 49 Pac. 542; Rhode Island Mortgage & Trust Co. v. City of Spokane, 19 Wash. 616, 53 Pac. 1104; Gray on Limitations of Taxing Power, see. 2102; City of Valparaiso v. Gardner, 97 Ind. 1, 49 Am. Rep. 416; Swanson v. City of Ottumwa, 118 Iowa, 161, 59 L. R. A. 620, 91 N. W. 1049; Gedge v. City of Covington, 26 Ky. Law Rep. 273, 80 S. W. 1160; 2 Smith’s Modern Law of Municipal Corporations, p. 879; 1 Abbott on Municipal Corporations, 336; Borough of McKeesport v. Fidler, 147 Pa. 532, 23 Atl. 799; Simonton on Municipal Bonds, sec. 135.”
The legislation contained in our Sewer Act was doubtless passed by the legislature in response to the mandate of the Constitution, as contained in the first sentence of section 6, article 9, thereof, reading as follows:
“Incorporated cities, towns, and villages may be vested by law with power to make local improvements by special assessments, or by special taxation of property benefited.”
The power of the city of Globe to make local improvements by special assessments or special taxation of the property benefited is derived from the organic law of the state and the legislative act prescribing a method or plan for the exercise of that, power by the municipal authorities. It is conceded that the method or plan had been regularly pursued by the municipal authorities up to the time they were enjoined. We are of the opinion that the injunction was not authorized upon the theory that the resolution of intention and the resolution ordering the work to be done were subject to the general referendum.
One other objection is raised to the proceedings of the appellant city, and is set forth in the complaint in this language :
“That said proposed sewer and septic tank does not approach, adjoin or abut upon .plaintiff’s premises, and will not do so when completed as provided in said resolutions, and that the same, when completed, will be several blocks removed from plaintiff’s property, and by reason thereof is of no use or benefit whatsoever to plaintiff’s property, and that said sewer will not adjoin or abut upon any property in the said city of Globe except upon the street upon which the said sewer and its laterals are to be laid as specified in said resolutions, and that, as to all other real estate in said district, said proposed sewer is of no use or benefit whatsoever, because it is noncontiguous and remote from such property.”
The Sewer Act (paragraph 1984, Civil Code) provides that “any owner of property liable to be assessed for work may make written protest against the proposed work, or against the extent of the district to be assessed or both”; that a hear-' ing shall be had on protest by the city council, whose decision shall be final and conclusive thereon. However, should the protest be by more than one-half of the owners in number and area of the property within a district to be assessed for the proposed work, no further proceedings shall be taken for six months. Paragraph 1985, Id., provides that if no protests have been filed or if filed have been overruled by the city council, or when protests against the extent of the proposed district shall have been heard and denied, the city council shall immediately thereupon be deemed to have acquired jurisdiction to order the proposed improvement to be made. No protest was made to either the resolution of intention or the resolution of improvement. It is further provided in subdivision 4, paragraph 1988, Id., that whenever the work and improvement are to be assessed upon a district, that the assessment shall be “upon each of the lots respectively in proportion to the estimated benefits to be received by each of the several lots.”
Page & Jones, Taxation by Assessment, volume 1, section 555, says:
“The legislature may delegate to municipal corporations the power to determine what property within such municipal corporation is specially benefited by public improvement. The determination of the city, under statutes of this character, is said to be final and conclusive in the absence of fraud, or fraud or mistake, or unless such action on the part of the city is fraudulent or unreasonable, or unless the absence of benefit makes it manifest that the burden amounts to spoliation and not taxation.”
Because of the similarity of facts and the clearness of the statement therein, we quote at some length from the opinion of the court in Beckett v. Portland, 53 Or. 169, 171, 99 Pac. 659:
“No question is made as to the regularity of the proceedings of the municipality in establishing the sewer and making the. assessment therefor. The plaintiffs object to the validity of the assessment against their property, because:
(1) It is so situated it canuot be benefited by the sewer; and (2) that it is nonabutting property, and no laterals have been laid to it. By the charter of the city of Portland, the council is authorized and empowered, whenever it may deem that the public health, interest, or convenience may require, to order to be constructed and laid all sewers and drains, to levy and collect an assessment upon all lots and parcels of land specially benefited by such sewers, to defray the whole or any part of the cost and expense thereof, to determine the boundaries of the district benefited and to be assessed for such purpose, what lands are specially benefited thereby, and the amount to which each lot or parcel of land is 'benefited, and its action in creating such assessment district is made final and conclusive. Sections 389 and 390. Under such a charter the action of the council in establishing a sewer district, finding that the property situate therein will be specially benefited by the construction of the sewer, and ascertaining and determining the amount of such benefit and making an assessment therefor, is conclusive on the courts in a collateral attack, unless the act of the municipal body is so unreasonable, oppressive and subversive of the rights of the citizens as to indicate an abuse, rather than a legitimate exercise, of the power. Hamilton, Spec. Assess. 440; Gray, Limit. Tax. Power, secs. 418, 1888; 1 Abbott, Munic. Corp., p. 802; 25 Ency. Law, 1226; Paulson v. City of Portland, 16 Or. 450, 1 L. R. A. 673, 19 Pac. 450; Masters v. City of Portland, 24 Or. 161, 33 Pac. 540; People v. City of Brooklyn, 23 Barb. (N. Y.) 166; Heman v. Schulte, 166 Mo. 409, 66 S. W. 163; Boyce v. Tuhey, 163 Ind. 202, 70 N. E. 531. . . . The general rule is that, where a municipality has authority to establish assessment districts and assess the cost of constructing sewers on property therein, it is not essential to the validity of an assessment that the property shall abut upon the street or place where the sewer is laid. The question of benefits is .one of fact, and, if it be determined by the proper tribunal that the property is specially benefited by the construction of the sewer, an assessment is proper to the extent of such benefit, whether the property is abutting or contiguous to the improvement or not. 1 Gray, Limit. Tax. Power, sec. 1889; 1 Abbott, Munic. Corp., sec. 342; Title Trust Company v. City of Chicago, 162 Ill. 505, 44 N. E. 832; Mason v. City of Chicago, 178 Ill. 499, 53 N. E. 354.”
See, also, English v. Territory, 11 Ariz. 87, 89 Pac. 501.
But special assessments or special taxation of property benefited can be made only for a “local improvement.” Now, is tbe proposed main-trunk sewer and septic tank a local improvement as that phrase has been defined and understood % The paucity of facts in the agreed statement of the ease makes it somewhat difficult for us to determine whether the improvement specially benefits all of the real property of the city of Globe, or is confined to a particular locality thereof, or as to whether it is intended as a measure solely for the protection of the health of the city’s inhabitants. The resolution of intention recites:
“That said improvement was of general benefit to the whole city and its people, and was necessary to the construction, establishment and maintenance of a complete sewer system for said city, and was the base unit of such system, which system the mayor and council considered necessary to the health and welfare of the people of said city, and declared that the expense of said main should be assessed on all and every lot, piece or parcel of land in said city, and made the city a district for the assessment of such costs.”
This resolution carries the idea that the proposed improvement is “of general benefit to the whole city and its people” and “necessary to the health and welfare of the people of said city. ’ ’ There is an absence of a finding or assertion of special benefits to the real property of the city. The dominant idea suggested by the resolution is that a benefit will accrue to the whole city and its people by improved sanitary conditions, and the idea of special benefit to property is almost, if not entirely, shut out. Page & Jones, Taxation by Assessment, volume 2, section 654, says:
“Assessments cannot be levied for general benefits. Within the meaning of this rule, general benefits are those which the owner receives in common with the community at large. General benefits are enjoyed as a member of the community, and not as the owner of property which is specially benefited.”
The declaration of the city council that the improvement would be one of “general benefit” means that the benefit would be common to all the members of the community, and that all would share it alike. If that finding is true, and we cannot gainsay it, the improvement proposed is not local.
“A ‘local improvement’ has been defined to be a public improvement which, by reason of its being confined to a locality, enhances the value of adjacent property, as distinguished from benefits diffused by it throughout the municipality. City of Chicago v. Blair, 149 Ill. 310, 24 L. R. A. 412, 36 N. E. 829. This definition, which was intended to be explanatory of a ‘local improvement,’ has not . . . added very much to the words themselves. As was said in State v. Reis, 38 Minn. 371, 38 N. W. 97, the only essential elements of a local improvement are those which the term itself implies: viz., that it shall benefit the property on which the cost is assessed in a mannSr local in its nature, and not enjoyed by property, generally, in the city.” Waukegan v. De Wolf, 258 Ill. 374, Ann. Cas. 1914B, 538, 45 L. R. A. (N. S.) 918, 101 N. E. 532; Loeffler v. Chicago, 246 Ill. 43, 20 Ann. Cas. 335, and note, 339, 92 N. E. 586.
The proposed improvement by the city of Globe does not fall within these definitions, and is not the kind of an improvement that can be made by special assessment.
The judgment of the court is affirmed.
FRANKLIN, J., concurs.
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CUNNINGHAM, J.
This is an appeal by the plaintiffs from the judgment involved in the case of Mary M. Costello, as Executrix, etc., Appellant, v. Mary Aileen Cunningham and Patricia Julia Cunningham, Minors, by and through Their Guardian, Emil Marks, Appellees, numbered 1382, just decided, ante, p. 447, 147 Pac. 701. For the statement of the facts we refer to the statement and opinion rendered in that cause.
These appellants made no motion for a new trial, and they therefore waived all questions triable upon a hearing of such motion. As we have ordered the judgment vacated at the instance of the appellee and instructed the granting of a new trial, a further consideration of the record is unnecessary, but in view of a new trial, we deem it advisable to consider appellant’s first assignment of error and discuss the questions thereby raised, to a limited extent. Said assignment is as follows:
“The court erred in adjudging that plaintiffs could not recover upon the assigned interest of Julia Cunningham, because it was found by both the jury and the court that Costello at no time repudiated the interest of the heirs of Cunningham, or any of them, in the mining claims mentioned in the complaint or in the proceeds of the sales thereof. ’ ’
In the case of the appeal of the defendant we have held that the proceeds of the sale of the Wagner group of six mines, in Costello’s ®hands, were as. to the Cunningham claims, personal property; that the title to such interest vested upon the death of Cunningham in the administratrix of the estate of Cunningham, and was satisfied by the payment by Costello to Julia Cunningham as the representative of that estate, and the settlement and satisfaction was approved and confirmed by the probate court. By her deed of release, settlement and compromise, made in her individual capacity, Julia Cunningham released all her interest and claim in and to the said funds. She is estopped by her deed to claim anything further of said fund. The rights she claims in an undivided interest of the other 11 mines, or any of them, accrued to her upon the death of Patrick Cunningham, if at all.
Cunningham died on July 1, 1899. Upon that date Julia Cunningham’s rights, as the surviving widow, accrued to her. These rights, if any existed, arose in two ways: one was an undivided one-half interest of the estate, legal or equitable, acquired by Cunningham in the mines during the coverture, and owned at the time of his death (this was her community property right in the property); the other, was her rights in the separate property of Patrick Cunningham, owned by him prior to their marriage, and was a life estate in an undivided one-third of the mines so owned by him. Patrick and Julia Cunningham married on November 21, 1894.
James Reilly, Martin Costello and Julia Cunningham were the only witnesses to the important facts bearing upon and limiting Julia Cunningham’s rights in the properties held by Martin Costello at the time her rights accrued and became enforceable. Th.e evidence is without conflict that she took no steps to enforce her rights until after the death of James Reilly. He died on the 8th day of June, 1909. The first steps were taken just prior to the death , of Costello, who died on the 15th day of' September, 1911. Julia. Cunningham executed her transfer and deed of assignment of her rights to the plaintiffs under date of February 24, 1912. Thereafter this action was commenced. About 10 years elapsed from the date of Patrick Cunningham’s death, and therefore the rights of Julia Cunningham became vested before Reilly died. Two more years passed, and Martin Costello died. Another year passed before Julia Cunningham conveyed her claim to these plaintiffs. At the time this claim was transferred about 13 years had gone by, and during all that time J’iilia Cunningham made no attempts to establish and enforce her claim, other than to employ an attorney shortly before September 15, 1911. Her claim, if she had any, was in the real estate until Costello converted the real estate into money, and then, if she ratified the conversion, her claim was against the money. She knew Costello had been paid all the money during the year 1911, at the time when she saw Costello at Tucson and when she demanded that he pay her. This he refused to do. Nearly a year later she made the transfer. She had known since 1906, when the deeds were recorded, that the mines had been sold, to whom, and the amount of consideration received. Reilly was alive then, and died about three years later, but she made no effort to enforce her rights. Costello lived two years after Reilly died, and five years after the last of the mines were sold and the deeds recorded. Julia Cunningham contends that she was lulled into resting her claim by the false and fraudulent statements and promises of Costello, to the effect that Patrick Cunningham was not a citizen, the titles were bad, and that she and her children would eventually get all that was coming to them, and that to let these facts be known would result in a loss of the property.
Mr. Pomeroy, section 21, volume 5, Equity Jurisprudence, volume 1, Equitable Remedies, .says:
“The true doctrine concerning laches has never been more concisely and accurately stated than in the following language of an able living judge: ‘Laches, in legal significance, is not mere delay, but delay that works a disadvantage to another. So long as parties are in the same condition, it matters little whether one presses a right promptly or slowly, within limits allowed by law; but when, knowing his rights, he takes no steps to enforce them until the condition of the other party has, in good faith, become so changed that he cannot be restored to his former state, if the right be then enforced, delay becomes inequitable, and operates as estoppel against the assertion of the right. The disadvantage may come from loss of evidence, change of title, intervention of equities, and other causes; but when a court sees negligence on one side and injury therefrom on the other, it is a ground for denial of relief.’ The following definition has probably been more often relied on by recent cases than any other proceeding from an English judge: ‘The doctrine of laches in courts of equity is not an arbitrary or technical doctrine. When it would be practically unjust to give a remedy, either because the party has, by his conduct, done that which might fairly be regarded as equivalent to a waiver of it, or when, by his conduct and neglect, he has, perhaps, not waiving that remedy, yet put the other party in a situation in which it would not be reasonable to place him if the remedy were afterward to be asserted in either of these cases, lapse of time is most material.’ The language of an able western court in a very recent case (Wilson v. Wilson, 41 Or. 459, 69 Pac. 923.) describes the general doctrine with notable accuracy: ‘ Several conditions may combine to render a claim or demand stale in equity. If by the laches and delay of the complainant it has become doubtful whether adverse parties can command the evidence necessary to a fair presentation of the ease on their part, or if it appears that they have been deprived of any such advantages they might have had if the claim had been seasonably insisted upon, or before it became antiquated, or if they be subjected to any hardship that might have been avoided by reasonably prompt proceedings, a court of equity will not interfere to give relief, but will remain passive; and this although the full time may not have elapsed which would be required to bar a remedy at law. If, however, upon the other hand, it clearly appears that lapse of time has not in fact changed the conditions and relative positions of the parties, and that they' are not materially impaired, and there are peculiar circumstances entitled to consideration as excusing“>the delay, the court will not deny the appropriate relief, although a strict and unqualified application of the rule of limitations would seem to require it. Every case is governed chiefly by its own circumstances.’ ”
16 Cyc. 163, 164, says:
“Where a suitor before proceeding permits such a lapse of time that the evidence has become obscured or lost, relief will be denied because of the difficulty of doing justice. While the rule requires for its support no element of estoppel, but is founded on public policy, the fact that the delay has tended -to defeat defendant’s power to prove his right is an additional reason for its application. . . . The loss or obscuration of evidence will be presumed from a considerable lapse of time. A specific application of the general rule just stated is in the refusal of the courts to afford relief to one who has lain idly by until the important witnesses to the transactions involved have died. Of course the result is the same where the testimony so lost is that of participants in the transaction, who would be parties to the suit had they lived; but where such parties die there are usually difficulties presented in procuring evidence and conducting the case, other than those arising from the loss of their own testimony, and relief is denied for that reason. ’ ’
The excuses for the delay offered by Julia Cunningham are the false and fraudulent statements and promises made by Costello, inducing her to execute and deliver the deeds of release. The statements relied upon were concerning the citizenship of Patrick Cunningham. She knew they were false when made but did not know their effect. Not knowing the effect, she concealed her claim from her attorney. The promises relied upon are shown to have not been kept. They are not shown to have been false promises. They could be fraudulent in effect by inducing Julia Cunningham to rely upon them to her disadvantage. Why she concealed the promises from her attorney does not appear. The effect of the excuses is ignorance of the law governing her rights. No sufficient excuse clearly appears from the record justifying the delay, and we cannot say, as a court of equity, that the trial court erred in rejecting the claim of Julia Cunningham. The action of the lower court is therefore affirmed in this particular.
The judgment has been vacated, and cause remanded, under our order entered in case No. 1382. No further order is necessary. -
ROSS, C. J., and FRANKLIN, J., concur.
|
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ROSS, C. J.
Appellant in his representative capacity instituted this action against appellees upon their past-due promissory note by filing complaint in the superior court of, Mohave county. The four years’ statute of limitation was pleaded by appellees. The facts as disclosed by the pleadings are: Note was dated May 22, 1908, and become due in six months or November 22, 1908. The complaint was filed October 19, 1912, or 33 days before the expiration of four years from date note became due. No summons was issued in the case until June 4, 1913.. Tried without a jury, resulting in judgment for appellees, the court sustaining the plea of the statute of limitation.
As we understand it, the trial court held that the delay of some seven months in the issuance and service of summons was fatal to the appellant’s cause of action and it was for that reason that he sustained the plea of limitation.
The question involved requires the construction of three sections of our statutes, as follows:
“390. All civil suits in courts of record shall be commenced by complaint filed in the office of the clerk of such court. ’ ’
“434. When the complaint shall be filed with the clerk, and the other regulations prescribed by law shall be complied with, the clerk shall forthwith indorse on the complaint, the day and month and year that it is filed, and at any time within one year thereafter the plaintiff may have a summons issued. ...”
“714. Actions for debt where the indebtedness is evidenced by or founded upon any contract in writing, executed within this state, shall be commenced and prosecuted within four years after the cause of action shall have accrued and not afterward.” Civ. Code 1913.
Sections 390 and 714 were taken from Texas, but Texas has no statute corresponding with section 434, nor have we been able to find any state law like ours; that is, where the three sections appear as they do in our statute. The Texas statute, with reference to the time of issuing the summons, is as follows:
Article 1212, Sayles’ Texas Civil Statutes: “When a petition shall be filed with the clerk and the other regulations hereinafter prescribed shall be complied with, it shall be his duty to issue forthwith a writ of citation for the defendant. ’ ’
The question, therefore, must be decided without the aid of precedents, as one of first impression, and upon general principles of law.
As is said in 25 Cye. 1292:
“The general rule, except where it has been otherwise provided by statute, is that the action is commenced so as to stop the running of the statute of limitations, from the time the summons or other process is issued.”
This general rule is modified by section 390, supra, so as to make the commencement of the action the filing of the complaint, which is also sufficient to stop the running of the statute. But the Texas courts, in construing the phrase “shall be commenced and prosecuted,” have uniformly, so far as we are able to discover, held that it was incumbent on the plaintiff not only to file his complaint before the bar has run against his cause of action, but he must in good faith cause summons to issue and be served within a reasonable time, and that a request from him to the clerk not to issue summons or any other delay in the issuance of summons or its service, occasioned by his conduct or neglect, will not prevent the statute from running even though complaint was filed in time. Ricker v. Shoemaker, 81 Tex. 22, 16 S. W. 645; Bates v. Smith, 80 Tex. 242, 16 S. W. 47; Gulf etc. Co. v. Matt (Tex. Civ. App.), 36 S. W. 1029; Wood v. Gulf etc. Co., 15 Tex. Civ. App. 322, 40 S. W. 24; Wigg v. Dooley, 28 Tex. Civ. App. 61, 66 S. W. 306.
The Texas courts have not held it imperative that summons should issue before the period of limitation has expired. The extent of their holdings in passing upon the phrase, “shall be commenced and prosecuted within . . . and not afterward,” has been that complaint shall be filed before the cause of action is barred and that thereafter diligence and good faith must be exercised in its prosecution. That, also, was in effect, the holding of this court in Bennett v. Ellison, ante, p. 196, 141 Pac. 738. The phrase does not mean, according to the Texas view, that the action shall be “prosecuted” to judgment within, and not after, the time stated, nor is a failure to have summons issued and placed with the proper officer for service fatal to the cause of action; diligence and good faith in that respect being shown. The “reasonable time” after the commencement of suit, when diligence and good faith appear, in which to prosecute it, as given by construction of the statute by the courts of Texas, is fixed by the legislature of this state in section 434, supra, in which it is provided, “and at any time within one year thereafter (after filing of complaint) the plaintiff may have a summons issued, ’ ’ materially different from a direction to forthwith issue the summons.
The statute, as we see it, fixes the time for prosecuting the suit, after it is commenced, as one year by providing that a summons may be issued within that time. In the absence of such a statute, the reasoning of the Texas rule would be applicable, and diligence and good faith would become a question of fact in all cases wherein there was delay in issuing or serving the summons after the expiration of the statute of limitation. The presence of the statute definitely fixes the time as one year after the commencement thereof by filing complaint, as the time within which it must be “prosecuted” by issuing summons. The provisions of section 434, supra, are general and apply to all civil actions alike. It affects and bears upon .the procedure. Section 714 is a statute of limitation. It does not destroy the cause of action, but the remedy. The cause of action would exist after the remedy was lost. Provident Mut. etc. Assn. v. Schwertner, 15 Ariz. 517, 140 Pac. 495.
But in this case the remedy was preserved by filing complaint before the bar had run. The appellant was in court with a good cause of action and a lawful remedy the instant he filed his complaint. When would he lose that remedy? When he failed to follow it up with the diligence prescribed by law. The further steps in the prosecution of that remedy are provided by statute. It is not required that the summons issue forthwith, but at any time within one year after the filing of the complaint.
The rule of construction is that:
“The intent prevails over the letter, and the letter will, if possible, be so read as to conform to the spirit of the act. While the intention of the legislature must be ascertained from the words used to express it, the manifest reason and the obvious purpose of the law should not be sacrificed to a literal interpretation of such word. Words or clauses may be enlarged and restricted to effectuate the intention or to harmonize them with other expressed provisions. The particular inquiry is not what is the abstract force of the words or what they may comprehend, but in what sense they were intended to be used as they are found in the act.” 2 Lewis’ Suth. Stat. Const., sec. 376.
A corollary to this rule is another that different statutes bearing upon the same subject matter should.be so construed, if possible, as to give effect to all. Bearing these rules in mind, the rights of the debtor to interpose the statute of limitation is preserved as against claims not sued on before the period of limitation has run, and the rights of the creditor are maintained if he does sue within that time. And while such a construction may restrict the meaning of the word “prosecute” as it appears in section 714, we think it effectuates the intention of the legislature and harmonizes it with the expressed provisions of section 434.
It appearing that the complaint in this case was filed in the proper court before the cause of action was barred by the statute of limitation and thereafter and within one year the summons was issued and served, we are of opinion that the action was “commenced and prosecuted” as provided by law.
Judgment is reversed and cause remanded, with directions that judgment be entered for appellant.
FRANKLIN and CUNNINGHAM, JJ., concur.
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CUNNINGHAM, J.
The appellant contends in argument that under the law and the evidence the appellant should have been awarded the guardianship of the child, for two reasons: First, because the evidence tends to show that the father, Howard F. Dillman, expressed a willingness that the mother should have the child before he filed his petition; and that he ought not to have been permitted to file his petition after the issues raised on the first petition had been submitted. The appellant’s assignment of errors are: (1) that the court erred in denying appellant’s motion for a rehearing. The assignment evidently refers to the motion for a new trial. The grounds set forth in the motion are practically the same as the remaining alleged errors assigned, viz.: (2) The court erred in refusing to appoint the appellant as the guardian of the minor,- (3) that the court erred in appointing Howard F. Dillman as the guardian of said minor; (4) the court erred in permitting the said Howard F. Dillman to file his petition after the case was closed and submitted. These assignments can have but one meaning; that is, that the court erred in making the selection of a guardian for the minor' child by selecting and appointing Howard F. Dillman, for the reason Dillman had not filed a petition praying such appointment in time to be heard with the appellant’s petition.
‘ ‘ The superior court of each county, when it appears necessary or convenient, may appoint guardians for the persons and estates, or either of them, of minors who have no guardians legally appointed by will or deed, and who are inhabitants or residents of the county. . . . Such appointment may be made on the petition of a relative or other person on behalf of the minor. ...” Paragraph 1106, Civ. Code 1913.
The mother’s petition, when filed, was sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the court to exercise the power of selecting and appointing a guardian for the child under this statute. No further petition for that purpose is necessary to empower the court to act in such matter. The petition filed by the mother prays that she be appointed the guardian. The petition of the grandmother, filed later, prays that she be appointed guardian. When the evidence was heard, no other petitions were filed. No petition then on file prayed for the appointment of Howard Fay Dillman as guardian of the child. His petition praying for his appointment was filed after the evidence was closed on the hearing of the former petitions. The question is: Was a prayer requesting the appointment of a certain person necessary to authorize the court to select and appoint? Paragraph 1122, Civil Code of 1913, lays down the rule that must be followed by the court in such case as follows:
“In awarding the custody of a minor, or in appointing a general guardian, the court is to be guided by the following considerations: (1) By what appears to be for the best interest of the child in respect to its temporal and its mental and moral welfare; and if the child be of sufficient age to form an intelligent preference, the court may consider that preference in determining the question. (2) As between parents adversely claiming the custody or guardianship, neither parent is entitled to it as of right; but, other things being equal, if the child be of tender years, it should be given to the mother; if it be of an age to require education and preparation for labor or business, then to the father. (3) J Í
The vital question for determination is the best interests of the child—the child’s welfare. In selecting and appointing a guardian, one which, when appointed, will, in the judgment of the court, best promote the child’s welfare, the court is not limited in such selection of a guardian to the suggestions found in the pleadings. The person appointed must, of course, in some manner make known to the court that he or she will accept the trust, but that fact may be made known after the appointment with equal force as if made known before the order is entered. When the court has selected and appointed a general guardian for a minor child having no guardian appointed by will or by deed, and the guardian so selected and appointed appears to be one of the parents of the child, and such appointment was made upon the hearing of a-petition of a relative of the child filed for that purpose, the irresistible presumption arises therefrom that the court determined from the evidence that the best interests of the child would, in its judgment, be promoted by the appointment of the particular person named.
Such determination is a determination of a fact from the evidence considered. An appellate court will not disturb an order based upon a determination of a fact from evidence, if any substantial evidence appears in the record which fairly tends to support the conclusion reached by the trial court. Ample evidence sustaining this determination reached appears in this record. '
The order is affirmed.
FRANKLIN, C. J., and ROSS, J., concur.
NOTE.—On the parent’s right to appointment as guardian, see note in 33 L. E. A. (N. S.) 869.
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FRANKLIN, C. J.
On the eighteenth day of August, 1905, at Navajo county, Arizona, the defendant and appellant made and delivered to the plaintiff and appellee his promissory note for the sum of $1,000, payable one year from date, with annual interest at ten per cent, and secured the same by mortgage on certain lots in the town of Holbrook, Arizona. The debt not having been paid, this action to foreclose the mortgage was begun on the fourteenth day of December, 1910.
The case was tried to the court without a jury, and the court, having made and filed its findings of fact and conclusions of law, rendered judgment for the plaintiff, with a foreclosure of the mortgage.
The defendant interposed the statute of limitations both by demurrer and as an affirmative defense in the answer; the plea of the statute of limitations being based on the provisions of paragraph 2954 of the Revised Statutes of Arizona, providing that actions for debt, where the indebtedness is evidenced by or founded upon any contract in writing, executed within this territory, shall be commenced and prosecuted within four years after the cause of action shall have accrued, and not afterward. The indebtedness is not denied.
By way of reply and in avoidance of the bar of the statute, as being an acknowledgment of the justness of the claim in suit, the plaintiff pleaded in haec verba a writing signed by defendant, and dated February 13, 1909. The plaintiff further alleged that at divers and sundry times and places after said debt became due defendant acknowledged the justness of plaintiff’s claim in writing signed by defendant. It was not sought to make this allegation more definite and certain in particulars, nor was the plaintiff’s said reply otherwise assailed.
The appellant has, with much care and evidence of research elaborated in his brief in what manner and at what time and under what circumstances a relief from the bar of the statute of limitations should be pleaded, involving, as it does, the character and kind of acknowledgment, whether made before or after the bar is complete, and whether general or conditional.
In fine, whether the action is properly upon the original obligation as continuing by reason of the acknowledgment, or is properly upon the substituted promise. But, upon the record made by the appellant in the lower court, and as here presented, we think he is not in a position to urge such matters for our consideration.
As we consider the question of the statute of limitations decisive of this appeal, we must confine ourselves to this question of the statute of limitations as presented by the record. The transcript of the reporter’s notes is short. We quote the material part:
• “The Court: Let the record show this case is called for trial at this time.'
“Mr. Barth: By agreement of counsel, we are going to introduce into evidence the original note, the original mortgage, and the letter which is on file, and, in addition thereto, a letter written on the 31st.
“The Court: All admitted, and same to be marked, ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C.’
“Mr. Barth: That will be all of the plaintiff’s case.
“Mr. Barth introduces another letter to which Mr. Larson objects, asking that it be held for identification pending Mr. Wooster’s arrival.
“Argument by Mr. Larson.
“The Court: This case is for trial at this time upon the complaint, second amended answer, and reply, joined upon these issues.
“Mr. Larson: I think I will agree that that letter may go in as evidence in order to save time. I should prefer to have Mr. Wooster examine it, but I will agree to have it admitted.
“The Court: Letter will be admitted and marked ‘D.r
“Mr. Barth: That is our case.
“The Court: Let the record show that plaintiff rests.
“Defendant offers no evidence.
“Mr. Larson: Then we submit the case to the court.”
From the evidence the court, among others, made this finding: “The said note would have become barred by the statute of limitations on the eighteenth day of August, 1910, and that during the year 1909, and prior to the said eighteenth day of August, 1910, the defendant, in a writing and in writings signed by the said defendant, duly acknowledged the justness of the claim of the said plaintiff, upon which this action is based. ’ ’
It will be noticed from the foregoing that, in addition to the note and mortgage, three letters were introduced in evidence and marked as exhibits. The introduction of these letters was not objected to, but the letters were received in evidence by the express agreement of the defendant. Pursuant to paragraph 1256, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1913, the appellant filed a notice with the clerk of the superior court specifying the papers or portions of the record which he desired necessary to present the question involved on such appeal. There were three letters introduced and marked as exhibits in the case, but appellant’s notice specified only one, to wit, Letter of Will Wooster to William Scorse, dated January 31, 1910, and this letter is the only one presented in the record. This letter reads as follows:
“Holbrook, Arizona, Jan. 31, 1910.
“Wm. Scorse, Taylor, Ariz.
“Dear Sir: Answering yours 5th, I want to see you and have an understanding with you about an extension of time.
I am not going to make a partial payment and then have you foreclose the mortgage for the balance.
“Yours truly,
“WILL WOOSTER.”
Whether the foregoing letter in itself is a sufficient acknowledgment of the justness of the claim so as to avoid the bar of the statute it is not necessary to determine. Even if it is not, either of the other writings introduced may have been amply sufficient to sustain the finding of the court that prior to the eighteenth day of August, 1910, the defendant, in a writing and in writings signed by the said defendant, duly .acknowledged the justness of the claim of the said plaintiff, upon which this action is based.
All of the evidence not being in the record, we must presume that it was sufficient to sustain the finding. A writing was set out in plaintiff’s reply, but from the record presented we have no means of knowing whether it is one of the writings introduced in evidence. It is not otherwise identified than as being on file, and is not incorporated in the record. The three letters were received in evidence by agreement, and whether any one of the letters was the same as the one set out in the pleading the record fails to advise us.
“Not having all the evidence before us, the presumption is that the evidence presented to the lower court was sufficient to sustain the findings of the court.” Williams v. Jones, 10 Ariz. 72, 85 Pac. 400. See, also, Daniel v. Gallagher, 11 Ariz. 151, 89 Pac. 412; Title Guaranty etc. Co. v. Nichols, 12 Ariz. 405, 100 Pac. 825; Phoenix Ry. Co. v. Landis, 13 Ariz. 80, 108 Pac. 247; Sanford v. Ainsa, 13 Ariz. 287, 114 Pac. 560; Holmes v. Bennett, 14 Ariz. 298, 127 Pac. 753.
True, the question in this case—whether the writings in evidence were sufficient to remove the bar of the statute of limitations—is one of law for the court, but, as a basis for determining this question of law, there must, of necessity, be evidence submitted showing what such writings contain. There were three such writings, and but one is identified and incorporated in the record.
“The statute does not prescribe any form in which the acknowledgment or promise shall be made. Whether these writings constitute a sufficient ‘acknowledgment or promise’ is therefore a question of law. The imperative thing is that it shall be ‘contained in some writing, signed by the party to be charged thereby.’ The expression ‘contained in some writing ’ clearly indicates that- it is not essential that the acknowledgment or promise should be formal, such as that ‘I hereby acknowledge,’ or ‘hereby promise.’ It is sufficient if it shows that the writer regards or treats the indebtedness as subsisting. ...” Concannon v. Smith, 134 Cal. 20, 66 Pac. 42; Senninger v. Rowley, 138 Iowa, 617, 18 L. R. A. (N. S.) 223, 116 N. W. 695; Dern v. Olsen, 18 Idaho, 358, Ann. Cas. 1912A, 1, 110 Pac. 164.
The statute of limitations furnishes a defense as meritorious as any other. However, as well observed in the case of Senninger v. Rowley, supra: “The defense of the statute of limitations is not to be condemned in any case to which it is clearly and fairly applicable, but a court should not and will not go out of its way to give its benefit to a man who seeks to take "advantage of the leniency of his creditor to defeat the collection of a just debt which he admits has never been paid.”
Upon the record in this ease, the judgment must be affirmed, and it is so ordered.
CUNNINGHAM and ROSS, JJ., concur.
Application for rehearing denied.
|
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ROSS, C. J.
Appellant assigns numerous errors, but as the question involved is fundamental, we will disregard all complaints except the one which is embodied in this question: Was the license granted irrevocable by reason .of the improvements and expenditures made and laid out by the appellee in the construction of the ditch?
The question is one of first impression in this jurisdiction. Looking to the decisions of other courts, we find there is a lack of uniformity of agreement, it being held on the one hand that an executed parol license involving the expenditure of time and money, under certain circumstances, will ripen into an easement and others holding that an interest in land such as an easement can only be acquired by deed or by prescription. The latter rule preserves in full force and effect the statute of frauds, but sometimes its strict enforcement, instead of preventing fraud, would be the efficient instrument of working a fraud, in which case and to - avoid such a result the courts have oftentimes invoked equitable estoppel. A slight excursion into the evidence in this ease convinces us that equitable estoppel should not apply. In the first place, the appellee’s complaint shows that the license given him was only temporary—as we read it—and he must have so understood it. The allegation, “that the plaintiff should have a permanent right of way, until the Reclamation Service should provide other means for conducting irrigation water to said land of plaintiff,” is contradictory, in that it could not be “permanent” unless the limitation of time therein implied is without meaning. The evidence is to the effect that the Reclamation Service had, at the time of granting the license to appellee by appellant, already surveyed a ditch along its right of way to provide appellee water for irrigating his land. The construction of this contemplated ditch in 30 days, in six months, in one year, according to his allegations, would have automatically terminated his license. It was not, by the very terms of his license, as given by himself, in the contemplation of either of the parties that he should have a permanent right of way. Its determination was dependent upon the happening of a stipulated event, upon the action of an agency over which, so far as the record is concerned, neither party had any control. It can only be inferred from the record that the Reclamation Service might, at some time in the future, immediate or distant, as its own convenience, whim or ability should dictate, conclude to construct a ditch for appellee’s land. It is not shown to be under any obligation, legal 'or otherwise, to connect appellee’s land with the source of his water supply. Should the Reclamation Service refuse or fail to provide appellee with a ditch, he would, under the decree of the court, have a permanent easement over appellant’s land against his expectation, and certainly by virtue of no agreement to that effect by appellant. Viewed from any aspect, appellee was given only a temporary use of a right of way over appellant’s land, and, that being true, any outlay made by him in improvements was at his peril. 2 Kinney on Irrigation andWater Rights, section 982, says:
“A temporary right of way over the lands of others for ditches and canals may also be acquired by permission of the land owners, without any consideration and with no definite limitation as to time, in which case the right is a mere license, which may be revoked at any time. Where the privilege granted is simply permissive, it may be revoked at any time, though money has been expended thereon by the licensee. Such a licensee is conclusively presumed, as a matter of law, to know that a license is revocable at the pleasure of the licensor; and, if he expends money in connection with his entry upon the land of the latter, he does so at his peril. Such a license creates no interest in land.”
The privilege or license pleaded by appellee has “no definite limitation as to time,” but, on the contrary, it appears very indefinite, depending on the action of a third party over whom neither appellee nor appellant had any control so far as we are advised.
We would have it understood that we do not disapprove, but rather approve, that large line of cases holding that an easement may be acquired under a verbal license where the licensee has taken possession and at considerable expense and trouble made permanent improvements with assurances, either express or implied, from the licensor of a continuous license. In such cases, it will be found that the conditions and circumstances under which the license was granted invariably were of a character to lead the licensee to make his improvements believing that his occupancy was to be a continuous one, and not pending the will of the land owner or any third party. One of the leading cases of this kind is Maple Orchard Grove & Vineyard Co. v. Marshall, 27 Utah, 215, 75 Pac. 369, cited by appellee. The court said:
‘ ‘ In such case the license to construct a particular thing on the licensor’s land, and to enjoy the same without limit as to time, followed by the expenditure of money on the faith of it, will, when, as here, fully executed, be regarded and treated in equity as a binding contract, and is then irrevocable.” (Italics ours.)
Another ease cited by appellee is Stoner v. Zucker, 148 Cal. 516, 113 Am. St. Rep. 301, 7 Ann. Cas. 704, 83 Pac. 808, in which the court held the license irrevocable, saying that “from the very nature of the license given, it was to be continuous in use.” Another ease relied upon by appellee is Shaw v. Proffitt, 57 Or. 192, Ann. Cas. 1913A, 63, 109 Pac. 584, 110 Pac. 1092. In this case it appears that the licensee acted upon the following letter from the licensor:
“I have just . . . found your letter of the 19th inst., asking for right of way through my land. . . . Would say, go ahead, the more ditches you build the better it will suit me. ’ ’
Pursuant to this license a ditch was constructed over the licensor’s land at an expense of $6,000 or $7,000. The court said: “A permanent way appears to have been the intention of the parties, and such intention must control. ’ ’ This court quotes with approval from Metcalf v. Hart, 3 Wyo. 513, 551, 31 Am. St. Rep. 122, 27 Pac. 900, 914, as follows:
“Each case stands upon its own circumstances. . . . When we have traveled through the mass of decisions, cloudy and conflicting at times, and have arrived at the principle that equity will relieve where there is fraud, actual or constructive, we have arrived at a principle in regard to which there is no conflict. And courts of equity . . . are very generally agreed that the revocation of a parol license to permmiently occupy and improve realty after any considerable expense has been incurred on the faith of such license, under circumstances such that the parties cannot be placed in statu quo, is either actual or constructive fraud.” (Italics ours.)
In the license pleaded in the instant case, the intention was not a permanent, continuous occupancy, but a temporary makeshift, and the appellee did not acquire an easement in the land of appellant.
The evidence is conflicting as to the terms of the license, the appellant testifying that it was limited to October, 1911, in which he was corroborated by at least one other witness, a tenant of the land to be irrigated from the ditch in question. Before decreeing a licensee an interest in the realty of the licensor on the ground of estoppel, upon a verbal license, in derogation of the statute of frauds, the evidence should be clear and convincing that it was the intention of the owner of the servient estate to grant a permanent right of way, and that the licensee had a right to proceed in the making of his improvements upon that theory.
The judgment is reversed, with directions that the complaint he dismissed.
FRANKLIN and CUNNINGHAM, JJ., concur.
Application for rehearing denied.
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FRANKLIN, J.
The defendant in this action is a resident of the state of Ohio. He was served by registered mail, and also had actual notice by being served personally in that state with a copy of the summons and complaint herein. The defendant appeared specially under the statute for the purpose of objecting to the jurisdiction. The ground of objection being that in this kind of action the court could acquire no jurisdiction of the person of defendant by this mode of service, such service not being due process of law, within the meaning of the Constitution of Arizona and the Constitution of the United States. The court sustained the objection, and the appeal is prosecuted from the order.
Criticism is made of the allegations of the complaint, which, is in two counts, and the prayer for relief. But for the purpose of determining the question of jurisdiction presented, we will consider the complaint as presenting what we believe it was intended to present; that is, the ownership of certain shares of stock in a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Arizona, the corporation having its principal place for the transaction of business at Bisbee, Arizona, and certificates representing said stock being held by the defendant. The court should, we think, look to the substance rather than' to the form of actions, or to the manner in which plaintiff may have characterized it, and not, as under the common-law procedure, pay strict regard to the technical distinction between different forms of action. 1 Corpus Juris, Actions sec. 133. It is clear that in substance the object of the complaint seeks to establish the ownership of the plaintiff in the stock described. It is premature to consider now the sufficiency of the complaint to state a cause of action, or the difficulties which may beset the plaintiff in the progress of the cause, should she be successful in the present action.
There is but one question, then, to be determined: Is the court enabled to obtain jurisdiction in this action to decide the ownership of the stock by constructive service of process upon the nonresident defendant ? The mere fact that a party-asks a greater measure of relief than can be given without personal service does not deprive the court of jurisdiction to-grant such relief as is proper under constructive notice. Very often, especially in equity suits, parties ask for more relief than they are entitled to, but it would be a peculiar doctrine to hold that the mere asking for too much relief would be an obstacle to rendering a decree to which the plaintiff is entitled. It is only necessary to determine whether, upon such service, the court can grant any relief at all. Smith v. Smith, 123 Minn. 431, 52 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1061, 144 N. W. 138; Reeves v. Pierce, 64 Kan. 502, 67 Pac. 1108; Porter Land etc. v. Baskin (C. C.), 43 Fed. 323.
The laws of Arizona provide for constructive service of process. Paragraphs 447 to 451 of the Revised Statutes of Arizona 1913 provide, without any qualification whatever, that, when- any party to a suit shall make affidavit that the defendant is a nonresident of the state, service of the sum mons, if the residence of the defendant be known to affiant, may be made by publication in a newspaper, and depositing in the postoffiee a copy of the summons and complaint, addressed to such defendant at his residence. The personal service of a copy of the summons and complaint upon such defendant out of the state shall be equivalent to such publication and deposit in the postoffice. It also provides for such service by registered mail. Either of the methods pursued will be effective as constructive notice.
While the statute quoted is general and may in terms apply to all actions, it is not invalid when applied to a suit partaking of the nature of an action in rem. Arndt v. Griggs, 134 U. S. 316, 33 L. Ed. 918, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 557; Roller v. Holly, 176 U. S. 398, 44 L. Ed. 520, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 410; Perkins v. Wakeman, 86 Cal. 580, 21 Am. St. Rep. 67, 25 Pac. 51; Silver Camp M. Co. v. Dickert, 31 Mont. 488, 3 Ann. Cas. 1000, 67 L. R. A. 940, 78 Pac. 967.
Of course, upon constructive service of summons, no judgment against defendant personally may be given; that is, to determine merely the personal rights and obligations of the defendant. Nor can the court require the defendant to do some specific act, such as was the effect of the judgment in Hart v. Sansom, 110 U. S. 151, 28 L. Ed. 101, 3 Sup. Ct. Rep. 586. In that case the judgment against a nonresident was based on service only by publication in a newspaper. Such judgment rendered on service by publication against the nonresident defendant was held to be beyond the jurisdiction, since it was in the ordinary form of a decree for the removal by the nonresident defendant of a cloud upon the plaintiff’s title. Where the suit is brought against a nonresident by constructive service, it must partake of the nature of an action in rem, or jurisdiction will not be acquired to render a valid judgment: In fine, if the suit is merely in personam, constructive service upon a nonresident is ineffectual. Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, 24 L. Ed. 565.
Regarding the plaintiff’s suit in this aspect—that it is one brought for the purpose of establishing her interest in certain shares of stock in an Arizona corporation—we shall first get some general idea of the nature and characteristics of this peculiar species of property. We shall then ascertain, if possible, whether or not the analogies of decided eases and the principle of law actuating the decision may serve as our guide in determining the plaintiff’s right to maintain this action to judgment upon the mode of service adopted. In short, we shall strive to obtain by the process of abstraction and induction some conception of the ratio decidendi or principle to be extracted from the judicial decisions bearing upon this interesting problem.
The distinction between shares of stock and a certificate for the stock, which is its muniment of title or mere evidence and symbol of it, must be preserved, as also the nature of this proceeding, else somewhat of the matter may be obscure. “A certificate of stock,” Mr. Cook says, “is from one point of view a mere muniment of title, like a title deed. It is not the stock itself, but evidence of the ownership of the stock; that is to say, it is a written acknowledgment by the corporation of the interest of the stockholder in the corporate property and franchises. It operates to transfer nothing from the corporation to the stockholder, but merely affords to the latter evidence of his rights. It should be clearly understood that the certificate is not the stock, but merely written evidence of the ownership of stock. ... ”1 Cook, Corporations, 8th ed., sec. 13. “Stock is one thing and certificates another. The former is the substance, and the latter is the evidence of it.” Hawley v. Brumagin, 33 Cal. 394. See, also, 2 Clark & Marshall, Private Corporations, pp. 1160, 1161; Morawetz on Private Corporations, secs. 173, 226; Machen, Modern Law of Corporations, sec. 867; Jellenik v. Huron Copper Min. Co., 177 U. S. 1, 44 L. Ed. 647, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 559.
Certificates for stock are, of course, tangible property, and, owing to the facility with which the shares may be transferred by indorsement upon the certificate, they have become the basis of commercial transactions in all the large cities of the country. While not negotiable instruments, they are considered as having many, if not all, the elements of negotiability, or, as so often expressed, a quasi negotiability. “It may be said in general that, by the operation of the law of estoppel, the purchaser of a certificate of stock, in good faith and for value, may take it free from many claims of previous holders which would be allowed to come in, in the case of the sale of an ordinary chose in action.” 1 Cook, Corporations, see. 13. Inter partes, a transfer, however disconnected from the certificate, would have the same effect as if indorsed upon it. Indeed, in England the transfer of shares is usually separate and distinct from the share certificate. But the practice in America, having origin in convenience merely, of transferring shares by indorsement upon the share certificate, has* emphasized the importance of the share certificate, and naturally produces' the impression among business men that the certificate is the shares instead of being merely convenient evidence of ownership of shares.
Now, what is this kind of property called shares of stock? It is property of a peculiar kind. It is an incorporeal and intangible thing. It is in the nature of that kind of property technically known as choses in action. Clark & Marshall, Private Corporations, sec. 376; Machen, Modern Law of Corporations, see. 504. And, in general, a share of the capital stock of a corporation may be defined as the interest or right which the owner, who is called a “shareholder” or “stockholder,” has in the management of the corporation, and in its surplus profits, and, on a dissolution, in all of its assets remaining after the payment of its debts. Clark & Marshall, Private Corporations, sec. 376. In Plimpton v. Bigelow, 93 N. Y. 592, in answering the question, “What are shares of stock, and what right does the owner thereof enjoy?” it is said:
“The right which a shareholder in a corporation has by reason of his ownership of shares is a right to participate according to the amount of his stock in the surplus profits of a corporation on a division, and ultimately on its dissolution, in the assets remaining after payment of the debts.”
Chief Justice SHAW answered it when he said that:
“The right is, strictly speaking, a right to participate, in a certain proportion, in the immunities and benefits of the corporation ; to vote in the choice of their officers, and the management of their concerns; to share in the dividends or profits; and to receive an aliquot part of the proceeds of the capital, on winding up and terminating the active existence and operations of the corporation.” Fisher v. Essex Bank, 5 Gray (Mass.), 373, 378.
In what we have to say, we do not aspire to mark precisely all distinctions that may exist in these kinds of property denominated certificate for stock and shares of stock, nor is it necessary, in preserving the distinction, so far as essential to the case in hand, to ignore the fact that, in the transaction of modern business, a purchaser of a certificate for stock for value and in good faith in the ordinary course of business must be accorded such protection as may be consistent with a character of property that passes from hand to hand by assignment. But here it is only necessary to emphasize that such transactions do not preclude the courts of this state in a proper case from entertaining an action which has for its subject matter the ownership of specific shares of stock in a corporation created and domiciled here. To this extent transactions in stock certificates must be subordinated to the laws of this jurisdiction. Nor should the principle of law be obscured that shares of stock are property of such a peculiar nature that such shares may, for certain purposes, have a situs at two separate places at the same time. The decisive question here, however, is to ascertain whether an action which has for its subject matter ownership of stock should be brought in the home of the holder of the certificate for the shares, or may such action be brought where the shares are located, and jurisdiction obtained by constructive service.
All property must have its situs; that is, its situation or location. Real estate has always a fixed situs, while personal estate has no such fixed situs. The law rei sitae regulates real, but not the personal, estate. Story, Conflict of Laws, sec. 379.
Real property has such a fixed situs because it is immovable and indestructible. It must always be and always will remain in the same locatio'n. Tangible chattels, however, are movable and also destructible, and therefore their situs is of the place where they may happen to be at. any particular time. They may be at one place to-day and another place tomorrow, or else have been totally destroyed. But ordinary choses in action separated from the ownership thereof have no local situs, and so this kind of property is usually said to be governed by the law of the place of the owner’s domicile. This is not because they have any local situs in themselves, but because they follow the person of their owner, and that place is commonly the only place where courts have jurisdiction over him.
The rule applicable to the situs of shares of stock was applied by the supreme court of the United States, in the case of Jellenik v. Huron Copper Min. Co., reported in 177 U. S. 1, 44 L. Ed. 647, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 559. In that case, speaking of the shares in a Michigan corporation, it was said:
“The certificates are only evidence of the ownership of the shares, and the interest represented by the shares is held by the company for the benefit of the true owner. As the habitation or domicile of the company is and must be in the state that created it, the property represented by its certificates of stock may be deemed to be held by the company within the state whose creature it is, whenever it is sought by suit to determine who is its real owner.”
The text of Mr. Cook is in accord with the Jellenik case, He says:
“Legal proceedings against the stock may be initiated at the domicile of the corporation. A claimant of stock in a corporation may institute suit at the place where the company is incorporated for the purpose of obtaining possession of the stock, even though the holders of the stock are nonresidents and are brought into the case only by publication and substituted service. The court acquires jurisdiction over the defendants.” 1 Cook on Corporations, sec. 12.
Again the author says:
“It is a well-established principle of law that shares of stock may, for certain purposes, have a situs at two separate places at the same time. For the purpose of suits concerning rights to its title, for taxation, and for a few other purposes, shares of stock follow the domicile of the stockholder. On the other hand, it has at the same time a situs where the corporation exists, and this situs may be for the purposes of suits concerning title to the stock, for attachment and execution, and for various other similar purposes.”
The language of Mr. Cook just quoted may be reconciled by keeping in view the distinction between the certificate for the shares and the shares themselves. The certificate for the stock, being tangible and movable property, is presumed to accompany the holder of the legal title thereto, and such certificate may so far represent the shares themselves as to give the latter the situs of the certificate for certain purposes.
■ Speaking of the jurisdiction over a certificate as jurisdiction over the stock, Clark & Marshall have this to say:
“A court can exercise jurisdiction over a certificate of stock—that is, over the certificate itself, as distinguished from the stock it represents—if the certificate is within its jurisdiction. For example, there can he no doubt that replevin will lie to recover possession of a certificate of stock, if the certificate is within thé jurisdiction of the court, although the corporation may be in another state, so that the situs of the shares of stock is in the other state. In the nature of things, however, since a certificate of stock is not the stock itself, but mere evidence of the stockholder’s interest in the corporation—a distinction which is thoroughly well settled—jurisdiction over a certificate of stock can confer no jurisdiction over the stock itself, where the stock is not within the jurisdiction of the court. The situs of shares of stock is at the residence of the corporation, and does not follow the certificate. As we have seen, the situs of shares of stock for the purpose of execution or attachment is in the state where the corporation resides, and not in the state where the stockholder resides, or where the certificate may be found, and, in the absence of peculiar circumstances, they cannot be taken in execution or attachment in any other state. Shares of stock cannot be taken on execution or attachment by levying upon or seizing the certificate only, and a court can acquire no jurisdiction over stock by virtue of an attachment merely because the certificate of stock is within its jurisdiction.” Clark & Marshall, Private Corporations, see. 378h.
It is apparent from a careful analysis of the Jellenik case, supra,, that the supreme court of the United States has announced the doctrine that, in a suit to determine who is the real owner of stock in a corporation, the stock may be deemed to be immovably fixed in the domicile of the corporation, and that, notwithstanding the nonresidence of a defendant, who has the evidence of such ownership, to wit, the certificate for the stock, that jurisdiction to determine who is the real owner thereof may be obtained by constructive service. The Jellenik decision, in the feature pertaining to constructive service, was based upon the act of March 3, 1875 (chapter 137, section 8, 18 Stat. 472 [U. S. Comp. Stats. 1901, p. 513]), authorizing a United States court to obtain jurisdiction of defendants by publication of notice or service of process outside of its territory in an action “to enforce any legal or equitable lien upon, or claim to, or to remove any encumbrance or lien or cloud upon the title to real or personal property within the district where such suit is brought.” This statute is similar in its essentials and grounded upon a sense of the same public policy as those of the several states authorizing substituted service. The statute and decision applying it being in accord with the public policy found in the enactments of most, if not all, of the states, which requires the status of its inhabitants and their rights of property localized within their respective territorial dominions to be settled by the tribunals of such locality, and that the inhabitants of a state or district of the United States may not be compelled to go elsewhere to litigate such questions with persons not subject to such local jurisdiction.
In the Jellenik case, suit was brought in a United States court for a district in Michigan by certain stockholders in a Michigan corporation against the corporation and certain nonresident defendants. It was charged that, by reason of certain fraudulent transactions set forth in the bill in equity, the nonresident defendants had acquired the legal title to certain shares of the capital stock of the company owned by the complainants, who prayed to be reinstated as full owners of the legal and equitable title to the shares. Service on the nonresident defendants was had by publication, but they did not appear, and the district court dismissed the bill, saying it was powerless to afford any effective aid to the complainants. The supreme court set aside the order dismissing the action and remanded the case, with directions to the lower court to proceed, holding that the complainants were entitled to the relief asked on the ground that the stock must be regarded as legally situate in Michigan, and therefore within the jurisdiction of the court, although the defendants, the legal owners of it, were residents of other states and had not appeared. Jellenik v. Huron Copper Min. Co., 177 U. S. 1, 44 L. Ed. 647, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 559. See, also, Smith v. Smith, 123 Minn. 431, 52 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1061, 144 N. W. 138; Jones v. Gould, 149 Fed. 153, 80 C. C. A. 1; McKane v. Burke (C. C.), 132 Fed. 688; Gamble v. Dawson, 67 Wash. 72, Ann. Cas. 1913D, 501, 120 Pac. 1060; People’s National Bank v. Cleveland, 117 Ga. 908, 44 S. E. 20; Patterson v. Farmington St. Ry. Co., 76 Conn. 628, 57 Atl. 853; Fahrig v. Milwaukee etc. Breweries, 113 Ill. App. 525; Fowler v. Jenks, 90 Minn. 74, 95 N. W. 887, 96 N. W. 914; Andrews v. Guayaquil etc. R. Co., 69 N. J. Eq 211, 60 Atl. 568; Sohege v. Singer Mfg. Co., 73 N. J. Eq. 567, 68 Atl. 64.
In the instant ease we have an action calling upon the courts of this state to determine who is the real owner of certain shares of the capital stock of a corporation organized under and having its domicile in this jurisdiction, and the capital stock of which is property existing only by virtue of the laws of this state, and notwithstanding a certificate for the stock is treated for some purposes as property of a quasi-negotiable character, the stock itself, by the very law that created it, can only be transferred on the books of the company in this state. We feel convinced that such an action is so far an action in the nature of a proceeding in rem that it authorizes the courts of this state, so far as such property is affected only, to bind all persons with respect to their interest in such property upon giving them reasonable notice in the manner prescribed by law. The res being within the-jurisdiction of the court, and immovably situate in such jurisdiction, the substituted service will give such jurisdiction over the person of the nonresident defendant as to bind him in the determination, of the ownership of the res, provided that the property be either seized into the possession of the court or brought within its grasp by suitable allegations in the complaint. Especially is this so where by statute expressly or impliedly the decree of the court may operate as a conveyance of the property. Paragraph 552 of the Givil Code of Arizona provides:
“When the judgment is for the conveyance of real estate, or for the delivery of personal property, the decree may pass the title to such property without any act to be done on the part of the party against whom the judgment is rendered. ’ ’
The following authorities may also be consulted: Loaiza v. San Francisco, 85 Cal. 11, 20 Am. St. Rep. 197, 9 L. R. A. 376, 24 Pac. 707 ; 26 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, 2d ed., p. 132; Epperly v. Ferguson, 118 Iowa, 47, 91 N. W. 816; Wait v. Kern River M. M. & D. Co., 157 Cal. 21, 106 Pac. 98,
Where the property is movable and destructible, there may be good reason for seizing it into the possession of the court, so that the final judgment may have something to operate upon; but where the res is immovable property within thé jurisdiction of the court, and is brought within its grasp by being made the subject matter of the action, and the object of the action is to reach and dispose of such property or some interest therein, the nonresident defendant having actual notice thereof by being served out of the state personally with a copy of the summons and complaint, it would appear that the necessity for a seizure of the res is wanting. The views we have expressed are fully consistent with the principle recognized in Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, 24 L. Ed. 565. That jurisdiction to hear and determine in this class of cases may be obtained wholly and entirely by substituted service, see Arndt v. Griggs, 134 U. S. 316, 323, 33 L. Ed. 918, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 557; Corson v. Shoemaker, 55 Minn. 386, 398, 57 N. W. 134; Shepherd v. Ware, 46 Minn. 176, 24 Am. St. Rep. 212, 48 N. W. 774; Bennett v. Fenton, 41 Fed, 286, 10 L. R. A. 500; Perkins v. Wakeham, 86 Cal. 580, 21 Am. St. Rep. 67, 25 Pac. 51; Lane v. Innes, 43 Minn. 141, 45 N. W. 5 ; Robinson v. Kind, 23 Nev. 330, 340, 47 Pac. 1, 977; Ormsby v. Ottman, 85 Fed. 496, 29 C. C. A. 295; Porter Land & Water Co. v. Baskin, 43 Fed. 328; Gallum v. Weil, 116 Wis. 236, 92 N. W. 1091; Gassert v. Strong, 38 Mont. 18, 98 Pac. 497; Brown Iron Works v. George B. Swift Co., 53 Ind. App. 630, 100 N. E. 584, 860; also extended note to Hollander v. Central M. & S. Co. (109 Md. 131, 71 Atl. 442), annotated in 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1135.
■ The Pennoyer case was a mere personal action, in which a purely personal judgment for the recovery of a money demand was sought and given, and upon notice given merely by publication and without a seizure of specific property; the lack of reasonable notice by such a method being strongly emphasized. The eminent American jurist who wrote that decision spoke for the court in Galpin v. Page, 3 Saw. 93, Fed. Cas. No. 5206, which is cited in the Pennoyer case. In the Galpin case Judge FIELD, after alluding to the authority of courts being necessarily circumscribed by the limits of the sovereignty creating them, said: ‘
“But over property and persons within those limits the authority of the state is supreme, except as restrained by the federal Constitution. When, therefore, property thus situated is held by parties resident without the state, or absent from it, and thus beyond the reach of the process of its courts, the admitted jurisdiction of the state over the property would be defeated, if a substituted service upon the parties were not permitted. Accordingly, under special circumstances,upon the presentation of particular proofs, substituted service, in lieu of personal service, is allowed by statute in nearly all the states, so as to subject the property of a nonresident or absent party to such disposition by their tribunals as may be necessary to protect the rights of their own citizens. . . . But so far as the statute authorizes, upon such substituted service, a personal judgment against a nonresident, except as a means of reaching property situated at the time within the state, or affecting some interest therein, or determining the status of the plaintiff with respect to such nonresident, it cannot be sustained as a legitimate exercise of legislative power. ’ ’
Judge FIELD, in the progress of the opinion, puts suits in rem into four classes, thus:
“First, those which are directed primarily against particular property, and are intended to dispose of it without reference to the title of individual claimants; second, those which are instituted to determine the status of particular property or persons; third, those which are, in form, personal suits, but which seek to subject property brought by existing lien or by attachment, or some collateral proceeding, under the control of the court, so as to give effect to the rights of the parties; and, fourth, those which seek to dispose of property, or relate to some interest therein, but which touch the property or interest only through the judgment recovered.”
After giving an illustration of each class, but not pretending to comprehend all, the court proceeds:
“The third and fourth classes mentioned are not strictly proceedings in rem; but, so far as they affect property in the state, they are treated as substantially such proceedings.”-
Actions in rem apply not only to realty, but to personal property. In Woodruff v. Taylor, 20 Vt. 65, 73, the court said:
“But proceedings in rem may be and often are upon personal chattels, directly declaring the right to them. ’ ’
Primarily rights in rem are those which avail against persons generally”and rights in personam are those which avail exclusively against certain or determinate persons, and the duties which correlate with rights in rem were negative (that is to say, the duty to forbear or abstain), and the obligations which correlate with rights in personam some were negative, but some, and most, were positive (that is to~say, obligations to do or perform). This distinction pervades the writings of the Roman lawyers, and these terms were devised to comprehend a division of civil actions according to the nature of the duties to be enforced. Ownership or property is given as an instance of a right in rem, as a species of jus in rem, and in an action to vindicate this “jus in rem” we catch historically a marked distinction observed in kinds or sorts of property, as .it has the attribute of movability or immovability. The distinction between real, or immovable and indestructible property, and personal, or movable and destructible property, which runs all through our law, is thus, in a measure, an accidental development in the evolution of actions. The Roman law had its actions which partook of the nature of both an action in rem and an action in personam, or, in other words, actions to vindicate the kinds of rights comprehended in a blending of the expressions “jus in personam” and “jus ad rem.” Mr. Austin says:
“All rights in personam are rights to acts and forbearances and nothing more. The species of rights which have been termed jus ad rem form no exception. What has been styled jus ad rem is an elliptical expression, and is more properly rendered jus ad rem acquirendum, or, still more completely, jus in personam ad jus in rem acquirendum. That is to say, the person entitled has á right, availing against a determinate person, to the acquisition of a right availing against the world at large, and, by consequence, his- right is a right to an act of conveyance or transfer on the part of the person obliged.” Austin’s Jurisprudence, sec. 528.
So, too, the English lawyers were compelled to make a division of actions and to classify their actions which partook of the nature of both real actions and personal actions. Accordingly, as in Blackstone, actions were classified ás real, personal and mixed, because the two classes of actions, real and personal, were not comprehensive or satisfactory, so this triple division of civil actions was introduced, and a class called mixed actions added. “ ‘Mixed’ is a blessed word,” say the historians of our early law. “The impatient student who looks down on medieval law from the sublime heights of ‘general jurisprudence’ will say that most of our English actions are mixed and many of them very mixed.” 2 Poll. & Mait. Hist. Eng. Law, 2d ed., 572. For an interesting discussion of the distinction between in rem and in personam, see 1 Austin, Jurisprudence (Campbell’s ed.), 408 et seq., in which the jus in rem is contradistinguished to jus in .personam, and in which the somewhat obscure and ambiguous expression “jus in rem,” when standing by itself, catches a borrowed clearness from the expression “jus in personam,” to which it is opposed.
Another learned author says:
“Turning to the actions in rem, Bracton brings with him from his excursion into Roman law only the expression itself, ‘actio in rem/ and one or two ideas which lie plainly on the surface. Thus he perceives that the action is not based upon obligation in the Roman sense, and that the plaintiff demands a certain thing, not the value or equivalent of it. But Brae-ton goes further than this, and in a bold, though apparently casual, utterance restricts the action in rem in English law to the recovery of immovables (real property) and interests incident thereto, such as the right of advowson and right of common. This departure of Bracton from Roman ideas was perhaps due to a mere caprice of independence rather than to any necessary distinction between the Roman and English law of actions. This whim of Bracton, if it were a mere whim, has had far-reaching effects, and the marks of it are found to-day in that distinction between real and personal property which is peculiar to English law. What reason does he give for the proposition that, in English law, an action for the recovery of a specific chattel cannot be an action in rem? ‘If,’ says he, ‘the thing sought to be recovered is a movable, such as a lion, ox, ass, garment, or other thing determinable by weight or measure, it would seem at first sight that the action would be in rem rather than in personam, because a specific thing is sought, and because the possessor is in duty bound to restore the thing sued for. But, on the contrary, the action will be in personam only because he from whom the recovery is sought is not held exactly to the restoration of the thing, but, in the alternative, either'to the return of the thing or its value; and, by paying the value only, he will be discharged whether the thing is produced or not.’ Bracton here clearly missed the true principle of classification, for, instead of determining the nature of the action by the duty which it is brought to enforce, he finds the criterion in the nature of the redress which was to be or might be obtained. It would seem that the proposition to which he was here committing English law was a principle erroneously deduced from the fact that, in writs of debt in the detinet, the plaintiff was required to state the value of the chattel sued for. To state the value was certainly highly proper, and indeed necessary, for it might transpire that the chattel was lost or destroyed, or animal dead, in which case it could not 'be restored. Movables are necessarily destructible, but this furnishes no reason why the action for their recovery should not be classed as an action in rem. In Roman law the circumstance that the plaintiff might be. compelled, as a last resort, to accept a money compensation instead of the chattel sued for did not result in changing the action from one category to another. It still remained an action in rem because of the nature of the fundamental duty. If the defendant failed to restore the thing, he was condemned to pay its value as damages. If Bracton had been content faithfully to copy from the Roman sources, he could have said with perfect consistency that detinue is an action in rem, and that it based directly on ownership. Instead of this, our law of ownership in chattels blunders around for two or three centuries, and the right clue to the subject has hardly yet been discovered. Prom the viewpoint which classifies according to the nature of the duties to be enforced, a triple division of actions is the only proper one—actions based on ownership, actions ex contractu, and actions ex delicto. The actions based on ownership might be called proprietary actions, or, to use a Roman term, recuperatory actions. There is no reason in nature or law why the proprietary actions should be restricted to actions for the recovery of immovable property, but such was the result of Bracton’s theory. The English law consequently acknowledged no purely proprietary writ for chattels; and detinue, which ought by all means to have been placed in this .lost category, has since wandered around among the common-law actions, unable to find its proper place in the procedural system. Bracton and those who came after him would have it that the only actions in rem were those brought to vindicate a right to immovables. The action in rem, being thus permanently associated with real property, came to be spoken of as a real action.” 3 Street, Foundations of Legal Liability, p. 39.
While, properly speaking, actions or proceedings in rem are against the thing itself, and for the purpose of disposing thereof without reference to the title of particular claimants, the term has in a larger and broader sense been applied to certain actions and proceedings between parties, where the object is to reach and dispose of property owned by them or in which they have an interest; but, as these are not strictly in rem, they have frequently and more properly been termed quasi in rem, or in the nature of actions or proceedings in rem. 1 Corpus Juris., see. 171, In Rem and In Personam. See, also, 1 Cyc. 730, 731.
The appellee reviewing the cases, and after abstracting therefrom the peculiarities of the particular case before the court, proceeds to tear them into very tatters. It is urged that such cafes are not in point, because the subject matter of the action was either real estate, immovably situate within the state, or, if personal property, it was seized into the possession of the court, or, where the subject matter of the action was shares of stock the corporation itself was brought before the court, or the stock has in some manner been directly attached, impounded or sequestered to await the court’s final decision. The appellee admits that the cardinal distinction between real property and personal property rests in the immovability of the former and the movability of the latter, and says that personal property, under the old fiction, is deemed to follow the owner, and it would be strange, indeed, if any class of personal property could be held to be immov able; that the term “immovable personal property” is a solecism. If this peculiar species of property may be likened to real estate, the application of many of the cases cited is not resisted,> and that, if the corporation had been made a party, the Jellenik case would be in point, does not seem to be controverted. But we have learned that the cardinal distinction between real and personal property is the immovability and indestructibility of the former and the movability and destructibility of the latter, and that, for the purpose of determining the true ownership of stock, it is considered immovably situate in the domicile of the corporation which created it and in the state under and by virtue of whose laws it has its being.
In Ashley v. Quintard (C. C.), 90 Fed. 84, this resemblance was pointed out. The court says:
“Indeed, in my view, shares of stock more clearly resemble land than movables in the quality of being fixed within the boundaries of the state which created them, and regulates all their qualities and incidents, as property. It is a question of resemblances and analogies, and is capable of no other treatment. ’ ’
It is no more of a solecism to say immovable personal property than it is to say removable fixtures, nor more contradicting than in the division of actions to use the term “in rem,” when, under the particular state of facts, the action is primarily “in personam.” In the development of the law it is seldom possible, or, when possible, seldom expedient, to discard established terms. In this connection an observation by Mr. Justice HOLMES is peculiarly applicable:
“As long as the matter to be considered is debated in artificial terms, there is danger of being led by a technical definition to apply a certain name, and then to deduce consequences which have no relation to the grounds on which the name was applied. ’ ’ Guy v. Donald, 203 U. S. 406, 51 L. Ed. 245, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 63.
Instead of rejecting convenient terms because they are ambiguous or not comprehensive, it is better to explain their meanings, or, in the language of old Hobbes, “to snuff them with distinctions and definitions, ” so as to give a better light. When we snuff out the cardinal distinction—immovability—■ between real property, and a certain kind of personal prop erty, we liave a better and truer light thrown upon the term “immovable personal property.” In the development of the law of fixtures, the wisdom of such a course is indicated, and our meaning may gather a borrowed clearness from its. consideration.
“No definition has been formulated which meets the general approval of the courts, and some of our ablest writers treat the rules without attempting a definition. The great dispute in terms is that on one side a removable fixture is said to be a solecism, while, on the other, its better meaning is said to be things accessory or affixed but removable. Trade fixtures, agricultural fixtures, gas fixtures, ornamental fixtures, are terms of common, popular and commercial use to indicate things which may be removed; and there is no settled consistent practice in the courts confining the term to things not removable. Practically it matters little whether the name ‘fixture’ is applied to something removable, or we affirm that things removable are not fixtures, the question always being the same, viz., under what circumstances of relation of parties, purpose or interest of annexation and condition of annexation is the thing removable?” Andrews, American Law, see. 597, “Fixtures.” So what matters it whether we use the term “real estate” or “personal property,” so far as concerns the matter before us. It is the situs of the thing and its quality of immovability that determines the jurisdiction to proceed.
After all, “the reason and spirit of eases make law, not the letter of particular precedents.” So said Lord MANSFIELD, a great English judge, in Fisher v. Prince (1763), 3 Burr. 1363, at page 1364. And so did another great judge (Chief Justice KENYON) in the case of Lord Walpole v. Earl of Cholomondeley, 7 Term Rep., at page 148, make a like observation:
“The principle is the thing which we are to extract from cases, and to apply it to the decision of other cases.”
If we have perceived the general reasons or principles of these judicial decisions herein referred to, as abstracted from any peculiarities of the particular case before the court, we have ascertained their ratio decidendi to be this: That the jurisdiction of our courts is coextensive with the sovereignty of the state, embracing the property and persons within its limits; that, as to such property and persons within those limits, the authority of the state is supreme, except as restrained by the federal Constitution; that it is not repugnant to the due process clause of the Constitution of the United States for this state to provide for reasonable notice to a nonresident defendant by‘serving him outside of this state personally with a copy of the summons and complaint, where the subject matter of the action is directed against, or only affects, property located in this state; that, where the situs of this property is immovably fixed within its territorial jurisdiction, the court may acquire jurisdicton of the res by the filing of a bill in equity having for its subject matter said property and for its purpose an adjudication as between the parties as to who is the real owner thereof; and that shares of stock—this peculiar species of property, though denominated as of the nature of a chose in action, and classified as personal property—has by the analogy of its immobility a strong resemblance to realty, so that, for the purpose of such a suit, it may be governed by like considerations.'
It is manifest that, in an action to establish the ownership of the stock, the statute does not provide any means of hold-* ing it. Civ. Code 1913, par. 1647. - The plaintiff could not have attached the certificate or garnished the company, or otherwise seized the property into the possession of the court; and, from the views we have expressed, we do not deem such a course to. be necessary. .The certificate is presumably in the possession of the defendant in Ohio.
Nor can we see any reason upon principle or authority, so far as affecting the jurisdiction.of the court over the res is concerned, the necessity of making the company a party defendant.
Story, in his work on Equity Pleading, states the rule as to when the objection for want of parties may be taken, and the consequence of not bringing the proper parties before the court, thus:
“If the proper parties are not made, the defendant may either demur to the bill, or take the objection by way of plea or answer; or, when the cause comes on to a hearing, he may object that the proper parties are wanting; or the court itself may state the objection, and refuse to proceed to make a decree; or, if a decree is made, it may, for this very defect, be reversed on a rehearing or an appeal; or, if it be not reversed, yet it will bind none bnt the parties to the suit, and those claiming under them, so that all the evils of a fruitless or inadequate litigation may sometimes be visited upon the successful party in the original suit, by leaving his title still open to future question and controversy.” Section 75.
Judge STORY further observes that:
“The mere nonjoinder of a proper party cannot avail the defendant in a bill of review, unless it appears to his prejudice; and there is the more reason for this rule, because the absent person is not barred by the decree, but may in another suit vindicate his rights.”
The matter of raising an objection to a defect of parties plaintiff or defendant is regulated by statute. Civ. Code 1913, pars. 468 (4), 469. The Code further provides:
“The court may, on motion of either party, order additional parties brought in upon such terms as the court may prescribé, and may prescribe the process and manner by which such additional parties shall be brought in.” Civ. Code 1913, par. 409.
Also that: “The court may determine any controversy between parties before it, when it can be done without prejudice to the rights of the others or by saving their rights; but, when a complete determination of the controversy cannot be had without the presence of other parties, the court shall order them to be brought in.” Civ. Code 1913, par. 410.
Generally speaking, a corporation has no interest in the individual ownership of its shares; and, while the corporation was a party, the plaintiff might be enabled to more efficiently guard his interests by injunction or other provisional remedy, such as was invoked in the Jellenik case cited. But this would be for the protection of the plaintiff, not that the defendant is in any way concerned, or by the lack of such a proceeding is any right of his defeated.
The distinction between an action concerning real estate and an action to establish the ownership of shares of stock is sought to be made in the doctrine of lis pendens. The function of a lis pendens is not to preserve or impound property, hut it is to impart notice to third persons in their dealings with it. So far as we are aware, the doctrine of lis pendens has never been applied as affecting the question of jurisdiction. The doctrine of lis pendens has no application to sales of shares of stock. Cook, Corporations, sec. 364. If so applied, it would destroy the element of negotiability. Machen, Modern Law of Corporations, sec. 844.
It may be true that, while this suit is pending, the defendant may transfer the certificate, and the bona fide transferee may perhaps take good title to the stock, and so, if no temporary injunction or other provisional remedy be obtained, a transfer on the books of the corporation may be good. But these are matters with which we are not now concerned. The appellant’s rights are cognizable only in equity, and, the subject matter of this suit being immovably fixed within this jurisdiction, the courts of this state are not powerless to proceed by reason of the nonresidence of the appellee.
Recognizing the power of the legislature of this state by virtue of the location within its boundaries of the property which is the subject matter of the action to enable its courts to take jurisdiction upon constructive service of process against the nonresident defendant, and the object of the suit being to establish an ownership in said property, we are of opinion the judgment of the superior court is erroneous.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to overrule the objections to the jurisdiction, and have such further proceedings, not inconsistent with this opinion,- as the law may direct; the defendant to be granted a period of thirty days in which to make his general appearance in the action, if he be so advised.
Reversed and remanded.
ROSS, C. J., concurs.
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FRANKLIN, J.
The plaintiff in the court below, and the appellee here, being the owner of a lot in the town of Yuma, caused an architect to prepare plans and specifications for a dwelling-house to be erected thereon. The appellant, who was. defendant below, is engaged at Yuma in the business commonly designated as building contractor.
The plaintiff submitted the plans and specifications to defendant for the purpose of receiving a tender or offer on the part of the defendant as to the price for which he would agree to furnish all the labor and material and construct the house according to the plans and specifications submitted. After retaining the plans and specifications for a period of about two weeks, the defendant made an offer to build the house and furnish the labor and materials therefor, according to the plans and specifications, for the sum of $2,715. After some bargaining as to the cost of the house, the plaintiff finally accepted the offer and directed the defendant to go ahead and build it. The defendant said:
‘ ‘ Czuczka, in case there should be a possible chance that I can make it a little cheaper, I will give you the benefit of it. ’ ’
The defendant thereupon began the construction of the house and the furnishing of the labor and material therefor, and completed the same according to the plans and specifications. He also furnished some extras; that is to say, additional work and material over and above the amount of work and material required by the plans and specifications. No point is made concerning the extras, for the jury, in the award to the plaintiff, deducted therefrom the reasonable value of the same.
The action is grounded on an alleged breach of the contract. In abridgment, the complaint states: That plaintiff and defendant, in the month of November, 1912, at Yuma, Arizona, entered into a verbal contract whereby the defendant agreed to construct, and to furnish all labor and materials for the erection of, a dwelling-house for the plaintiff according to certain plans and specifications submitted to defendant. That said dwelling-house was to be erected on certain lots of land owned by plaintiff in the town of Yuma, and for the fixed and agreed price of $2,715. Full performance of the agreement on the part of plaintiff is alleged, and the failure of the defendant to construct and complete the house within the contract price. That plaintiff was obliged to pay for labor and materials used in the construction of said house the sum of $552.13 in excess of the contract price therefor, for which amount judgment is asked.
Defendant answered by way of general demurrer and gen- • eral denial, also interposing with a counterclaim and cross-complaint ; the counterclaim and cross-complaint being pleaded by reason of a difference between the parties arising over their differing claims as to what was the contract in dispute. It was the claim of defendant: That the contract was a different one from that alleged by plaintiff. That by the agreement between them the defendant was merely employed to superintend the construction of the building and to use his best skill and knowledge in purchasing material and furnishing labor therefor, and generally direct the construction, so as to keep the cost of the building to plaintiff down to the minimum, and that for such services he was to receive a reasonable compensation. That the minimum cost of the building was $3,345. Plaintiff answered the counterclaim and cross-complaint.
The demurrer was overruled, and the issues arising on the complaint and cross-complaint were submitted to the jury under instructions from the court. The jury awarded plaintiff the sum of $450, upon which verdict judgment was entered.
The appeal is from the judgment and an order overruling a motion for a new trial, and also from an order denying defendant’s exceptions to plaintiff’s statement of costs. The terms of the contract in question were not reduced to writing, and were in dispute. They were left to oral proofs to determine what the parties said and did, and what they intended should be understood thereby. It therefore became a question of fact for the jury.
In McKenzie v. Sykes, 47 Mich. 294, 11 N. W. 164, the court said:
“It is for the court to interpret the written contracts of parties, for when they have assented to definite terms and stipulations and incorporated them in formal documents, the meaning of these, it is supposed, can always be discovered on inspection. Nothing which is within the purview of the contract is left in doubt; and there is, of course, nothing to submit to the jury. . . . But, where the terms of a negotiation are left to oral proofs, the question what the parties said and did, and what they intended should be understood thereby, is single, and cannot be separated, so as to refer one part to the jury and another part to the judge; but in its entirety the question is one of fact.”
So in the ease of Gannon v. Brady Brass Co., 82 N. J. L. 411, Ann. Cas. 1913C, 1308, 81 Atl. 727:
“The cases holding that, where no attempt has been made to reduce the terms of a contract to formal language, the intention of the parties, as gathered from what they said and did, is a question of fact for the jury, are very numerous. ’ ’
For numerous cases applying the rule, see note to the last case cited, to be found in Ann. Cas. 1913C, at page 1310.
We lay aside the assignments of error involving the insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. It is sufficient to say that there was a sharp conflict in the evidence introduced on both sides of the question. It was therefore within the province of the jury to weigh the testimony and give credit where they believed credit should be given. It is sufficient that the verdict is supported by substantial evidence.
The chief contention is that the complaint fails to state a cause of action for the reason that the contract pleaded shows a lack of mutuality and consideration, and also a failure to assign any breach thereof.
The requirements of a complaint for damages based upon a breach of contract are very simple. No particular phraseology is imperative. The absence of words usually employed in such actions is not fatal. In a word, the dry formalism of a common-law pleading may be discarded with safety. A concise statement of the facts constituting the plaintiff’s cause of action is the measure by which to determine the sufficiency, with an injunction placed upon the court by the law to disregard any error or defect in the pleading which shall not affect the substantial rights of the parties.
Every reasonable intendment will be made to sustain the pleading, and, if a cause of action may be reasonably inferred from its averments, a general demurrer should be overruled. Looking at the complaint with a friendly eye, and with the intention of sustaining it, if possible to do so, as against an attack by general demurrer, does it allege facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action? In a ease of this character it is only necessary to state the making of the contract, the obligation thereby assumed, and the breach, superadding a statement of the amount claimed and a prayer for judgment. If such facts appear by direct averment, or by a necessary and unavoidable inference from the facts stated, it should be upheld. We think it necessarily and unavoidably follows, from the facts stated in this complaint: That an agreement was entered into by the parties. That by virtue of the agreement the plaintiff had a right to have the house constructed, and the labor and materials furnished, for the sum of $2,715. That there was a duty or obligation connected with that right resting on the defendant to construct the house for plaintiff according to the plans and specifications, and furnish the labor and material for the price agreed upon. That the defendant failed to comply with such duty, to the damage of plaintiff.
Mutual consent is, of course, requisite to the creation of a contract, but it becomes binding when a proposition is made on one side and accepted on the other. 2 Kent, Com., p. 794.
“To show mutuality, the obligation may be implied as well as express. Although on its face and by its express terms the contract is obligatory on one party only, yet if the intention of the parties and the consideration upon which the obligation is assumed is that there shall be a correlative obligation on the other side, the law will imply it. ” 9 Cye. 333.
“"Where the parties assume to make a contract in which a promise is the consideration for a promise, and analysis shows that one of the promises does not impose any legal duty upon the party making it, such promise is not a consideration for the other promise. ... It is not necessary, however, that the contract should impose obligations expressly upon each party. It is sufficient if they are imposed by the legal effect of the contract.” 1 Page on Contracts, see. 304.
A consideration may be agreed upon as well impliedly as expressly. Id., sec. 277; Bailey et at. v. Leishman et al., 32 Utah, 123, 13 Ann. Cas. 1116, 89 Pac. 78. It is too clear for argument here that upon performance by defendant the plaintiff was obligated to pay him $2,715, and likewise upon his failure to perform he must respond in damages to plaintiff occasioned by such failure.
Aside from this, there is another view that destroys the contention. If defendant was in a position to successfully resist performance before he began to construct the building in a way that bound him to complete it, he is certainly not in that position, after performance, to urge a,lack of mutuality and the want of a consideration for doing the thing which he agreed to do.
At the trial the defendant contended, with much vigor and insistence, that the making of such a contract orally was highly improbable, in the ordinary course of business. To this end a great deal of evidence pro and con was introduced. The real issue in the ease was the making of the contract and its terms, not the improbability of the parties entering into ■such an agreement verbally.
The evidence on this point should have been so restricted, leaving defendant to address that feature of the ease in argument to the jury. However, it having been gone into at the invitation of the defendant, he may not complain that error, if any,, was thereby committed.
Error is urged because the plans and specifications were admitted. It is not quite clear from the record that defendant objected to their admission. But, even so, they were made a part of the contract by reference and clearly identified as those submitted to defendant for his tender and used by him subsequently in the construction of the building.
It appears that during the progress of the work the plaintiff had made certain payments of money on account. On the trial the plaintiff inquired into the disposition of this money,- and as to whether it was used by the defendant in paying for labor and materials used in the building. This was most important to know about in ascertaining what the building did cost. Likewise there was no error in the refusal of the court to give an instruction requested by defendant that the jury disregard all the evidence pertaining to defendant’s disposition of such moneys. Some objections are urged to particular instructions given at request of plaintiff, but such objections are overcome in other portions of the charge. Taken as a whole, the instructions given fairly state the law applicable to the facts of the ease.
The last contention of defendant must be sustained. He seasonably objected to an item of $72 for jurors’ fees, taxed as costs. Costs in the superior court do not include jurors’ fees. Paragraph 638, Ariz. Rev. Stats. 1913. Jurors, for their attendance on the court, are paid by the county. Paragraph 3207, Ariz. Rev. Stats. 1913.
The judgment of the lower court is modified by deducting therefrom the sum of $72 erroneously taxed therein as costs, and, as so modified, the judgment is affirmed. The judgment of the court below being against the appellant, and the judgment of this court being also against him, but for a less amount, it is further ordered, in compliance with paragraph 633, Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1913, that said appellant be and he is hereby adjudged to pay the costs of the court below, but that he have and recover his costs in this court.
ROSS, C. J., and CUNNINGHAM, J., concur.
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OPINION
HOWARD, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 After a jury trial, appellant Andrew Burdick was convicted of four counts of disorderly conduct. The trial court sentenced him to four aggravated, 1.5-year prison terms, three of which were to be served consecutively. In a prior opinion filed February 11, 2005, we affirmed Burdick’s convictions but vacated his aggravated sentences as improperly imposed based on Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). State v. Burdick, 209 Ariz. 452, 104 P.3d 183 (App.2005). On review, the supreme court remanded the case to us for reconsideration in light of State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, 115 P.3d 618 (2005), and State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, 115 P.3d 601 (2005). We have reconsidered our earlier opinion, and vacate it. This opinion replaces it.
¶2 Burdick contends he committed only one act of disorderly conduct and, therefore, the consecutive sentences violate A.R.S. § 13-116 and the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the Arizona and United States Constitutions. Burdick further contends the trial court erred by imposing aggravated sentences without having a jury determine the aggravating factors. Finding no error, we affirm Burdick’s convictions and sentences.
FACTS
¶ 3 We view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to sustaining the conviction. See State v. Riley, 196 Ariz. 40, ¶ 2, 992 P.2d 1135, 1137 (App.1999). In April 2003, Bur-dick approached three people standing outside a duplex apartment. He was asked to leave and became angry at the request. Staggering, he removed a gun from his pocket and waved it in the direction of the group. After the three individuals went inside the apartment, Burdick began banging on and shaking the door. A police officer arrived, arrested Burdick, and found a revolver in his front pocket.
¶ 4 Burdick was tried on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, one count for each victim, and on one count of aggravated assault on an incapacitated victim because one of the victims was confined to a wheelchair. The trial court instructed the jury that disorderly conduct by recklessly handling, displaying, or discharging a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument is a lesser-ineluded offense of aggravated assault. Burdick was acquitted on all four aggravated assault charges but found guilty of four counts of disorderly conduct.
DISORDERLY CONDUCT
¶ 5 Burdick first argues that the unit of prosecution for disorderly conduct is the conduct, not the victims, and that the trial court violated § 13-116 and double jeopardy principles by sentencing him to consecutive prison terms. Because he failed to raise this claim below, he is only entitled to a review for fundamental error. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, n. 2, 115 P.3d at 620 n. 2. But, as he points out, a sentence that violates the Double Jeopardy Clause constitutes fundamental error. State v. Millanes, 180 Ariz. 418, 421, 885 P.2d 106, 109 (App.1994). Whether a defendant can be punished for each victim of the crime of disorderly conduct is an issue of legislative intent. State v. Siddle, 202 Ariz. 512, ¶ 9, 47 P.3d 1150, 1154 (App.2002). We review this issue of law de novo. State v. Powers, 200 Ariz. 123, ¶ 5, 23 P.3d 668, 670 (App.2001), aff'd, 200 Ariz. 363, 26 P.3d 1134 (2001).
¶ 6 The Double Jeopardy Clauses of the Arizona and United States Constitutions provide the same basic protection and prohibit “multiple punishments for the same offense.” Id. ¶¶ 7-8. In determining what is the “same offense,” Arizona courts look at the result of the criminal act rather than the act itself. State v. Gunter, 132 Ariz. 64, 69, 643 P.2d 1034, 1039 (App.1982). In Gunter, the court determined that “[w]here crimes against persons are involved we believe a separate interest of society has been invaded with each victim and that, therefore, where two persons are assaulted, there are two separate offenses.” Id. at 70, 643 P.2d at 1040. The court affirmed the imposition of two consecutive terms of imprisonment for the single act of throwing acid because the act had injured two victims. Id.; see also State v. Henley, 141 Ariz. 465, 467-68, 687 P.2d 1220, 1222-23 (1984) (no error in imposing consecutive sentences for two counts of aggravated assault when bullet passed through first victim and struck second); State v. Riley, 196 Ariz. 40, ¶ 21, 992 P.2d 1135, 1142 (App.1999) (consecutive sentences allowed for multiple crimes committed against multiple victims); State v. White, 160 Ariz. 377, 379-80, 773 P.2d 482, 484-85 (App. 1989) (consecutive sentences upheld for single act causing separate criminal result to four victims); State v. Devine, 150 Ariz. 507, 510, 724 P.2d 593, 596 (App.1986) (no error in imposing consecutive sentences for separate offenses committed against multiple victims on same occasion).
¶ 7 Burdick was convicted of four counts of disorderly conduct, a lesser-included offense of aggravated assault. Section 13-2904(A), A.R.S., defines disorderly conduct as follows:
A person commits disorderly conduct if, with intent to disturb the peace or quiet of a neighborhood, family or person, or with knowledge of doing so, such person:
6. Recklessly handles, displays or discharges a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.
¶ 8 Arizona courts have recognized that, depending on the type of victim, the state must satisfy differently its burden of proof under § 13-2904. First, when a defendant is charged with disorderly conduct for disturbing the peace of a particular person, the state is required to prove that the defendant knowingly disturbed the victim’s peace, In re Julio L., 197 Ariz. 1, ¶ 8, 3 P.3d 383, 385 (2000), or that the defendant intended to do so. State v. Miranda, 200 Ariz. 67, ¶ 5, 22 P.3d 506, 508 (2001). Second, if the defendant is charged with disorderly conduct for disturbing the peace of a neighborhood, the defendant’s conduct may be measured against an objective standard, and the state need not prove that any particular person was disturbed. Julio L., 197 Ariz. 1, ¶ 8, 3 P.3d at 385; State v. Johnson, 112 Ariz. 383, 385, 542 P.2d 808, 810 (1975).
¶ 9 Furthermore, in Miranda, our supreme court held that a person cannot place a victim in reasonable apprehension of immi nent physical injury without also disturbing the victim’s peace. 200 Ariz. 67, ¶ 3, 22 P.3d at 507. It held that disorderly conduct against a person by recklessly handling a firearm is a lesser-included offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Id. ¶ 5. The distinguishing element is the intent to place the victim in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury. Id. ¶ 3.
¶ 10 Burdick could have received consecutive prison sentences if he had been found guilty of the greater crime of aggravated assault. See Henley, 141 Ariz. at 467-68, 687 P.2d at 1222-23; Riley, 196 Ariz. 40, ¶ 21, 992 P.2d at 1142; Gunter, 132 Ariz. at 70, 643 P.2d at 1040. Nothing in the distinguishing element, the intent to place the victim in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury, Miranda, 200 Ariz. 67, ¶ 3, 22 P.3d at 507, reflects a legislative intent that the defendant be subject to multiple punishments for the greater crime, but not for the lesser. Accordingly, we hold that a defendant is subject to multiple punishments for a single act of disorderly conduct by recklessly handling, displaying, or discharging a firearm when that act constituted disorderly conduct committed against multiple persons. Therefore, Burdick’s consecutive sentences do not violate the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States or Arizona Constitutions.
BLAKELY ERROR
¶ 11 Burdick next argues the trial court abused its discretion by imposing aggravated sentences without having the jury determine the aggravating factors, relying on Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). At the sentencing hearing, the trial court found as aggravating factors Burdick’s “[cjriminal history with multiple misdemeanor and felony convictions with multiple incarcerations and probation,” his history of unsuccessful rehabilitation attempts, and his addiction to drugs and alcohol. The court then found as mitigating circumstances Burdick’s mental and physical health. Finding that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, the trial court sentenced Burdick to aggravated, consecutive terms of 1.5 years on three of the convictions and to an aggravated, concurrent 1.5-year term on the fourth.
¶ 12 Because Burdick failed to object on this ground below, we review solely for fundamental error. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, n. 2, 115 P.3d at 620 n. 2. Burdick therefore has the burden to show that fundamental error occurred and that the error caused him prejudice. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 20, 115 P.3d at 607. Fundamental error is “ ‘error going to the foundation of the case, error that takes from the defendant a right essential to his defense, and error of such magnitude that the defendant could not possibly have received a fair trial.’ ” Id. ¶ 19, 115 P.3d at 607, quoting State v. Hunter, 142 Ariz. 88, 90, 688 P.2d 980, 982 (1984).
¶ 13 In Martinez, our supreme court held that one Blakely-compliant or Blakely-exempt factor is enough to allow the trial court to consider other aggravating factors in sentencing the defendant. 210 Ariz. 578, ¶ 26, 115 P.3d at 625. And a finding of prior convictions is a Blakely-exempt aggravating circumstance. Blakely, 542 U.S. at 301, 124 S.Ct. at 2536. Accordingly, once the trial court found that Burdick’s prior convictions were an aggravating circumstance, the court was entitled to consider any other legal aggravating factor in imposing sentence. We therefore find no error, fundamental or otherwise.
¶ 14 We affirm Burdick’s convictions and sentences.
Concurring: J. WILLIAM BRAMMER, JR. and PETER J. ECKERSTROM, Judges.
. Burdick notes that Julio L., 197 Ariz. 1, ¶ 8, 3 P.3d at 385, stated that a person’s peace must actually be disturbed, while Miranda, 200 Ariz. 67, ¶ 5, 22 P.3d at 508, pointed out that A.R.S. § 13-2904 actually requires that the defendant act with either the intent to disturb the peace of a person or knowledge of doing so. This point was not crucial to the issue under consideration in either case and, in any event, does not support Burdick’s argument that he can only be guilty of one offense.
. Neither Julio L. nor Miranda involved disturbing the peace of a family.
. As the state points out, the jury could also have concluded that Burdick had committed more than one act of disorderly conduct.
. Burdick also argues his consecutive sentences violate A.R.S. § 13-116. Because he failed to develop this argument as required by Rule 31.13(c)( 1 Xví), Ariz. R.Crim. P., 17 A.R.S., he has waived the issue. See State v. Sanchez, 200 Ariz. 163, ¶ 8, 24 P.3d 610, 613 (App.2001). Furthermore, we note that § 13-116 "does not apply to sentences imposed for a single act that harms multiple victims.” State v. Riley, 196 Ariz. 40, ¶ 21, 992 P.2d 1135, 1142 (App.1999).
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OPINION
KESSLER, Judge.
¶ 1 Belinda and William Jeter (“the Jet-ers”) appeal from the dismissal of their lawsuit against the Mayo Clinic Arizona doing business as Mayo Clinic Scottsdale and/or the Center for Reproductive Medicine (“Mayo”). The Jeters sued Mayo for the alleged negligent destruction or loss of five of the Jeters’ frozen human pre-implantation embryos or pre-embryos, which Mayo agreed to cryopreserve and store.
¶ 2 The superior court held the Jeters had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and dismissed their wrongful death claim because the pre-embryos were not “persons” under Arizona’s wrongful death statutes, Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) sections 12-611 to -613 (2003). It also held Arizona did not recognize the Jet- ers’ claim for negligent loss of irreplaceable property. The court further rejected the Jeters’ breach of fiduciary duty and breach of bailment contract claims as barred by Arizona’s Medical Malpractice Act, A.R.S. §§ 12-561 to -594 (2003 & Supp.2004).
¶ 3 For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the superior court’s dismissal of the wrongful death claim and hold that absent legislative action expanding the wrongful death statutes, as a matter of law, a cryopre-served, three-day old fertilized human egg is not a “person” for purposes of that statute. However, we reverse the dismissal of the other three claims and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶ 4 Since the complaint was dismissed at the pleading stage for failure to state a claim, we review the well-pleaded facts alleged in the complaint as true. Shannon v. Butler Homes, 102 Ariz. 312, 315, 428 P.2d 990, 993 (1967) (court will accept as true only well-pleaded facts). However, we do not accept as true allegations consisting of conclusions of law, inferences or deductions that are not necessarily implied by well-pleaded facts, unreasonable inferences or unsupported conclusions from such facts, or legal conclusions alleged as facts. Id.; Dockery v. Central Ariz. Light and Power Co., 45 Ariz. 434, 439, 45 P.2d 656, 658 (1935) (only well-pleaded facts accepted as true, not inferences that are not necessarily implied by such facts); Kellogg v. Nebraska Dep’t of Corr., 269 Neb. 40, 690 N.W.2d 574, 578 (2005) (court will ignore legal conclusions in form of factual allegations).
¶ 5 The Jeters went to Mayo for information on medical procedures that would assist them in conceiving a child. Mayo offered certain services for harvesting, storing and implanting pre-embryos, including in vitro fertilization. With the consent of the Jeters, Dr. Anita Singh at Mayo retrieved or harvested multiple eggs from Belinda Jeter, which were fertilized in vitro (outside Mrs. Jeter’s womb) with William Jeter’s sperm. The resulting zygotes were permitted to progress through several divisions in the laboratory over a period of forty-eight to seventy-two hours, developing from single-cell organisms to two- to eight-cell organisms. While the Jeters’ complaint refers to these fertilized eggs as “viable embryos,” such a characterization is a conclusion that is not necessarily implied from the well-pleaded facts. Pursuant to a written consent form, Mayo and the Jeters agreed to have Mayo cryopreserve and store the pre-embryos.
¶ 6 Belinda Jeter underwent two unsuccessful non-surgical in vitro fertilization procedures at Mayo attempting to implant the pre-embryos into her womb. The Jeters then began looking at alternative procedures.
¶ 7 The Jeters decided to utilize the services of Dr. Jay Nemiro at the Arizona Center for Fertility Studies Ltd. (“Arizona Center”). Dr. Nemiro offered them an alternative procedure called a tubal embryo transfer. A tubal embryo transfer also requires initial egg retrieval and fertilization of the eggs in a laboratory. Unlike the procedures at Mayo, however, in a tubal embryo transfer the physician injects the pre-embryos into a woman’s fallopian tube(s) during a laparoscopy, enabling them to reach the uterus via their biological route.
¶ 8 The Jeters made arrangements to personally transfer their ten remaining cryopre-served pre-embyros from Mayo to the Arizona Center, obtaining proper storage equipment and arranging for delivery to the Arizona Center. The Jeters executed a transfer request form, obtaining Mayo’s release of the remaining eryopreserved pre-embryos in four labeled straws.
¶ 9 The Jeters alleged they transferred the pre-embryos to the Arizona Center. Belinda Jeter then went to the Arizona Center for a tubal embryo transfer. Before the surgical implantation, the doctor told her that two of the four straws did not contain, and had never contained, any embryonic matter. If this is accurate, Mayo had actually produced only five of the Jeters’ ten remaining pre-embyros. Mayo failed to account for the allegedly missing pre-embryos.
¶ 10 The Jeters proceeded with the tubal embryo transfer at the Arizona Center with the five remaining pre-embryos. The procedure was successful and Belinda Jeter conceived and delivered a daughter. However, the Jeters would like to have more children and now must undergo the additional discomfort and cost of harvesting and fertilizing more eggs. In addition, the Jeters remain concerned about the fate of the allegedly missing pre-embryos, wondering whether Mayo lost or destroyed them or whether Mayo may have given them to the wrong people, resulting in the birth of one or more of the Jeters’ biological children to another woman.
¶ 11 The Jeters sued Mayo alleging four claims. Count One asserted a claim for “Negligence — Loss of Potential Children” under Arizona’s wrongful death statutes. Count Two asserted a claim for “Negligence — Loss of Irreplaceable Property.” Under that count, the Jeters alleged Mayo had breached its duty to store and safeguard the fertilized eggs. Count Three asserted a claim for “Breach of Fiduciary Duty,” alleging that, because the organisms were “potentially viable human beings, their custody was entitled to ‘special respect’ and [the] highest standards of care.” Finally, Count Four asserted a claim for breach of a bailment contract.
¶ 12 Mayo moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim, arguing as to Count One that the cryopreserved three-day old, eight-cell pre-embryos were not “persons” under the Arizona wrongful death statutes. Mayo further asserted as to Count Two that Arizona did not recognize a claim for loss of irreplaceable property. As to Count Three, Mayo argued that the medical malpractice act barred the claim for breach of fiduciary duty because it was not an enumerated cause of action against a health care provider allowed by that act. Finally, as to Count Four, Mayo asserted that A.R.S. § 12-562(C) (Supp.2003) barred the breach of bailment contract claim because there was no written bailment contract between the parties as required by that statute.
¶ 13 The Jeters opposed the motion, asking the court to recognize the first two causes of action and to hold the medical malpractice act unconstitutional if it abrogated their claims. They also contended they had a written bailment contract with Mayo.
¶ 14 The superior court granted Mayo’s motion, holding:
The Court specifically finds that the wrongful death statute does not provide relief for frozen cell embryos and that the same are not “persons.”
The Court also specifically finds that there is no common law cause of action in Arizona for the alleged negligent loss of viable human embryos.
And lastly, the Court finds that the Arizona medical negligence (malpractice) act is not unconstitutional.
¶ 15 The Jeters moved for partial reconsideration and clarification of the ruling. They asked the court to reconsider its holding that Arizona did not recognize a common law cause of action for negligent loss of irreplaceable property. They further asked the court to clarify its ruling as to their claim for breach of bailment contract, asserting they had shown they had a written contract with Mayo.
¶ 16 The superior court denied the motion for reconsideration. The court noted that perhaps the third paragraph of its prior minute entry (regarding the constitutionality of the medical malpractice act) could be removed but stated that this “entire ‘subject’ needs to be handled by the Appellate Courts and/or Legislature.” The court entered judgment granting Mayo’s motion to dismiss, and the Jeters timely filed this appeal.
ISSUES
¶ 17 The Jeters argue the superior court improperly dismissed their complaint because: (1) the Jeters’ cryopreserved pre-em-bryos were “persons” under the Arizona wrongful death statutes; (2) Arizona recognizes a cause of action for the negligent loss or destruction of the cryopreserved pre-em-bryos; (3) to the extent A.R.S. §§ 12-561(1) and -562(A) bar the Jeters’ claims for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of bailment contract, those statutes are unconstitutional; and (4) the Jeters adequately pled the existence of a written bailment contract as required by A.R.S. § 12-562(C).
DISCUSSION
I. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review
¶ 18 We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-2101(B) (2003). We review de novo an order dismissing a complaint for failure to state a claim. Fairway Constr., Inc. v. Ahern, 193 Ariz. 122, 124, ¶ 4, 970 P.2d 954, 956 (App.1998). We will affirm such a dismissal only if “satisfied as a matter of law that plaintiffs would not be entitled to relief under any interpretation of the facts susceptible of proof.” Fidelity Sec. Life Co. v. State of Arizona Dep’t of Ins., 191 Ariz. 222, 224, ¶ 4, 954 P.2d 580, 582 (1998). We review de novo the interpretation of a statute. Open Primary Elections Now v. Bayless, 193 Ariz. 43, 46, ¶ 9, 969 P.2d 649, 652 (1998).
II. Summary of Holding
¶ 19 For the reasons stated below, we hold that, given the current unsettled discussion over when life begins in this context, it is best left to the Arizona Legislature, not the courts, to decide whether to include a three-day-old, eight-cell cryopreserved pre-embryo within the statutory definition of “person” under the wrongful death statutes. Accordingly, we affirm the superior court’s dismissal of the wrongful death claim. However, we also hold that the Jeters stated causes of action for negligent loss or destruction of the pre-embryos, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of a bailment contract, and therefore we reverse the superior court’s dismissal of those claims.
III. The Claim Under Arizona’s Wrongful Death Statutes
¶ 20 The superior court correctly held that under current Arizona law a cryopreserved, three-day-old eight-cell pre-embryo is not a “person” for whose loss or destruction the Jeters can recover under Arizona’s wrongful death statutes as interpreted in Summerfield v. Superior Court, 144 Ariz. 467, 698 P.2d 712 (1985). We decline the Jeters’ request to broadly interpret the term “person” under the wrongful death statutes to conception outside a woman’s womb. We do so based on Summerfield, general principles of statutory construction, the status of scientific knowledge concerning embryonic development, the ongoing discussion concerning when life begins, the unintended consequences that may result from such a judicial holding and case law from other jurisdictions. Given these factors and principles, we conclude that, subject to constitutional limitations, a decision to expand the definition of “person” for purposes of the wrongful death statutes beyond that stated in Summerfield is best left to the Legislature.
A. Summerfield and Arizona’s Wrongful Death Statutes
¶ 21 Arizona’s wrongful death statute provides, in pertinent part:
When death of a person is caused by wrongful act, neglect or default, and the act, neglect or default is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action to recover damages in respect thereof, then, and in every such ease, the person who or the corporation which would have been liable if death had not ensued shall be hable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person in-jured____
A.R.S. § 12-611 (emphasis added). The Arizona Legislature has not defined the meaning of “person” under the statute. In Summerfield, our supreme court interpreted that word’s meaning. Disapproving a prior decision that required a five birth for a fetus to be considered a person under the wrongful death statutes, the court adopted a more expansive view of the term “person” under the wrongful death statutes, holding it to include a viable fetus, meaning the ability of a fetus to live outside the womb. 144 Ariz. at 477-79, 698 P.2d at 722-24 (disapproving Kilmer v. Hicks, 22 Ariz.App. 552, 529 P.2d 706 (1974)).
¶ 22 In Summerfield, the plaintiffs brought a wrongful death action, alleging that their thirty-seven-week-old fetus was stillborn as a result of the defendant physician’s medical malpractice. Id. at 470, 698 P.2d at 715. The trial court dismissed the action on the basis that a fetus was not a “person” under A.R.S. § 12-611. Id. The supreme court reversed, holding that the term “person” as used in the wrongful death statutes “encompasses a stillborn, viable fetus” for which a wrongful death claim could be brought. Id. at 479, 698 P.2d at 724 (emphasis added).
¶ 23 Of particular import to this case is the supreme court’s restriction of its holding to only allow wrongful death claims arising from the death of a viable fetus. Id. at 477, 698 P.2d at 722. The court recognized that viability was still somewhat of an arbitrary line, but determined that it was a “less arbitrary and more logical point than the moment of birth.” Id. The court stated that one of the prerequisites for recovery under the wrongful death statutes “is the ability of the injured party to maintain an action if death had not ensued.” Id. at 475, 698 P.2d at 720. The court held that “the common law now recognizes that it is the ability of the fetus to sustain life independently of the mother’s body that should determine when tort law should recognize it as a ‘person’ whose loss is compensable to the survivors.” Id. at 477, 698 P.2d at 722. The court agreed with the Missouri Supreme Court that if “[b]ut for the injury” a viable fetus would have been born, thereby entitling the child to sue for his or her injury, the fetus is a “person” for purposes of a wrongful death action. Id. at 475, 698 P.2d at 720 (citing O’Grady v. Brown, 654 S.W.2d 904, 911 (Mo.1983)).
¶ 24 Unlike a viable fetus, many variables affect whether a fertilized egg outside the womb will eventually result in the birth of a child, see ¶ 46, infra. This makes it speculative at best to conclude that “but for the injury” to the fertilized egg a child would have been born and therefore entitled to bring suit for the injury. See, generally, Robertson v. Sixpence Inns of America, Inc., 163 Ariz. 539, 546, 789 P.2d 1040, 1047 (1990)(holding causation cannot be left to speculation). The absence of this prerequisite to “personhood” supports a conclusion that pre-implantation fertilized human eggs are not “persons” for purposes of § 12-611.
¶ 25 Other considerations which led to the result in Summerfield also support opr conclusion not to further judicially broaden the meaning of “person” under the wrongful death statute without express Legislative direction. The Summerfield court examined the Legislature’s goals in enacting the wrongful death statute and concluded that including a viable fetus in the definition of “person” furthered these goals. Id. at 476, 789 P.2d at 721. First, the court identified compensation to survivors for the loss of victims as a goal in enacting the wrongful death statute. Id. Second, the court recognized protection of a viable fetus as a legislative goal in laws concerning abortions and crimes. Id. In light of this overall legislative policy of compensation and protection of viable fetuses, the court construed the wrongful death statute as giving parents a remedy when their viable fetus is negligently killed. Id.
¶ 26 While allowing a parent to maintain a wrongful death action for loss of a pre-im-plantation fertilized egg may further the compensation goal, it would not further any protection goal advanced by the Legislature. Currently, no statute in Arizona protects fertilized eggs outside the womb in the way statutes protect fetuses and embryos implanted in wombs. See, e.g., A.R.S. § 13-1103(A)(5),(BXproviding a person commits manslaughter for knowingly or recklessly causing death of unborn child in womb at any stage of development by physically harming mother). Compare A.R.S. § 36-2301 (imposing duty on physicians performing abortions to maintain life of any fetus or embryo delivered alive). Consequently, and because parents may otherwise obtain compensation by filing other actions for loss of pre-implantation fertilized eggs, legislative policy would not be furthered by including such fertilized eggs within the definition of “person” for purposes of the wrongful death statute.
¶ 27 The Summerfield court also surveyed other jurisdictions and concluded that the common law “recognizes that it is the ability of the fetus to sustain life independently of the mother’s body that should determine when tort law should recognize it as a ‘person’ whose loss is compensable to the survivors.” Summerfield, 144 Ariz. at 477, 698 P.2d at 722. In the twenty years since Sum-merfield, most jurisdictions have limited the definition of “person” in wrongful death statutes to a point after the fetus is viable. See, ¶¶ 55-59, infra, and cases cited therein. Thus, the common law does not currently require “the growth and evolution” of Arizona’s wrongful death statutes to include a pre-implantation fertilized egg within the definition of “person” in A.R.S. § 12-611. See Summerfield, 144 Ariz. at 473, 698 P.2d at 718.
¶ 28 In conclusion, the Summerfield model of analysis yields a conclusion that a fertilized human egg outside the womb is not a “person” within the meaning of A.R.S. § 12-dll regardless of whether that fertilized egg constitutes human life or potential human life.
B. Principles of Statutory Construction
¶29 Principles of statutory construction also support our conclusion that the wrongful death statute does not encompass the loss of a cryopreserved pre-embryo. The ultimate goal of statutory construction is to give effect to the Legislature’s intent. People’s Choice TV Corp. v. City of Tucson, 202 Ariz. 401, 403, ¶ 7, 46 P.3d 412, 414 (2002). When seeking the intent of the Legislature, we first look to the plain wording of the statute. In re Adam P., 201 Ariz. 289, 291, ¶ 12, 34 P.3d 398, 400 (App.2001). If that language is unambiguous, we apply it without use of other means of statutory construction. Aros v. Beneficial Ariz., Inc., 194 Ariz. 62, 66, 977 P.2d 784, 788 (1999). However, when the statutory language does not make that intent clear, we construe the statute to ascertain that intent using a number of principles of statutory construction. Id. Each such principle relevant to the issue presented here supports our conclusion that this Court should not interpret the term “person” as used in A.R.S. § 12-611 as including a cryopreserved three-day-old pre-embryo.
¶ 30 As noted above, A.R.S. § 12-611 simply refers to a “person” without further explanation. As such, the statutory language is not clear whether the Legislature intended to protect such pre-embryos as persons for purposes of those statutes. Accordingly, we must apply various principles to determine the Legislature’s intent.
¶ 31 First, if the Legislature’s intent is not clear on the face of the statute, we look to see whether the Legislature has amended or recodified the statute following a judicial construction of the statute. If the Legislature has so acted, it is presumed the Legislature knew of the judicial construction and by amending or recodifying the statute without addressing that construction, approved of the judicial decision. Fisher v. Kaufman, 201 Ariz. 500, 502, ¶ 12, 38 P.3d 38, 40 (App.2001) (Legislature is presumed to know of court decisions interpreting statutory language and to approve those decisions when it retains the language.); Hause v. City of Tucson, 199 Ariz. 499, 502, ¶ 10, 19 P.3d 640, 643 (App. 2001) (Court will not presume Legislature intended to supersede supreme court’s interpretation of statute unless it did so explicitly or such a conclusion is clearly required by the language or effect of the statute; when Legislature reenacts statute without change, court presumes the Legislature adopted supreme court’s interpretation.) (citing Madrigal v. Indus. Comm’n, 69 Ariz. 138, 144, 210 P.2d 967, 971 (1949)).
¶ 32 The supreme court decided Summer-field in 1985. In 2000, the Legislature amended A.R.S. § 12-612 to address who can be a party plaintiff for a child. 2000 Ariz. Sess. Laws, eh. 182, § 1. Pursuant to the above rules of statutory construction, the Legislature knew of Summerfield, and did not amend any language in the wrongful death statute to address whether the Act applied to the death of a nonviable fetus, no less a cryopreserved three-day-old pre-em-bryo. Accordingly, we presume the Legislature approved of the supreme court’s construction of the term “person” to include a “viable” fetus.
¶ 33 Second, we must not construe a statute to reach an absurd result. Bilke v. State, 206 Ariz. 462, 464, ¶ 11, 80 P.3d 269, 271 (2003). A court must also consider the consequences of those constructions to see what light they shed on the proper interpretation. Walter v. Wilkinson, 198 Ariz. 431, 433, ¶ 10, 10 P.3d 1218, 1220 (App.2000). If this Court were to interpret the concept of “person” for purposes of the wrongful death statutes to include cryopreserved three-day-old eight-cell pre-embryos such as those involved here, a number of difficulties could arise. For example, it is unclear how long a pre-embryo can safely remain in a cryopreserved state. If the female donor decided she did not want another child, the clinic would be faced with the dilemma of allowing the pre-embryos to be irretrievably damaged by indefinite storage and face potential liability for a wrongful death.
¶ 34 Each of these principles of statutory construction weighs in favor of preserving the current test under Summerfield for a “person” for purposes of our wrongful death statutes — that of a viable fetus. Moreover, the special types of respect due embryos and pre-embryos can be met without the need to broadly expand the definition of “person” for the wrongful death statutes.
C. The Jeters’ Claim to Expand the Definition of Viability
¶ 35 Given the decision-making model utilized in Summerfield and principles of statutory interpretation, we could conclude that the Jeters’ claim for wrongful death of the pre-embryos fails as a matter of law. However, as the court made clear in Summerfield, 144 Ariz. at 473, 698 P.2d at 718, in the context of the wrongful death statute the courts should play an important role in the development of the common-law attributes of wrongful death actions, especially when the Legislature has not “occupied the field so fully as to preclude judicial development.” 144 Ariz. at 472-73, 698 P.2d at 717-18. The Jeters invite this Court to participate in that evolution, pointing out that the court in Summerfield relied in part on advances of scientific knowledge concerning embryonic development to expand the meaning of the term “person” in the •wrongful death statute. Id. at 473-77, 698 P.2d at 716-20. The Jeters contend that since 1984, when Summerfield was decided, knowledge of embryonic development and viability has advanced to the point where, as a matter of law, courts can and should broaden the meaning of “person” to include cryopreserved pre-embryos.
¶ 36 It is important to understand what the Jeters argue. Neither in the superior court nor in this Court did the Jeters claim that they had evidence to support a view that a cryopreserved pre-embryo fits within the definition of a viable fetus as discussed in Summerfield, that is, an entity which can presently survive to birth outside of the womb. Rather, relying on various treatises, the Jeters contend that medical science has so advanced since the supreme court decided Summerfield, that as a matter of law and statutory construction, this Court should expand the definition of a “person” articulated in Summerfield to allow wrongful death actions for the loss of cryopreserved three-day-old eight-celled pre-embryos because they have the potential to become viable. They contend those medical advances allow such pre-embryos to maintain “extrauterine” life via the cryopreservation process.
¶ 37 Particularly given the current scientific, ethical, social and legal controversy over when life should be considered to begin, we decline to so interpret the meaning of the term “person” in the wrongful death statute. Absent a specific legislative definition of “person,” we could decide whether a broader common-law interpretation of that term is legally appropriate. Summerfield, 144 Ariz. at 472-73, 698 P.2d at 717-18. However, as a matter of judicial restraint such a decision currently is best left to the Legislature subject to any constitutional constraints.
¶38 We decline the Jeters’ invitation for two reasons. First, their position broadens the definition of viability to a point of “potential viability,” whereas the court in Summer-field was using viability to mean the present ability of the entity to exist and fully develop to birth outside of the womb. Our understanding of scientific knowledge at the current time does not support a broadening of this legal definition to potential viability absent legislative direction. Second, such a broadening of the term “person” requires balancing of a number of other factors and societal interests best left to the Legislature.
1. Potential vs. Present Viability
¶ 39 The Jeters claim that given scientific advancements, courts should, as a matter of law, broaden the term “person” in this context to include pre-embryos. The Jeters do not contend that three-day-old, eight-celled cryopreserved pre-embryos can exist and develop into viable entities ex útero. Rather, they claim that it is the pre-embryos potential to become viable, if later implanted in a womb, which should govern our decision.
¶ 40 As a legal matter, this argument misstates the idea of viability. In this context, “viability” means that, once implanted in the womb, the embryo has reached a stage of development that, if it is taken out of the womb, it would be viable. Thibert v. Milka, 419 Mass. 693, 646 N.E.2d 1025, 1026-27 (1995).
¶ 41 Current scientific knowledge concerning embryonic development underscores the difference between a viable fetus in vivo and an eight-cell, three-day-old pre-embryo in vi-tro. Such knowledge is important to help guide, but not dictate resolutions of the problem. Maienschein at 10.
¶42 We summarize our understanding of the current state of knowledge of embryonic development not to dictate or prejudge any decision as to when life should be considered to begin for purposes of a wrongful death action. Rather, we do so to fairly respond to the Jeters’ claim that, as a matter of law, a court should re-interpret the wrongful death statutes to define “person” to include a cryopreserved three-day old, eight-celled fertilized egg. The following summary is taken from a number of sources, including Maien-schein at 256-62; Ronald M. Green, The Human Embryo Research Debates — Bioethics in the Vortex of Controversy at 6-8, 27-29, 42 (2001) (“Green”); Andrea L. Bonnick-sen, Crafting a Cloning Policy — From Dolly to Stem Cells at 20-25 & 69-71 (2002) (“Bon-nicksen”); James A. Thomson, Human Embryonic Stem Cells, in The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate (Suzanne Holland, Karen LeBaeqz, Laurie Zoloth, eds.) (2001) (“Holland”) at 15; Thomas A. Shannon, From the Micro to the Macro, in Holland at 178; Kiessling at 1055-65.
¶43 Traditionally an egg is fertilized by the combining of an egg and a sperm, which are collectively referred to as gametes. Once an egg is fertilized, whether in vivo or in vitro, it can be referred to as a one-cell zygote. After two to three days of division, the cells are blastomeres. At that time, the pre-embryo consists of eight cells, all of which are totipotent, meaning that any of the cells could develop into any type of tissue and could theoretically develop into eight separate fetuses. At four to six days, it is .1 millimeter in diameter, at which time the cells begin to separate and migrate.
¶ 44 If growth proceeds normally, the outer cells will eventually become the placenta and tissue supporting the fetus while the inner cells, called the inner cell mass, will become the fetus. At five to six days of development, it is called a blastocyst and consists of a hollow ball of approximately 100 cells. These cells are pluripotent, meaning that they have started to specialize but can still develop into various types of tissue. Scientists are still learning how the cells function at this point of development.
¶ 45 By the ninth or tenth day, if in vivo and if it has continued to develop, the blasto-cyst will implant in the uterine wall. At day fourteen, a critical development occurs — the creation of the primitive streak with three layers of specialized cells that will develop into all the fetus’ tissues and cells if development continues. At this point it has approximately 2000 cells; the groove or middle line reflects a head-tail and left-right orientation. By day 22 of normal development, the heart begins to beat, and, by day 40, some body parts are recognizable in primitive form. At eight weeks, if it has continued to develop, most of the organ systems have appeared.
¶ 46 As noted above, the occurrence of each of these events depends on the ability of the organism to continue to develop. This is problematic because the percentage of pre-embryos that develop into a fetus and a live birth is not high, regardless whether it is developing in vivo or in vitro, but it is significantly lower for cryopreserved pre-embryos. The President’s Council on Bioethics has estimated that, in 2001, only 32.8% of assisted reproductive technology fertilized organisms developed into a pregnancy if not cryopre-served. Only 27% led to live births. For cryopreserved pre-embryos, only 65% survived thawing and only 20.3% led to live births. Moreover, in 2001, 72% of all assisted reproductive technology transfers failed to lead to a birth. PCB at 29, 31-33 & 46.
¶47 Many pre-embryos are simply damaged during the treatment of the woman donor in preparing for the harvesting of eggs. Green at 56-59, 72-73. Some pre-embryos simply stop developing as early as the first two cell divisions. It is posited that the cessation of development may be a natural event to eliminate organisms when there is some inherent defect that would eventually stop further development into a fetus. Green at 9.
¶ 48 Our supreme court’s decision in Sum-merfield clearly provided that present viability is a prerequisite to recovery under A.R.S. § 12-611. As shown by the above summary of our knowledge of embryonic development, one- to eight-cell cryopreserved pre-embryos stored in straws are not presently viable at that stage of the reproductive process and are incapable of developing into children via an extrauterine process. The cryopreserved pre-embryos are not then viable, as required by Summerfield, 144 Ariz. at 475, 698 P.2d at 720. Rather, they only have a remote potential to become viable. As such, it is best left to the Legislature, not to the courts, to determine whether “person” in this context should include cryopreserved pre-embryos.
2. The Current Discussion Over the Beginning of Life
¶ 49 We also reject the Jeters’ invitation to more broadly define “person” in this context because such a decision would have important ramifications requiring the balancing of various issues and interests that are best left to the Legislature to consider.
¶ 50 The discussion over when society should consider human life to begin has existed since the at least the 4th Century B.C.E. Maienschein at 7-10. As Professor Maienschein explains, the ñatee of the disagreement has evolved as knowledge of embryonic development has advanced. Id. at 13-298. While the Jeters rely on several medical-legal texts to support their argument that human life begins at conception, those texts are only part of the discussion among scientists, philosophers, ethicists and the public as a whole on the issue of when society should consider life to begin. Most of these authors do not support the idea of expanding the concept to cryopreserved pre-embryos. To the extent any of them do, it is that very unsettled discussion that underscores the need for the Legislature, not the courts, to balance the various factors and policy concerns on this issue.
¶ 51 As explained by both Forsythe at 504-10 and Green at 22-25 and 63-66, there are various theories of what constitutes a “person.” One current analysis is to examine various subjective attributes including the capacity to feel pain, experience pleasure, survive and react to the environment. In contrast, various authors taking a developmental perspective consider implantation, develop ment of the embryonic disc at fourteen days of fertilization, sentience, viability and/or the existence of brain waves. The 1994 National Institutes of Health Human Embryo Research Panel took a pluralistic approach, examining the increasing possession of qualities that make respecting the entity more compelling. An opposing view contends a human being is created at the time of fertilization because at that time the embryo has an active capacity to eventually articulate itself into a human being. Forsythe at 474-78. The lack of any clear, generally accepted concept of when “personhood” occurs further supports leaving the decision as to further expanding the term “person” for wrongful death purposes to the Legislature.
¶ 52 Indeed, there are important societal interests which help fuel the current discussion concerning when life should be considered to begin. On the one side is the contention that there are benefits of utilizing human pre-embryonic material for stem cell research to diagnose and treat severe medical conditions, including infertility. This interest, however, is balanced against respect for human life. The balancing of these issues is not simply black and white, but a gray continuum. Most of the commentators recognize both the relative respect to which embryonic material is entitled and the value of using that material for scientific and medical research. PCB at 123-27 and 223-24 (noting value of embryonic material in stem cell research balanced against respect due embryos at least after fourteen days of development); Francois Baylis, Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Comments on the NBAC Report, in Holland at 53-4 (quoting the National Bioethics Advisory Commission 1999 Report that such organisms are to be destroyed only with good reason such as when necessary for research to develop cures for life-threatening or severely debilitating diseases when no less morally sound alternatives are available); Kevin P. Quinn, The Politics of Embryonic Discourse, 36 Conn. L.Rev. 1163, 1168 (2004) (“[E]arly embryos and nuclear transplants deserve respect ‘in virtue of the kind of entity they are.’ ”); Lebacqz, On the Elusive Nature of Respect, in Holland at 149 (discussing various concepts of respect and that scientists can show respect for embryonic material used for research by engaging in careful practices of research ethics).
¶ 53 It is the balancing of these two primary concerns that underscores the need for reasoned legislative, not judicial, decision-making as to the nature of a “person” under the wrongful death statutes. Indeed, it is exactly this balance that led the current President’s Commission on Bioethics to recommend that Congress prohibit the use of cryopreserved pre-embryos in research to those developed beyond ten to fourteen days after fertilization. PCB at 223.
¶ 54 We cite the above scientific and ethical authorities to reflect why, given the balancing of societal interests, courts should not expand the scope of the wrongful death statute absent legislative direction. It should be up to the Legislature and not the courts to consider and balance the competing interests and policy questions involved in whether to further expand the meaning of “person” beyond that explained in Summerfield and when to consider life as beginning.
D. Case Law from Other Jurisdictions
¶ 55 The Jeters also rely on cases from other jurisdictions to contend that, as a matter of law and without further legislative action, this Court should interpret the word “person” to include cryopreserved pre-em-bryos for purposes of the wrongful death statute. Consistent with Summerfield, the vast majority of jurisdictions have limited the definition of “person” in wrongful death statutes to a viable fetus in vivo. Forsythe at 498; Meade at 421-23. See also McClain v. Univ. of Mich. Bd. of Regents, 256 Mich.App. 492, 665 N.W.2d 484, 486 (2003) (non-viable fetus not a person for purposes of wrongful death statutes); Wiersma v. Maple Leaf Farms, 543 N.W.2d 787, 790 (S.D.1996) (noting that majority of jurisdictions hold that viability is element of wrongful death statutes); Thibert, 646 N.E.2d at 1027 n. 8 (same); Connor v. Monkem Co., 898 S.W.2d 89, 93 (Mo.1995) (same). We do not find persuasive the cases relied upon by the Jeters for their argument to have this Court expand the law in this area.
¶ 56 The Jeters contend that eleven jurisdictions now provide that viability of a fetus is not an element for a claim for wrongful death. However, none of these eases extends wrongful death causes of action to in vitro pre-embryos. Indeed, several of the eases the Jeters cite actually reject the Jet-ers’ position or hold a wrongful death claim may be made regardless of viability, but only if the fetus is born alive. Other cases relied on by the Jeters extended the cause of action to non-viable fetuses in vivo because the applicable wrongful death statutes specifically provided for such a cause of action, unlike Arizona’s wrongful death statutes. As noted above, our Legislature has only recently amended our criminal code to provide criminal sanctions for the death of a child at any stage of development in the womb. 2005 Ariz. Sess. Laws, eh. 188, §§ 4-7. It has not amended the wrongful death statute to provide for such a civil cause of action, let alone to an in vitro pre-embryo.
¶ 57 Two of the cases cited by the Jeters extended wrongful death actions to non-viable fetuses without legislative direction but required that the fetus be at some later stage of development in the womb. Porter v. Las-siter, 91 Ga.App. 712, 87 S.E.2d 100, 103 (1955) (wrongful death statute applied after quickening); Danos v. St. Pierre, 402 So.2d 633, 636-37 (La.1981) (on rehearing, permitting recovery for death of six-month-old fetus stillborn in woman’s womb if, but for the fault of defendant, fetus “more probably than not would have been bom normally”).
¶ 58 The Jeters place great emphasis on Farley v. Sartin, 195 W.Va. 671, 466 S.E.2d 522 (1995), which cited Summerfield in holding that West Virginia’s nearly identical wrongful death statutes permitted a cause of action for the death of a non-viable fetus. Id. at 534-35 (finding that viability was an arbitrary and unjust requirement to splice onto the definition of person; instead, a “person” under the wrongful death statute should begin at conception). However, the Farley court expressly limited its holding to allowing such wrongful death actions to embryos in vivo, and “declin[ed] to address the issues that may arise with advances in medical technology now enabling conception outside the womb.” Id. at 533 n. 3. Instead, the court found that the Legislature should resolve such issues. Id.
¶ 59 The Jeters mistakenly suggest that the Ninth Circuit endorsed Farley because it described Farley as “well-reasoned and thoughtful.” Santana v. Zilog, Inc., 95 F.3d 780, 785 (9th Cir.1996). To the contrary, the Ninth Circuit, applying Idaho law, declined to follow Farley, noting that the West Virginia Supreme Court was the only court to recognize a cause of action for a non-viable fetus without action of the state legislature. Id. The Ninth Circuit adopted the viability concept endorsed by our supreme court in Summerfield, recognizing that, with regard to wrongful death actions, numerous courts had used “viability as the dividing line for ‘personhood’ because it denotes the point at which the fetus, in essence, becomes a person, or a ‘separate entity capable of maintaining an independent action in its own right.’ ” Id. at 783 (internal citations omitted). The court found this test was particularly appropriate given that “the uncertainty of whether a pregnancy will culminate in a live birth is greatest at the beginning of a pregnancy. Thus, [courts] refuse to allow recovery because of the uncertainty and unpredictability of actions based on speculation that the fetus would have otherwise survived to viability.” Id. at 783-84 (citations omitted). This reasoning is even more compelling here because the pre-embryos were cryopreserved for possible future use and might never have been implanted in the womb, much less survive to a live birth.
E. Conclusion
¶ 60 We decline to expand the meaning of “person” in the wrongful death statute to include a three-day-old eight-celled cryopre-served pre-embryo. Such a decision is best left to the elected representatives of the people of Arizona, subject to constitutional restraints, not a court.
¶ 61 Our conclusion that, absent clear legislative direction three-day-old, eight-cell pre-embryos are not “persons” under the wrongful death statutes, does not mean that they are property. As noted by the Tennessee Supreme Court, relying on the Report of the American Fertilization Society’s Ethical Considerations of the New Reproductive Technologies, pre-embryos occupy an interim category between mere human tissue and persons because of their potential to become persons. Accordingly, such embryos are due varying degrees of special respect dependent on the issue involved. Davis, 842 S.W.2d at 596-98. We hold only that, for purposes of Arizona’s wrongful death statutes, a cryopre-served, three-day old pre-embryo is not a person.
¶ 62 This holding does not mean the Jeters are denied all causes of action for their loss. As the rest of this opinion explains, the Jet-ers may bring other types of actions for the allegedly wrongful loss or destruction of the pre-embryos. Those actions insure that tort-feasors may be held liable for their wrongful acts while avoiding judicial intrusion on the Legislature’s need to balance various competing interests in deciding whether to expand the breadth of wrongful death actions.
IV. The Claim for the Negligent Loss or Destruction of the Pre-Embryos
¶ 63 The Jeters assert Arizona should recognize a common-law claim for the negligent loss or destruction of the pre-embryos based upon both their right to control disposition and Mayo’s undertaking of a duty of care. In support of their argument, the Jeters rely on two Restatement provisions and cases from other jurisdictions recognizing causes of action for intentional and negligent harm to unborn children.
¶ 64 The cases relied upon by the Jeters provide us with little guidance. For instance, in Smith v. Borello, the court permitted a mother to recover emotional-distress damages for the loss of her nonviable fetus, but only as part of her own personal injury action. 804 A.2d at 1163. Similarly, in McClain, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that a mother who suffered a miscarriage of a nonviable fetus carried in her womb could sue for emotional distress damages but only because the miscarriage was a form of physical impact so that the loss of her pregnancy amounted to a personal injury. 665 N.W.2d at 486-88. Mrs. Jeter has not alleged that she suffered any personal injury as a result of the loss of the frozen pre-embryos.
¶ 65 The remaining published decision cited by the Jeters is also not on point. In Perry-Rogers v. Obasaju, 282 A.D.2d 231, 723 N.Y.S.2d 28, 29 (2001), the plaintiffs sought malpractice damages for the emotional distress arising from the defendant’s mistaken implantation of their embryos into another woman’s uterus, which resulted in a child being born and separated from them for four months after birth.
¶ 66 The Jeters next rely on the Restatement (Second) of Torts (“Restatement”) § 868 (1969), governing “Interference with Dead Bodies.” This section states that “[o]ne who intentionally, recklessly or negligently removes, withholds, mutilates or operates upon the body of a dead person or prevents its proper interment or cremation is subject to liability to a member of the family of the deceased who is entitled to disposition of the body.” They argue that this Court should recognize a right to control frozen pre-embryos similar to the right to control the disposition of dead bodies under Section 868 and allow them to maintain an action for emotional distress. The Jeters assert that such a quasi-property right is recognized in the few cases that have discussed custody issues involving frozen pre-embryos.
¶ 67 The two cases relied upon by the Jeters are distinguishable from this case, and neither allows for an emotional distress claim under these circumstances or adopts Restatement § 868 as the basis for such a claim. In fact, neither case discusses § 868. In Davis, the divorcing parties each sought custody of cryopreserved pre-embryos created during the marriage. 842 S.W.2d at 594. The Tennessee Supreme Court not only refused to equate cryopreserved pre-embryos with human beings (alive or deceased), it expressly noted that they were not persons for purposes of Tennessee’s wrongful death statutes but occupied “an interim category” between persons and human tissue. Id. at 594, 596-98. See also PCB at 223 (noting that cryopreserved pre-embryos at less than fourteen days of development should be accorded dignity). Accord Robertson at 446.
¶ 68 In York v. Jones, 717 F.Supp. 421, 424 (E.D.Va.1989), the plaintiffs asserted breach of contract and related claims seeking the release and transfer of their cryopreserved pre-embryos from one fertility clinic to another. The court specifically found that the plaintiffs could not pursue an emotional distress claim for the clinic’s refusal to transfer the pre-embryos absent some bodily harm to the plaintiffs or exceptional circumstances. Id. at 423 n. 2.
¶ 69 We have already determined that under Arizona law the Jeters’ cryopreserved non-viable pre-embryos were not “persons” for purposes of our wrongful death statutes. Therefore, a Restatement provision governing the right to control dead bodies is not pertinent to this case. While the Jeters are understandably distressed by the loss or destruction of their pre-embryos, Mayo’s alleged loss of them is not analogous to the negligent disposition of a deceased’s body such as to qualify the injured party to recovery under Restatement § 868.
¶ 70 The Jeters may, however, pursue a claim for the loss or destruction of the pre-embryos based upon Restatement § 323 (1965). This provision has been adopted as the law in Arizona, and provides:
One who undertakes, gratuitously or for consideration,[ ] to render services to another which he should recognize as necessary for the protection of the other’s person or things, is subject to liability to the other for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to perform his undertaking, if:
(a) his failure to exercise such care increases the risk of such harm, or
(b) the harm is suffered because of the other’s reliance upon the undertaking.
In addition to physical harm, the person undertaking the act may be liable under Restatement § 323 for resulting economic harm. Lloyd v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 176 Ariz. 247, 250, 860 P.2d 1300, 1303 (App.1992).
¶71 The Jeters have alleged that Mayo undertook, for consideration, the harvesting and storing of their pre-embryos, services that Mayo should have recognized as necessary for the pre-embyros’ care. Under the Restatement provision, the Jeters could maintain an action for harm resulting from the loss of “things.” Given the special respect due to pre-embyros, the Jeters are also able to maintain an action against Mayo for any physical or economic harm resulting from that failure to exercise reasonable care to the extent Mayo’s actions either caused the alleged harm, the loss or destruction of the pre-embryos, or increased the risk of that harm. Restatement § 323; Lloyd, 176 Ariz. at 250, 860 P.2d at 1303.
¶ 72 Arizona courts have adopted and applied Restatement § 323 in the medical malpractice context. See Thompson v. Sun City Cmty. Hosp., Inc., 141 Ariz. 597, 607-08, 688 P.2d 605, 615-16 (1984) (reversing judgment in favor of hospital in medical malpractice action for failure to give loss of chance of recovery instruction based on Restatement § 323). Moreover, as the scientific technology at issue is relatively new, it is not surprising that the Restatement provision has yet to be applied in this precise circumstance. Mayo has not presented any grounds why this provision may not serve as the basis for such a claim.
¶ 73 In their briefs to this Court, the Jeters interpreted Lloyd as precluding them from seeking one of their objectives — emotional distress damages for the negligent loss or destruction of the embryos. However, Lloyd did not address whether a plaintiff is allowed to recover emotional distress damages for a tortious loss of property. 176 Ariz. at 250, 860 P.2d at 1303. While a party cannot bring a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress based merely on the negligent destruction of property, a party can recover damages for emotional distress arising from the tortious loss of property if the emotional distress is unrelated to the pecuniary loss. Reed v. Mitchell & Timbar nard, P.C., 183 Ariz. 313, 318-19, 903 P.2d 621, 626-27 (App.1995). See also Thomas v. Goudreault, 163 Ariz. 159, 165-67, 786 P.2d 1010, 1016-18 (App.1989) (landlord’s breach of Landlord and Tenant Act permitted tenants to recover emotional distress damages for annoyance and discomfort of living in inadequate housing).
¶ 74 Jurisdictions are divided on whether persons in the same position as the Jeters may seek emotional distress damages for the loss of a nonviable fetus or embryo absent a personal injury to themselves. See generally, James L. Ishen, Recovery of Damages for Grief or Mental Anguish Resulting from Death of Child, 45 A.L.R.4th 234 § 8 (1986 and Supp.2004). Given the interim status of pre-embryos and the special respect they should be accorded in certain situations, Davis, 842 S.W.2d at 594, 596, we need not decide on this limited record whether the Jeters’ loss might entitle them to emotional distress damages. We leave it to the superi- or court on remand to determine whether, after further factual development, such emotional distress damages are recoverable.
¶ 75 Accordingly, the Jeters may sue under § 323 for the negligent loss or destruction of their pre-embryos.
Y. The Claim for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
¶ 76 In Count Three of their complaint, the Jeters asserted a claim for breach of fiduciary duty, arguing that Mayo had assumed fiduciary duties to “properly store, safeguard, secure, maintain or account for” the pre-embryos, and because they were “potentially viable human beings, the custody of the embryos were [sic] entitled to ‘special respect’ and [the] highest standards of care.” Mayo sought dismissal of this count on the ground that the medical malpractice act limits the grounds upon which an action may be maintained against a health care provider for services rendered and the breach of fiduciary duty claim was not one of the enumerated grounds under the statute. The superior court agreed and dismissed the count. We hold that based on the record presented, it was premature for the superior court to hold that the medical malpractice act bars this claim.
¶77 Section 12-562(A) provides that “[a] medical malpractice action shall not be brought against a licensed health care provider except upon the grounds set forth in § 12-561.” Section 12-561(2) states:
“Medical malpractice action” or “cause of action for medical malpractice” means an action for injury or death against a li censed health care provider based upon such provider’s alleged negligence, misconduct, errors or omissions, or breach of contract in the rendering of health care, medical services, nursing services or other health-related services or for the rendering of such health care, medical services, nursing services or other health-related services, without express or implied consent including an action based upon the alleged negligence, misconduct, errors or omissions or breach of contract in collecting, processing or distributing whole human blood, blood components, plasma, blood fractions or blood derivatives.
A.R.S. § 12-561(2) (emphasis added). The Jeters argue that these provisions are an unconstitutional abrogation of their right to recovery for breach of fiduciary duty in violation of the anti-abrogation clause of the Arizona Constitution. Ariz. Const, art. 18, § 6.
¶ 78 At oral argument in this Court, the Jeters stated that they had not sought to bring an action for medical malpractice. While they conceded it might be difficult to contend the storage of the pre-embryos was not related to the provision of medical services, the record is undeveloped on that issue. Mayo, on the other hand, properly conceded that if the loss of the pre-embryos was not the provision of health care services as defined by the statute, the medical malpractice act would not preclude the Jeters from suing under an alternative theory of liability.
¶ 79 Whether an action sounds in medical malpractice depends upon whether the conduct causing the injury consisted of “health care, medical services, nursing services or other health-related services” as defined by A.R.S. § 12-561(2). Whether the conduct is such a service depends on a number of factors, including whether the wrong involved the exercise of professional judgment in the treatment of the patient by health care providers or merely a failure to keep the hospital premises and equipment properly maintained. See generally Holly Piehler Rockwell, What Patient Claims Against Doctor, Hospital, or Similar Health Care Provider Are Not Subject to Statutes Specifically Governing Actions and Damages for Medical Malpractice, 89 A.L.R.4th 887 (1991) (collecting cases). Compare Harts v. Caylor-Nickel Hosp., Inc., 553 N.E.2d 874 (Ind.App.1990) (action based on patient’s fall from hospital bed was one for ordinary negligence rather than malpractice when failure of bed rails was neither part of diagnosis and treatment nor integral to the provision of medical treatment) with Putnam County Hosp. v. Sells, 619 N.E.2d 968, 971 (Ind.App.1993) (plaintiffs fall from recovery room table while under anesthesia was malpractice claim rather than premises liability claim because it involved allegedly negligent health care decisions to fail to properly train and supervise staff with regard to proper monitoring of such patients).
¶ 80 Accordingly, the medical malpractice act does not shield health care providers from all other negligence actions that may be brought against them; it simply delineates the contours of claims that may be asserted against them arising from alleged medical negligence. A.R.S. §§ 12-561(2) and - 562(A). By way of illustration, health care providers may still be sued for liability arising from an automobile accident or a hospital may be found negligent for a patient’s slip and fall in a hospital hallway. These are negligent acts that have nothing to do with the rendering of medical or health care-related services.
¶ 81 Applying the above principles, at this stage of the litigation, it is premature to discern whether the facts rise to the level of medical malpractice. For example, it is unknown whether the pre-embryos were lost, destroyed or given to the wrong parties, or how any of these events may have occurred. If the claim is grounded in Mayo’s negligent storage of the pre-embryos by non-health care personnel not using any professional judgment, it is arguably not a “medical malpractice” action governed by the medical malpractice act. A.R.S. § 12-562(A).
¶82 It is also unclear what interest the Jeters claim was harmed by the alleged breach of fiduciary duty. If the only interest claimed by the Jeters is their “rights” to the pre-embryos, presumably the medical malpractice act does not preclude such an action, especially if the storage and the cause of the alleged loss were not health care services as defined by the statute. Alternatively, if the interests the Jeters claim were harmed are Mrs. Jeter’s interests in her own healthcare, then the claim would presumably amount to one for medical malpractice. See Duncan, 205 Ariz. at 314, ¶ 32, 70 P.3d at 443 (actions for battery and for medical malpractice preserve distinct societal interests in the physician-patient relationship).
¶ 83 Depending on the factual basis for their claim and the interests they seek to protect, it is possible that the Jeters’ breach of fiduciary duty claim for the loss or destruction of their pre-embryos does not arise out of the rendering of “medical” or “health-related” services by Mayo. If so, such a claim would not be within the ambit of or barred by A.R.S. §§ 12-561(2) and-562(A).
¶ 84 Given the lack of factual development in this matter, we find premature the application of the medical malpractice act to the breach of fiduciary duty claim and the resulting dismissal of that claim.
VI. The Breach of Bailment Claim
¶85 The Jeters challenge the dismissal of their claim for breach of a bailment contract. Mayo argued that the Jeters did not have a written bailment contract as needed to pursue a breach of contract claim under the medical malpractice act. The medical malpractice act provides that “[a] medical malpractice action based upon breach of contract for professional services shall not be brought unless such contract is in writing.” A.R.S. § 12-562(C). Neither of the superior court's minute entry rulings expressly addressed this issue. By dismissing the Jeters’ action, however, the court implicitly found that the Jeters had failed to present evidence of a written contract sufficient to satisfy the writing requirement of the malpractice statute.
¶ 86 In response to Mayo’s motion to dismiss, the Jeters submitted three written agreements that they alleged evidenced a bailment contract between the parties. These agreements set forth the Jeters’ “Consent Regarding IVF [in vitro fertilization] Services” and “Consent Regarding Thawing of Cryopreserved Embryos.” They reflect an agreement by the parties that Mayo was to cryopreserve and store the pre-embryos for the Jeters’ subsequent use or other instructions as to their disposition. The Jeters also submitted a copy of their “Request for Transfer of Cryopreserved Embryo or Semen Specimens and Assumption of Risk,” which exhibited an obligation on the part of Mayo to deliver the ten remaining pre-em-bryos (in 4 straws) to the Jeters for their use at another clinic.
¶ 87 These documents, when considered together, sufficiently demonstrate a written bailment contract needed to withstand a motion to dismiss under A.R.S. § 12-562(C). See Nava v. Truly Nolen Exterminating of Houston, Inc., 140 Ariz. 497, 500, 683 P.2d 296, 299 (App.1984) (when personalty is delivered by another in trust for a specific purpose with an express or implied agreement, the property will be returned or accounted for when that purpose is accomplished, the transaction constitutes a bailment); York, 717 F.Supp. at 425 (cryopreservation agreement created a bailment contract).
¶ 88 Mayo argues that a consent form should not be seen as a written contract, no less a contract of bailment. While that argument may be correct in an ordinary consent form for performance of health care services, the consent forms here expressly reflected that the Jeters and Mayo were agreeing that Mayo would cryopreserve and store the pre-embryos. Thus, our decision that the storage agreements constitute a written bailment contract is limited to these particular circumstances.
¶ 89 This claim does not represent a conventional medical malpractice action. Such actions against professionals usually arise in tort, not contract. “As a matter of public policy, attorneys, accountants, and other professionals owe special duties to their clients, and breaches of those duties are generally recognized as torts.” Barmat v. John and Jane Doe Partners A-D, 155 Ariz. 519, 523, 747 P.2d 1218, 1222 (1987). An action against a professional sounds in contract only when “promises [are] expressly made or implied from conduct.” Id.
¶ 90 Here, Mayo expressly promised to store the Jeters’ pre-embryos, a “special contractual agreement” apart from any medical procurement of them. See id. at 524, 747 P.2d at 1223 (“Absent some special contractual relationship or undertaking between those in the professional relationship, ... a professional malpractice action does not ‘arise’ from contract, but rather from tort.”). As such, the Jeters are entitled to proceed with their claim that Mayo breached the bailment contract.
CONCLUSION
¶ 91 We affirm the superior court’s dismissal of the wrongful death claim. We reverse the court’s dismissal of the claim for negligent loss or destruction of the pre-em-bryos, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of a bailment contract. We remand this matter for further proceedings consistent with this decision.
PHILIP HALL, P.J., concurring.
. The Jeters referred to the fertilized human eggs at issue in this case as "embryos.” The word "embryo” comes from the Greek "embryon,” which has been variously translated as “thing newly born” and "young of any organism in an early stage of development." Lars Noah, A Postmodernist Take on the Human Embryo Research Debate, 36 Conn. L.Rev. 1133, 1152 (2004) ("Noah”). See also Jane Maienschein, Whose View of Life? Embryos, Cloning and Stem Cells at 25 (2003) ("Maienschein”) (explaining that the word may have derived from the terms "em" and "bryein,” meaning a “swelling inside).”
Use of the term "embryo" in this context is highly charged because of the discussion among ethicists, scientists, philosophers and the public generally about when a society should consider a human life to begin. Referring to a cryopreserved three-day old fertilized human egg as an embryo can imply that the egg is a "person”. The word that is used to describe the egg may significantly affect one’s perception of when life begins. Louis M. Guenin, On Classifying the Developing Organism, 36 Conn. L.Rev. 1115, 1121-30 (2004) ("Guenin”); Noah at 1152-54. See also Davis v. Davis, 842 S.W.2d 588, 594 (Tenn.1992)(on issue of status of in vitro pre-embryos, semantical distinctions are significant because language can confer legal status and inaccuracy can lead to misanalysis). Thus, while one view is that an embtyo comes into existence at conception, many scientists and ethicists posit that a fertilized human egg is not an embryo until at least uterine implantation and two weeks of development. Ann A. Kiessling, What is an Embryo, 36 Conn. L.Rev. 1051, 1088-89 (2004) ("Kiessling”); Noah at 1133, 1138-52; Maien-schein at 260-61. A number of ethicists and scientists have developed different names for human eggs fertilized outside the womb and not implanted in a womb, including "proto-embryo," "pre-implantation embryo” and "pre-embryo.” Kiessling at 188-89; Noah at 1138, 1147-54.
Analytically, it is not the name but the biological details of development that should help guide the discussion of when to consider that life begins. Maienschein at 260-61. Our analysis necessarily relies on the nature of embryonic development rather than a label. To avoid entering into the emotional discussion about when life begins, in this opinion we use the term “pre-embryo.” Our use of that term is meant to be neutral and not meant to demean or minimize the special respect which the Jeters and others claim for such fertilized, unimplanted eggs.
. Cryopreservation is a process that freezes the pre-embryos in liquid nitrogen and delays further cellular development so that they may be used at a later date. Because the process of harvesting and fertilizing eggs is expensive, ciyopreservation permits couples to "bank” them so they can attempt more than one transfer if an initial implantation is unsuccessful or the initial transfer is successful but the couple wishes to have additional children. During cryopreservation, the pre-embryos are stored in cryotubes (or "straws”) and remain frozen until thawed for subsequent use. President’s Council on Bioethics, Reproduction and Responsibility — The Regulation of New Biotechnologies at 29-30 (March 2004) ("PCB”).
. Mayo initially filed a notice of cross-appeal contesting the superior court’s denial of its mo tion for attorneys' fees. Mayo subsequently withdrew that notice, and this Corut dismissed the cross-appeal.
. Our conclusion as to legislative intent is implicitly supported by the Legislature’s recent amendment to the criminal code. In 2005, the Legislature expanded the definition of negligent homicide, second-degree murder and first-degree murder to include deaths of an unborn child "in the womb at any stage of its development.” 2005 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 188, §§ 4-7. This Court had held in State v. Cotton, 197 Ariz. 584, 587, ¶ 10, 5 P.3d 918, 921 (App.2000), that the homicide statutes did not apply to a fetus since the statutes did not refer to them. The 2005 statutory amendments supersede that holding.
We recognize that the Legislature has used the word "embryo” in other statutes unrelated to the wrongful death statutes. None of these uses supports the argument that the Legislature’s use of “person” in A.R.S. § 12-612 was intended to include a cryopreserved in vitro pre-embryo. E.g., A.R.S. §§ 36-2301 et seq. (requiring physician performing abortion in which a human fetus is born alive to promote and preserve the life of such fetus and prohibiting certain types of research on any human fetus or embryo resulting from an induced abortion). Section 36-2301 (2003) does not affect our decision because it is unrelated to the wrongful death statutes, does not define the word "embryo,” and appears to be limited to “embryos” in vivo by its use of the term "delivered alive." It also limited such research to embryos resulting from an induced abortion. A.R.S. § 36-2302(A) (2003). The federal courts have declared the statute void for being unconstitutionally vague. Forbes v. Woods, 71 F.Supp.2d 1015, 1020 (D.Ariz.1999), aff'd sub nom. Forbes v. Napolitano, 236 F.3d 1009 (9th Cir.), amended by Forbes v. Napolitano, 247 F.3d 903 (9th Cir.2000), and Forbes v. Napolitano, 260 F.3d 1159 (9th Cir.2001).
. Melinda Troeger, Comment, The Legal Status of Frozen Pre-Embryos When a Dispute Arises During Divorce, 18 J.Amer. Acad. Matrimonial Lawyers 563, 565 (July 2004). Compare PCB at 29 (citing one study that such preserved organisms can last 50 years or longer in a frozen state) with Davis, 842 S.W.2d at 598 n. 22 (as of 1990, maximum length of pre-implantation viability was two years although some authors claimed ten-year period).
. Given the lack of case law on the issue of the status of pre-embryos, it is appropriate to rely on legal and medical-legal treatises to address this argument. Davis, 842 S.W.2d at 590.
. Indeed, if one takes the Jeters’ argument to its logical extreme, cryopreserved sperm and unfertilized eggs should also be "persons” for purposes of the wrongful death statutes because they would become "viable” once fertilized.
. As Professor Maienschein points out in her discussion of the history of knowledge concem-ing embryonic development, erroneous pre-con-ceptions about science and medicine have often led to erroneous policy and to unjust implementations of that policy. She cites as a notable-example the belief in eugenics in the early 20th Century that eventually led to the sterilization of people with remedial disabilities on the mistaken belief that such disabled persons were imbeciles. Thus, the oft-quoted statement that sterilization of such disabled persons was necessary because "[tjhree generations of imbeciles are enough.” Maienschein at 103-07 (quoting Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 207, 47 S.Ct. 584, 71 L.Ed. 1000 (1927)).
. Physicians generally attempt to transfer the pre-embiyo to the woman on the second or third day after fertilization, or wait until the fifth day. PCB at 30.
. Other authors have come to similar conclusions. See Maienschein at 165 (more than one half of all fertilized eggs never get implanted for natural reasons or abort spontaneously); Reproductive Medical Associates of New York, LLP, Treatment Options: Embryo Cryopreservation, http://www. rmaofny.com/cryo.asp (last visited June 29, 2005) (nearly 50% of all cryopreserved pre-embryos do not survive thawing process); Bonnicksen at 23 (approximately two-thirds of embryos do not survive and most are lost in the first fourteen days after fertilization); Green at 37 (between 67% and 75% of in vivo fertilized eggs do not implant); Davis, 842 S.W.2d at 595 n. 19 (as of 1990, a pre-embryo in a petri dish, has only 13 to 21% chance of achieving actual implantation); Center for Applied Reproductive Science, Rationale for Cryopreservation, http://ivf-et.com/ tlc/fact_cryo preservation.html (last visited June 29, 2005) (pregnancy success rate using thawed pre-embryos ranges up to 30%).
. We recognize, as did the supreme court in Summerfield, that choosing viability as the point at which a fetus becomes a person for wrongful death purposes is arbitrary. 144 Ariz. at 477, 698 P.2d at 722. However, the Jeters’ contention that fertilization is a bright line test ignores the current discussion that fertilization itself is not a distinct event but rather a process of reactions. Kiessling at 1057-61; Ronald M. Green, Determining Moral Status, 2 Amer.J.Bioethics 20 at 20-22 (Winter 2002); Green at 27-29.
. Gary A. Meadows, Wrongful Death and the Lost Society of the Unborn, 12 J. Legal Med. 99 (1992) ("Meadows”); Daniel S. Meade, Wrongful Death and the Unborn Child: Should Viability be a Prerequisite for a Cause of Action?, 14 J. Contemp. Health L. & Pol’y 421 (1998) ("Meade”); John A. Robertson, In the Beginning: The Legal Status of Early Embryos, 76 Va. L.Rev. 437 (1990) ("Robertson”); Clarke D. Forsythe, Human Cloning and the Constitution, 32 Val. U.L.Rev. 469 (1998) ("Forsythe”). Some of these authors contend that viability as a test for when a person exists for wrongful death actions is arbitrary and provides immunity to a tortfea-sor. Meade at 441-49; Meadows at 112-14. Only one author contends that all aspects of developmental individuality for purposes of determining when an embryo is a “person” for civil and criminal liability is not "morally relevant [because] ... a human organism is present.” Forsythe at 506-13. None of the other authors calls for expansion of wrongful death actions to cryopreserved pre-embryos, and one of them notes that pre-embryos should not be considered "persons” but only granted special respect, noting the need to balance interests addressed. Robertson at 441-47.
. While the concept of viability for purposes of wrongful death statutes has been criticized, that criticism has focused in part both on the arbitrary nature of viability and on those cases that have adopted viability from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). Meade at 442-47. Even that call for a broader definition of person has been limited to fertilization within the woman’s womb. Id. at 447. The court in Summerfield expressly rejected abortion law decisions as a basis for its adoption of the viability test. 144 Ariz. at 474-78, 698 P.2d at 719-23.
. Other views include: Guenin at 1119-20 (Female donor should have right to decline intrauterine transfer of and donate in vitro embryo for medical research because once decision is made not to implant in vitro pre-embryo it lacks any developmental potential.); Thomas B. Okarma, Human Embryonic Stem Cells: A Primer On the Technology and its Medical Applications, in Holland at 1 (discussing value of embryonic stem cell research but noting that such cells are derived from embryos that many people believe carry moral status); Thomson (discussing value of embryonic stem cell research); Shannon, From the Micro to the Macro, in Holland at 177 (discussing value of embryonic stem cell research and noting that until about fourteen days of development blastomeres are not morally privileged by virtue of individuality or personhood; however noting that such embryos should not be generated for research); Keith E. Latham and Carmen Sapienza, Developmental Potential as a Criterion for Understanding and Defining Embryos, 36 Conn. L.Rev. 1171, 1171-74 (2004) (criticizing the use of terms such as pre-implan-tation embryos and arguing that a measurable potential for development beyond fertilization is a key concept in shaping the debate on treatment of embryos); Ernie W.D. Young, Ethical Issues: A Secular Perspective, in Holland at 163 (discussing the conflict between faith and reason on issue of when life begins and noting various criteria for determining the point at which embryonic material should be due respect); Maienschein at 144-50 (discussing the ethical issues presented by the first birth of a human from in vitro fertilization in 1978).
The importance of this discussion is heightened by the number of cryopreserved pre-em-bryos. One study shows that there are more than 400,000 cryopreserved pre-embryos in the United States, although only a small percentage had been donated for research. David I. Hoffman, et ah, Cryopreserved Embryos in the United States and Their Availability for Research, 79 Fertility and Sterility 1063 (2003). The President’s Commission has also cited that statistic. PCB at 124.
. Because of the division of the PCB on this issue, it stated that "[t]his recommendation should not be construed as silently endorsing (or opposing) embryo research at earlier stages." PCB at 223. While some PCB members opposed such research at any stage, others favored allowing research even beyond such point. See Personal Statements of PCB members attached as appendices to the PCB at 229.
The Arizona Legislature has enacted legislation barring state governmental funding of research involving human cloning but not pre-embryos. 2005 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 180.
. See Gentry v. Gilmore, 613 So.2d 1241, 1244 (Ala. 1993) (rejecting wrongful death action for miscarriage of non-viable, thirteen-week fetus); Smith v. Borello, 370 Md. 227, 804 A.2d 1151, 1155-56 (App.2002) (no wrongful death action for nineteen-week, non-viable stillborn fetus); Crosby v. Glasscock Trucking Co., Inc., 340 S.C. 626, 532 S.E.2d 856, 857 (2000) (estate of twenty-week, non-viable, stillborn fetus may not bring wrongful death action); Modaber v. Kelley, 232 Va. 60, 348 S.E.2d 233, 236-37 (1986) (denying wrongful death recovery because unborn child is not a "person” under wrongful death statutes). See also Thibert, 646 N.E.2d at 1027 (refusing to extend wrongful death statutes to non-viable fetus in vivo without legislative amendment; distinguishing Torigian v. Watertown News Co., 352 Mass. 446, 225 N.E.2d 926, 927 (1967), which extended cause of action to non-viable fetus if fetus was born alive); Nealis v. Baird, 996 P.2d 438, 454 (viability is not element if fetus was bom alive); Ladov v. Skrentner, 431 Pa.Super. 152, 636 A.2d 176, 182 (1994) (same); Group Health Assn., Inc. v. Blumenthal, 295 Md. 104, 453 A.2d 1198, 1206 (1983) (same).
. See Wiersma, 543 N.W.2d at 790 (statute provided for wrongful death action of a person "including any unborn child"); Connor, 898 S.W.2d at 93 (statute provided that human life begins at conception and unborn children have protectible interest in life with statutes to be construed to acknowledge all rights of unborn child at every stage of development); Smith v. Mercy Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 203 Ill.App.3d 465, 148 Ill.Dec. 567, 560 N.E.2d 1164, 1168-71 (1990) (statute provided cause of action for wrongful death of fetus injured after conception). Compare 66 Federal Credit Union v. Tucker, 853 So.2d 104, 114 (Miss. 2003) (wrongful death cause of action existed for non-viable fetus in vivo because statute provided for action for any person, and courts had applied criminal code with similar language to apply to death of non-viable fetus).
. Louisiana now defines an in vitro fertilized ovum as a "juridicial person” that may not be destroyed. La. Stat. Ann. §§ 9:123 (Supp.2004), 9:129 (1991).
. Mayo argues the Jeters abandoned their claim for "negligence — loss of irreplaceable property.” We disagree. The Jeters initially labeled count two of their complaint as "negligence-loss of irreplaceable property" but subsequently in the dismissal pleadings and the appellate briefs referred to it as a claim for "negligent loss of viable human embryos.” Regardless of the label attached to the claim, the substance has remained the same; the Jeters have consistently pursued a claim for the negligent loss or destruction of the pre-embryos and never abandoned count two of their complaint.
. The Jeters also cite an unpublished decision, Del Zio v. Presbyterian Hosp., 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14450 (S.D.N.Y.1978), that involved claims for conversion and intentional infliction of emotional distress for intentional destruction of unfertilized gametes. Our rules prohibit parties from citing unpublished decisions from other jurisdictions. Arizona Rule of Civil Appellate Procedure 28(c); Walden Books Co. v. Ariz. Dept. of Rev., 198 Ariz. 584, 589, ¶ 23, 12 P.3d 809, 814 (App.2000). Accordingly, we do not address Del Zio.
. Mayo asserts that this Restatement provision only applies to one who "voluntarily” undertakes an act for another. Yet, the Restatement provision clearly applies to one who also undertakes an act “for consideration.” Restatement § 323.
. Roman v. Carroll, 127 Ariz. 398, 399, 621 P.2d 307, 308 (App.1980) (damages are not recoverable for negligent infliction of emotional distress from witnessing injury to property).
. On appeal, the Jeters argue that to the extent the medical malpractice act bars this claim, it is unconstitutional. In interpreting a statute, we are not bound by the arguments of the parties if that would lead to an incorrect result. Lyons v. State Board of Equalization, 209 Ariz. 497, 502, n. 2, 104 P.3d 867, 872 (App.2005). Moreover, we should avoid addressing constitutional issues relating to a statute unless absolutely necessary to resolve a case. City of Tempe v. Outdoor Systems, Inc., 201 Ariz. 106, 109, ¶ 7, 32 P.3d 31, 34 (App.2001). Accordingly, we do not address the Jeters’ constitutional claim on this issue because the viability of their claim can be resolved on other grounds.
. The Arizona Supreme Court has held that subsection (B) of A.R.S. § 12-562 is unconstitutional to the extent it abrogates a plaintiff's action for battery, regardless of the fact the plaintiff could still bring an action under other theories of liability. Duncan v. Scottsdale Med. Imaging, Ltd., 205 Ariz. 306, 314, ¶ 35, 70 P.3d 435, 444 (2003).
. In light of our decision that the Jeters presented a sufficient written contract to satisfy the requirements of A.R.S. § 12-562(C), we need not address their argument that subsection (C) of the medical malpractice act is unconstitutional under the Arizona Constitution’s anti-abrogation clause. Outdoor Sys., Inc., 201 Ariz. at 109, ¶ 7, 32 P.3d at 34 (judicial policy is to avoid addressing constitutional issues unless absolutely necessary to resolve case).
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OPINION
BRAMMER, Judge.
¶ 1 Petitioner Lisa Nikont seeks special action relief from the respondent judge’s ruling denying her request in the underlying criminal proceeding for a change of judge pursuant to Rule 10.2, Ariz. R.Crim. P., 16A A.R.S. Nikont filed her request after this court granted her post-conviction relief, vacated her aggravated sentences, and remanded the case for resentencing based on our conclusion that the sentences had been imposed in violation of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004).
¶ 2 Because the ruling denying the request for a change of judge is not an appealable order, see A.R.S. § 12-2101, Nikont necessarily does not have “an equally plain, speedy, and adequate remedy by appeal.” Ariz. R.P. Spec. Actions 1(a), 17B A.R.S.; see Medders v. Conlogue, 208 Ariz. 75, 90 P.3d 1241 (App.2004). And, because the strictly legal issue is one of first impression and of statewide importance that may recur, see Medders; Fragoso v. Fell, 210 Ariz. 427, 111 P.3d 1027 (App.2005), we accept jurisdiction of the special action. But we conclude the respondent judge did not abuse his discretion in denying Nikont’s request for a change of judge and deny relief.
¶ 3 Pursuant to a plea agreement, Nikont was convicted of manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident causing injury, and driving under the influence of an intoxicant. The respondent judge sentenced her to concurrent, aggravated prison terms of twenty-one years and seven years, to be followed by a four-year term of probation.
¶4 Nikont sought post-conviction relief pursuant to Rule 32, Ariz. R.Crim. P., 17 A.R.S., challenging the aggravating circumstances on which the judge had relied. After the respondent denied relief, she petitioned for review in this court. This court granted relief under Blakely and remanded the case for resentencing. We issued our mandate on June 8, 2005, the superior court filed the mandate on June 10, and Nikont filed a notice of change of judge on June 15. The respondent judge denied the request at a status conference on June 17, relying on the last sentence of Rule 10.2(a) which states, in part, that “the right to a change of judge shall be inapplicable to ... remands for re-sentencing.”
¶ 5 Rule 10.2(a) provides that each side in a criminal case “is entitled as a matter of right to a change of judge.” A party exercises the right by filing a notice of change of judge within ten days of, among other circumstances, the filing of an appellate court mandate with the clerk of the superior court. Ariz. R.Crim. P. 10.2(c)(2). Nikont filed her notice within the time limit of Rule 10.2(c)(2). But Rule 10.4(a) provides that a party loses the right to a peremptory change of judge by entering a change of plea pursuant to Rule 17, Ariz. R.Crim. P., 16 A.R.S., as Nikont did. Nikont contends that, although she entered a guilty plea pursuant to Rule 17, she is nonetheless entitled to a change of judge as a matter of right under Rule 10.4(b) because this court remanded her case for a new trial. Rule 10.4(b) provides as follows:
b. Renewal. When an action is remanded by an Appellate Court for a new trial on one or more offenses charged in the indictment or information, all rights to change of judge or place of trial are renewed, and no event connected with the first trial shall constitute a waiver.
¶ 6 We remanded Nikont’s case for resen-tencing, contemplating she would receive a jury trial on the existence of aggravating circumstances in compliance with the holding in Blakely, not a new trial on any of the offenses charged in the indictment. In fact, Nikont did not challenge her convictions in the post-conviction proceeding; she challenged only the sentences. Accordingly, we reject her argument that her right to a change of judge as a matter of right was renewed under Rule 10.4(b).
¶ 7 We agree with the respondent judge’s conclusion that the controlling language is in the final sentence of the version of Rule 10.2(a) the supreme court adopted on June 8, 2004, that became effective on October 1, 2004. 208 Ariz. XLIV, XLVI-XLVII (2004). That sentence reads: “Notwithstanding the foregoing provision, the right to a change of judge shall be inapplicable to Rule 32 petitions for post-conviction relief or remands for resentencing.” Ariz. R.Crim. P. 10.2(a). Ni-kont’s case falls squarely within the latter restriction. That she may now receive a jury trial on the existence of aggravating circumstances is simply incidental to the relief we granted on review — the remand of her ease for resentencing.
¶8 Although our supreme court adopted the pertinent language in Rule 10.2(a) approximately two weeks before the United States Supreme Court decided Blakely, our supreme court did not change that language in the following months before the rule change became effective. Until informed otherwise, therefore, we presume the court did not believe Blakely required any change in the final sentence of Rule 10.2(a). Moreover, the court adopted the language after it decided State v. Ring, 204 Ariz. 534, 65 P.3d 915 (2003). In that case, in response to the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), our supreme court upheld the statutory changes requiring that a jury decide the sentencing factors in capital cases. Therefore, the supreme court was aware of the possibility of a jury’s involvement in resentencing when it included the new language in Rule 10.2(a). Had it intended to except those resentencing procedures that involved jury trials from the exclusionary language of Rule 10.2(a), it would have expressly done so.
¶ 9 Accordingly, although we accept jurisdiction of this special action, we deny special action relief and affirm the respondent judge’s ruling.
Concurring: JOSEPH W. HOWARD, Presiding Judge and PETER J. ECKERSTROM, Judge.
. In addition to arguing that the respondent judge abused his discretion in denying her request for a change of judge, Nikont argues that he exceeded his authority by ruling on the request himself rather than asking the presiding judge of the superior court to rule on it. Because we conclude Nikont has no right to a change of judge, however, we do not address the argument.
|
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OPINION
PELANDER, Chief Judge.
¶ 1 Jennifer G. appeals from the juvenile court’s order terminating her parental rights to her two children, Daniel, born July 27, 2001, and Alexis, born January 8, 2003. Granting a motion for summary judgment filed by the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES), the juvenile court severed Jennifer’s parental rights on the grounds of chronic substance abuse, A.R.S. § 8-533(B)(3), and the duration of the children’s court-ordered, out-of-home placement. § 8-533(B)(8)(a). On appeal, Jennifer challenges the use of summary judgment in contested severance matters on both statutory and constitutional grounds. In addition, she claims the length-of-time-in-care ground for severance pursuant to § 8-533(B)(8)(a) is unconstitutional. Alternatively, she contends the juvenile court granted summary judgment for ADES based on erroneous factual findings and legal conclusions. Because ADES failed to establish that there were no disputed issues of material fact and that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, we reverse.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶ 2 In August 2003, ADES took custody of the children and filed a petition alleging they were dependent, as defined in A.R.S. § 8-201(13)(a), because Jennifer was unwilling or unable to parent them, had inadequately supervised them, and had maintained an unsafe and unsanitary home environment due to her use of the drug crystal methamphetamine. The juvenile court later adjudicated the children dependent when Jennifer failed to appear for a hearing to contest these allegations. She never regained custody of Daniel and Alexis, who have remained in foster care or other out-of-home placements since their removal. In June 2004, ADES filed a motion to terminate Jennifer’s parental rights. In August 2004, ADES moved for summary judgment.
¶ 3 In support of its motion for summary judgment, ADES filed the affidavits of three Child Protective Services (CPS) case managers, along with several exhibits. Jennifer filed a response, her own affidavit, and several supporting documents. Through counsel, the children filed a reply, in which ADES purportedly joined. In reviewing the juvenile court’s grant of summary judgment, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellant. See Ancell v. Union Sta tion Assocs., 166 Ariz. 457, 458, 803 P.2d 450, 451 (App.1990). However, we consider as true those facts alleged by ADES’s affidavits that Jennifer did not controvert. Id. Applying these standards, the facts are as follows.
¶ 4 After removing the children from Jennifer’s custody, ADES sought her participation in an array of services. Among these were a psychological evaluation, random urinalysis, group and individual counseling through Southeastern Arizona Behavioral Health Services (SEABHS), Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings, and visitation with the children. ADES also offered Jennifer transportation assistance.
¶ 5 Dr. Todd Flynn, a psychologist who evaluated Jennifer in early October 2003, diagnosed borderline intellectual functioning and provisionally diagnosed dysthymic disorder and methamphetamine abuse. The dys-thymic disorder diagnosis was provisional because of the possibility that Jennifer’s drug use alone was responsible for her symptoms. The methamphetamine abuse diagnosis was provisional for lack of sufficient verification: Flynn was aware of only one documented use of amphetamines, which was insufficient to warrant a diagnosis of abuse unless it was “representative of a pattern of use that significantly impair[ed Jennifer’s] functioning.”
¶ 6 Between August 2003 and August 2004, Jennifer was expected to submit over 100 urinalysis samples; she submitted nine. Amphetamines were detected in eight of the nine urine samples tested, including one Jennifer had provided in May 2004, nine months after ADES had taken custody of her children.
¶7 Between September and December 2003, she participated in some of the individual and group counseling available to her through SEABHS. However, she did not attend any individual sessions after October. Although she attended several group sessions in October and November, the treatment provider documented her refusal to cooperate. In December, Jennifer attended two of the eight group sessions for which she was scheduled, and the treatment provider described her participation as follows: “Client does not listen, needs frequent refocusing and is deliberately disrupting or pouting in group.”
¶ 8 Lack of transportation sometimes hampered Jennifer’s ability to participate in services. Cathi Juanmijo, a CPS case manager, personally provided transportation so Jennifer could attend group counseling sessions with SEABHS. Sometime in December 2003, Jennifer told Juanmijo she had made other transportation arrangements but then stopped attending group sessions. In addition, Juanmijo later learned that Jennifer had not actually attended the group sessions to which Juanmijo had driven her, but had instead left the building after being dropped off.
¶ 9 Jennifer presented evidence that her participation in some services had exceeded that which ADES had alleged. The evidence presented by ADES showed that Jennifer had not obtained substance abuse treatment after December 2003, although SEABHS workers did have contact with her in February, March, and July 2004 in an effort to engage her in the program. However, Jennifer supplemented her response to the motion for summary judgment with exhibits that showed she had attended a total of six group sessions between April and June 2004. Similarly, ADES’s evidence showed that Jennifer had attended a total of eight AA or NA meetings in October and November 2003, but Jennifer’s supplemental exhibits showed she had attended seven additional meetings in November and December.
¶ 10 Jennifer was afforded opportunities for visitation with the children throughout the time they remained in ADES’s custody. During the first two months after their removal, Jennifer was offered daily visitation and visited the children about three times per week. From November 2003 to March 2004, she was offered either weekly or twice-weekly visitation. She visited a total of seven times, approximately one-third of the visits offered. In April and May 2004, she did not visit the children at all. In June 2004, after ADES had filed the motion to terminate her parental rights, Jennifer resumed more frequent visitation, seeing Daniel and Alexis six times over the following two months.
¶ 11 In May 2004, the juvenile court held a permanency hearing pursuant to A.R.S. § 8-862 to determine the children’s future status. At that hearing, the juvenile court found severance was the most appropriate permanent plan and ordered ADES to file a motion to terminate Jennifer’s parental rights. ADES did so and then filed the successful motion for summary judgment that gave rise to this appeal.
DISCUSSION
¶ 12 To terminate parental rights, a juvenile court must first find by clear and convincing evidence, A.R.S. § 8 — 863(B), the existence of at least one statutory ground for termination pursuant to § 8-533(B), and must also find by a preponderance of the evidence that termination is in the child’s best interests. Kent K. v. Bobby M., 210 Ariz. 279, ¶ 22, 110 P.3d 1013, 1018 (2005). Termination on the ground of chronic substance abuse required proof that Jennifer was unable to discharge her parental responsibilities “because of ... a history of chronic abuse of dangerous drugs, controlled substances or alcohol” and that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the condition w[ould] continue for a prolonged indeterminate period.” § 8 — 533(B)(3). To order severance on this ground, the juvenile court must also have found that ADES had made reasonable efforts to reunify the family or that such efforts would have been futile. See Mary Ellen C. v. Arizona Department of Economic Security, 193 Ariz. 185, ¶¶ 31-34, 971 P.2d 1046, 1052-53 (App.1999).
¶ 13 Termination of Jennifer’s parental rights on the alternate, nine-months-in-care ground required proof that the children had been in a court-ordered, out-of-home placement for at least nine months; that ADES had “made a diligent effort to provide appropriate reunification services”; and that Jennifer had “substantially neglected or wilfully refused to remedy the circumstances” necessitating the placement. § 8-533(B)(8)(a). Additionally, before ordering severance on this ground, the juvenile court was required to “consider the availability of reunification services to the parent and the participation of the parent in these services.” § 8-533(C).
¶ 14 We review the juvenile court’s entry of summary judgment de novo, see Sanchez v. City of Tucson, 191 Ariz. 128, ¶ 7, 953 P.2d 168, 170 (1998), applying the same standards the trial court should use. Schwab v. Ames Constr., 207 Ariz. 56, ¶ 17, 83 P.3d 56, 60 (App.2004). A court should grant summary judgment only when there exists no genuine issue as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(e), 16 A.R.S., Pt. 2; Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 46(D), 17B A.R.S. In determining whether genuine issues of material fact exist, a court must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the party opposing the motion. See Rowland v. Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., 210 Ariz. 530, ¶ 2, 115 P.3d 124, 125 (App.2005). Summary judgment is not appropriate when a trial judge must “pass on the credibility of witnesses with differing versions of material facts,” “weigh the quality of documentary or other evidence,” or “choose among competing or conflicting inferences.” Orme Sch. v. Reeves, 166 Ariz. 301, 311, 802 P.2d 1000, 1010 (1990). Mindful of the fundamental pa rental rights at stake in a severance action, see Michael J. v. Arizona Department of Economic Security, 196 Ariz. 246, ¶ 11, 995 P.2d 682, 684 (2000), we do not hesitate to apply these standards with exactitude.
¶ 15 Here, ADES’s own documents in support of summary judgment invited the juvenile court to make credibility determinations and established that Jennifer’s and ADES’s versions of material facts differed. For example, ADES’s statement of facts included this paragraph:
The mother continues to make excuses for her noncompliance with services offered by the Department. She claims that she tries to call SEABHS therapists and case managers but they don’t answer her calls. She claims that she can’t go to group counseling because the schedule does not work for her although she does not work or go to school or have any positive outside activities. It appears that she tells her mother that the [random urinalysis scheduling] system is not telling her to test when, in fact, she is required to test each week.
Viewed in a light most favorable to Jennifer, her claims about the service providers’ availability and her schedule could constitute her attempted explanation of why she was less than fully compliant with ADES’s expectations of her. That these claims were “excuses” was not an objective fact, but rather ADES’s characterization of her version of the facts derived from a negative inference about her credibility. In one of the case manager’s affidavits, ADES presented statements that similarly placed different versions of the facts and the credibility of the witnesses at issue:
After a court hearing on July 8, 2004, I met with Jennifer and her family. Jennifer stated that she did not go to SEABHS groups because the schedule did not work for her. When I asked whether she had contacted [a SEABHS worker], she stated she had but there was no answer. I then informed Jennifer that I was in frequent contact with [the SEABHS worker] and she had no records of Jennifer’s attempts to contact her....
I talked to Jennifer about drug testing. Sharon M[J, Jennifer’s mother, stated that Jennifer calls every day and they tell her not to go and that’s why she doesn’t go for tests. I told her that seemed strange as the [random urinalysis scheduling] system has not changed and she is to be taking tests each week.
¶ 16 The controverted facts set forth in the quoted documents were material to whether the alleged grounds for severance existed. Under § 8-533(B)(8)(a), ADES must establish that it made a “diligent effort” to provide appropriate services and that the parent “substantially neglected or wilfully refused” to remedy the circumstances causing the child’s out-of-home placement. In turn, a trier of fact must consider not only the parent’s participation in services, but also the availability of those services. § 8-533(C). Consequently, whether Jennifer had difficulty accessing services or communicating with the service providers were disputed facts that were material to whether ADES had established at least two elements of the nine-months-in-care ground under § 8-533(B)(8)(a). Those same disputes were also material to whether ADES had established under § 8-533(B)(3) that ADES had made reasonable efforts to reunify the family, see Mary Ellen C., 193 Ariz. 185, ¶¶ 31-34, 971 P.2d at 1052-53, and that Jennifer’s chronic drug abuse would continue for a prolonged, indeterminate period of time.
¶ 17 The juvenile court decided these issues in ADES’s favor on both grounds, but in so doing must have adopted ADES’s negative inferences about Jennifer and its positive determinations about the service providers’ credibility. Although a trial court will presume the truth of evidence favorable to the moving party when an opposing party fails to controvert it, the court may do so when only one inference can be drawn from that evidence. See Schwab, 207 Ariz. 56, ¶ 16, 83 P.3d at 60. Otherwise, the evidence and all reasonable inferences must be viewed in favor of the party opposing the motion, see Wells Fargo Bank v. Arizona Laborers, Teamsters & Cement Masons Local No. 395 Pension Trust Fund, 201 Ariz. 474, ¶ 13, 38 P.3d 12, 20 (2002), and credibility determina tions are inappropriate for summary judgment. See Orme Sch., 166 Ariz. at 309, 802 P.2d at 1008.
¶ 18 In addition to ADES having placed the credibility of witnesses at issue, Jennifer presented evidence in opposition to the motion that was sufficient under the facts of this case to show ADES was not entitled to summary judgment. In finding pursuant to § 8-533(B)(3) that Jennifer’s “chronic [drug] abuse will continue for a prolonged indeterminate time,” the juvenile court relied on assertions contained in several paragraphs of ADES’s statement of facts that the juvenile court found were material and “undisputed.” Among those was a paragraph stating that Jennifer had agreed on March 10, 2004 “to return to drug treatment,” but “had not participated in the program” as of May 11. Contrary to the juvenile court’s finding that this fact was undisputed, Jennifer presented exhibits showing that she had participated in more group therapy and more AA or NA meetings than ADES’s evidence showed she had, including four group-counseling meetings between March 10 and May 11. Notwithstanding the juvenile court’s oversight, we note that during the hearing on the motion for summary judgment, ADES did not dispute Jennifer’s evidence but argued, instead, that it was insufficient to create “genuine issues at law.” We disagree.
¶ 19 Whether and to what extent Jennifer participated in the rehabilitative services ADES offered her was material under both grounds upon which the juvenile court terminated her parental rights. Under either ground, a trier of fact must assess the sufficiency of ADES’s reunification efforts in relation to the parent’s capacity and effort to take advantage of any rehabilitative services offered. Such determinations frequently require the fact-finder to weigh evidence or assess credibility. Accordingly, even when there is general agreement about many of the underlying facts, summary judgment is nevertheless inappropriate if a trier, based on its weighing of the relevant factors, could draw different conclusions from those facts in light of the applicable legal standards. Cf. Nelson v. Phoenix Resort Corp., 181 Ariz. 188, 191, 888 P.2d 1375, 1378 (App.1994) (“Summary judgment is inappropriate where the facts, even if undisputed, would allow reasonable minds to differ.”); Shaw v. Petersen, 169 Ariz. 559, 563, 821 P.2d 220, 224 (App.1991) (although facts related to child’s near drowning were largely undisputed, summary judgment reversed in negligence action because pool’s dangerousness, parents’ level of responsibility, and reasonableness of homeowners’ conduct were factors to be weighed by jury).
¶ 20 Here, although it was undisputed that ADES had offered Jennifer a number of services, ADES failed to demonstrate whether those services had been appropriate. See § 8-533(B)(8)(a) (requiring agency with custody of child to make a “diligent effort to provide appropriate reunification services”); Mary Ellen C., 193 Ariz. 185, ¶ 34, 971 P.2d at 1053 (recognizing state’s duty “to undertake [rehabilitative] measures with a reasonable prospect of success” before terminating parental rights pursuant to § 8-533(B)(3)). In support of its motion, ADES submitted case manager Juanmijo’s affidavit, in which she referred to Jennifer’s psychological evaluation and stated, “[a]fter review of the evaluation, I determined that the services in place were appropriate based on Dr. Flynn’s recommendations.” In response, Jennifer stated in her affidavit, “I ... don’t think that CPS offered the kind of services that would really help me.”
¶21 “[A]ffidavits that only set forth ultimate facts or conclusions of law can neither support nor defeat a motion for summary judgment.” Florez v. Sargeant, 185 Ariz. 521, 526, 917 P.2d 250, 255 (1996). Here, the ease manager’s opinion was almost as eonelusory and nonspecific as Jennifer’s, differing only in the ease manager’s reliance on Flynn’s evaluation. But his evaluation, having been completed only six weeks after ADES had taken custody of Jennifer’s children, tended to raise questions of fact on the issue of whether ADES ultimately offered Jennifer appropriate rehabilitative services. For example, Flynn wrote:
[A]ll parties should understand that the Borderline Intellectual functioning leaves [Jennifer] with a limited capacity for abstract thinking, impaired reading compre hension and low-level receptive vocabulary (the ability to understand what is said to her[).] As intelligence goes down, concrete thinking goes up. I doubt that [Jennifer] will benefit at all from general descriptions of what she needs to do. She would do much better with a concrete list of simplistic goals to accomplish. In teaching her the skills of parenting, she will need to be shown what to do, told what to do, and modeled what [to do] and that process will need to be repeated over and over until it is [i]ngrained as a habit.
Accordingly, in concluding that the services ADES had offered were appropriate and deciding, implicitly, that they had a reasonable prospect for success, see Mary Ellen C., 193 Ariz. 185, ¶ 34, 971 P.2d at 1053, the juvenile court must have placed greater weight on the ease manager’s opinion than Jennifer’s. But on a motion for summary judgment, a trial court may not weigh the evidence. See Orme Sch., 166 Ariz. at 311, 802 P.2d at 1010. Because the manner in which the parties presented the case required the juvenile court to weigh the evidence on a disputed issue of material fact, the court should not have entered summary judgment.
¶22 We acknowledge that in opposing ADES’s motion, Jennifer did little to advance her cause. Rule 56(c)(2), Ariz. R. Civ. P., requires the opponent of a motion for summary judgment to “specify[] those paragraphs in the moving party’s statement of facts which are disputed.” Jennifer did not do that. An opponent must also set forth those facts that establish a genuine issue of material fact or otherwise preclude summary judgment. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(2). Many of the facts Jennifer presented pertained to disputes that had already been decided, including facts relevant to the propriety of removing the children from her custody initially and to the subsequent adjudication of dependency. Jennifer had previously had an opportunity to litigate those issues, and the facts relevant to them did not necessarily bear upon whether grounds for severance existed. Finally, a party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment “must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(e), 16 A.R.S., Pt. 2. Jennifer’s assertions controverting ADES’s claims tended to be more general than specific. For example, in her affidavit, Jennifer stated:
I did attend some of the programs Child Protective Services asked me to go to. I was unable to go to other programs. One reason was that I did not have adequate transportation.
____I am not on drugs. I can provide adequate parenting care and control to my children until they’re age 18.
In addition, she asserted in her statement of facts that one exhibit, consisting of notes made by a parent aide during Jennifer’s supervised visits with the children, “shows appropriate behavior and shows that [Jennifer] has the necessary skills to parent her two children.”
¶ 23 Despite these deficiencies in form, we find Jennifer’s opposition, when coupled with the questions of fact raised by some of ADES’s own documents, sufficiently demonstrated the existence of genuine, material factual disputes, and we disagree with the juvenile court’s apparent conclusion that the “quantum of evidence” was so slight here as to justify denying Jennifer a trial. Though Jennifer might be unlikely to prevail at a trial on the merits, ADES was not entitled to summary judgment because material issues of fact could not be resolved without credibility determinations and weighing of evidence, matters peculiarly and exclusively for a trier of fact. Moreover, when, as here, a clear and convincing evidence standard applies, the inquiry on summary judgment is “whether the evidence presented is such that a jury applying that evidentiary standard could reasonably find for either plaintiff or defendant.” Orme Sch., 166 Ariz. at 308, 802 P.2d at 1007. Drawing all reasonable inferences in Jennifer’s favor, a reasonable trier of fact could determine that ADES failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that grounds existed to terminate her parental rights pursuant to § 8-533(B)(3) or (B)(8)(a). The juvenile court’s entry of summary judgment was therefore erroneous.
¶ 24 In light of our ruling, we do not reach Jennifer’s claim that the ground for termination under § 8-533(B)(8)(a) is unconstitutional. See Little v. All Phoenix S. Cmty. Mental Health Ctr., Inc., 186 Ariz. 97, 101, 919 P.2d 1368, 1372 (App.1995) (appellate court should refrain from ruling on constitutional questions when other principles of law are controlling and matter can be decided on nonconstitutional grounds). Nor do we address her related claims that the use of summary judgment as a vehicle to accomplish the termination of her parental rights is unconstitutional, was not authorized by statute or court rule, or violated her statutory right to a jury trial under A.R.S. § 8-223. Id. Finally, we need not address her claims concerning whether termination was in the children’s best interests.
CONCLUSION
¶ 25 ADES failed to establish below that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, we reverse the juvenile court’s order terminating Jennifer’s parental rights to Daniel and Alexis, and we remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this decision.
Concurring: PHILIP G. ESPINOSA, Presiding Judge and PETER J. ECKERSTROM, Judge.
. The identity of the children’s father or fathers is unknown. The parental rights of John Doe or any man claiming paternity of Daniel or Alexis were terminated on November 9, 2004.
. Rule 56(e), Ariz. R. Civ. P„ 16 A.R.S., Pt. 2, requires that supporting or opposing affidavits “be made on personal knowledge,” "set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence,” and "show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated.” In addition, Rule 56(e) requires that ”[s]worn or certified” copies of any papers referred to in an affidavit be attached or served with the affidavit. The parties here did not uniformly comply with these requirements. In fact, ADES asserted below that the factual basis for its motion was set forth in some of the unsworn, uncertified docu-mentaiy exhibits it filed, which ADES claimed constituted admissible evidence pursuant to Rule 45, Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct., 17B A.R.S. Rule 45 provides that protective services workers’ reports and certain written evaluations are admissible in evidence at dependency hearings when such documents are properly disclosed and their authors are available for cross-examination. We question ADES’s reliance on Rule 45 in a summary proceeding for termination of parental rights, but that issue is not before us-no party objected to the affidavits or supporting materials of any other party. Therefore, any error in the juvenile court’s consideration of them was waived. See Ancell v. Union Station Assocs., 166 Ariz. 457, 460, 803 P.2d 450, 453 (App.1990).
. Section 8 — 533(B)(3), A.R.S., permits the termination of parental rights on the basis of either a parent's mental illness or deficiency or a parent’s "history of chronic abuse of dangerous drugs, controlled substances or alcohol." In Mary Ellen C., the state had sought and the juvenile court had granted an order terminating the mother's parental rights on the ground that the mother ' suffered from a mental illness or deficiency, rather than, as here, chronic drug abuse. The court found that the state’s duty to make reasonable reunification efforts before terminating parental rights was inherently required by § 8-533(B)(3) and had a constitutional basis as well. The implicit requirement of § 8-533(B)(3) that the condition from which the parent suffers " 'be proven not to be amenable to rehabilitative services’ ” is equally applicable when the state seeks severance on the ground of substance abuse. See Steven K. v. Ariz. Dep't of Econ. Sec., 210 Ariz. 483, ¶ 24, 113 P.3d 1240, 1247 (App.2005), quoting Mary Ellen C., 193 Ariz. 185, ¶ 31, 971 P.2d at 1052. We see no reason why the constitutional underpinnings of the state’s obligation to undertake reasonable rehabilitative measures, as articulated in Mary Ellen C., would not also apply in substance abuse cases. See Mary Ellen C., 193 Ariz. 185, ¶ 32, 971 P.2d at 1052.
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OPINION
JONES, Justice.
¶ 1 Daniel Juarez, a Maricopa County merit system employee, worked as a detention officer at the Madison Street Jail. He also worked in an extra-duty capacity as an employee of the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office (the “MCSO”), assigned to work at the Gran Mercado Swap Meet in Phoenix. During the evening of February 11, 2001, two individuals were arrested at the swap meet on suspicion of criminal activity and brought to the sheriffs field office. Juarez, assisted by a deputy sheriff, took the two detainees to the sheriffs transport van.
¶ 2 Each detainee was handcuffed in front, with a separate pair of handcuffs connecting the two. The first entered the van, but the second resisted and began yelling and swearing at Juarez. Juarez grabbed the detainee by his shirt and pushed him into the van, prompting the detainee to kick Juarez in the upper thigh and groin area. The detainee continued to yell and swear at him. Juarez then lost composure and struck the detainee four to five times with a closed fist. He aimed for the face.
¶ 3 As Juarez threw the punches, the deputy grabbed Juarez’ arm, attempting to restrain him both verbally and physically. Juarez pulled his arm away and struck at the detainee at least two more times.
¶ 4 Based on this incident, the MCSO terminated Juarez’ employment. Although Juarez had been disciplined in 1995 for using excessive force on an inmate, MCSO did not rely on the earlier incident in imposing discipline. The discipline, based on undisputed facts, was consistent with MCSO policy and practice that an employee who strikes a physically restrained detainee is subject to discipline up to and including discharge.
¶ 5 Juarez appealed the termination decision to the Maricopa County Employee Merit System Commission (the “Commission”) which, after an adversary proceeding before a hearing officer who made recommendations, concluded that some measure of discipline was appropriate, but that termination from employment was disproportionate to the offense of striking a handcuffed detainee. The Commission also disagreed with the MCSO’s determination that Juarez’ past employment record was unimportant.
¶ 6 The Commission reversed Juarez’ termination, reinstated him to his position, and reduced discipline to a fifteen-day suspension. The MCSO appealed to the superior court, which, in its appellate capacity, affirmed the Commission’s decision. The MCSO then appealed to the court of appeals which, in a 2-1 memorandum decision, affirmed the judgment of the superior court, citing deference to the Commission’s decision as the standard of review. The MCSO then petitioned for review in this Court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5(3), of the Arizona Constitution, Rule 23 of the Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure, and Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-120.24.
I.
¶ 7 We granted review to clarify the role of the Maricopa County Employee Merit System Commission when a merit system employee challenges a disciplinary action taken by the employee’s appointing authority. In today’s opinion, we define the standard of review by which the Commission, a quasi-judicial, fact-finding body, must process appeals in cases that involve employee discipline.
¶ 8 The employer, referred to in the statute as the “appointing authority,” is authorized to take disciplinary action against merit system employees by written order stating the reasons for the action. A.R.S. § 11-356(A); see Pima County v. Pima County Merit Sys. Comm’n, 186 Ariz. 379, 381, 923 P.2d 845, 847 (App.1996) (“Logan ”). An employee dissatisfied with the decision of the appointing authority may appeal to the Commission, A.R.S. § 11-356(B), whose authority under the statute is broadly stated as the power to “affirm, modify or revoke the order.” A.R.S. § 11 — 356(C).
¶ 9 Following a hearing in which evidence is presented de novo, the duty of the Commission is to apply the correct standard under which the ease must be reviewed. While § 11-356(C) grants the Commission broad authority (“affirm, modify or revoke”), the statute is silent as to the standard of review to be applied in appeals to the Commission.
¶ 10 Because the statute is silent, we turn to the rules of procedure adopted by Maricopa County to be applied in all Commission proceedings. Rule 10.16 of the Maricopa County Employee Merit System Rules sets forth a standard of review that restricts the Commission’s remedial powers to cases in which the action appealed from was “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause.” That standard, applicable to the Maricopa County Commission, was unchallenged by any party to these proceedings.
II.
¶ 11 In the instant case, the Commission acknowledged the Rule 10.16 standard — “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause”— but strayed from its proper application. It reduced Juarez’ termination to a fifteen-day suspension on the basis that discipline is necessarily “arbitrary and capricious” if it is “so greatly disproportionate to the offense ... that it is shocking to one’s sense of fairness.” Merit Commission’s Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order at 17.
¶ 12 The “shocking” standard, based on perceived disproportionality between the seriousness of the offense and the severity of punishment, is not found in any statute or rule in Arizona and appears to have been a creation of court decisions. The dilemma this standard presents is that to determine whether a disciplinary order is “shocking to one’s sense of fairness” calls for subjective analysis, effectively engaging the Commission in a determination of the appropriateness of a disciplinary action as measured against the seriousness of the offense, thereby opening the door to a substitution of the Commission’s judgment for that of the MCSO. In contrast, Rule 10.16, given its plain meaning, creates an objective standard, requiring the employer’s discipline be upheld unless “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause.” Rule 10.16 limits the Commission to a deferential role, requiring a determination within fixed legal parameters. Properly stated, the Commission’s role is strictly an objective one. It requires deference to the appointing authority’s decision in all cases in which the appointing authority has complied with the Rule 10.16 standard. Disposition of this case therefore depends on a correct understanding of what the Rule 10.16 standard is, and how it should be applied.
III.
¶ 13 By way of background, we note that the Commission’s initial task is to create a record and to ascertain the facts. Generally, the employer must prove the essential facts warranting discipline by a preponderance of the evidence. The disciplined employee, of course, is entitled to challenge any or all factual assertions through his or her own evidence. When it is determined from the evidence that some level of discipline is warranted, the Commission then reviews the action taken by the appointing authority, not in a broad context requiring that the severity of discipline be measured against the seriousness of the offense, but in a narrow and deferential context under a Rule 10.16 analysis, whether the action, viewed objectively, was “arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause.”
¶ 14 The terms “arbitrary” and “without reasonable cause” have been defined in our jurisprudence. In Arizona, “arbitrary action” has been characterized as “unreasoning action, without consideration and in disregard of the facts and circumstances.” Pima County v. Pima County Merit Sys. Comm’n, 189 Ariz. 566, 568, 944 P.2d 508, 510 (App. 1997) (“Mathis ”) (quoting Tucson Pub. Sch. Dist. No. 1 of Pima County v. Green, 17 Ariz.App. 91, 94, 495 P.2d 861, 864 (1972) (“Green”)). An “arbitrary” action is one taken “capriciously or at pleasure,” or an action taken “without adequate determining principle.” Black’s Law Dictionary 104 (6th ed.1990). Similarly, the phrase “without reasonable cause” indicates the lack of evidence sufficiently strong to justify a reasonable person in the belief that the acts charged are true. See Mathis, 189 Ariz. at 568, 944 P.2d at 510 (“If the Merit Commission determines the evidence does not support the charge giving rise to the action taken, it must revoke the [disciplinary] order because the action taken was arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause.”).
¶ 15 Both terms — “arbitrary” and “without reasonable cause” — require analysis by reference to these governing principles. The role of the Commission is thus limited as a matter of law. The Rule 10.16 standard does not permit the Commission to substitute its independent judgment simply on the belief that a reduced level of discipline would be more appropriate to the offense.
¶ 16 By imposing a fifteen-day suspension, the Commission obviously believed that some discipline was justified. That being the case, if the discipline originally imposed falls within the permissible range, it would be unlikely the action could be seen as arbitrary. Ariz. Dep’t of Corr. v. State Pers. Bd., 202 Ariz. 598, 600, ¶ 10, 48 P.3d 1208, 1210 (App.2002). Similarly, if the record contains credible evidence, either by admission or by sufficient proof, that the employee in fact committed acts warranting some level of discipline, it can scarcely be said that discipline within the permissible range was taken without reasonable cause.
¶ 17 Admittedly, reasonable minds may differ on the appropriateness of one discipline over another. That people may differ, however, bolsters the notion that discipline, initially imposed within standards and policies set by the appointing authority, should not be disturbed merely because a reviewing body sees it as disproportionate. In an earlier case, the court of appeals correctly explained the proper role of an administrative commission when providing review of an agency decision:
In determining whether an administrative agency has abused its discretion by acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner, we review the record to determine whether there has been ‘unreasoning action, without consideration and in disregard for facts and circumstances; where there is room for two opinions, the action is not arbitrary or capricious if exercised honestly and upon due consideration, even though it may be believed that an erroneous conclusion has been reached.’
Maricopa County v. Gottsponer, 150 Ariz. 367, 372, 723 P.2d 716, 721 (App.1986) (quoting Petras v. Ariz. State Liquor Bd., 129 Ariz. 449, 452, 631 P.2d 1107, 1110 (App.1981) and Green, 17 Ariz.App. at 94, 495 P.2d at 864).
¶ 18 The court of appeals majority in the instant case relied on Gottsponer. There, a nurse employed at the Maricopa Medical Center was demoted and placed on a six-month performance review cycle. 150 Ariz. at 368-69, 723 P.2d at 717-18. On appeal, the Commission reduced the nurse’s discipline to a two-day suspension. Id. at 369, 723 P.2d at 718. The superior court affirmed the Commission’s order. Id. at 369-70, 723 P.2d at 718-19.
¶ 19 The court of appeals reversed and reinstated the employer’s disciplinary order, correctly pointing out that the duty of the Commission is not to substitute its own judgment, but only to determine whether the appointing agency had abused its discretion by acting arbitrarily or unreasonably. Id. at 370, 373, 723 P.2d at 719, 722.
¶ 20 Although the result in Gottsponer appears to be correct, the opinion contains the language of the “shocking to one’s sense of fairness” standard that has led to confusion in subsequent decisions:
[Wjhere the finding of guilt is confirmed and punishment has been imposed, the test is whether such punishment is ‘so disproportionate to the offense, in the light of all the circumstances, as to be shocking to one’s sense of fairness.’
Id. at 372, 723 P.2d at 721 (quoting Petras, 129 Ariz. at 452, 631 P.2d at 1107, and 17 Cameron St. Rest. Corp. v. N.Y. State Liquor Auth., 48 N.Y.2d 509, 423 N.Y.S.2d 876, 399 N.E.2d 907, 909 (1979)). Viewed in context, this language was most likely an imprecise attempt at further defining the “arbitrary and without reasonable cause” standard. That imprecision, while well intentioned, has unfortunately led to the Commission decision we review today, where the Commission in effect held, applying the “shocking” standard, that its collective sense of fairness could be substituted for that of the appointing authority.
¶ 21 The standard, “shocking to one’s sense of fairness,” is not the test under Rule 10.16. Indeed, that standard conflicts with the rule in that it permits analysis by the Commission based on perceived dispropor-tionality without deference to the appointing authority. Rule 10.16, on the other hand, is narrowly tailored and creates a standard that requires deference. The “shocking” stan dard, when applied as part of the Rule 10.16 analysis, effectively encourages the Commission to review the employer’s discipline from its own perspective when the penalty happens to bother the individual consciences of Commission members. Such review process is inconsistent with Rule 10.16. Thus, to the extent Gottsponer and its progeny are inconsistent with the rationale of today’s opinion, we disapprove of those decisions.
IV.
¶ 22 The MCSO’s discipline of Juarez fell within the permissible range set by its disciplinary policy and there was evidence to support it. There is no contention that the discipline was different from that imposed on similarly situated employees, nor can it be suggested that the discipline is so unreasonably disproportionate to the offense as to be arbitrary or without reasonable cause. The determination was made on the basis that Juarez lacked the self-restraint needed to work in close proximity to detainees. When an officer is unwilling or unable to use sound judgment concerning the level of force required to maintain control of restrained detainees, the employer has discretion to impose discipline and to select the appropriate level. When that determination is made, the Commission, given Rule 10.16, may not then invoke the “shocking” standard that permits an independent judgment on the basis of disproportionality between the level of discipline and the seriousness of the offense.
¶23 We therefore hold that the Commission erred as a matter of law when it reversed the MCSO’s dismissal of Juarez. We further hold that disciplinary appeals brought to the Commission in Maricopa County are to be reviewed under Rule 10.16 without reference to the standard, “shocking to one’s sense of fairness.”
DISPOSITION
¶ 24 For the reasons set forth, the memorandum decision of the court of appeals is vacated and the judgment of the superior court is reversed. Because the Commission exceeded its legal authority, and because the decision to discharge Juarez was neither arbitrary nor taken without reasonable cause, we remand this matter to the superior court with instructions that the Commission be ordered to reinstate the discipline imposed by the MCSO.
¶ 25 Because Juarez is not the prevailing party in these proceedings, he is not entitled to attorneys’ fees. His motion for fees is denied.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN and ANDREW D. HURWITZ, Justices.
. A.R.S. § 11-356(A) (2001) states,
Any officer or employee in the classified civil service may be dismissed, suspended or re duced in rank or compensation by the appointing authority after appointment or promotion is complete only by written order, stating specifically the reasons for the action. The order shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors and a copy thereof shall be furnished to the person to be dismissed, suspended or reduced.
. A.R.S. § 11-356(B) (2001) states,
The officer or employee may within ten days after presentation to him of the order, appeal from the order through the clerk of the commission. Upon the filing of the appeal, the clerk shall forthwith transmit the order and appeal to the commission for hearing.
. A.R.S. § 11-356(C) (2001) states,
Within twenty days from the filing of the appeal, the commission shall commence the hearing and either affirm, modify or revoke the order. The appellant may appear personally, produce evidence, have counsel and, if requested by the appellant, a public hearing.
. Rule 10.16 states, in relevant part,
If, after the hearing, a majority of the Commission members present at the meeting where the vote is taken determine that the action appealed from was arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause, the appeal shall be sustained; otherwise the appeal shall be dismissed.
(Emphasis added.)
. Both Maricopa and Pima Counties, by reason of population in excess of 250,000, are required by statute to create a "merit system council” (referred to in Maricopa County as a "commission") and to adopt "rules and regulations” to ensure orderly process and to “[hjear and review appeals from any [disciplinary] order of the department head” brought by a merit system law enforcement employee. A.R.S. §§ 38-1002 to 1007 (2001). Rules adopted by counties for the orderly processing of merit system appeals vary among the counties. In a separate opinion issued today by this court, Pima County v. Pima County Merit Sys. Council, 211 Ariz. 224, 119 P.3d 1027, 2005 WL 2291256 (2005), we address the Pima County merit system rule, the counterpart to Maricopa's Rule 10.16, which contains a “just cause” standard of review. Contrary to the Maricopa rule, the Pima County standard gives the council wide discretion to modify disciplinary action that the council, in its judgment, finds “too severe.” Maricopa County did not grant its commission such broad latitude. As today’s two opinions demonstrate, the divergent rules between counties may, and often will, produce divergent results on very similar facts. Nevertheless, because the statute is silent as to a standard of review, we conclude that either approach is consistent with the mandate in A.R.S. § 38-1003 that county merit system commissions adopt rules consistent with "recognized merit system principles of public employment.” For a discussion of the meaning of that language, see id. at 228, ¶¶ 14-16, 119 P.3d at 1030-31.
. Only in a rare situation can a punishment be found arbitrary when it falls within the permissible range. Arbitrariness can arise, for example, when similarly situated employees receive differing sanctions for the same offense. See Pinal County v. Pinal County Employee Merit Sys. Comm’n, 211 Ariz. 12, 18, ¶ 18, 116 P.3d 624, 630 (App.2005) ("Serb”). Moreover, on admittedly rare occasions, a punishment could be so unreasonably disproportionate to the offense as to be arbitrary and without reasonable cause. Cf. State v. DePiano, 187 Ariz. 27, 31, 926 P.2d 494, 498 (1996) (noting that this Court’s exercise of its statutory power to modify sentences within a permitted statutory range will only be exercised in a "rare” case and that "we had not seen such a case in years”) (overruled in part on other grounds, State v. Davis, 206 Ariz. 377, 384, 79 P.3d 64, 71 (2003)). Neither such circumstance is presented in this case.
. See also Serb, in which Division Two of our court of appeals reviewed a Pinal County disciplinary order terminating a county detention officer for striking a fully restrained inmate. The Pinal County merit commission, under a standard of review similar to the Maricopa County standard, ("arbitrary or taken without reasonable cause"), 211 Ariz. at 16 n. 7, ¶ 9, 116 P.3d at 628, determined that the officer's termination was shocking to one's sense of fairness and that the termination should be revoked and the officer reinstated to his job. The court of appeals disagreed and upheld the termination. Id. at 19, ¶22, 116 P.3d at 631. While, as in Gottsponer, the result appears to be correct, the court nevertheless approved the review standard that included disproportionality that is “shocking to one’s sense of fairness.” Id. at 17, ¶ 15, 116 P.3d at 629.
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OPINION
PORTLEY, Judge.
¶ 1 The State challenges the trial court’s ruling declaring that Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 13-4426.01 is unconstitutional under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Because we conclude that it is premature to determine whether the statute violates the constitutional rights of Kenneth Phillips (“Defendant”), we accept special action jurisdiction and grant relief.
PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶ 2 Defendant was indicted for first-degree murder and sexual assault. The State filed notice that it will request the death penalty, and indicated that it may offer testimony of the victim’s representative during any sentencing aggravation and penalty phases.
¶ 3 Defendant unsuccessfully moved to preclude introduction of victim impact evidence at any sentencing hearing. He then requested the court to declare A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 unconstitutional. After oral argument, the trial court agreed and found that the statute conflicted with the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
SPECIAL ACTION JURISDICTION
¶4 Special action jurisdiction is appropriate for a case of first impression, see Jackson v. Schneider, 207 Ariz. 325, 327, ¶ 5, 86 P.3d 381, 383 (App.2004), or when the party has no plain, adequate, or speedy remedy by appeal. Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a); Luis A. v. Bayham-Lesselyong, 197 Ariz. 451, 453, ¶2, 4 P.3d 994, 996 (App.2000). Because the trial court’s ruling is one of first impression, and the State does not have an equally plain, speedy, or adequate remedy by appeal, we accept jurisdiction. See State v. Rayes (Flath), 206 Ariz. 58, 60, ¶ 5, 75 P.3d 148, 150 (App.2003).
DISCUSSION
¶ 5 We independently review the trial court’s determination that A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 is unconstitutional. See State v. Hensley, 201 Ariz. 74, 76, ¶ 6, 31 P.3d 848, 850 (App.2001).
I.
¶ 6 The plain language of the statute gives victims the right to be heard at a sentencing hearing without being cross-examined by the State or the defendant. See A.R.S. § 13-4426.01. It was enacted to implement Article 2, Section 2.1, of the Arizona Constitution, which, in pertinent part, provides that a crime victim has a right “[t]o be heard at any proceeding involving a post-arrest release decision, a negotiated plea, and sentencing.” Ariz. Const. art. 2, § 2.1(A)(4).
¶ 7 The text of the statute does not clearly define whether the right is limited to a sentencing aggravation hearing or sentencing penalty hearing. However, when the statute is read with other statutes and rules, it becomes clear that A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 only applies to a trial’s sentencing penalty phase. For example, pursuant to the first provision of A.R.S. § 13-703.01(R), a victim’s repre sentative in a capital case may attend and present evidence at the sentencing aggravation phase, subject to the limitations of A.R.S. § 13-703(B); namely, the rules of evidence apply and the victim’s representative can be cross-examined by the defense. State v. Asbury, 145 Ariz. 381, 386, 701 P.2d 1189, 1194 (App.1984) (“[Bjasie concepts of fairness, justice and impartiality mandate that the defendant be allowed, at an aggravation and mitigation hearing, to cross-examine the victims in order to bring out mitigating circumstances.”).
¶ 8 In contrast, during the sentencing penalty phases, the other provisions of A.R.S. § 13-703.01(R) authorize the representative to attend and “present information about the murdered person and the impact of the murder on the [representative] and other family members and may submit a victim impact statement in any format to the trier of fact.”
¶ 9 In addition, Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 19.1(d) similarly limits the victim’s right to present an impact statement at the penalty phase of sentencing after the aggravation/mitigation phase is complete. The rule states, in pertinent part:
If a jury finds one or more aggravating circumstances, the penalty proceedings shall proceed as follows:
(3) The victim’s survivors may make a statement relating to the characteristics of the victim and the impact of the crime on the victim’s family, but may not offer any opinion regarding the appropriate sentence to be imposed.
Ariz. R.Crim. P. 19.1(d).
¶ 10 Taken together, A.R.S. §§ 13-703,13-703.01, 13-4426.01, and Rule 19.1 currently provide that a victim’s representative may present an impact statement during the sentencing penalty phase to rebut a defendant’s mitigation evidence. See State v. Glassel, 211 Ariz. 33, 116 P.3d 1193, 1214, ¶ 82 (2005).
¶ 11 Having determined that A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 affords the victim’s representative a right to present an impact statement to rebut any mitigation evidence at any sentencing penalty phase without disclosing that statement, we address whether the statute violates Defendant’s constitutional rights.
II.
¶ 12 We presume statutes are constitutional and “will not declare an act of the legislature unconstitutional unless we are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the act is in conflict with the federal or state constitutions.” State v. Book-Cellar, Inc., 139 Ariz. 525, 528, 679 P.2d 548, 551 (App. 1984). We will uphold the constitutionality of a statute if it is capable of a constitutional interpretation. State v. Getz, 189 Ariz. 561, 565, 944 P.2d 503, 507 (1997).
¶ 13 The trial court found that because A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 does not require “any victim statement to the jury ... be under oath, subject to cross-examination and disclosed far enough in advance of trial to allow a reasonable opportunity to the defense to prepare to cross-examine or rebut the testimony” it “conflicts with the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.” In reaching this conclusion, the trial court relied on Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991).
¶ 14 In Payne, after the defendant had been convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault with intent to commit murder in the first-degree, the grandmother testified during the sentencing penalty phase about the crime’s impact on the surviving child-victim after the murders of his mother and sister. Id. at 814-16, 111 S.Ct. 2597. The jury sentenced the defendant to death. Id. at 816, 111 S.Ct. 2597.
¶ 15 On review, the United States Supreme Court, in considering the victim impact issue, stated:
[A] State may properly conclude that for the jury to assess meaningfully the defendant’s moral culpability and blameworthiness, it should have before it at the sentencing phase evidence of the specific harm caused by the defendant. “[T]he State has a legitimate interest in counteracting the mitigating evidence which the defendant is entitled to put in, by reminding the sen-tencer that just as the murderer should be considered as an individual, so too the victim is an individual whose death represents a unique loss to society and in particular to his family.”
Id. at 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597 (quoting Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 517, 107 S.Ct. 2529, 96 L.Ed.2d 440 (1987) (White, J., dissenting)). Consequently, and contrary to the trial court’s analysis, the Supreme Court held that “if the State chooses to permit the admission of victim impact evidence ..., the Eighth Amendment erects no per se bar.” Id. at 827, 111 S.Ct. 2597. Similarly, our supreme court has recognized that the Eighth Amendment does not bar “[sjtatements relevant to the harm caused by the defendant’s criminal acts.” Lynn v. Reinstein, 205 Ariz. 186, 191, ¶ 17, 68 P.3d 412, 417 (2003).
¶ 16 The confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment does not invalidate A.R.S. § 13-4426.01. First, there is no general constitutional right to pretrial discovery in a criminal case “and Brady did not create one.” Weatherford v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545, 559, 97 S.Ct. 837, 51 L.Ed.2d 30 (1977) (no federal right); State v. O’Neil, 172 Ariz. 180, 182, 836 P.2d 393, 395 (App.1991) (no federal or Arizona right); State v. Warner, 168 Ariz. 261, 265, 812 P.2d 1079, 1083 (App.1990) (holding no Arizona constitutional right to pretrial discovery). Even though a victim’s right to refuse to disclose victim impact information “deprives [Defendant] of a method of discovery,” Warner, 168 Ariz. at 264, 812 P.2d at 1082, Arizona “courts have consistently held that a criminal defendant has no vested or substantive right to a [particular discovery method].” See id. “[T]he right to interview or depose a victim under Rule 15 is clearly procedural in nature, and the application of the [victim’s rights] amendment does not impair any substantive or vested rights of [Defendant].” Id.
¶ 17 Defendant also argues that allowing victim impact evidence without advance disclosure could lead to grounds for a mistrial. We find the argument premature. A victim is already prohibited from recommending a sentence, Lynn, 205 Ariz. at 191, ¶ 17, 68 P.3d at 417, or presenting inflammatory or unduly prejudicial evidence, Payne, 501 U.S. at 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597. If the victim impact evidence is “ ‘so unduly prejudicial that it renders the trial fundamentally unfair, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides a mechanism for relief.’ ” Glassel, 116 P.3d at 1214, ¶ 83 (quoting Payne, 501 U.S. at 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597).
III.
¶ 18 We have found no case that has held that the lack of pretrial discovery of any impact statement for the sentencing penalty phase impacts a defendant’s Fourteenth Amendment right to a fundamentally fair trial. Roper, however, provides some guidance to analyze the issue.
¶ 19 In Roper, after the defendant made a showing that she needed her husband’s psychiatric records to attempt to demonstrate that she acted in self defense, the trial court granted the motion. 172 Ariz. at 234-35, 836 P.2d at 447-48. We agreed, but ordered the trial court to first inspect the records in camera to determine which records were essential to the presentation of the defense of self-defense. 172 Ariz. at 235, 836 P.2d at 448. We noted that a defendant’s due process and confrontation rights are protected when a defendant makes a showing that the victim or the victim’s representative has information that “is both essential to the defense and [that] requires pretrial disclosure to have value to the defense,” and the court inspects the information in camera to assess the necessity of its disclosure. See id. at 239-41, 836 P.2d at 452-54 (Lankford, J. concurring). This procedure balances a defendant’s right to present an effective defense against the victim’s right to be protected from unnecessary, out-of-court contact with a defendant. See id.; Champlin v. Sar-geant, 192 Ariz. 371, 375, ¶20, 965 P.2d 763, 767 (1998).
¶20 Here, we need not resolve whether the Defendant’s Fourteenth Amendment rights might be impaired. The Defendant did not demonstrate, aver, offer, or argue to the trial court that the victim’s representative had information that was essential to an effective defense or cross-examination of any witnesses. He did not argue that the victim’s representative had information that might be used at any sentencing aggravation phase. Because Defendant did not make any showing that victim impact information existed, or that it would be necessary during the trial or in any sentencing aggravation phase, the court erred in determining that A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 was unconstitutional.
CONCLUSION
¶21 We find that A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 is facially constitutional, and it is premature to evaluate the application of the statute to the facts. Accordingly, we vacate the trial court’s decision declaring the statute unconstitutional and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
JEFFERSON L. LANKFORD and PHILIP HALL, JJ., concur.
. A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 (Supp.2004) provides:
In any proceeding in which the victim has the right to be heard pursuant to [A]rticle II, § 2.1, Constitution of Arizona, or this chapter, the victim’s right to be heard is exercised not as a witness, the victim’s statement is not subject to disclosure to the [Sjtate or the defendant' or submission to the court and the victim is not subject to cross-examination. The [Sjtate and the defense shall be afforded the opportunity to explain, support or deny the victim’s statement.
. The State admitted that the victim's representative has been uncooperative.
. "Victim” includes "the murdered person’s spouse, parent, child or other lawful representative.” A.R.S. § 13-703.01(S)(2) (Supp.2004).
. The right is further implemented by A.R.S. § 13-4426, which states:
A. The victim may present evidence, information and opinions that concern the criminal offense, the defendant, the sentence or the need for restitution at any aggravation, mitigation, presentencing or sentencing proceeding. B. At any disposition proceeding the victim has the right to be present and to address the court.
A.R.S. § 13-4426 (2001).
In 2003, the legislature conditionally repealed this section; however, the repeal will not become effective "unless on or before June 30, 2013 the Arizona Supreme Court or the [S]upreme [C]ourt of the United States rules that it is constitutional for a crime victim in a capital case to make a sentencing recommendation.” 2003 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 255, § 8.
. The aggravation phase of the sentencing process is an evidentiary hearing where the prosecution has the burden of proving any aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt. A.R.S. § 13-703(B) (Supp.2004).
. The penalty phase of the sentencing process follows the aggravation phase. Either party may present any information relevant to a mitigating circumstance but need not comply with the rules of evidence. Afterwards, the trier of fact imposes the sentence after weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. A.R.S. § 13-703(C)-(E) (Supp.2004).
. The first provision provides that “[s]ubject to the provisions of § 13-703, subsection B, a victim has the right to be present at the aggravation phase and to present any information that is relevant to the proceeding.” A.R.S. § 13-703.01 (R) (Supp.2004).
This section was conditionally amended in 2003, but the amendment will not become effective "unless on or before June 30, 2013 the Arizona Supreme Court or the [S]upreme [C]ourt of the United States rules that it is constitutional for a crime victim in a capital case to make a sentencing recommendation.” 2003 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 255, §§ 3, 8.
. Section 13-703(B) states:
At the aggravation phase of the sentencing proceeding that is held pursuant to § 13— 703.01, the admissibility of information relevant to any of the aggravating circumstances set forth in subsection F of this section shall be governed by the rules of evidence applicable to criminal trials. The burden of establishing the existence of any of the aggravating circumstances set forth in subsection F of this section is on the prosecution. The prosecution must prove the existence of the aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt.
A.R.S. § 13-703(B) (Supp.2004).
. The Eighth Amendment provides that: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” U.S. Const. Amend. VIII.
. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).
. The O’Neil court further stated that “to the extent that communications with the victims are recorded by the state or otherwise reveal information that is discoverable, they must be disclosed.” 172 Ariz. at 182, 836 P.2d at 395.
. Although the victim’s representative has a right to refuse to cooperate with the defense before trial, the right is not absolute. The representative cannot refuse to testify, see State ex rel. Dean v. City Court of Tucson (Scritchfield), 173 Ariz. 515, 517, 844 P.2d 1165, 1167 (App. 1992), or to provide exculpatory information that is "essential” to a defense or to effective cross-examination of a trial witness. See State ex rel. Romley v. Superior Court (Roper), 172 Ariz. 232, 239, 836 P.2d 445, 452 (App. 1992) (holding that the defendant’s due process right to access exculpatory information in the victim's control that is "essential” to establish a potential defense or prepare cross-examination supersedes the victim’s right to refuse pretrial discovery request by the defendant). The plain language of A.R.S. § 13-4426.01 does not abrogate these obligations. Furthermore, our supreme court has held that the Eighth Amendment bars victims from making sentencing recommendations, but it does not prohibit victims from "tell[ing] jurors of the effect of a defendant’s crime upon their lives.” Lynn, 205 Ariz. at 191, ¶ 17, 68 P.3d at 417.
. We need not address the Defendant’s right to cross-examine the victim's representative after any impact statement is given at the sentencing penalty phase because this case only raises the issue of whether the impact statement needs to be disclosed before trial.
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OPINION
HOWARD, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 After a jury trial, appellant Peter Keith was convicted of aggravated assault of a police officer and sentenced to an enhanced, presumptive 3.75-year prison term. On appeal, he contends he was entitled to a jury trial on his prior convictions and that his double jeopardy rights were violated because the court found he had prior convictions after the jury was dismissed. Because he does not have the right to have a jury determine prior convictions and double jeopardy principles do not apply to the prior conviction determination, we affirm.
PRIOR CONVICTIONS
II2 Keith first argues that the trial court erred by enhancing his sentences based on prior convictions not found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, in violation of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Because Keith did not object on this ground below, we review solely for fundamental error. See State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d 601, 607 (2005). Fundamental error is error that deprives a defendant of a right essential to his or her defense and of a fair trial or that goes to the very foundation of the defendant’s theory of the case. State v. Siddle, 202 Ariz. 512, ¶ 4, 47 P.3d 1150, 1153 (App.2002).
¶ 3 Keith argues that the Supreme Court’s analysis in Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), “cannot withstand Apprendi ’s constitutional analysis” and that Apprendi requires that the fact of a prior conviction be submitted to a jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt. But Apprendi expressly exempts prior convictions from the requirement of a jury trial: “Other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. at 2362-63, 147 L.Ed.2d at 455 (emphasis added); see also Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 301, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 2536, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004); accord United States v. Quintana-Quintana, 383 F.3d 1052, 1053 (9th Cir.2004) (citing widespread agreement among federal circuit courts that Blakely preserves exception for prior convictions). In reliance on these cases, our supreme court has recognized the prior convictions exception in the capital and non-capital contexts. See, e.g., State v. Fell, 210 Ariz. 554, ¶¶ 8-9, 115 P.3d 594, 597 (2005); State v. Ring, 204 Ariz. 534, ¶ 55, 65 P.3d 915, 937 (2003). We are not allowed to anticipate how the Supreme Court may rule in the future. See Myers v. Reeb, 190 Ariz. 341, 343, 947 P.2d 915, 917 (App.1997); see also State v. Eichom, 143 Ariz. 609, 613, 694 P.2d 1223, 1227 (App.1984) (‘Whether prior decisions of the Arizona Supreme Court are to be disaffirmed is a question for that court”).
DOUBLE JEOPARDY
¶ 4 Keith next argues that the double jeopardy clause of the federal constitution prohibited the state from proving his prior convictions, which he claims are additional offense elements under Apprendi, after the jury was dismissed. He argues that the holding of Monge v. California, 524 U.S. 721, 118 S.Ct. 2246, 141 L.Ed.2d 615 (1998), which excepts noncapital sentencing proceedings from double jeopardy clause protection, “cannot withstand the analysis of Apprendi and its progeny.” Because Keith did not object on this ground below, we review solely for fundamental error. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d at 607.
¶ 5 The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “[n]o person shall ... be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” U.S. Const, amend. V. This guarantee protects against successive prosecution for the same offense after acquittal or conviction, and against multiple punishments for the same offense. United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 695-96, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 2855-56, 125 L.Ed.2d 556, 567-68 (1993).
¶ 6 In Monge, the United States Supreme Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not preclude retrial on a prior conviction allegation in the noncapital sentencing context, even after a reversal based on insufficient evidence. 524 U.S. at 728-29, 118 S.Ct. at 2250-51, 141 L.Ed.2d at 623-24. The Apprendi court acknowledged Monge and expressly recognized its continuing validity. See Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 488 n. 14, 120 S.Ct. at 2362 n. 14, 147 L.Ed.2d at 454 n. 14; see also United States v. Corrado, 286 F.3d 934, 939 (6th Cir.2002) (stating that Apprendi did not overrule Monge). Accordingly, Apprendi did not expressly or impliedly overrule Monge. Furthermore, Keith had no right to a jury trial on his prior convictions so the dismissal of the jury was irrelevant to any double jeopardy issue.
¶7 Keith further argues that the “functionalist approach to defining offense elements,” adopted in Blakely, indicates that the Supreme Court no longer approves of Monge. But in Blakely, the court continued the exception for proof of prior convictions based on Almendarez-Torres. Blakely, 542 U.S. at 322, 124 S.Ct. at 2548, 159 L.Ed.2d at 425. In Almendarez-Torres, the Supreme Court approved of a bifurcated procedure in which the court accepted the defendant’s guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement and later determined the existence of prior convictions. 523 U.S. at 226-27, 118 S.Ct. at 1222, 140 L.Ed.2d at 357. The same principles would apply to this situation in which a jury had determined guilt. Aragon v. Wilkinson ex rel. County of Maricopa, 209 Ariz. 61, ¶ 7, 97 P.3d 886, 889 (App.2004) (“[I]f the court accepts the guilty plea, jeopardy attaches ....”). Because the Supreme Court has excepted prior convictions from inclusion as elements of the offense under Apprendi, we see nothing in Apprendi or Blakely that disapproves of this bifurcated approach approved in Almendarez-Torres under which the existence of prior convictions is determined after conviction. Moreover, both the United States Supreme Court and the Arizona Supreme Court have previously rejected the broader argument that double jeopardy principles require the state to prove a defendant’s prior felony convictions to the same jury that determined the underlying substantive offense. Oyler v. Boles, 368 U.S. 448, 452, 82 S.Ct. 501, 503-04, 7 L.Ed.2d 446, 450 (1962); State ex rel. Neely v. Sherrill, 168 Ariz. 469, 474-75, 815 P.2d 396, 401-02 (1991). Pursuant to controlling precedent, double jeopardy does not attach to the court’s determination of Keith’s prior convictions. We find no error, fundamental or otherwise.
¶ 8 We affirm Keith’s conviction and sentence.
Concurring: J. WILLIAM BRAMMER, JR. and PETER J. ECKERSTROM, Judges.
|
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AMENDED OPINION
PER CURIAM.
¶ 1 In November 2000, Arizona voters approved Proposition 106, which amended the Arizona Constitution and transferred the power to redraw lines for both legislative and congressional districts from the state legislature to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (“Commission”). Ariz. In-dep. Redistricting Comm’n v. Fields, 206 Ariz. 130, 134, ¶ 4, 75 P.3d 1088, 1092 (App. 2003); Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1. In this appeal, we must decide whether the trial court correctly ruled on constitutional challenges to districts established by the Commission for use in elections held from 2004 through 2010. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 The Commission consists of five appointed volunteers who serve concurrent ten-year terms. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, §§ 1(3), (23). Commission members represent both major political parties; however, the chairperson must not be a registered member of either party. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § l.
¶ 3 Pursuant to the redistrieting provisions created by the passage of Proposition 106, the redistrieting process begins with the creation of districts with equal population in a grid-like pattern across the state. Thereafter, the Commission is required to make adjustments to the grid, “as necessary,” to accommodate various goals, including compliance with the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973c (1994) (“VRA”) and respecting geographic, community, and competitive interests. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(14).
¶ 4 The Commission must exclude party registration and voting history data from the initial phase of the mapping process but may use such information to test maps for compliance with the above-listed goals. Id. at § 1(15). “The places of residence of incumbents or candidates shall not be identified or considered.” Id. Additionally, the Commission is required to advertise a draft map for comment by the public and for recommendations by the legislature. Id. at § 1(16). The recommendations “shall be considered” in establishing the final boundaries. Id.
¶ 5 The Commission hired National Demo-graphies Corporation (“NDC”) to consult on the commencement of the mapping process. Thereafter, on June 7, 2001, the Commission adopted its grid map, based solely on formulating districts of equal population, and then held the first round of hearings for the public to review and comment on the grid. The Commission next considered the other criteria required by Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14) of the constitution in order to modify the grid map and create a draft map, which the Commission adopted on August 17. The Commission then presented its draft map and invited comments during a second round of public hearings.
¶ 6 On November 9, the Commission certified the 2001 legislative and congressional plans to the Arizona secretary of state, who certified the plans for the 2002 elections. In compliance with Section 5 of the VRA, the plans were then submitted to the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) for preclearance.
¶ 7 On March 6, 2002, the Arizona Minority Coalition for Fair Redistrieting, several state legislators, and others (collectively, the “Coalition”) filed suit in superior court against the Commission challenging the legislative plan. The Coalition asserted that the Commission had failed to comply with Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(F) by foregoing the creation of competitive districts when “it was possible to do so.” The complaint alleged that, in violation of the voters’ mandate, the Commission’s proposed map would result in fewer, rather than more, competitive legislative districts. The Coalition contended that its own alternative plan accomplished all of the Section 1(14) goals better than the Commission’s plan. The Coalition sought a writ of mandamus and declaratory or injunctive relief.
¶ 8 On March 14, 2002, a separate action challenging the congressional plan was filed, alleging the Commission violated Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14), Article 2, Sections 4 and 13, and Article 20, Section 7, by adopting a plan that discriminated on the basis of race. The superior court consolidated the cases on March 19, 2002. Arizonans for Fair and Legal Redistricting (“AFLR”), Mohave County, the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe and the cities of Lake Havasu, Flagstaff, and Kingman intervened to protect their respective interests.
¶ 9 During the course of the litigation, the Navajo Nation and the Commission stipulated to a statement of facts and filed cross-motions for summary judgment concerning the former’s challenge to the congressional plan. Specifically, the Navajo Nation contested the plan because it removed the Hopi Tribe, which is completely surrounded by the Navajo Nation, from congressional district 1, the district in which the Navajo Nation was placed, and put the Hopi Tribe in adjoining district 2. The Commission achieved this by using a narrow, 103-mile serpentine corridor that partially follows the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to connect the Hopi Tribe with the rest of district 2. Forty-two Navajo citizens reside within that corridor and were therefore separated from district 1. The Navajo Nation alleged that the Commission violated Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14) by carving out a community residing within district 1 to place it within district 2. The trial court granted the Commission’s motion and denied the Navajo Nation’s motion, ruling that the constitution allows the Commission flexibility in applying the enumerated criteria as long as its decisions have a basis. The Navajo Nation appeals this ruling.
¶ 10 Following the completion of discovery, a trial to the court took place in late 2003 concerning the challenges to the legislative plan, and the court issued a ruling in January 2004. In detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law, the court found that the final legislative plan did not sufficiently favor competitive districts and therefore enjoined use of the plan. It also ruled that the new constitutional provisions were not “self-executing,” and consequently directed the Commission to formulate various definitions and standards. The Commission, AFLR, and thirteen individual intervenors appeal this ruling. However, in compliance with the court’s order, the Commission prepared a new legislative plan on April 12, 2004, which the court approved on April 16. The Commission and AFLR then amended their notices of appeal to include an appeal from the latter order. The City of Kingman and Mohave County appeal the order approving the revised plan.
¶ 11 We have jurisdiction over these matters pursuant to Article 6, Section 9, of the Arizona Constitution, and Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) sections 12-120.21(A)(1) (2003) and 12-2101(B) (2003).
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 12 In reviewing the court’s rulings in the legislative redistricting case, we will not set aside the trial court’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 52(a); Nordstrom, Inc. v. Maricopa County, 207 Ariz. 553, 558, ¶ 18, 88 P.3d 1165, 1170 (App.2004). “A finding is clearly erroneous if no reasonable evidence supports it.” In re B.S., 205 Ariz. 611, 614, ¶ 5, 74 P.3d 285, 288 (App.2003). However, we are not bound by the court’s conclusions of law and draw our own legal conclusions from the facts. Ariz. Bd. of Regents v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., 167 Ariz. 254, 257, 806 P.2d 348, 351 (1991). Likewise, we are not bound by findings of fact that are induced by a mistaken view of the law. Id.
¶ 13 We review the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in the congressional redistrieting case de novo. S. Pac. Transp. Co. v. Dep’t of Revenue, 202 Ariz. 326, 329-30, ¶ 7, 44 P.3d 1006, 1009-10 (App.2002). Summary judgment is proper if no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(c); Orme Sch. v. Reeves, 166 Ariz. 301, 305, 802 P.2d 1000, 1004 (1990).
¶ 14 Finally, we review the court’s interpretation of the constitution de novo as a question of law. Univ. Med. Ctr. Corp. v. Dep’t of Revenue, 201 Ariz. 447, 450, ¶ 14, 36 P.3d 1217, 1220 (App.2001).
ANALYSIS
I. Judicial review of the Commission’s redistrieting plans
¶ 15 The United States Supreme Court has held that redistrieting is a legislative matter “which the [ ] courts should make every effort not to preempt.” Wise v. Lipscomb, 437 U.S. 535, 539, 98 S.Ct. 2493, 57 L.Ed.2d 411 (1978). It has directed that courts not become “bogged down” in redistricting cases by coming up with their own alternative plans and that “such involvements [by courts] should never begin.” Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U.S. 735, 750-51, 93 S.Ct. 2321, 37 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973). In giving such direction, the Court reiterated frequent prior admonitions that redistrieting is the function of state and local governments or those entities to whom the legislature assigns the task. Id.
¶ 16 Based on the limitations set forth by the Supreme Court, state courts have restricted their involvement in redistricting cases to determining whether proposed redistrieting plans are constitutional. See In re Senate Bill 177, 132 Vt. 282, 318 A.2d 157, 162 (1974) (ruling that “[w]hatever this Court may believe about the wisdom of an alternative [redistrieting] solution, our testing of this legislative function must be confined to its constitutional and statutory propriety”); Hartung v. Bradbury, 332 Or. 570, 33 P.3d 972, 980-81 (2001) (noting that the court’s responsibility is to determine the redistrieting plan’s compliance with constitutional criteria and that “the court is not privileged to substitute its judgment about the wisdom of the plan”); Jensen v. Ky. State Bd. of Elections, 959 S.W.2d 771, 776 (Ky.1997) (opining that “[o]ur only role in this process is to ascertain whether a particular redistrieting plan passes constitutional muster, not whether a better plan could be crafted”). As the Colorado Supreme Court stated:
Our role in this proceeding is a narrow one: to measure the present reapportionment plan against the constitutional standards. The choice among alternative plans, each consistent with constitutional requirements, is for the Commission and not the Court.
In re Reapportionment of the Colo. Gen. Assembly, 828 P.2d 185, 189 (Colo.1992) (quoting In re Reapportionment of the Colo. Gen. Assembly, 647 P.2d 191, 194 (Colo. 1982)).
¶ 17 Accordingly, it is not the function of the trial or appellate court to direct how the Commission should change or improve plans, or to determine which of a number of proposed plans is superior. Id. Such discretion is given solely to the Commission. See Gaff-ney, 412 U.S. at 751, 93 S.Ct. 2321. Instead, judicial review is necessarily confined to constitutional challenges to the selected plans. With these principles in mind, we turn to the parties’ arguments.
A. Equal Protection claims
¶ 18 Before the trial court, the Coalition and others alleged that the legislative and congressional plans, as originally adopted by the Commission, violated the Equal Protection Clauses of the United States and/or Arizona Constitutions. Equal protection claims are subject to one of three standards of review. Green v. City of Tucson, 340 F.3d 891, 896 (9th Cir.2003). The least deferential is strict scrutiny, which applies when a law “substantially burdens fundamental rights” or makes distinctions based on certain suspect classes, such as race. Id. An intermediate level of scrutiny applies to distinctions of quasi-suspect classes, such as gender. Id. All other laws are subject to a rational basis analysis, the most deferential standard of review, and “will be upheld if they are rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose.” Id. (citing Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 631, 116 S.Ct. 1620, 134 L.Ed.2d 855 (1996)).
¶ 19 In the instant case, the trial court utilized the strict scrutiny standard in deciding the plaintiffs’ constitutional challenges. The Coalition and Flagstaff contend that the trial court was correct in applying this standard. The Coalition argues that the strict scrutiny standard is required because the Commission’s redistricting plans implicate the “core constitutional right to vote.” Specifically, the Coalition contends that the legislative plan “packs” minority votes in legislative district 14, thus violating the VRA and diluting Hispanic voting strength.
¶ 20 The Coalition and Flagstaff also assert that the Commission created its redistricting plans without first defining constitutional terms and thereby failed to apply uniform standards, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Flagstaff asserts that without uniform definitions for terms such as “competitiveness” and “communities of interest,” voters cannot be certain they have been treated equally. Citing Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 104-05, 121 S.Ct. 525, 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (2000), it reasons that the Commission thus “performed its work in an arbitrary fashion ... with no means of assuring that it did not ... Value one person’s vote over that of another.” ’ Flagstaff therefore contends that the Commission is precluded from applying different standards to different voters depending on where they live.
Tí 21 The Navajo Nation also advocates for the strict scrutiny standard. It claims that the congressional plan neither creates geographically compact and contiguous districts nor utilizes undivided census tracts. It alleges that the Commission failed to use visible geographic features in establishing district lines and that it wrongly split the Navajo Nation into two districts, thus failing to respect both the Navajo Nation’s community of interest and the community of interest it shares with other tribes. The Navajo Nation further claims that the plan “creates a gerrymandered district for the sole purpose of excluding the Hopi Tribe from the adopted Congressional District 1.”
¶ 22 In opposition, the Commission asserts that the trial court erred when it applied the strict scrutiny standard to review the plans, arguing that the court should have utilized the more deferential rational basis standard of review. While the Commission admits that redistricting will affect where individuals will cast their votes, and thus relates to the fundamental, constitutional right to vote, it argues that the mere relationship between redistricting and voting does not, in the absence of any impairment of the right to vote, mandate strict scrutiny review. Further, the Commission contends that application of the strict scrutiny standard is inappropriate when, as here, there are no allegations of racial gerrymandering.
1. Has the right to vote been impaired?
¶ 23 We first consider whether the Commission’s plans substantially burdened a fundamental right, thereby triggering use of the strict scrutiny standard of review. All agree that the right to vote is “the protected right, implicit in our constitutional system, to participate in state elections on an equal basis with other qualified voters.” San Antonio Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 35 n. 78, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1973). However, this does not mean that every law or constitutional provision relating to voting triggers strict scrutiny review.
¶ 24 Strict scrutiny review applies when citizens’ voting rights are substantially burdened. See Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 336-37, 92 S.Ct. 995, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (1972) (striking down a durational residence law that denied new residents the right to vote); Stephenson v. Bartlett, 355 N.C. 354, 562 S.E.2d 377, 404-05 (2002) (Orr, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (applying strict scrutiny to invalidate a redistricting plan allowing some voters to elect multiple representatives while limiting others to electing only one representative). For example, in Charfauros v. Board of Elections, 249 F.3d 941, 952-53 (9th Cir.2001), the Ninth Circuit applied strict scrutiny to overturn an election rule that disqualified four voters residing on a small island within the Northern Mariana Islands. The court stressed the importance of the “right to participate in elections on an equal basis,” id. at 951 (quoting Dunn, 405 U.S. at 336, 92 S.Ct. 995), and noted that while the government could impose some restrictions, it could not “choose means that unnecessarily burden or restrict constitutionally protected activity.” Id. (quoting Dunn, 405 U.S. at 343, 92 S.Ct. 995).
¶ 25 However, the United States Supreme Court has rejected the notion that “any burden upon the right to vote must be subject to strict scrutiny,” emphasizing that “[o]ur cases do not” support that “erroneous assumption.” Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, 432, 112 S.Ct. 2059, 119 L.Ed.2d 245 (1992) (upholding a state’s ban on write-in candidates). The Burdick Court explained that states have the right to regulate their state elections, and it noted that “government must play an active role in structuring” those elections. Id. at 433, 112 S.Ct. 2059. The Court emphasized that “there must be a substantial regulation of elections if they are to be fair and honest” and promote order in our democracy. Id. The Court acknowledged that such regulations would necessarily impose some burdens upon voters. Id. It concluded, however, that “to subject every voting regulation to strict scrutiny ... would tie the hands of [sjtates seeking to assure that elections are operated equitably and efficiently.” Id. Thus, the level of scrutiny used to review a state election law depends on the extent of the burden imposed on voters’ rights guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Id. at 434, 112 S.Ct. 2059. As such, only “severe” restrictions are subject to strict scrutiny review. Id. (citing Norman v. Reed, 502 U.S. 279, 289, 112 S.Ct. 698, 116 L.Ed.2d 711 (1992)). Accordingly, in Bur-dick, the ban on write-in voting, as part of a larger system that afforded “constitutionally sufficient ballot access, d[id] not impose an unconstitutional burden” and was not subject to strict scrutiny analysis. Id. at 441, 112 S.Ct. 2059; see also Rodriguez v. Popular Democratic Party, 457 U.S. 1, 8, 10-11, 102 S.Ct. 2194, 72 L.Ed.2d 628 (1982) (rejecting constitutional challenge to Puerto Rico’s system of allowing only members of ex-representative’s party to elect interim representative and noting that choice of system entitled to substantial deference).
¶ 26 The Coalition and Flagstaff rely heavily on Mayor of Tucson v. Royal, 20 Ariz.App. 83, 510 P.2d 394 (1973), to support their claim that redistricting affects the right to vote and therefore is subject to strict scrutiny review. In Royal, government officials created a redistrieting plan pursuant to the city charter in order to equalize population in six voting wards. Id. at 83-84, 510 P.2d at 394-95. Three of the wards held primary and at-large elections in 1973, while the remaining three wards held elections in 1975. Id. at 84, 510 P.2d at 395. The redis-trieting plan dispersed voters among all wards, thereby depriving approximately 47,-000 voters of the ability to vote in the 1973 primary election. Id. The Royal court concluded that “[ljaws which impair the right to vote are unconstitutional unless the governmental body can demonstrate that the laws are necessary to promote a[c]ompelling governmental interest.” Id. at 87, 510 P.2d at 398. It upheld the trial court’s decision to strike the redistricting plan because it was not necessary to promote a compelling governmental interest “in the face of the temporary disenfranchisement of [thousands of] voters” when there existed “an apparent less disruptive alternative.” Id. at 89, 510 P.2d at 400.
¶ 27 We distinguish Royal from the present case. The record before us does not reflect that any citizen would be denied the right to vote under the redistricting plans. Indeed, no party has even alleged such a result. Because Royal involved the disenfranchisement of voters, and such disenfranchisement does not exist in this case, we are not persuaded that Royal supports utilization of the strict scrutiny standard.
¶ 28 The common thread in redistricting cases applying strict scrutiny review is the denial of the right to vote on an equal basis with others. That element is absent in this case. The Commission’s redistricting plans do not impose “severe” restrictions, see Green, 340 F.3d at 896, substantially burden the right to vote, see Burdick, 504 U.S. at 432, 112 S.Ct. 2059; Royal, 20 Ariz.App. at 87, 510 P.2d at 398, or treat voters unequally, see Ckarfauros, 249 F.3d at 951. Rather, they merely place residents into districts after applying the required constitutional criteria.
¶ 29 The Coalition and Flagstaff further rely on Gore to argue that the Commission’s failure to define those terms found in Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14) necessarily resulted in the use of disparate standards when adopting the plans and drawing the districts. They assert that this constituted arbitrary and disparate treatment of voters because it could cause one person’s vote to be valued above another’s, in express prohibition of Gore. See 531 U.S. at 104, 121 S.Ct. 525. This reliance on Gore is misplaced.
¶ 30 The controversy in Gore arose from the recounting of hole-punched presidential ballots cast in Florida in the 2000 election that had not been properly perforated. Id. at 105, 121 S.Ct. 525. Specifically, some ballots had only indentations where voters apparently had attempted to indicate their selections for president, while other ballots had partially punched holes of various degrees, commonly known as “hanging chads.” Id. Florida’s respective counties, and recount teams within those counties, used their own standards to define a “legal vote,” with one county even changing its standard in the middle of the recount. Id. at 106. Thus, similarly looking ballots were counted differently depending on where the voter lived and who was doing the counting. Id. The United States Supreme Court held that Florida could not apply varying standards from county to county, or from one recount team to the next within a county, to interpret voters’ intentions. Id. at 110, 121 S.Ct. 525. It further held that such inconsistencies were arbitrary and did not treat citizens’ votes equally. Id. at 107, 121 S.Ct. 525. The Court stated that one source of the fundamental right to vote “lies in the equal weight accorded to each vote and the equal dignity owed to each voter,” and concluded that Florida could not “value one person’s vote over that of another.” Id. at 104-05, 121 S.Ct. 525.
¶ 31 Under the Commission’s plans, all Arizona registered voters would be allowed to vote and each ballot would be counted equally. Although the subjective application of the mandated constitutional standards may have varied district to district in determining where to draw district lines, those boundaries did not determine whether someone would be allowed to vote or whether that vote would count. This is quite different from the impermissible arbitrary exclusion of otherwise qualified ballots at issue in Gore. Id. at 104-06, 121 S.Ct. 525. Here, no such arbitrary or disparate treatment has occurred. The alleged lack of uniformity in applying the criteria among the districts does not constitute the valuing of one person’s vote over another, and Gore does not stand for the proposition that each voter must be allowed to reside in his or her district of choice. Gore only guarantees that once all votes are cast, they must be treated with “equal weight.” Id. at 104, 121 S.Ct. 525.
¶ 32 Flagstaff nevertheless asserts that redistrieting “has a direct impact on the weight of each vote,” presumably because grouping like-minded people theoretically makes it easier for an elected official to represent the interests of those people. However, Flagstaff cites no authority for a constitutional right to “ease of representation,” and we find none.
¶ 33 Finally, Flagstaff argues that by approving Proposition 106, the voters “constitutionalized” the redistrieting process, just as the framers enshrined the right to bring legal action for recovery of personal damages. Kenyon v. Hammer, 142 Ariz. 69, 83, 688 P.2d 961, 975 (1984) (employing strict scrutiny review of medical malpractice litigation procedures). Flagstaff fails to explain, however, how Kenyon applies to its claims or how the redistrieting plans impair the right to vote. Rather, as explained previously, redistrieting does not affect “the essence of the fundamental right” to vote, and strict scrutiny is thus inapplicable. See id. Moreover, it is well settled that the regulation of elections will necessarily place certain burdens upon voters; however, as discussed previously, such burdens are not sufficiently substantial to trigger strict scrutiny review. See Burdick, 504 U.S. at 432, 112 S.Ct. 2059. For all these reasons, the redistrieting plans do not impermissibly or substantially burden the fundamental right to vote.
2. Has a suspect class been impacted?
¶ 34 We next consider whether the Commission was predominantly motivated by race when it created the redistrieting plans, thereby triggering strict scrutiny review. Abrams v. Johnson, 521 U.S. 74, 91, 117 S.Ct. 1925, 138 L.Ed.2d 285 (1997); Miller v. Johnson, 515 U.S. 900, 913, 916, 115 S.Ct. 2475, 132 L.Ed.2d 762 (1995) (strict scrutiny applicable when the “dominant and controlling rationale” in creating districts was “race for its own sake” and “the legislature subordinated traditional race-neutral districting principles ... to racial considerations”).
¶ 35 In Bush v. Vera, the United States Supreme Court applied strict scrutiny review to examine claims that district lines were drawn based on race. 517 U.S. 952, 972-73, 116 S.Ct. 1941, 135 L.Ed.2d 248 (1996). However, such review was only applied to those districts where “intensive and pervasive use of race” was used to maximize minority populations irrespective of traditional redistrieting guidelines. Id. The Court pointedly confirmed its prior ruling in Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630, 642, 113 S.Ct. 2816, 125 L.Ed.2d 511 (1993), that the threshold for applying strict scrutiny in this setting is reached only when “redistrieting legislation ... is so extremely irregular on its face that it rationally can be viewed only as an effort to segregate the races for purposes of voting, without regard for traditional districting principles.” Id. at 958, 116 S.Ct. 1941. Strict scrutiny is not automatically triggered in every case involving the intention to create majority-minority districts or in cases where lines are drawn “with consciousness of race.” Id. The Court reiterated that “[f]or strict scrutiny to apply, the plaintiffs must prove that other, legitimate districting principles were subordinated to race” and that race was “the predominant factor.” Id. at 959, 116 S.Ct. 1941 (citing Miller, 515 U.S. at 916, 115 S.Ct. 2475).
¶ 36 The parties challenging the redistricting plans did not allege that race was the predominant motive of the Commission in creating the plans or that it subordinated legitimate race-neutral criteria to race. See id. Rather, the complaints are premised on allegations that the Commission improperly applied the constitutional criteria in developing the maps, failed to fulfill its constitutional duties, and thereby violated the plaintiffs’ “fundamental right to vote.” However, the plans are not so “extremely irregular” that segregation for voting purposes is the only reasonable explanation. See id at 958, 116 S.Ct. 1941. Accordingly, there has been no unconstitutional identification of or discrimination against a suspect class that warrants strict scrutiny review.
¶ 37 In summary, we hold that the trial court erred in applying the strict scrutiny standard to review challenges to the Commission’s redistrieting plans. We therefore reverse that portion of the judgment entered by the court on January 16, 2004, that invalidated the legislative redistrieting plan and ordered the Commission to take additional action in constructing a new plan. We remand to the trial court to consider whether the legislative redistrieting plan at issue before January 16, 2004 is rationally related to a legitimate government purpose.
¶ 38 Bearing the appropriate standard of review in mind, and with the goal of providing some guidance to the trial court on remand, we now analyze the court’s rulings concerning legislative redistrieting and then review the propriety of granting summary judgment in the congressional redistrieting portion of the case.
II. Legislative redistrieting appeal
A. Equal Protection
¶ 39 The viability of an equal protection challenge in a redistrieting case, absent evi-deuce of racial discrimination or impairment of the right to vote, is questionable. In Vieth, the Supreme Court concluded that “political gerrymandering” claims are nonjusticiable, and that the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution does not provide a judicially enforceable limit on political considerations that may be taken into account when redistrieting. 541 U.S. at 305, 124 S.Ct. 1769. The Court held that the Constitution contains no provision that grants groups a right to proportional representation. Id at 288, 124 S.Ct. 1769. In the plurality opinion, Justice Scalia pointed out that the Constitution “guarantees equal protection of the law to persons, not equal representation in government to equivalently sized groups. It nowhere says that farmers or urban dwellers, Christian fundamentalists or Jews, Republicans or Democrats, must be accorded political strength proportionate to their numbers.” Id Applying this reasoning, no matter how district lines are drawn, it would be impossible to guarantee a certain result in representation. Id at 289, 124 S.Ct. 1769.
¶ 40 Notwithstanding the above, the Coalition asserted and the trial court found an equal protection violation because the Commission had never adopted definitions of essential terms in Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14), of the Arizona Constitution, such as “community of interest,” “extent practicable,” “competitive,” and “significant detriment.” The trial court also concluded that the terms were not self-executing, were subject to varying definitions, and had been applied arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights. The trial court therefore ordered the Commission to adopt definitions of the aforementioned terms. The Commission contests these conclusions and argues that no authority supports them.
¶ 41 The Coalition counters that without standards to guide them, the Commissioners relied on individual, subjective ad hoc rationales in applying the map-drawing criteria and, in so doing, failed to treat all voters alike. Similarly, Flagstaff contends that lack of definitions both allowed the Commission to perform its work in an arbitrary fashion and prevented adequate evaluation to ensure uniform treatment. It also argues that standards are needed, for example, to assist the Commission in identifying communities of interest because if a community were placed in a single district, the votes of that community “have weight behind the[m].”
¶ 42 In asserting that the Commission violated the Equal Protection Clause and failed to uniformly apply the various criteria in adopting its final 2002 legislative plan, the Coalition and Flagstaff rely on Gore. As previously noted, in Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court found that “the use of standardless manual recounts” in a presidential election denied equal protection to some members of the electorate. 531 U.S. at 103, 121 S.Ct. 525. The Court observed that an important aspect of the right to vote is the equal weight and dignity of each vote; accordingly, having “granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.” Id. at 104-05, 121 S.Ct. 525. The Florida Supreme Court seriously infringed upon this right by ordering examination of some ballots for which the voting machines had not detected a vote for president to discern the voter’s intent when the counties conducting the examination used different rules to evaluate intent. Id. at 105, 121 S.Ct. 525. As a result, the votes of some citizens would be validated and counted while the ballots of others would not be re-examined. Id. at 107-08, 121 S.Ct. 525. After concluding that equal protection demanded that the ballots be evaluated by uniform rules so that similarly situated voters would be treated alike, the Court emphasized that its holding was limited “to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities.” Id. at 109, 121 S.Ct. 525.
¶ 43 The Commission contends that no other court, including the Supreme Court, has cited Gore in a redistricting ease and that Gore is limited to its unique facts. Flagstaff responds that Gore is not so limited .because the Ninth Circuit cited it in Charfauros, 249 F.3d at 951-55, a case striking down inequitable voter qualification challenges. In Charfauros, an Elections Board regulation created two classes of voters based on party affiliation. Id. at 945. Challenges to the eligibility of one class occurred and were resolved before the election but challenges to the qualifications of the other class were not resolved until after the election, and its votes were not counted. Id. at 946. The Ninth Circuit agreed that the Board’s regulation imposed arbitrary and disparate treatment on some citizens and cited Gore for the prop osition that “once the legislature prescribes a particular voting procedure, the right to vote in that precise manner is a fundamental right.” Id. at 953.
¶ 44 Both Gore and Charfauros involved denial of the right of some individuals to have their votes counted on an equal basis, but neither case applies to the Commission’s redistricting efforts here. Gore, 531 U.S. at 100-05, 121 S.Ct. 525; Charfauros, 249 F.3d at 950-55. Neither the Coalition nor Flagstaff claims that Arizona lacks uniform standards to determine if a vote mil be counted, as in Gore, 531 U.S. at 105-10, 121 S.Ct. 525, or that the redistricting plans classify voters in a way that denies or impairs their ability to vote on an equal basis with others, as in Charfauros, 249 F.3d at 950-51. Instead, the Coalition contends that to avoid arbitrary use or interpretation of the redistricting criteria, the Commission must adopt uniform definitions and rules.
¶ 45 The trial court accepted the assertion that lack of definitions for the criteria listed in Section 1(14) violates equal protection. It concluded as a matter of law that the terms of Section 1(14) were not “self-executing” because otherwise the Commission would not need to hire experts on competitiveness, hold hearings to identify communities of interest, or decide how to apply the various criteria. The Commission responds, however, that the court erred because Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(17) clearly states that “[t]he provisions regarding this section are self-executing,” and the next sentence states that the Commission “shall certify [the districting maps] to the secretary of state.” Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(17) (emphasis added).
¶ 46 “Self-executing” means that the legislature need not pass a statute enacting the redistricting plans. See Chartone, Inc. v. Bernini, 207 Ariz. 162, 166, ¶ 12, 83 P.3d 1103, 1107 (App.2004) (stating that a constitutional provision is self-executing if it is effective immediately and does not require ancillary legislation or other action). Once the Commission certifies the maps, the secretary of state must use them in conducting the next election. The trial court, however, found the various criteria set out in Section 1(14) not to be “self-executing.” We do not think the court intended to contradict the express words of Section 1(17) but meant instead that some of the critical terms in Section 1(14) are not self-explanatory or cannot be implemented without further study or investigation.
¶ 47 The Coalition insists, however, that without standards, the application of the constitutional criteria may be subject to differences of opinion among the Commissioners. Even presuming some disagreement, the Commission can take official action if at least three Commissioners cast affirmative votes. See Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(12). Further, although the existence of standards may aid the Commission in reaching agreement, standards do not guarantee unanimity, and unanimity is not mandated.
¶ 48 Our discussion of the role of standards in guiding the Commission illustrates the overriding fact that districting decisions require judgment, particularly because the Commission is charged with considering a number of variables that may often conflict with each other. See, e.g., Mayor of Cambridge v. Sec’y of Commonwealth, 436 Mass. 476, 765 N.E.2d 749, 755 (2002) (acknowledging that the redistricting process requires the use of discretion and compromise); State ex rel. S. St. Paul v. Hetherington, 240 Minn. 298, 61 N.W.2d 737, 742 (1953) (acknowledging that those charged with redistricting must exercise their own discretion, but that there are limits thereon), cited in Ziols v. Rice County Bd. of Comm’rs, 661 N.W.2d 283, 287 (Minn.App.2003). At present, it is not possible to produce a perfect map by feeding data into a computer. Instead, the people of Arizona have entrusted a politically balanced group of five individuals with discretion to reach reasonable conclusions on how to draw district lines. Even if the Commission adopts a definition of “competitive” or “compact” so that proposed districts may be measured against an agreed-upon yardstick, the Commission still must have flexibility to give more emphasis to one goal over another when, for example, to respect a community of interest, a district must be less compact and contiguous.
¶ 49 This is not to say that the Commission can ignore any of the constitutional cri- tena, can favor one criterion without considering the others, or can apply or interpret them in a way that no rational Commission would. However, the Coalition has not demonstrated that equal protection principles demand definitions in order to prevent the Commission from invidiously discriminating against some voters. We find no basis in the Equal Protection Clause to compel the Commission to adopt definitions, and the trial court’s order in that regard was error.
B. Competitiveness as an equal goal under the Arizona Constitution
¶ 50 The trial court ruled that “[c]reating competitive districts is no less important than meeting any of the other goals of Article 4, [P]art 2, [Section] 1(14)(B) — (E) and, in fact, is mandatory.” Consequently, the court concluded that the Commission misinterpreted Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14) as subordinating the competitiveness goal and violated that provision by failing to favor competitiveness in establishing districts. Specifically, the court ruled that the Commission erred by addressing competitiveness only after it considered the goals set forth in subsections (B) — (E), was not permitted “to create homogenous districts comprised of like-minded, yet distinct, communities of interest, at the expense of [creating] competitive districts,” and failed to favor competitiveness by creating majority-minority districts with Hispanic voting populations in excess of the requirements of Section 5 of the VRA. The court further found that a more competitive plan was plausible based on the existence of a proposed plan known as the “Hall-Minkoff Plan,” which the Commission had rejected. Ultimately, the court ordered the Commission “to adopt a legislative plan that gives appropriate consideration to competitiveness” and “at a minimum contains the same number of competitive districts [seven] as the Hall-Minkoff Plan.”
¶ 51 The Commission and AFLR argue that the trial court erred by elevating the importance of competitiveness as described in Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14). They contend the plain meaning of the constitution subordinates competitiveness as a factor to consider in the redistricting process. The Coalition responds that because competitiveness is the only goal “favored” in Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14), and all constitutional provisions are mandatory unless specifically described as discretionary, the court’s ruling on this issue was correct. We review this issue de novo as a question of law. Circle K Stores, Inc. v. Apache County, 199 Ariz. 402, 405, ¶ 7, 18 P.3d 713, 716 (App.2001).
¶ 52 To understand the contours of a constitutional provision, we begin, as always, by examining its language. In interpreting Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14), our primary focus is on the intent of the electorate that voted to amend the constitution, Jett v. City of Tucson, 180 Ariz. 115, 119, 882 P.2d 426, 430 (1994), “and we do not [step] outside the plain language of the provision unless the language is unclear.” Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Arizona Elec. Power Coop., Inc., 207 Ariz. 95, 109, ¶ 42, 83 P.3d 573, 587 (App.2004). If we find the language unclear, we may then consider “the context, effect, consequences and spirit of the law.” State v. Superior Court (Coronado), 186 Ariz. 363, 365, 922 P.2d 927, 929 (App.1996). Finally, we give words their natural, obvious and ordinary meaning unless defined otherwise in the constitution. McElhaney Cattle Co. v. Smith, 132 Ariz. 286, 290, 645 P.2d 801, 805 (1982). With these principles in mind, we examine the language of the constitutional provisions at issue.
¶ 53 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14) — (15), sets forth a four-phase method the Commission must follow in establishing legislative and congressional districts. During phase one, the Commission must create “districts of equal population in a grid-like pattern across the state.” Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(14). The Commission cannot consider party registration and voting history data during this phase. Id. at § 1(15). The Commission is additionally prohibited from identifying or considering the places of residence of incumbents or candidates. Id. No party disputes this description of the Commission’s constitutional mandate during this phase.
¶ 54 In phase two, the Commission “shall” make adjustments to the grid created during phase one “as necessary to accommodate” six listed goals. Id. at § 1(14)(A) — (P). It is the priority and binding nature of these goals that form the crux of the parties’ dispute. Thus, we again quote the language of the contested provision:
A. Districts shall comply with the United States [Constitution and the [Ujnited [Sjtates [Vjoting [Rjights [Ajct;
B. Congressional districts shall have equal population to the extent practicable, and state legislative districts shall have equal population to the extent practicable;
C. Districts shall be geographically compact and contiguous to the extent practicable;
D. District boundaries shall respect communities of interest to the extent practicable;
E. To the extent practicable, district lines shall use visible geographic features, city, town and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts;
F. To the extent practicable, competitive districts should be favored where to do so would create no significant detriment to the other goals.
Id. at § 1(14). The Commission may use party registration and voting history data to test maps for compliance with these goals. Id. at § 1(15). As in phase one, however, the Commission cannot identify or consider the places of residence of incumbents or candidates when completing phase two. Id.
¶ 55 In phase three, the Commission must advertise draft maps of the legislative and congressional districts drawn during the initial phases and take public and legislative comment for thirty days. Id. at § 1(16). Finally, in phase four, the Commission establishes final district boundaries and certifies the new districts to the secretary of state. Id. at § 1(16) — (17).
¶ 56 The parties agree that the initial requirement of phase two is compliance with the federal constitution and the VRA. Their agreement ends there. The Commission and AFLR argue that use of the word “should’ in Section 1(14)(F), coupled with the deferential reference to the goals listed in Section 1(14)(A) — (E), plainly evidences the electorate’s intent that competitiveness constitute a subordinate goal in establishing districts. AFLR additionally contends that use of the word “should” permits the Commission to “completely ignore[j the ‘competitive’ goal” in establishing districts. The Coalition responds that application of principles of constitutional construction and review of the publicity pamphlet for Proposition 106 indicate that use of “should” in Section 1(14)(F) signifies a mandatory goal. Additionally, it asserts that because competitiveness is the only “favored” goal, it is preeminent unless its satisfaction causes significant detriment to other listed goals.
¶ 57 We agree with the Coalition that the word “should” in Section 1(14)(F) does not permit the Commission to entirely ignore the competitiveness goal. First, the word “should” is commonly used to express obligation or duty. McNutt v. McNutt, 203 Ariz. 28, 34, ¶ 26, 49 P.3d 300, 306 (App.2002) (citing The American Heritage Dictionary 1670 (3d ed.1992)); see also Black’s Law Dictionary 1237 (5th ed.1979) (defining “should” in part as “ordinarily implying duty or obligation” and “not'normally synonymous with ‘may’ ”). Consequently, just as “shall” generally indicates a mandatory provision, Walter v. Wilkinson, 198 Ariz. 431, 432, ¶ 7, 10 P.3d 1218, 1219 (App.2000), “should” assumes a similar meaning. See McNutt, 203 Ariz. at 34, ¶ 26, 49 P.3d at 306 (holding language in child support guidelines that court “should” allocate federal tax exemption mandates such action).
¶ 58 Second, although mandatory terms can be directory depending on the context or usage, we do not discern such an intent in Section 1(14)(F). See Ariz. Libertarian Party v. Schmeral, 200 Ariz. 486, 490, ¶ 10, 28 P.3d 948, 952 (App.2001) (“We acknowledge that ‘shall’ may be interpreted as indicating desirability, preference, or permission, rather than mandatory direction----”). The Commission and AFLR contend we should infer this intent because the electorate failed to use the term “shall” in subsection (F), while doing so in subsections (A) — (E). See In re Guardianship of Cruz, 154 Ariz. 184, 185, 741 P.2d 317, 318 (App.1987) (inferring from use of “may” and “shall” in a statute that the legislature was aware of the difference between mandatory and directory verbs and intended different meanings). Although use of directory and mandatory terms in close context may evidence a drafter’s intent to adhere to the traditional definitions of those terms, see id., use of alternative words that convey mandatory meaning does not similarly indicate a desire that one term convey a directory meaning. And, as the Coalition points out, our constitution provides that its provisions “are mandatory, unless by express words they are declared to be otherwise.” Ariz. Const, art. 2, § 32. Because the language of Section 1(14)(F) does not expressly indicate that “should” is used in a nontraditional manner, we adhere to its generally accepted definition. For these reasons, we reject AFLR’s contention that the electorate used the word “should” in Section 1(14)(F) to permit the Commission to completely ignore the goal of competitiveness in establishing districts.
¶ 59 However, having concluded that “should” is used in a mandatory sense, we further conclude that it does not elevate subsection (F) to a position of dominance over subsections (B) — (E). We instead agree with the Commission and AFLR that qualifying language in Section 1(14)(F) plainly subordinates the competitiveness goal to the goals listed in Section 1(14)(B) — (E). The goals listed in subsections (B) — (E) must be accomplished “to the extent practicable,” with equal priority. Although the competitiveness goal is prefaced with the words “[t]o the extent practicable,” only that goal is “favored where to do so would create no significant detriment to the other goals.” Consequently, the competitiveness goal does not share equal priority with the goals set forth in subsections (B) — (E). Rather, the Commission must favor competitive districts when the other goals would not suffer significant detriment. See Ariz. Minority Coalition v. Ariz. Indep. Redistricting Comm’n, 284 F.Supp.2d 1240, 1244 (D.Ariz.2003) (observing “the Arizona Constitution mandates that the Commission favor competitive districts, though it diminishes the significance of this goal below the importance of the five other goals listed in the Clause”). Stated differently, if drawing competitive or more competitive districts would not be practicable or would cause significant detriment to the goals listed in subsections (B) — (E), the Commission must refrain from establishing such districts. Conversely, if it would be practicable to draw competitive or more competitive districts and to do so would not cause significant detriment to the goals listed in subsections (B) — (E), the Commission must establish such districts.
¶ 60 Finally, the Coalition argues that the publicity pamphlet for Proposition 106 and related information evidence the electorate’s intent that competitiveness be the primary goal in establishing legislative and congressional districts. Similarly, the trial court found that the publicity pamphlet urging adoption of Proposition 106 emphasized that “a primary purpose of Proposition 106 was to insure the creation of competitive congressional and legislative districts.” However, neither the Coalition nor the court points to any language in Section 1(14) that is unclear, thereby justifying review of or reliance on the pamphlet to discern the electorate’s intent. Consequently, and because we do not find the language of Section 1(14) ambiguous, we do not consider this extraneous evidence. Phelps Dodge, 207 Ariz. at 109, ¶ 42, 83 P.3d at 587.
¶ 61 In summary, the trial court erred by ruling that creation of competitive districts is no less important than any of the other goals listed in Sections 1(14)(B) — (E), and that the Commission erred in treating competitiveness as a subordinate goal.
C. Other issues likely to arise on remand
1. Identification and consideration of incumbents’ places of residence
¶ 62 The trial court also found that the Commission “considered” the locations of incumbents during the redistricting process in contravention of Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(15). That provision states that “[pjarty registration and voting history data shall be excluded from the initial phase of the mapping process but may be used to test maps for compliance with the above goals. The places of residence of incumbents or candidates shall not be identified or considered.” Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(15) (emphasis added).
¶ 63 At trial, the Coalition offered some evidence that the Commission, through its counsel and/or consultants, possessed information that identified the proposed districts in which incumbents would be located. The Commission objected, noting that its consultant, Dr. Michael McDonald, needed this information to test the competitiveness of the proposed plan, and that the Commission, through its counsel, was required to obtain and convey such information to the DOJ as part of that agency’s review of the plans for compliance with the VRA. The trial court overruled the Commission’s objection.
¶ 64 In formulating its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial court accepted the Coalition’s proposed finding that “[t]o prevent the Commission from constructing ... districts to benefit particular incumbents ... Proposition 106 also specifically prohibits the Commission, which includes its agents and attorneys, from identifying or considering the places of residences of incumbents or potential candidates at any time during the redistricting process.” (Emphasis added.) The court also accepted that soon after adopting the final draft map, on or about September 4, 2001, the Commission’s attorneys provided information to NDC and McDonald about the location of legislative and congressional incumbents. Again in April 2002, the Commission and another consultant “obtained information regarding the location of incumbents” in the 2001 Adopted Legislative Plan and in the Coalition II Revised Plan.
¶ 65 The court acknowledged that on February 27, 2002, the Commission’s counsel had responded to DOJ’s requests for a list of incumbents and their districts under both the 1990 and the proposed plans by stating that the Commission was prohibited “from identifying or considering the places of residence of incumbents.” Counsel then informed DOJ of a source, apparently AFLR, that could identify where incumbents would reside in the proposed districts. However, the court found DOJ’s request came long “after the Commission first gathered and considered information about incumbent residences.” Further, “DOJ’s request does not explain the Commission’s subsequent consideration of the impact of the Coalition II Revised Plan on incumbents.” Thus, the court found that the Commission violated Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(15) “through its identification and consideration of the residences of incumbents.”
¶ 66 The Commission argues that the trial court’s factual findings and legal conclusions are incorrect. It concedes it may not use incumbents’ residences to draw district lines but maintains that this does not mean the Commissioners or their agents are forbidden from knowing whether a district contains an incumbent. The key question, the Commission asserts, is not whether information about the location of incumbents in past or proposed districts was in the hands of Commission agents but whether the Commission or its agents used addresses of incumbents as a basis for drawing or making adjustments to various maps.
¶ 67 As the Commission argued at trial, reading Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(15) to prohibit the Commission from knowing anything about incumbent locations presents a number of practical problems. When a constitutional provision is unclear, we consider its effect, consequences, context, and spirit. Coronado, 186 Ariz. at 365, 922 P.2d at 929. As soon as the Commission proposes a map, newspapers and other interested parties, armed with incumbents’ addresses, can simply match incumbents with the proposed districts and publish charts indicating which incumbents would be in which districts. None of the lists or charts that are part of this record reveal actual addresses, but one witness stated that incumbents’ addresses are readily available from the secretary of state’s office and its website.
¶ 68 The Commission’s counsel also observed at trial that, as here, groups aligned with political parties, partisan citizen groups, or others may propose their own redistricting plans. Although a partisan group is free to use incumbents’ addresses as the basis for drawing its proposed map, the Commission could not necessarily discern a bias in favor of or detrimental to incumbents when a proposed map comes from an external source. Furthermore, several elected representatives appeared at the Commission’s public hearings to offer comments, and as all speakers did, filled out slips that asked for a name and address. Commission staff had to remove the addresses so that the Commission record would not contain any incumbents’ addresses. But, a total ban on disclosure of incumbents’ geographic locations would plainly diminish the usefulness of public input if, for example, incumbents were forbidden from offering suggestions on communities of interest or other issues because in doing so they might disclose their location in a particular district.
¶ 69 Additionally, it may stretch credulity to think that the Commissioners, four of whom are appointed by the highest ranking officers in the state legislature, have no personal knowledge of at least the city in which some congressional or legislative incumbents reside. Presumably, each Commissioner votes in a district, likely knows his or her own representatives, and may know where other representatives live or which districts they represent.
¶ 70 These practical difficulties strongly suggest that Section 1(15) seeks not to erase all knowledge that there are incumbents located throughout the state who may or may not be “redistributed” by the new maps but rather is intended to prevent the Commission from attempting to either strengthen or weaken the incumbents’ political bases when deciding how to draw new district lines. Section 1(14) expressly enumerates the criteria to guide the Commission’s discretion in drawing district lines, and Section 1(15) states as explicitly that incumbents’ places of residence “shall not be identified or considered.” Implicit in this prohibition is the qualification, “when drawing district lines.”
¶ 71 We attempt to give our constitution a sensible meaning. In this instance, we cannot ignore that not only may the Commissioners and their agents know the general locations of many incumbents, but that this knowledge is shared with or is available to any citizen, political party, or special interest group that wishes to propose districts. Additionally, the Commissioners and their agents could inadvertently learn of specific addresses of incumbents.
¶ 72 The purpose of Section 1(15) is not to require that ignorant and uninformed Commissioners and staff carry out the redistricting process. Rather it is to prevent the Commission from drawing new districts to either aid or hinder the interests of candidates or incumbent legislators in future elec tions. The key is the presence of knowledge combined with the use of that knowledge in drawing the new district lines. We think it unwise to adopt a highly impractical interpretation of Section 1(15) that forbids any of the Commissioners, their staff, counsel, or consultants from knowing in what existing or proposed districts an incumbent may be located or learning of an incumbent’s address. Mere knowledge of even the specific residence of an incumbent, without the use of such knowledge to draw boundary lines, cannot render a plan unconstitutional. If it did, then once such information came within the knowledge of a Commissioner or, as here, the entire Commission and staff, all persons with such knowledge could no longer serve, and new Commissioners would have to be selected. That absurd result could not have been intended.
¶ 78 No party has cited any evidence that the Commission gave directions to its map consultants based on the Commission’s knowledge of incumbents’ residences. The Commission concedes that the Commissioners knew that each old legislative district had three possible incumbents but argues that the Commissioners never pinpointed the precise locations of those incumbents by addresses. Without an address, the Commissioners could not consider how a proposed map would affect incumbents. Moreover, no one has cited a single remark by any Commissioner indicating that he or she considered even the general locations of incumbents, let alone their addresses. Further, no one has cited any directive to NDC that suggests the Commissioners considered incumbents’ locations when drawing lines or choosing which plans to test for possible adoption. Similarly, even though McDonald asked for and received information on ineum-bents’ locations in his September 1, 2002 email, no one has alleged that McDonald used this information to influence the Commission.
¶ 74 The Coalition had the burden of proof on this issue. During trial, however, it simply cited the April 17, 2002 e-mail between Commission counsel and its consultants listing the locations of incumbents under the Coalition II Revised Plan to contend that the list could not have been compiled without incumbent addresses. Although AFLR’s counsel avowed at trial that his organization had provided the information on incumbents’ placement in the Coalition’s map, the Coalition failed to prove that the Commission used this information to draw district lines. Furthermore, when the trial court ordered the Commission to recreate legislative districts, it did so with the awareness that the Commission had some knowledge of incumbents’ residences. Nevertheless, no party objected to the Commission’s ability to act merely because of this knowledge. In other words, no one suggested that knowledge alone would disqualify the Commissioners from service.
¶ 75 We have reversed the portion of the January 16, 2004 judgment invalidating the legislative redistricting plan, including the court’s findings and legal conclusions on this issue. In light of our interpretation of Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(15), the trial court is free to reconsider those findings and conclusions on remand.
2. Disclosure of Johnson communications
¶ 76 In April 2002, the Commission identified its consultant, Douglas Johnson, as a trial expert. In response, the Coalition re quested copies of all documentation reviewed by Johnson. The Commission disclosed some documents, but objected to others, citing various privileges, including legislative privilege. The Coalition filed a motion to compel, after which the Commission changed Johnson’s designation from an expert witness to a fact witness. The trial court granted the Coalition’s subsequent motion to compel, ruling that the legislative privilege did not apply to the Commission’s consultants. The Commission then redesignated Johnson as an expert witness.
¶ 77 The Commission sought special action review of the court’s ruling. We accepted jurisdiction and opined that the legislative privilege applies to all communications, including written documentation, between the Commission and its consultants. Am. Indep. Redistricting Comm’n v. Fields, 206 Ariz. at 140-41, ¶¶ 30, 32, 75 P.3d at 1098-99. We further held, however, that a “commissioner can waive the privilege ... by designating that consultant as a testifying expert.” Id. at 144, ¶ 48, 75 P.3d at 1102. We concluded that the Commission had waived its legislative privilege regarding communications with its designated experts and materials related to their testimony that they had reviewed. Id. at 144-45, ¶ 50, 75 P.3d at 1102-03.
¶ 78 In light of our ruling, we ordered the Commission to “immediately identify those documents listed on its privilege log” that it determined were protected by the legislative privilege and had not been waived. Id. at 145, ¶ 51, 75 P.3d at 1103. We then instructed that
[t]he [Commission] shall immediately produce to the Coalition all remaining documents listed in the privilege log. Thereafter, and without undue delay, the [Commission] shall submit any documents it deems privileged and not waived to the trial court for an in camera inspection. The court shall then decide whether these documents are shielded by the legislative privilege.
Id. We also held, however, that
the [Commission] and its attorneys exclusively control the selection of its testifying experts. Thus, the [Commission] can avoid waiving any legislative privilege by simply selecting testifying experts who did not also serve as pre-litigation consultants.
Id. at 144, ¶ 49, 75 P.3d at 1102.
¶ 79 Two days after we issued Fields, the Commission redesignated Johnson as a fact witness, apparently to preserve the Commission’s legislative privilege. At a hearing on that issue on October 31, 2003, the trial court interpreted our holding to mean that the Commission’s prior act of designating Johnson as an expert had created the waiver. It ruled that the Commission could not later change Johnson’s designation and thereby regain the protection of the privilege. It further ruled that its review of the documents previously disclosed by the Commission revealed that Johnson would be testifying, at least in part, as an expert, regardless of the designation given him by the Commission. On that basis, the trial court directed the Commission to produce “any documents relating to the subject matter of ... Johnson’s testimony as designated when he was designated as an expert witness .... ” Since the Commission had not yet followed this court’s order to separate the documents it deemed privileged and submit them to the trial court for determination of whether the legislative privilege applied, the trial court commented, “I understand the Court of Appeals wants me to review those documents to make sure they fall within that area of expertise, so I’m [going to] need what he was designated as, as well as the documents, if you want me to review them.”
¶ 80 In response to the trial court’s ruling, the Commission produced “thousands of pages of communications,” which included information relating to Johnson’s fact-witness testimony, without first submitting them to the trial court for the ordered in camera inspection. At trial, over repeated objection by the Commission, the Coalition admitted two of these documents as proof that the Commission wrongfully considered incumbents’ residences in its redistricting process. See supra ¶¶ 62-75.
¶ 81 On appeal, the Commission argues that the trial court should have allowed it to redesignate Johnson as a fact witness and thereby “avoid waiving” its legislative privilege. The Commission also argues that it was error for the trial court to “force” the Commission to disclose all documents regarding Johnson’s work as a consultant. The Coalition, on the other hand, claims that the Commission voluntarily disclosed the documents without an in camera inspection and thus waived its privilege.
¶ 82 A trial court “‘has broad discretion in ruling on discovery and disclosure matters,’ and we will not disturb its ruling absent an abuse of discretion.” Link v. Pima County, 193 Ariz. 336, 338, 972 P.2d 669, 671 (App.1998) (quoting Rosner v. Denim & Diamonds, Inc., 188 Ariz. 431, 434, 937 P.2d 353, 356 (App.1996)). Here, the trial court misinterpreted the impact of the Commission’s redesignation of Johnson as an expert witness. See Fields, 206 Ariz. at 144-45, ¶¶ 49-51, 75 P.3d at 1102-03. The court apparently read Fields to mean that the Commission’s mere expert designation of Johnson created a permanent waiver of legislative privilege that could not be revoked by redesignating him as a fact witness. See id. It did not.
¶ 83 Fields stands for the proposition that the legislative privilege is waived when a consultant has been designated as the party’s expert and will testify as an expert. Id. Thus, a party who has named a consultant as an expert can reinstate the privilege by removing that designation before expert opinion evidence is offered through production of a report, responses to discovery, or expert testimony. See id.
¶ 84 Moreover, the Commission may decide which experts it will call to testify at trial. See Perguson v. Tamis, 188 Ariz. 425, 430, 937 P.2d 347, 352 (App.1996) (“Once a party has agreed or is ordered to limit his or her timely-disclosed but overlapping experts, ... that party, not adverse parties, should get to choose which expert(s) will or will not be used at trial.”). As courts interpreting the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have determined, once an expert witness is redes-ignated, the opposing party is strictly limited to disclosure related to the new designation. See, e.g., Mantolete v. Bolger, 96 F.R.D. 179, 182 (1982). In Mantolete, the court reasoned that when a defendant changed its expert’s designation from “testifying expert” to “non-testifying” expert under Rule 26(b)(4) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, discovery by plaintiff was limited to the restrictions set forth for non-testifying experts. Id. The court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the redesignation of the witness was simply a way to avoid discovery and thus a gross abuse of the federal rules. Id. at 182 n. 2. Instead, the court opined that the “defendant is permitted to execute the trial strategy it deems appropriate to defend its case; this extends to changing the status of an expert, which thereby narrows the scope of discovery.” Id. (citing Bailey v. Meister Brau, Inc., 57 F.R.D. 11, 13-14 (N.D.Ill.1972)).
¶ 85 We agree with the analysis in Manto-lete. The Commission was entitled to change Johnson’s designation, which in turn limited the opposing parties’ right to discovery related to Johnson’s new designation as a fact witness, thereby preserving the applicable legislative privilege.
¶ 86 Notwithstanding the retention of its privilege, the Commission produced apparently privileged documents without first providing the documents to the trial court for an in camera inspection. The Coalition contends that the Commission’s release of the documents was “voluntary” because it was not in strict accordance with the trial court’s directive. It therefore reasons that the Commission has waived its opposition to the disclosure of privileged documents. We disagree.
¶ 87 The Commission strenuously protested the release of these documents before and during trial, and even pursued a special action in this court contesting such disclosure. After the conclusion of the special action, the trial court ruled that the Commission had waived the legislative privilege protecting communications between it and Johnson regardless of his new status as a fact witness. Thus, an in camera inspection of documents reflecting communications between the Commission and Johnson would not have shielded these documents from production, as the Commission likely realized. In light of these circumstances, we cannot view the Commission’s production of privileged documents without the in camera inspection as a voluntary waiver of the legislative privilege. Rather, it is clear that the Commission believed it was compelled to disclose any documents that related to Johnson’s testimony.
¶ 88 Of course, when an expert is redesig-nated as a fact witness, the privilege remains in effect only for so long as the witness does not testify or testifies only as a fact witness. The privilege is waived, however, and the expert-based documents become discoverable, when the fact witness is redesignated as an expert witness, and will testify as such. It is also waived to the extent that trial testimony exceeds the fact-witness designation.
¶ 89 Accordingly, we hold that the trial court erred in ruling that the mere act of designating a consultant as a testifying expert witness permanently waived the legislative privilege. On remand, the trial court should apply the principles set forth herein. To the extent the parties cannot agree on which documents are privileged, the trial court shall conduct an in camera inspection in order to determine the application of the privilege. In the event of a re-trial, and in the event Johnson’s testimony strays into the realm of expert testimony, any documents relevant to such expanded testimony will be subject to disclosure. See Link, 193 Ariz. at 338, 972 P.2d at 671.
3. Use of personal knowledge and experience
¶ 90 We next consider whether Commissioners are prohibited from using personal knowledge and experience in the redistricting process. The Coalition states that use of personal knowledge is permitted as long as the Commission is applying uniform standards. The Commission argues that the trial court erred in faulting the Commissioners for relying on their personal experience and in finding such reliance to be evidence of arbitrary post hoc justifications. The Commission cites Bush v. Vera, a racial gerrymandering ease, in which the Court rejected the state’s claims that community of interest and incumbency protection explained district lines. 517 U.S. at 966-67. In Vera, Justice O’Connor acknowledged that, when redistricting, legislators could use their dis-tricting experience to achieve permissible political gerrymandering “regardless of [their] awareness of [the] racial implications.” Id. at 968, 116 S.Ct. 1941. Justice O’Connor’s observation is of questionable relevance here, but we nevertheless assume that candidates for a position on the Commission bring their personal knowledge and experience to the task. We know of no constitutional principle that requires Commissioners to ignore that knowledge or experience although, as we have emphasized, their discretion is not unfettered. Simple reliance on personal knowledge and experience cannot substitute for careful and honest consideration and application of the criteria in Section 1(14).
III. Congressional redistricting appeal
¶ 91 The Navajo Nation and Leonard Gor-man (collectively “Nation”) appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Commission, AFLR, and the Hopi Tribe (“Tribe”) on the Nation’s complaint and the corresponding denial of summary judgment in favor of the Nation. The Nation argues that the court erred in its rulings because as a matter of law the Commission violated Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14), of the Arizona Constitution, by granting the Tribe’s request to be in a different congressional district than the Nation. Specifically, according to the Nation, by placing the Nation into district 1 and the Tribe and 42 Nation residents into district 2, the Commission violated Section 1(14)(C), (D) and (E) by splitting the Nation’s community of interest, constructing districts that are neither compact nor contiguous, and dividing census tracts. Additionally, the Nation argues that although the trial court properly stated that it should employ strict scrutiny review in deciding whether the Commission violated Section 1(14), the court misapplied that standard.
¶ 92 We quickly dispatch the Nation’s last contention. The Nation asserts, and the trial court agreed, that because the congressional redistricting plan implicates the fundamental right to vote, the court must apply strict scrutiny review to determine whether the plan complies with the constitution. See Ruiz v. Hull, 191 Ariz. 441, 448, ¶ 25, 957 P.2d 984, 991 (1998) (“[W]here the regulation in question impinges on core constitutional rights, the standards of strict scrutiny apply and the burden of showing constitutionality is shifted to the proponent of the regulation.”). As previously explained, however, see supra ¶¶ 23-33, the right to vote is not implicated by redistricting plans. Thus, strict scrutiny review does not apply, and we need not decide whether the trial court properly employed that standard. Rather, the court was required to reject the Nation’s challenge if the congressional redistricting plan had a reasonable, even though debatable, basis for adoption unless the plan clearly violated the constitution. State v. Murphy, 117 Ariz. 57, 61, 570 P.2d 1070, 1074 (1977); see also Standhardt v. Superior Court, 206 Ariz. 276, 280, ¶ 9, 77 P.3d 451, 455 (App.2003); supra ¶¶ 15-17. Additionally, the court was required to presume the constitutionality of the plan unless the Nation proved otherwise. Ruiz, 191 Ariz. at 448, ¶ 25, 957 P.2d at 991. Bearing these principles in mind, we now address the Nation’s allegations of error concerning the Commission’s compliance with Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14).
A. Respecting communities of interest — Section 1(14)(D)
¶ 93 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(D) requires the Commission to create district boundaries that “respect communities of interest to the extent practicable.” The Nation argues that the Commission violated this provision by placing Nation residents in more than one district to accommodate the Tribe’s request to be in a different district than the majority of Nation residents. The Commission and AFLR respond that placement of the majority of the Nation residents and the Tribe in separate districts was necessary to respect the Tribe’s community of interest. No party contests that the Nation and the Tribe are separate “communities of interest,” as that term is used in Section 1(14)(D). Resolution of this issue therefore turns on whether and to what extent the Commission can accommodate the wishes of one community of interest by splitting another community of interest.
¶ 94 We commence our analysis by deciding what is meant by “respecting]” a “community] of interest.” As the Nation points out, the plain meaning of the word “respect” is “[t]o avoid violation of or interference with.” Webster’s II New College Dictionary 944 (2001). Thus, under Section 1(14)(D), to the extent practicable, district boundaries must avoid violating or interfering with communities of interest. Indisputably, the congressional plan interferes somewhat with the Nation’s community of interest by placing 42 of its 104,000 residents into district 2 rather than into district 1 with the remainder of the Nation’s Arizona residents. The Nation acknowledges that the Commission can validly split a community of interest to accommodate the other goals set forth in Section 1(14), and we agree. Fields, 206 Ariz. at 138, ¶ 22, 75 P.3d at 1096 (noting Section 1(14) permits Commission to balance Section 1(14) goals to arrive at final plan). However, because the Commission did so in this case solely to accommodate the political wishes of another community of interest, which is not a goal listed in Section 1(14), the Nation argues that the Commission could not validly divide the Nation into two districts. The Commission and AFLR counter that removing the Tribe from district 1 respected the Tribe’s community of interest and was therefore a valid goal under Section 1(14)(D) that could be balanced against the Nation’s interests. We agree with the Commission and AFLR.
¶ 95 The Nation contends that the lone way to “respect” a community of interest is to refrain from geographically splitting that community into separate districts, thereby preserving the community’s voting power concerning issues of common interest. Consequently, the Nation asserts that keeping the Tribe in district 1 with the Nation sufficiently “respected” the interests of the Tribe. While we agree that placing the entirety of a community of interest into a single district is one way to respect that community, we do not read Section 1(14)(D) as saying this is the only way of demonstrating such “respect.”
¶ 96 First, as the Commission points out, Section 1(14)(D) does not state that communities of interest shall not be split and does not provide that their boundaries shall be respected. Rather, Section 1(14)(D) broadly states that communities of interest shall be respected. By separating two communities of interest with competing political interests, the Commission refrains from interfering with the minority community’s interests by allowing it to seek representation free from the dominant influence of a competing community. See Arizonans for Fair Representation v. Symington, 828 F.Supp. 684, 690 (D.Ariz.1992) (placing Nation and Tribe into separate districts in court-ordered plan “[o]ut of respect” for historical tension and present competition between communities); Carstens v. Lamm, 543 F.Supp. 68, 99 (D.Colo.1982) (holding two rival counties properly placed in separate districts as “[t]he competitive atmosphere between these two counties is contrary to the concept of communities of interest”).
¶ 97 Second, Section 1(14)(E) explicitly addresses the manner in which district boundaries must use community boundaries. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(14)(E) (“To the extent practicable, district lines shall use visible geographic features, city, town and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts.”). The only conceivable goal of this subsection is to avoid splitting communities to the extent practicable. Because the voters failed to employ similarly explicit language in Section 1(14)(D) concerning communities of interest, we conclude for this-additional reason that the provision permits the Commission to “respect” a community of interest in ways other than simply placing the community into a single district. See State v. Thomason, 162 Ariz. 363, 366, 783 P.2d 809, 812 (App.1989) (“A statute should be explained in conjunction with other statutes which relate to the same subject or have the same general purpose.”) (citing State ex rel. Larson v. Farley, 106 Ariz. 119, 471 P.2d 731 (1970)).
¶ 98 Finally, as AFLR contends, the initiative history for Section 1(14)(D) supports our broader view of that provision. In the Official Title for Proposition 106, which appeared on the ballot, the text stated that the proposed independent redistricting commission would “oversee the mapping of fair and competitive congressional and legislative districts.” Authorizing the Commission to respect a community of interest by placing it into a separate district from a rival and dominant community promotes the concept of “fair districts.”
¶ 99 For these reasons, we hold that Section 1(14)(D) permits the Commission to respect a community of interest by placing it into a district separate from one containing a dominant community of interest with competing political interests. The Nation does not contest, and the stipulated facts before the trial court reflect, that the Nation and the Tribe are distinct communities of interest with historical and present-day, opposing federal interests. Consequently, in balancing the goals listed in Section 1(14), the Commission could properly “interfere” with the Nation’s community of interest in order to accommodate the Tribe’s interests.
¶ 100 The Nation next argues that even assuming the Commission could validly interfere with the Nation’s community of interest in order to accommodate the Tribe, the Commission nevertheless violated Section 1(14)(D) because it was “practicable” to place the Tribe into district 2 without also splitting the Nation by placing 42 of its members into that district. According to the Nation, the Commission erred by failing to accept one of the Nation’s proposed alternatives that used highways or other routes as connectors. We disagree.
¶ 101 The Tribe clearly has insufficient population, approximately 7000 members, to constitute a single congressional district. Therefore, the Commission reasonably connected the Nation-land-locked Tribe to district 2 via a narrow corridor. The Commission was required to “use visible geographic features, city, town and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts,” to the extent practicable, to construct district lines. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(14)(E). The Commission fulfilled that goal by constructing a narrow corridor that followed the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. By selecting a corridor that transverses a sparsely populated area of the Nation reservation, the Commission also respected the Nation’s interests to the extent practicable by placing only 42 of its 104,000 residents into district 2. Although other corridors less intrusive of the Nation’s interests might have been possible, the corridor selected by the Commission had a reasonable basis and the manner of selection was not clearly unconstitutional. Murphy, 117 Ariz. at 61, 570 P.2d at 1074; Wilkins v. West, 264 Va. 447, 571 S.E.2d 100, 108 (2002) (“[I]f the validity of the legislature’s reconciliation of various criteria is fairly debatable and not clearly erroneous, arbitrary, or wholly unwarranted,” the court must uphold the district lines.). Consequently, we will not second-guess the Commission’s determination to balance the Section 1(14) goals by choosing a corridor that slightly divided the Nation’s community of interests.
B. Geographic compactness and contiguity — Section 1(14)(C)
¶ 102 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(C) requires the Commission to create district boundaries that are “geographically compact and contiguous to the extent practicable.” The Nation argues that the Commission violated this provision because carving out the Tribe from the Nation rendered district 2 non-compact and non-contiguous. The Commission and AFLR acknowledge that both districts are less compact and contiguous than other districts, but contend that the Commission acted within its discretion and in order to respect the Tribe’s community of interest.
¶ 103 The goals of compactness and contiguity concern the shape of a district. Car-stens, 543 F.Supp. at 87. “Compactness” refers to length of the district’s borders. Id. The shorter the distance around the district, the more compact the district. Id. “Contiguity” refers to the geographic connection uniting the entirety of a district. Id. at 88. A district that is geographically separated is not contiguous. Id. The purpose of constructing districts that are compact and contiguous is to avoid the practice of gerrymandering and “assist in maintaining communities of interest.” Symington, 828 F.Supp. at 688.
¶ 104 The Nation asserts that the Commission discarded the compactness and contiguity goals set forth in Section 1(14)(C) in order to accommodate the political wishes of the Tribe, which cannot be considered under Section 1(14). But, as the Commission and AFLR point out, the Commission was only required to make district 2 compact and contiguous “to the extent practicable” and after striking a balance with the other goals set forth in Section 1(14). For the reasons previously explained, see supra ¶¶ 93-101, the Commission reasonably placed the Tribe into district 2 to respect the Tribe’s community of interest. We therefore reject the Nation’s contention that the Commission could not validly sacrifice a measure of compactness and contiguity in order to accommodate the Tribe’s interests.
¶ 105 The Nation additionally asserts that district 2 is not contiguous because “[i]t is not reasonably possible to travel from the main body of District 2 to [the Tribe] without leaving the District.” Thus, the Nation argues that use of the corridor to connect the Tribe to the rest of district 2 destroyed the district’s contiguity in violation of Section 1(14)(C). We disagree.
¶ 106 First, we do not agree that district 2 lacks contiguity merely because travel is difficult through the corridor linking the Tribe with the remainder of district 2. Section 1(14)(C) sets forth a goal of geographic contiguity, not geographic accessibility. We agree with the Virginia Supreme Court in Wilkins, which rejected a similar argument and reasoned that in the modern era of mass media and technology, which enables easy communication among district residents and their representative, “resting the constitutional test of contiguity solely on physical access within the district imposes an artificial requirement [that] reflects neither the actual need of the residents ... nor the panoply of factors which must be considered by the [redistricting body] in the design of a district.” 571 S.E.2d at 109. The corridor tracks the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and geographically connects the Tribe with the remaining portion of district 2. Thus, district 2 is geographically contiguous.
¶ 107 Second, as repeatedly explained, the Commission was only required to make the district geographically contiguous “to the extent practicable” after balancing the other goals set forth in Section 1(14). We will not second-guess the balance struck as long as the Commission had a reasonable basis for its decision, which exists in this case.
C. Use of undivided census tracts — Section 1(14)(E)
¶ 108 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(E) provides that “[t]o the extent practicable, district lines shall use ... undivided census tracts.” The Nation argues that the Commission violated this section by dividing census tract 9445 to accommodate a goal not set forth in Section 1(14): the Tribe’s political wish to be in a separate district from the Nation. This argument mirrors the Nation’s contentions concerning subsections 1(14)(C) and (D), which we have already rejected. See supra ¶¶ 98-107. For the same reasons, we reject the Nation’s challenge under Section 1(14)(E). The Commission validly compromised the census-tract goal in order to accommodate the Tribe’s community of interest.
¶ 109 For all these reasons, we hold that the trial court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the Commission, AFLR, and the Tribe on the Nation’s complaint.
IV. Summary of holdings
¶ 110 In deciding whether the Commission violated the Equal Protection Clause, the trial court was required to apply the less-deferential strict scrutiny standard of review only if the legislative and congressional redistricting plans substantially burdened fundamental rights or made distinctions based on a suspect class. Otherwise, the court was required to use the more-deferential rational basis standard of review to evaluate equal protection challenges to the plans. The right to vote in elections is a fundamental right. However, the Commission’s placement of voters into various legislative and congressional districts after applying specific constitutional criteria did not substantially burden this right. The record further fails to reflect that the Commission singled out and discriminated against a suspect class. Consequently, use of the strict scrutiny standard to evaluate the equal protection claims was unwarranted, and the trial court erred by applying that standard. See supra ¶¶ 18-37.
¶ 111 The terms used in Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14) of the Arizona Constitution, which direct the redistricting process, are self-executing. Therefore, the Commission did not violate equal protection principles by failing to adopt definitions for those terms before utilizing them, and the trial court erred by ruling otherwise. See supra ¶¶ 39-49.
¶ 112 Although Commissioners do not have unfettered discretion in performing their redistricting duties, they are not required to ignore their personal knowledge and experiences in order to ensure compliance with the Equal Protection Clause. See supra ¶ 90.
¶ 113 Pursuant to Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(F) of the Arizona Constitution, the Commission is required to consider competitiveness in establishing legislative and congressional districts. However, this competitiveness goal is subordinate to other goals listed in Section 1(14)(B) — (E), and the trial court erred by entering a contrary ruling. If drawing competitive or more competitive districts would not be practicable or would cause significant detriment to the goals listed in subsections (B) — (E), the Commission must refrain from establishing such districts. Conversely, if it would be practicable to draw competitive or more competitive districts and to do so would not cause significant detriment to the goals listed in subsections (B)— (E), the Commission must establish such districts. See supra ¶¶ 50-61.
¶ 114 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(15) of the Arizona Constitution provides that “the places of residence of incumbents or candidates shall not be identified or considered” in the mapping process. The provision does not prohibit the Commission from knowing this information or providing it to the Department of Justice at the latter’s request. Rather, the Commission is prohibited from using such knowledge in establishing district boundaries. See supra ¶¶ 62-75.
¶ 115 In a prior opinion, this court held that communications between the Commission and its consultants are protected from disclosure by the legislative privilege. However, we additionally concluded that by designating consulting experts as testifying experts, the Commission waived any legislative privilege attaching to communications with those experts, or any materials reviewed by them, that relate to the subject of the experts’ testimony. We now clarify that if the Commission redesignates a consultant as a fact witness rather than a testifying expert witness before that witness offers expert testimony, has not voluntarily produced privileged documents, and refrains from eliciting expert testimony from that consultant, the legislative privilege remains intact. See supra ¶¶ 76-89.
¶ 116 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(D) requires the Commission to create district boundaries that “respect communities of interest to the extent practicable.” This provision permitted the Commission to respect the Hopi Tribe’s community of interest by placing it into a congressional district separate from one containing the Navajo Nation, a dominant community of interest with competing political interests, even though some Nation members were separated from the remaining members. Additionally, the Commission did not violate this provision by balancing the interests of the Tribe and the Nation in a manner that slightly divided the Nation’s community of interest. The trial court properly rejected the Nation’s arguments concerning this provision. See supra ¶¶ 98-101.
¶ 117 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(C) requires the Commission to create district boundaries that are “geographically compact and contiguous to the extent practicable.” The Commission did not violate this provision by placing the Tribe and Nation into separate congressional districts, even though the separation caused the district including the Tribe to become less compact and contiguous. The Commission reasonably sacrificed a measure of compactness and contiguity in striking a balance with the goal of respecting the Tribe’s community of interest. Further, the Commission did not violate subsection (C) by connecting the Nation-land-locked Tribe to other parts of the Tribe’s district via a narrow, non-traversable corridor. Subsection (C) sets forth a goal of geographic contiguity, not geographic accessibility. The trial court properly rejected the Nation’s arguments concerning this provision. See supra ¶¶ 102-07.
¶ 118 Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(E) states that “[t]o the extent practicable, district lines shall use ... undivided census tracts.” The Commission did not violate this provision by dividing a census tract in order to place the Tribe in a congressional district separate from the majority of Nation members. The Commission validly compromised the census-tract goal to accommodate the Tribe’s community of interest. The trial court properly rejected the Nation’s arguments concerning this section. See supra ¶ 108.
¶ 119 Although the trial court erroneously used the strict scrutiny standard to decide the Nation’s equal protection challenges to the congressional redistricting plan, the court correctly entered summary judgment against the Nation. See supra ¶¶ 92, 109.
CONCLUSION
¶ 120 The trial court erred by applying the strict scrutiny standard of review to decide the equal protection challenges to the legislative redistrieting plan. For this reason, we reverse that portion of the judgment entered by the court on January 16, 2004, that invalidated the legislative redistrieting plan and ordered the Commission to take additional action in constructing a new plan. We remand with instructions that the trial court apply the rational basis standard of review to resolve these challenges. We additionally instruct the court to decide whether the Commission violated the Equal Protection Clause and/or Article 4, Part 2, Sections 1(14) and (15) of the Arizona Constitution, after considering our interpretation of those provisions.
¶ 121 On remand, the trial court, in its discretion and after consulting with the parties, can determine whether and to what extent a new trial is warranted, or whether selected submission of additional evidence and/or argument is appropriate.
¶ 122 In light of our holding that the trial court erred in the portion of the January 16, 2004 judgment concerning the legislative redistricting plan, we also vacate the court’s judgment entered on April 12, 2004 approving a new legislative redistrieting plan. The arguments on appeal concerning the propriety of that plan are therefore rendered moot, and we do not address them.
¶ 123 The trial court properly entered summary judgment against the Nation on its challenges to the congressional redistrieting plan. We therefore affirm the portion of the January 16, 2004 judgment reflecting that ruling.
¶ 124 Because the Coalition is no longer the prevailing party on its challenges to the legislative redistrieting plan, we vacate the trial court’s award of attorneys’ fees in favor of the Coalition. We additionally deny its request for an award of attorneys’ fees on appeal.
¶ 125 Finally, we vacate this court’s May 28, 2004 decision order, which had stayed the trial court’s January 16, 2004, and April 12, 2004 judgments.
APPENDIX A
. The highest ranking officer of the state House of Representatives, the House minority party leader, the highest ranking officer of the state Senate, and the Senate minority party leader each are allowed to appoint a commission member from a pool of candidates selected by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(6). The four members then select the fifth member and chair of the Commission, who must not be registered with any party represented on the Commission. Id. at § K8).
. The constitutionally mandated goals are:
A. Districts shall comply with the United States [C]onstitution and the [U]nited [S]tates [VJoting [R]ights [A]ct;
B. Congressional districts shall have equal population to the extent practicable, and state legislative districts shall have equal population to the extent practicable;
C. Districts shall be geographically compact and contiguous to the extent practicable; D. District boundaries shall respect communities of interest to the extent practicable;
E. To the extent practicable, district lines shall use visible geographic features, city, town and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts;
F. To the extent practicable, competitive districts should be favored where to do so would create no significant detriment to the other goals.
Ariz. Const, art. 4, pt. 2, § 1(14).
. The parties dispute when, if at all, the Commission first considered the criterion of competitive districts.
. See Fields, 206 Ariz. at 134, ¶ 3, 75 P.3d at 1092 (explaining that because of past violations of the VRA, Arizona must submit redistrieting plans for preclearance to either the United States Department of Justice or the District Court for the District of Columbia).
. The DOJ precleared the congressional plan, but denied preclearance of the legislative plan on March 26, 2002, requiring increased effective Hispanic voting strength in at least three legislative districts. See Navajo Nation v. Ariz. Indep. Redistrieting Comm'n, 230 F.Supp.2d 998, 1003 (D.Ariz.2002). The Commission then filed suit in federal court in May 2002 seeking approval of an emergency legislative interim plan for the 2002 elections. Id. The Commission reconfigured the three affected districts, and the district court approved the interim plan for the 2002 elections. Id. at 1016. The Commission continued to work on a plan for use in 2004 — 2010 and, on August 14, 2002, adopted a final legislative redistrieting plan. In February 2003, DOJ precleared this plan. The plaintiffs contesting the legislative plan in this case amended their complaints to challenge the 2002 final legislative redistrieting plan.
. AFLR is an organization formed "to advance Republican Party interests in the Arizona redistricting process.”
. The Hopi Tribe joined in the Commission’s motion for summary judgment.
. A map of the contested portion of proposed districts 1 and 2 follow this Opinion as Appendix A.
. By decision order entered May 28, 2004, this court stayed the trial court’s January 16 and April 16 orders pending the outcome of the appeal.
. The record does not clearly reflect whether all parties asserted equal protection violations under both constitutions. Regardless, no party disputes that the Equal Protection Clauses of each constitution have the same effect, and we agree. See, e.g., Valley Nat'l Bank v. Glover, 62 Ariz. 538, 554, 159 P.2d 292, 299 (1945); State v. Bonne-well, 196 Ariz. 592, 596, ¶ 15, 2 P.3d 682, 686 (App.1999). We therefore confine our discussion to federal equal protection principles.
. Moreover, even if we were to agree that Royal stands for the proposition that strict scrutiny is the required standard of review in all redistricting cases, such an interpretation would be contrary to more recent holdings of the United States Supreme Court. See Burdick, 504 U.S. at 432, 112 S.Ct. 2059; Norman, 502 U.S. at 289, 112 S.Ct. 698; Rodriguez, 457 U.S. at 8, 10-11, 102 S.Ct. 2194.
. Flagstaff further argues that voters possess the right to have their districts drawn in satisfaction of the constitutional mandates, as such compliance may affect the weight of any given vote and impact the outcome of an election. We conclude, however, that such a result does not impair the right to vote itself. Therefore, it does not trigger strict scrutiny review.
. The complaints clearly allege political gerrymandering, which has been distinguished from racial gerrymandering. See Vieth v. Jubelirer, 541 U.S. 267, 285, 124 S.Ct. 1769, 158 L.Ed.2d 546 (2004) (holding that “[t]he Constitution clearly contemplates districting by political entities” and confirming that "[tjhe reality is that districting inevitably has and is intended to have substantial political consequences.”) (quoting Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U.S. 735, 753, 93 S.Ct. 2321, 37 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973)). But, "[b]y contrast, the purpose of segregating voters on the basis of race is not a lawful one.” Id. at 286, 124 S.Ct. 1769.
. Similarly, as no party alleges that the Commission engaged in gender bias when creating the districts, an intermediate level of scrutiny is not warranted.
. The Commission contends that because it exercised "true legislative power,” it is entitled to the "greatest” deferential standard of judicial review. We need not address this argument, however, because we have otherwise concluded that rational basis review is required.
. The trial court, in its discretion and after consultation with the parties, can determine whether and to what extent a new trial is warranted, or whether selected submission of additional evidence and/or argument is appropriate.
. We observe that election results are not determined only by party or group affiliation, but by a variety of factors that change with each candidate and election. Therefore, to say that placing all of a "community of interest” in one district and giving "weight” to the votes of that community implicates equal protection ignores both the principle that equal protection protects the individual and the unavoidable result that individuals within the community may indeed vote differently-
As Justice Scalia noted in Vieth, even presuming that political gerrymandering creates more partisan representatives in fact,
the Constitution does not answer the question whether it is better for Democratic voters to have their State’s congressional delegation include 10 wishy-washy Democrats (because Democratic voters are "effectively" distributed so as to constitute bare majorities in many districts), or 5 hardcore Democrats (because Democratic voters are tightly packed in a few districts). Choosing the former "dilutes” the vote of the radical Democrat; choosing the latter does the same to the moderate. Neither Article I, § 2, nor the Equal Protection Clause takes sides in this-dispute.
541 U.S. at 288 n.9, 124 S.Ct. 1769. Applying this logic to “communities of interest,” it-is clear that the principles of equal protection would no more guarantee that a communily be "packed” into one district or "cracked" into several than it would a political party.
. Intervenors-appellants Mohave County, City of Kingman, and Lake Havasu City join in the arguments urged by the Commission and AFLR on this issue.
. The court referenced several exhibits including an Arizona News Service chart dated August 31, 2001, which lists thirty proposed legislative districts, and for each district, the name of any incumbent senator or representative; the percentage of registered Democratic, Republican, or other voters in each district; and a location of the district such as "N. Arizona,” "Yuma County,” "W. Tucson,” "Sun City,” or "Chandler, Gilbert." Another chart lists the name of each incumbent representative and senator, a letter indicating his or her proposed district, and the names of other incumbents in that district. For example, in proposed district A, two named incumbents are located in "N. Ariz.” and for district AA, a named incumbent is located in "W. Tucson."
. The court's findings, however, do not explain in what way the Commission considered the impact of the Coalition II Revised Plan on incumbents or how that consideration affected the Commission’s redistricting plans.
. Knowledge of actual street addresses would be necessary if the Commission wished to consider incumbent locations during the line drawing because Doug Johnson, the NDC employee who operated the computer software that actually drew the districts, testified that he did not move whole districts. Instead, in drawing maps and making adjustments, he moved only portions of a district either in or out. Without knowing an incumbent’s exact location in a district, the line changes could easily place the incumbent in a different district.
. For example, an employee of the Republican Party testified that he put together a map showing the impact of the 2002 election results on incumbents and maps showing incumbent locations in two proposed plans for 2004 and forward. On the latter maps, he indicated precise incumbent locations based on addresses obtained from the secretary of state’s office.
. To so opine would mean that a Commissioner would be automatically disqualified in his role if an incumbent moved in next door, if an incumbent’s address was printed in a publication and read by the Commissioner, or if an overzealous citizen contacted a Commissioner and disclosed an incumbent’s address.
. McDonald’s initial analysis of the 2000 elections used data on incumbents because he knew the districts in which incumbents lived, and again after the 2002 elections, he knew which districts had incumbents so he could "construct a measure of the vote in the district hypothetically [as] if no incumbent had run in the district."
. We also note the Commission is required to draw districts in compliance with the VRA and Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(14)(A), and is also required to submit redistricting plans to DOJ for preclearance. See. supra note 4. We see nothing wrong with the Commission providing incumbency data, including location, to DOJ as part of that process.
. The Hopi Tribe joins in the answering briefs filed by the Commission and AFLR.
. The Nation lies within the borders of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, covering over 27,000 square miles. The record reflects that the entire Nation contains approximately 104,000 residents.
. In its reply brief, the Nation asserts that the Commission and AFLR confessed this error by failing to address the argument. We think the latter parties sufficiently addressed this argument, albeit in the context of the contiguity goal. See infra ¶¶ 102-07. Regardless, we are not required to accept a confession of error, and we decline to do so here. O'Brien v. Escher, 204 Ariz. 459, 462, ¶ 8, 65 P.3d 107, 110 (App.2003).
. At the time the Commission drew the congressional redistricting map, the census data re-fleeted that only ten people of unknown affiliation resided in the area.
|
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OPINION
LANKFORD, Judge.
¶ 1 The State brought this special action to challenge a ruling excluding evidence of a defendant’s refusal to perform field sobriety tests from a trial for driving under the influence (“DUI”). By prior order, we accepted jurisdiction and granted relief, with an opinion to follow. This opinion explains why we granted relief.
¶ 2 The special action is from a superior court ruling on appeal from a municipal court DUI conviction. Defendant was charged with two DUI counts: driving while impaired in violation of Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 28-1381(A)(l) (Supp.2004) and “per se” DUI, i.e. driving with an alcohol content of .08 or above, in violation of A.R.S. § 28-1381(A)(2). Prior to the municipal court trial, the court denied defendant’s motion to prevent the State from commenting on his refusal to undergo field sobriety tests. At trial, a police officer testified that the defendant had refused to participate in field sobriety tests. Defendant appealed to the superior court. The superior court reversed the judgment of conviction on the ground that the officer’s testimony should not have been admitted.
¶ 3 The police officer testified that defendant had refused to participate in field sobriety tests:
We got back to the vehicle, and then I was — I asked him if he would take some tests, and he said he would. I began to do an eye test. I gave him the instructions, basically, for the horizontal gaze nystag-mus test. That’s when he asked me, “Is this a field sobriety test,” and I said, ‘Tes, it is.” He said, ‘Well, then I don’t want to take any field sobriety test.”
¶ 4 The prosecutor also mentioned the refusal during closing arguments:
What other evidence do we have of impairment to the slightest degree? We have him speeding, that alone is not [sic]. We have him driving on a line, not staying in his lane, driving in two lanes. We have him unable to get out of the vehicle on his own without using the door for balance. Now, we don’t have the other field sobriety test because the Defendant refused to provide them [sic].
A jury found defendant not guilty of the per se DUI violation, but convicted him of driving while impaired.
¶ 5 The State seeks special action review of the superior court’s ruling. No further appeal can be taken from a superior court appeal arising out of a municipal court judgment. See A.R.S. § 22-375(B) (2002); Ariz. R.Super. Ct.App. P.-Crim. 13(b). However, we have special action jurisdiction without regard to the limits on our appellate jurisdiction. A.R.S. § 12-120.21(A)(4) (2003).
¶ 6 We hold that a defendant’s refusal to submit to field sobriety tests can be admitted into evidence in a DUI trial. Our holding rests on the proposition that, when supported by reasonable suspicion that a DUI offense has been committed, the administration of a field sobriety test is a lawful search. If the search is lawful, then the suspect has no legal right to refuse it or interfere with it. If the suspect has no right to refuse, then evidence of his refusal is admissible.
¶ 7 Our holding runs counter to a popularly held notion that a suspect can refuse field sobriety tests. If that idea were correct — if a suspect has a legal right to refuse field sobriety tests — then evidence of the refusal would be inadmissible because it would unfairly penalize the exercise of the constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. See State v. Palen-kas, 188 Ariz. 201, 212, 933 P.2d 1269, 1280 (App.1996).
¶ 8 The popular belief that a motorist can refuse field sobriety tests might be due to confusion between the right to refuse and the power to refuse. A person always has the power to refuse to submit to lawful authority. For example, a person can resist arrest, but ordinarily he has no right to do so: It is a crime to resist a lawful arrest. See A.R.S. § 13-2508 (2001). Similarly, a DUI suspect has the power to refuse to participate in field sobriety tests. But that does not tell us whether he also has the legal right to refuse.
¶9 A suspect’s capacity to withhold his cooperation is not the same as a legal right to grant or withhold his consent. As with breath tests, which also require the suspect’s active cooperation, the suspect has the physical power but not the legal right to refuse field sobriety tests. See State v. Krantz, 174 Ariz. 211, 215, 848 P.2d 296, 300 (App.1992) (“[The implied consent] law does not give motorists charged with DUI the right to refuse the test; it only gives them the power to refuse and provides for certain consequences of such a refusal....”).
¶ 10 We therefore determine whether field sobriety tests are lawful searches which a suspect has no right to refuse or, on the other hand, are not lawful without the suspect’s consent. The answer lies in a decision of our supreme court. In State v. Superior Court (Blake), our supreme court said that roadside sobriety tests are limited searches. 149 Ariz. at 274, 718 P.2d at 176. Sobriety tests require only reasonable suspicion, not probable cause, to comply with the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Id. at 273-74, 718 P.2d at 175-76. “[R]oadside sobriety tests that do not involve long delay or unreasonable intrusion, although searches under the fourth amendment, may be justified by an officer’s reasonable suspicion (based on specific, artie- ulable facts) that the driver is intoxicated.” Id. at 274, 718 P.2d at 176.
¶ 11 The tests therefore were lawful if supported by reasonable suspicion, and they were so supported. The officer had reasonable suspicion based on his observations of defendant’s erratic driving, his bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech, and trouble exiting the vehicle. See id. (erratic driving, appearance, and odor of alcohol constituted reasonable suspicion). Because the officer had a reasonable suspicion that defendant was driving under the influence, the search by conducting field sobriety tests was lawful, and evidence of the refusal was properly admitted. Cf. State v. Superior Court (Spears), 154 Ariz. 275, 277-78, 742 P.2d 286, 288-89 (App.1987) (holding that evidence of refusal of officer’s request for field sobriety tests did not violate Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, and noting Blake had analyzed the issue as a search under the Fourth Amendment).
¶ 12 Our holding follows the rule elsewhere. Several state courts have held that field sobriety tests are searches supported by reasonable suspicion, and most hold that a suspect cannot refuse these tests when the requisite suspicion is present. McCormick v. Mun. of Anchorage, 999 P.2d 155, 160-61 (Alaska Ct.App.2000) (citing cases). Cf. Svedlund v. Mun. of Anchorage, 671 P.2d 878, 383-84 (Alaska Ct.App.1983) (ordinance criminalizing refusal of breath test is constitutional).
¶ 13 The admissibility of a refusal of field sobriety tests is also consistent with other Arizona decisions. Although Arizona courts previously have confronted only Fifth Amendment challenges, they have upheld evidence of refusal to take breath tests. See State v. Superior Court (Ahrens), 154 Ariz. 574, 578, 744 P.2d 675, 679 (1987) (holding that refusal to take breath test is not testimonial and is therefore admissible without violating Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination); Thornton, 172 Ariz. at 452, 837 P.2d at 1187 (same); Spears, 154 Ariz. at 277, 742 P.2d at 288 (holding that admission of evidence of defendant’s refusal to perform field sobriety tests did not violate the Fifth Amendment because it was not “the result of governmental compulsion”).
¶ 14 The State was entitled to introduce evidence that defendant refused a lawful search. The State was entitled to comment on that evidence in argument. The defendant’s trial was not fatally defective because it included such evidence and comment. Accordingly, we granted relief from the superi- or court’s order vacating defendant’s conviction. We also stayed further proceedings pending further order of this Court. We now dissolve that stay and further direct that the superior court enter its order affirming the judgment of conviction.
CONCURRING: DONN KESSLER, Presiding Judge, and JAMES B. SULT, Judge.
. Indeed, the unavailability of a remedy by appeal is one of the reasons we exercised our discretionary special action jurisdiction. See Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a) ("Except as authorized by statute, the special action shall not be available where there is an equally plain, speedy and adequate remedy by appeal.”).
. "Any examination of a person with a view to discovering evidence of guilt to be used in a prosecution of a criminal action is a search.” State v. Superior Court (Blake), 149 Ariz. 269, 274, 718 P.2d 171, 176 (1986).
. The parties do not dispute that the evidence is otherwise admissible. See State v. Vannoy, 177 Ariz. 206, 211, 866 P.2d 874, 879 (App.1993) (breath test refusal admissible to show consciousness of guilt); State v. Thornton, 172 Ariz. 449, 452, 837 P.2d 1184, 1187 (App.1992) (evidence of refusal of breath test is "generally admissible”).
. In Palenkas, this Court held that the State's references to defendant's invocation of his Fourth Amendment rights were improper. Police requested a warrantless search of defendant's vehicle at his residence. Absent consent or an exception to the warrant requirement not shown by the facts of this case, the Fourth Amendment would have required a warrant for the search. The defendant withheld the consent that the police needed to search. We held that the State cannot penalize the exercise of Fourth Amendment rights by introducing evidence of, or malting comment on, the defendant’s failure to consent.
. A suspect’s cooperation is needed to effectively administer the tests. Two of the standard field sobriety tests require the active participation of the suspect: They consist of a one leg stand and a walk and turn. A third standard test, horizontal gaze nystagmus, requires at least the suspect’s passive cooperation. See generally State v. Superior Court (Blake), 149 Ariz. at 271, 718 P.2d at 173 (describing horizontal gaze nystagmus test).
|
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ORDER
This Court has received Appellant’s Motion for Reconsideration. The Court ordered the State to respond. After review and consideration, the Court finds that it made an error of fact in State v. Glassel, 211 Ariz. 33, 116 P.3d 1193 (2005). This Court stated that the trial court had prevented Glassel from asking two jurors for their meaning of the phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency”. Id. at ¶ 41. In fact, the trial court prevented Glassel from asking twelve jurors this question.
Glassel contends that this error is sufficient to require reconsideration because he has a right, under Morgan v. Illinois, 504 U.S. 719, 112 S.Ct. 2222, 119 L.Ed.2d 492 (1992), to ask jurors for their understanding of the phrase “sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.” Glassel is incorrect.
Morgan gives defendants the right to determine whether potential jurors would automatically vote for death once a defendant has been found guilty of capital murder. Id. at 729, 112 S.Ct. 2222. The trial court permitted Glassel to ask jurors the Morgan question. In addition, Glassel was allowed to ask the twelve jurors at issue for their views about specific mitigating circumstances. Those jurors’ responses gave him considerable information about what mitigating circumstances they might find to be sufficiently substantial to call for leniency. Therefore, any factual error in the Court’s opinion on this point is not material to the conclusions reached in our opinion. Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED denying Appellant’s Motion.
Michael D. Ryan, Justice
|
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ORDERED: Petition for Review by the Arizona Supreme Court = DENIED.
FURTHER ORDERED: The Court of Appeals’ Opinion shall not be published, pursuant to Rule 111(g), Arizona Rules of the Supreme Court.
|
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OPINION
IRVINE, Judge.
¶ 1 This is an appeal from the trial court’s order granting Appellees’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. For the following reasons, we hold that the two-thirds majority vote requirement of Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 11-824(C)(Supp.2004) is satisfied by a three-to-one vote when one member of the board of supervisors is disqualified from voting. Therefore, we affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2 On December 4, 2002, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (the “Board”) voted on a “Major Plan Amendment to the County Area Plan” that redesignated approximately 690 acres of land in Mobile, Arizona, from rural and open space to industrial. The Board consists of five members. One of the five Board members recused himself from voting on the amendment due to a conflict of interest. The remaining four members approved the amendment, with three members voting for the amendment and one member voting against it.
¶ 3 On November 24, 2003, Mobile Community Council for Progess, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, and several residents of the community (“Mobile”) filed a Complaint against the Board and its members alleging that they violated A.R.S. § 11-824(C), which required “the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the board,” to pass such an amendment, and urged the trial court to rescind the Board’s approval of the amendment. Mobile reasoned that because there were five members of the Board, more than three affirmative votes were required to pass the amendment.
¶ 4 On December 15, 2003, the Board filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, arguing that because one of the Board members was disqualified, the required two-thirds majority vote was satisfied under A.R.S. § 11-824(C) when the amendment passed on a vote of three to one. The trial court granted the motion. The trial court, relying on Croaff v. Evans, 130 Ariz. 353, 636 P.2d 131 (App.1981), held that
the recusal of one of the members of the Board of Supervisors reduced the total membership of the board to the number of remaining members who were entitled to vote, which in this case is four. The vote of three to one out of a total of four meets the requisite two-thirds required for the measure to pass.
Mobile timely appeals.
DISCUSSION
¶ 5 “A motion for judgment on the pleadings ... tests the sufficiency of the complaint,” and a defendant is entitled to judgment “if the complaint fails to state a claim for relief.” Giles v. Hill Lewis Marce, 195 Ariz. 358, 359, ¶ 2, 988 P.2d 143, 144 (App.1999). “In reviewing a judgment on the pleadings, we accept the factual allegations of the complaint as true,” id., and we review the trial court’s conclusions of law de novo. Colonial Life & Accident Ins. v. State, 184 Ariz. 533, 535, 911 P.2d 539, 541 (App.1995).
¶ 6 Section 11-824(C) provides that “[t]he adoption or readoption of, or a major amendment to, the county comprehensive plan shall be approved by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the board.” The sole issue on appeal is whether the disqualified member of the Board is a “member of the board” for purposes of calculating the affirmative two-thirds vote required by § 11-824(C) to pass the amendment. In interpreting a statute, our primary goal is to “fulfill the purpose of the legislature.” State v. McDermott, 208 Ariz. 332, 334, ¶ 5, 93 P.3d 532, 534 (App. 2004).
¶ 7 Mobile argues that A.R.S. § 11 — 824(C) is clear and unambiguous, and therefore there is no need to “resort to other methods of statutory interpretation to determine the legislature’s intent.” The Board, however, points out that Mobile has failed to consider controlling case law. The Board argues, relying upon Croaff, that when a member of the Board is disqualified from voting due to a conflict of interest, only three affirmative votes are needed to pass the amendment because the remaining members constitute the full membership of the Board. See 130 Ariz. at 359, 636 P.2d at 137. We agree.
¶ 8 In Croaff, we were faced with whether an amendment to the zoning ordinances of Yavapai County complied with the voting requirements of A.R.S. § 11-829(C). Id. at 354, 636 P.2d at 132. Section 11-829(0 required that “if twenty per cent of the owners of property by area and number within the zoning area file a protest to the proposed change, the change shall not be made except by the unanimous vote of all members of the board.” Id. at 358, 636 P.2d at 136; see 1956 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 111, § 4. In Croaff, one member of the three member Board of Supervisors disqualified himself due to a conflict of interest. 130 Ariz. at 354, 636 P.2d at 132. The remaining two members of the board voted to approve the amendment. Id.
¶ 9 The plaintiff in Croaff argued that because only two of the three board members voted to pass the amendment, the requirements of A.R.S. § 11-829(C) were not met and the amendment was invalid. Id. at 358, 636 P.2d at 136. We pointed out that a vacancy on the board was different than a “mere absence or failure to vote” by a member, and in such a situation the court must pay “close attention to the precise language used in the statute.” Id. at 359, 636 P.2d at 137. We found that when a statute required a vote of a proportion of all members “elected,” a vacancy was immaterial and the law required that the proportion be determined with reference to the entire board. Id. When such qualifying language is absent, however, compliance with the voting requirements is based upon the total membership of the board, reduced by any vacancies. Id. In finding that a disqualification of a board member was “closely analogous” to a vacancy, we held that the disqualified board member was not a board member for the purpose of determining whether the voting requirements of § 11-829(C) had been satisfied. Id. Because “the remaining two members constituted the total membership of the board,” the amendment received the required “unanimous vote of all members of the board.” Id.
¶ 10 The statute in the present case, § 11-824(C), is very similar to the statute involved in Croajf. Section 11-824(C) requires the “affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the board.” It does not require an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the board “elected.” Because such qualifying language is absent in the statute, the disqualification of the board member is relevant in determining the number of votes needed to satisfy the voting requirement of § 11-824(C). See 130 Ariz. at 359, 636 P.2d at 137. The disqualification of the board member reduced the total membership of the board to the number of remaining members who were entitled to vote, which in this case is four. See id. The amendment received three of the four votes, satisfying the requisite two-thirds requirement of § 11-824(C), and therefore the amendment is valid.
¶ 11 Mobile argues that Croajf is distinguishable because the statute involved in Croajf required a unanimous vote, so if one member of the board was disqualified any action would be impossible. In this case, Mobile argues that we are not faced with an impossibility because four board members are still able to vote. In reaching our decision in Croajf, however, we relied upon two cases from Texas involving a statute requiring “a three-fourths vote of ‘all the members’ of the zoning body.” Croaff, 130 Ariz. at 359, 636 P.2d at 137 (citing Hannan v. City of Coppell, 583 S.W.2d 817 (Tex.Civ.App.1979), and City of Alamo Heights v. Gerety, 264 S.W.2d 778 (Tex.Civ.App.1954)). These cases did not involve a unanimous vote requirement, yet relied on the same reasoning we adopted in Croajf in concluding that a disqualification would be equivalent to a vacancy for voting purposes. Applying this reasoning, we decline to limit our decision in Croajf to the interpretation of statutes requiring a unanimous vote.
¶ 12 Mobile further argues that if it was the legislature’s intent to define “members of the board,” for purposes of the voting requirements of § 11-824(C), to be members eligible to vote, as opposed to all the mem-' bers of the board, it could have done so. Mobile points to A.R.S. § 11-829(D), which governs amendments of ordinances or changes to zoning district boundaries, as showing that the legislature knows how to do so. This statute, which is the current version of the statute interpreted in Croajf, provides, in pertinent part
the change shall not be made except by a three-fourths vote of all members of the board. If any members of the board are unable to vote on the question because of a conflict of interest, the required number of votes for the passage of the question is three-fourths of the remaining membership of the board, except that the required number of votes in no event shall be less than a majority of the full membership of the board.
A.R.S. § 11-829(D) (2002). Mobile claims that because such language is present in § 11-829(D), but not in § 11-824(C), the legislature has shown that it did not intend to reduce the required number of votes in this case. Additionally, Mobile also claims that the trial court’s interpretation of § 11-824(C) would render portions of § 11-829(D) “superfluous, void and insignificant.”
¶ 13 We were faced with a similar argument in Croajf. There, the plaintiffs cited A.R.S. § 9-462.04(G), which provided that if any member of the governing body was unable to vote due to a conflict of interest then the required votes needed would be a propor tion of the remaining members of the governing body. 130 Ariz. at 360, 636 P.2d at 138. Plaintiffs argued, as Mobile does here, that because the statute in question did not contain a similar provision the legislature intended a different result. Id. We stated that we would have found the plaintiffs argument more persuasive if § 9 — 462.04(G), in its then-current form, had been enacted contemporaneously with § 11-829(C), which would indicate to us that the legislature, during a time when its attention was drawn to both statutes, intended a different result by placing the provision in one statute and not the other. Id.
¶ 14 We reach the same conclusion in this case. In 1993 the legislature amended what is now § 11-829(D). See 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 171, § 1 (amending § 11-829(0). The act changed the unanimous voting requirement to a three-fourths voting requirement of “all members of the board,” and inserted the language providing that a vote of “three-fourths of the remaining membership of the board” would be required if any board member was unable to vote. Id. The two-thirds voting requirement of § 11-824(C), hi its present form, however, was enacted in 1998 by the Growing Smarter Act. See 1998 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 204, § 9. We will not presume that the legislature intended a different result than that reached in Croaff because it placed a detailed provision in § 11-829(D) but did not place a similar provision in § 11-824(0 five years later. The legislature enacted § 11-824(0 without inserting the language limiting the voting requirement to the members of the board “elected,” so the statute, in its present form, is consistent with our decision in Croaff. Without plainer evidence of legislative intent we will not presume that the legislature intended a result that is more restrictive than the one we reached in Croaff.
¶ 15 Finally, in determining legislative intent, one of the factors the court considers is the statute’s effects and consequences. Kaku v. Ariz. Bd. of Regents, 172 Ariz. 296, 297, 836 P.2d 1006, 1007 (App. 1992). Mobile’s interpretation of the statute would essentially require a unanimous vote by the remaining members of the Board to pass an amendment if one of the Board members was disqualified due to a conflict of interest. Such a requirement could discourage Board members from disqualifying themselves in light of a possible conflict of interest. “[S]ound public policy supports and requires the disqualification of public officials when their private interests create a possibility of conflict with their public duties.” Croaff, 130 Ariz. at 360, 636 P.2d at 138. Therefore, in light of this sound public policy, and in the absence of any plainer evidence that the legislature intended to require a vote of three-fourths of the elected members of the Board, we hold that the disqualification of one of the Board members reduced the total membership of the Board to the number of remaining members who were entitled to vote. Therefore, the amendment was valid.
CONCLUSION
¶ 16 For the above reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
CONCURRING: DONN KESSLER, Presiding Judge and JON W. THOMPSON, Judge.
. The disputed vote took place in 2002. Section 11-824(C) was amended in 2004, but the changes do not affect our analysis. 2004 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 235, § 4.
. Subsection (C) has subsequently been amended and renumbered as § 11~829(D). See 2000 Ariz. Sess. Laws, 4th S.S., ch. 1, § 18.
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OPINION
PELANDER, Chief Judge.
¶ 1 After a jury trial, appellant Renee Sue Ruggiero was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to an aggravated, fourteen-year prison term. On appeal, she argues the trial court erred in refusing to give a requested jury instruction and denying her related motion for new trial, in admitting certain evidence at trial, and in imposing an aggravated sentence in violation of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). Finding no reversible error, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 We view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to sustaining the conviction. See State v. Riley, 196 Ariz. 40, ¶ 2, 992 P.2d 1135, 1137 (App.1999). In March 2002, Rug-giero moved into a mobile home with her sixteen-year-old son (Mark), daughter (B.), and B.’s boyfriend (D.). B. was then thirteen or fourteen years old, and D. was twenty-eight. Shortly after they moved in, B. told Ruggiero that she was pregnant with D.’s child. Ruggiero did not report D. to the police, apparently because B. threatened to run away or commit suicide, but she decided that D. would have to leave the home.
¶ 3 Ruggiero then went to a local tattoo parlor to “see if a bunch of the guys could kind of get together and back [her] up just to get [DJ out of [her] house, get him away from [her] daughter.” Several people from the tattoo shop, along with Ruggiero and her son Mark, then returned to the mobile home to evict D. When they arrived, Mark kicked in the door and, once inside, they found D. and B. in bed together, asleep and naked. Ruggiero told D. to leave, and he got up and dressed, while B. remained in the bedroom.
¶4 Scott Soto, one of Ruggiero’s friends from the tattoo shop, took a loaded rifle from her closet, and he and Mark ordered D, to move into the kitchen area and eventually outside onto the porch. A ride was arranged for D., but the driver requested that he be bound “because they were nervous about having [D.] in their vehicle.” Mark testified that he then had heard a shot and had seen his mother holding the rifle as D. was lying on the kitchen floor, at least partially bound with duct tape. As Ruggiero kept the rifle pointed at D., Mark and Soto then bound D. with more duct tape, beat him, shocked him with a “Tazer gun,” and left him on the kitchen floor, where he eventually died. Two more of Ruggiero’s friends arrived to find D. dead on the kitchen floor and helped move his body outside to a brick pit on the property, where they covered it with nearby debris.
¶ 5 After D.’s body was discovered a few days later, Ruggiero, Soto and Mark were arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder. A jury found Ruggie-ro not guilty of those charges but guilty of manslaughter, a lesser-included offense of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to an aggravated, fourteen-year prison term.
DISCUSSION
I. Jury instruction
¶ 6 Ruggiero argues the “trial court erred in denying [her] motion for new trial,” which was based on the court’s prior ruling “denying [her] requested jury instruction on justification to prevent child molestation.” We review a trial court’s denial of a motion for new trial for an abuse of discretion. State v. Hoskins, 199 Ariz. 127, ¶ 52, 14 P.3d 997, 1012 (2000). Refusing a jury instruction is likewise within a trial court’s discretion, and we will not reverse on that ground absent a clear abuse of that discretion and resulting prejudice. State v. Bolton, 182 Ariz. 290, 309, 896 P.2d 830, 849 (1995); State v. Islas, 132 Ariz. 590, 591, 647 P.2d 1188, 1189 (App.1982).
¶ 7 Ruggiero requested a justification instruction pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-411, which provides in pertinent part:
A. A person is justified in threatening or using both physical force and deadly physical force against another if and to the extent the person reasonably believes that physical force or deadly physical force is immediately necessary to prevent the other’s commission of ... sexual conduct with a minor under § 13-1405, ... [or] child molestation under § 13-1410.
B. There is no duty to retreat before threatening or using deadly physical force justified by subsection A of this section.
C. A person is presumed to be acting reasonably for the purposes of this section if he is acting to prevent the commission of any of the offenses listed in subsection A of this section.
Over the state’s objection, the trial court gave a justification instruction under that statute, but only as to sexual conduct with a minor and not as to child molestation.
¶ 8 Sexual conduct with a minor is defined as “intentionally or knowingly engaging in sexual intercourse or oral sexual contact with any person who is under eighteen years of age.” A.R.S. § 13-1405(A). Child molestation, however, is defined as “intentionally or knowingly engaging in or causing a person to engage in sexual contact, except sexual contact with the female breast, with a child under fifteen years of age.” A.R.S. § 13-1410(A). “Sexual contact” is “any direct or indirect touching, fondling or manipulating of any part of the genitals, anus or female breast by any part of the body or by any object or causing a person to engage in such contact.” A.R.S. § 13-1401(2).
¶ 9 It is undisputed that when Ruggiero and the others arrived at her residence, they found D. and B. naked and sleeping in the same bed. Evidence also was presented that D. had shaved B.’s pubic hair. Ruggiero argues that the jury could have found that D. had been committing child molestation and that her actions had been justified to prevent it even though, as the prosecution argued in closing, no “sexual conduct with a minor” had occurred at the time D. was killed.
¶ 10 As Ruggiero correctly argues, “a defendant is entitled to a justification instruction if it is supported by ‘the slightest evidence.’ ” State v. Hussain, 189 Ariz. 336, 337, 942 P.2d 1168, 1169 (App.1997), quoting State v. Dumaine, 162 Ariz. 392, 404, 783 P.2d 1184, 1196 (1989). An instruction should not be given, however, “unless it is reasonably and clearly supported by the evi dence.” State v. Walters, 155 Ariz. 548, 553, 748 P.2d 777, 782 (App.1987).
¶ 11 “A defendant who disclaims any assaultive behavior on his part is not entitled to a self defense instruction.” State v. Miller, 129 Ariz. 42, 43, 628 P.2d 590, 591 (App.1981). In her reply brief, Ruggiero cites State v. Wright, 163 Ariz. 184, 786 P.2d 1035 (App.1989), and State v. Plew, 150 Ariz. 75, 722 P.2d 243 (1986), for the proposition that she could deny having killed D. and still have been entitled to a justification instruction. We disagree. In fact, the Plew court stated, “[a] defendant who denies shooting the victim may not thereafter claim self-defense.” 150 Ariz. at 78, 722 P.2d at 246. A justification instruction was warranted in both that case and in Wright because the defendant, although not admitting assaultive behavior, did not directly deny it. Id. (“While the appellant does indeed deny shooting the victim or intending any harm, he also states several times that he is unsure of exactly what transpired. His testimony throughout the cross-examination is ambivalent on this point.”); see also Wright, 163 Ariz. at 186, 786 P.2d at 1037 (self-defense and defense-of-third-person instruction warranted where defendant claimed to not remember what had happened). Here, however, Ruggiero repeatedly and directly denied having shot D. Therefore, as the state points out, she was not entitled to any justification instruction. See Miller, 129 Ariz. at 43, 628 P.2d at 591.
¶ 12 Furthermore, contrary to Ruggiero’s assertions, the evidence at trial did not show that deadly force was “immediately necessary to prevent” D. from molesting B. or that Ruggiero had “reasonably believe[d]” that to be so. § 13-411(A). As the state points out, D. and B. “had been moved to separate rooms and were not engaged in sexual activity when deadly physical force was used.” In fact, D. got out of the bed willingly and even left the mobile home at one point before he was killed. Moreover, according to Mark’s testimony, at the time D. was shot he was at least partially bound with duct tape, certainly in no position to molest B. And, as the state also observes, no evidence “demonstrate[d] that [D.] had recently shaved [BJ’s pubic hair.”
¶ 13 In sum, because she unequivocally denied having shot D., Ruggiero was not entitled to any justification instruction, nor did the evidence support her justification defense based on child molestation. See § 13-411(A); Miller, 129 Ariz. at 43, 628 P.2d at 591. Therefore, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying her requested instruction and her related motion for a new trial.
II. Rebuttal evidence
¶ 14 At trial, Ruggiero sought to introduce an exculpatory, hearsay statement through witness J., Soto’s former girlfriend. Over the state’s objection, the trial court ruled that J.’s proffered testimony that Soto had told her that he had killed the victim was admissible as a statement against penal interest, and J. so testified. See Ariz. R. Evid. 804(b)(3), 17A A.R.S. In response, relying on Rule 806, Ariz. R. Evid., the state sought to introduce a police lieutenant’s rebuttal testimony that Soto had told him in a pre-arrest interview Ruggiero in fact had shot the victim. Over Ruggiero’s objection, the trial court permitted the lieutenant to so testify for purposes of rebutting J.’s testimony.
¶ 15 Ruggiero contends admission of that hearsay evidence violated her rights under the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. U.S. Const, amend. VI. “We review the admission or exclusion of evidence for abuse of discretion.” State v. Davis, 205 Ariz. 174, ¶ 23, 68 P.3d 127, 131 (App.2002). We review a trial court’s determination of a Confrontation Clause violation de novo. State v. Blackman, 201 Ariz. 527, ¶ 41, 38 P.3d 1192, 1203 (App.2002).
¶ 16 In admitting the lieutenant’s rebuttal testimony, the trial court noted that evidence would have a “very limited use” and would not be unfairly prejudicial. In addition, immediately after that testimony, the court gave a limiting instruction, telling the jurors they could only consider Soto’s statement to the lieutenant to determine the credibility of Soto’s prior hearsay statement about which J. testified, and not as evidence of Ruggiero’s guilt or of the truth of the matter asserted in Soto’s latter statement. The trial court re peated that limiting instruction at the end of the case, again telling the jurors to consider Soto’s out-of-court statement to the lieutenant for impeachment purposes only. And, both parties emphasized that restricted use of the evidence in their closing arguments.
¶ 17 The trial court’s admission of the evidence in question was authorized under Rule 806, Ariz. R. Evid., which provides in pertinent part: “When a hearsay statement ... has been admitted in evidence, the credibility of the declarant may be attacked ... by any evidence which would be admissible for those purposes if declarant had testified as a witness.” Had the declarant, Soto, testified at Ruggiero’s trial that he had shot the victim, as he allegedly had told his former girlfriend, J., the state could have introduced evidence of Soto’s non-hearsay, inconsistent statement. See Ariz. R. Evid. 801(d)(1)(A). Ruggiero does not argue otherwise.
¶ 18 Relying on Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), and Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), however, Ruggiero argues the trial court’s admission of the lieutenant’s rebuttal testimony about Soto’s statement to him “violated [her] right to confront and cross-examine witnesses and is reversible error.” We disagree.
¶ 19 The court in Bruton found a violation of the defendant’s right of confrontation, despite a limiting instruction having been given, when a codefendant’s confession was admitted but the codefendant did not testify and, therefore, was not subject to cross-examination. In Crawford, the Court conditioned the admission of “testimonial” out-of-court statements against a defendant upon proof that (1) the witness who made the statement is unavailable, and (2) the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. 541 U.S. at 68, 124 S.Ct. at 1374. As the state correctly points out, neither Bruton nor Crawford is controlling here because the state introduced the lieutenant’s rebuttal testimony about Soto’s out-of-court statement not to prove that Ruggiero had killed the victim, but solely to impeach Soto’s prior statement to his girlfriend that he had done so.
¶ 20 In Crawford, the Court recognized the well-established principle that “[t]he [Confrontation] Clause ... does not bar the use of testimonial statements for purposes other than establishing the truth of the matter asserted.” 541 U.S. at 59 n. 9, 124 S.Ct. at 1369 n. 9; see also Tennessee v. Street, 471 U.S. 409, 414, 105 S.Ct. 2078, 2081-82, 85 L.Ed.2d 425, 431 (1985) (“The non-hearsay aspect of [an accomplice's] confession — not to prove what happened at the murder scene but to prove what happened when [defendant] confessed — raises no Confrontation Clause concerns.”). Although Ruggiero seeks to distinguish Street on its facts, as Crawford makes clear, the foregoing principle remains intact and applies here.
V 21 In an analogous situation in which the state sought to introduce evidence of a non-testifying, codefendant’s statement to police, which inculpated defendant, to impeach another statement by that same codefendant that “he was solely responsible for the killings,” our supreme court stated:
At retrial, if the State again seeks to admit [non-testifying codefendant] Pra-sertphong’s statement to the police [that defendant was primarily to blame for the murders], the trial court may admit the statement only for the limited purpose of impeachment. The express purpose of Rule 806 is to allow a party to attack the “credibility” of the hearsay declarant. By its terms, the rule’s limited purpose is impeachment. But to satisfy the Confrontation Clause, if the trial court decides to permit the introduction of Prasertphong’s statement to the police, the court must instruct the jury as to the limited purpose for which Prasertphong’s statement is introduced.
State v. Huerstel, 206 Ariz. 93, ¶¶ 40, 42, 75 P.3d 698, 708, 709 (2003) (citations omitted); see also State v. Sego, 266 N.J.Super. 406, 629 A.2d 1362, 1366-67 (Ct.App.Div.1993) (upholding state’s impeachment of credibility of codefendant’s out-of-court statements exculpating defendant with another extrajudicial statement that incriminated defendant because jury needed both statements to evaluate codefendant declarant’s credibility, and because state would have been allowed to use inconsistent statement to impeach codefendant had he testified at defendant’s trial); People v. Buckman, 124 A.D.2d 1040, 508 N.Y.S.2d 756, 757 (N.Y.App.Div.1986) (same); State v. Zirkle, 910 S.W.2d 874, 891 (Tenn. Crim.App.1995) (same). In view of the limited purpose for which the lieutenant’s rebuttal testimony was admitted and the trial court’s limiting instructions relating thereto, we find no constitutional error in the court’s admission of this evidence.
¶ 22 For the first time in her reply brief, Ruggiero also argues the trial court failed to consider the prejudicial effect of the lieutenant’s rebuttal testimony, apparently suggesting the evidence should have been excluded under Rule 403, Ariz. R. Evid. Because the record does not reflect any objection below on that ground, however, Ruggiero waived the argument. See State v. Gonzales, 181 Ariz. 502, 511, 892 P.2d 838, 847 (1995) (defendant’s failure to object to evidence “on Rule 403 grounds at trial ... waived his objection”); State v. Williams, 209 Ariz. 228, ¶ 22, 99 P.3d 43, 49 (App.2004) (because defendant “never made an argument pursuant to Rule 403 below,” court “review[ed] only for fundamental error”). Moreover, the record reflects the trial court in fact did consider any prejudicial effect of admitting the evidence and expressly found “no unfair prejudice.” We find no abuse of discretion in that ruling. See State v. Kiper, 181 Ariz. 62, 65, 887 P.2d 592, 595 (App.1994) (“Because the trial court is best able to balance the probative value versus the prejudicial effect, it is afforded wide discretion in deciding the admissibility of such evidence.”).
III. Blakely issues
¶23 Relying on Blakely, Ruggiero also contends she is “entitled to a re-sentencing because the trial court relied on aggravating factors that were not found true beyond a reasonable doubt by the [jury] as required.” The trial court found the following aggravating factors: (1) the presence of accomplices; (2) the crime was “carried out in an especially cruel manner”; (3) emotional harm to the victim’s family members; and (4) Ruggiero’s failure to accept responsibility. The court also found several mitigating factors, including the fact that Ruggiero had no significant criminal history, the “unusual and substantial stress relative to the facts of the case, and the environment of the offense, and including the threat to [her] dependents.” The trial court found that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors and imposed an aggravated sentence.
¶ 24 Preliminarily, the state contends Ruggiero waived any Sixth Amendment challenge to her sentence by failing to assert it in the trial court. But, as our supreme court recently explained: “Defendants who fail to object to error at trial do not, strictly speaking, “waive’ their claims. Rather, defendants who fail to object to an error below forfeit the right to obtain appellate relief unless they prove that fundamental error occurred.” State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, 580, n.2, 115 P.3d 618, 620, n.2 (2005); see also State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d 601, 607 (2005) (“Fundamental error review ... applies when a defendant fails to object to alleged trial error.”). Accordingly, we review Ruggiero’s claims of fundamental error relating to Blakely. See Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 1, 115 P.3d 601, 603; see also State v. Aleman, 210 Ariz. 232, ¶ 24, 109 P.3d 571, 579 (App.2005); State v. Thues, 203 Ariz. 339, ¶4, 54 P.3d 368, 369 (App.2002) (“[i]mposition of an illegal sen- tenee constitutes fundamental error” that is not waived by defendant’s failure to raise it).
¶ 25 Fundamental error is “ ‘error going to the foundation of the case, error that takes from the defendant a right essential to his defense, and error of such magnitude that the defendant could not possibly have received a fair trial.’ ” Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d 601, 607, quoting State v. Hunter, 142 Ariz. 88, 90, 688 P.2d 980, 982 (1984). “[W]e place the burden of persuasion in fundamental error review on the defendant.” Id. ¶ 19. In order to obtain reversal based on unobjected-to trial error, a defendant must show “both that fundamental error exists and that the error in [his or her] case caused ... prejudice.” Id. ¶ 20; see also Hunter, 142 Ariz. at 90, 688 P.2d at 982; State v. King, 158 Ariz. 419, 424, 763 P.2d 239, 244 (1988).
¶26 We agree with Ruggiero that sentencing error occurred in this ease. The trial court, not a jury, found the facts used to aggravate her sentence, and the court presumably found those facts under a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, rather than the standard of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt. See Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 25, 115 P.3d 601, 608. In addition, none of the aggravating factors was inherent in the jury’s verdict or otherwise Blakelyexempt or -compliant. Thus, fundamental error occurred. See id.
¶ 27 Ruggiero, however, must also demonstrate that the error prejudiced her. Id. ¶26. She “must show that a reasonable jury, applying the appropriate standard of proof, could have reached a different result [in finding an aggravator] than did the trial judge.” Id. ¶ 27. We then consider whether at least one aggravator “not subject to such a conclusion” remains to support the aggravated sentence imposed by the trial court. Id. ¶ 28; see also Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, ¶¶ 21, 26, 115 P.3d 618, 624, 625.
¶ 28 The state argues, and we agree, that “[Ruggiero’s] own testimony established] one of the aggravating facts found by the trial court — the presence of an accomplice, specifically [her son].” An accomplice is “a person ... who with the intent to promote or facilitate the commission of an offense: ... [p]rovides means or opportunity to another person to commit the offense.” A.R.S. § 13-301. Ruggiero testified that her son Mark had been in the mobile home and that he had helped bind D.’s hands. Mark similarly testified that he had helped bind D., had taken turns holding the gun on him, had “beat[en] him up a little bit” and had “Tazered him.” Mark also admitted that he had wanted D. to suffer. In view of this evidence, Ruggiero has not carried her burden to show that the trial court’s error in finding the “presence of accomplices” as an aggravating factor prejudiced her. See A.R.S. § 13-702(C)(4); Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 28, 115 P.3d 601, 626.
¶ 29 Thus, as the state maintains, Ruggiero’s aggravated sentence did not violate the Sixth Amendment because, “[i]f ... additional facts are relevant merely to the exercise of a judge’s discretion in determining the specific sentence to impose on a defendant within a given statutory sentencing range, the Sixth Amendment permits the judge to find those facts by a preponderance of the evidence.” Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, ¶ 26, 115 P.3d 618, 625. The trial court, therefore, could properly consider the remaining factors to determine the specific sen tence to impose on Ruggiero within the aggravated range.
DISPOSITION
¶ 30 Ruggiero’s conviction and sentence are affirmed.
FLÓREZ, P.J. and ESPINOSA, J., concurring.
. Ruggiero’s case was severed from those of her codefendants.
. Generally an issue raised for the first time in a reply brief is waived. State v. Guytan, 192 Ariz. 514, ¶ 15, 968 P.2d 587, 593 (App.1998). Even if not waived, however, this argument is without merit.
. Blakely applies to cases such as this that are pending on direct review when Blakely was decided. State v. Cleere, 210 Ariz. 212, n. 2, 109 P.3d 107, 108 n. 2 (App.2005). In addition, "it is now clear that Blakely's analysis and conclusion apply with equal force to Arizona's sentencing structure under § 13-702(B) and (C).” State v. Aleman, 210 Ariz. 232, n. 6, 109 P.3d 571, 578 n. 6 (App.2005).
. Ruggiero was sentenced to fourteen years on the manslaughter conviction. The sentencing range for that conviction was between seven years and twenty-one years, with a presumptive term of 10.5 years. A.R.S. §§ 13-604(1), 13-1103(B).
. The state also argues no Blakely violation occurred because Ruggiero’s own testimony about Mark's involvement in the crime constituted an admission by her that he had been "not only an accomplice, but [D.’s] actual killer." As the state argues, and as our supreme court recently held, "once a jury finds or a defendant admits a single aggravating factor, the Sixth Amendment permits the sentencing judge to find and consider additional factors relevant to the imposition of a sentence up to the maximum prescribed in that statute.” State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, ¶ 26, 115 P.3d 618, 625 (2005). But, because Ruggie-ro consistently denied having participated in killing D., her testimony about Mark's actions and complicity cannot be deemed an admission that she had committed a crime in the "|p]resence of an accomplice.” A.R.S. § 13-702(C)(4); see State v. Resendis-Felix, 209 Ariz. 292, ¶ 9, 100 P.3d 457, 460 (App.2004) (defendant "did not admit any of the aggravating factors” the trial court found, including presence of an accomplice, even though record reflected that defendant and an accomplice had stolen victim’s vehicle and had assaulted him).
. Citing State v. Carriger, 143 Ariz. 142, 692 P.2d 991 (1984), Ruggiero also argues that "[tjhe trial court committed fundamental error by considering the improper aggravating factor of failure to accept responsibility.” But, Ruggiero did not object below and we therefore review this claim for fundamental error. State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d 601, 607 (2005). We agree with Ruggiero that the fact that a defendant “chooses not to publicly admit ... guilt ... is irrelevant to a sentencing determination.” Carriger, 143 Ariz. at 162, 692 P.2d at 1011. But, Ruggiero has not demonstrated how the error prejudiced her and has therefore failed to carry her burden under fundamental error review. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 26, 115 P.3d 601, 608.
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ORDERED: Petition for Review by the Arizona Supreme Court = DENIED.
FURTHER ORDERED: The Court of Appeals’ Opinion shall not be published, pursuant to Rule 111(g), Arizona Rules of the Supreme Court.
|
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OPINION
SNOW, Judge.
¶ 1 Petitioners, who are plaintiffs in the underlying action, bring this special action challenging the superior court’s denial of their motion to stay. Petitioners requested the superior court stay proceedings in the state court pending a determination by a Navajo Nation court as to whether it had jurisdiction over a similar action filed by plaintiffs in that court. For the following reasons, we accept jurisdiction, but deny relief.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2 Real Parties in Interest Royce and Rhonda Greer own and operate Greer’s Scott Mortuary in Winslow, Arizona. Pursuant to an agreement with the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services the mortuary provided burial and funeral services to indigent members of the Navajo Nation. Royce and Rhonda Greer are residents of Navajo County, Arizona, but are not members of the Navajo Nation.
¶3 The Petitioners, are members of the Navajo Nation. Their mother, Helen Jackson, was also a member of the Navajo Nation, but Ms. Jackson was living in Phoenix, Arizona when she passed away on June 29, 2001. Petitioners contacted the mortuary in Winslow to provide burial and funeral services for Ms. Jackson, and they delivered a “tote” bag to the mortuary containing Ms. Jackson’s clothing and jewelry. There is a disagreement between the parties as to what, if any, instruction was given to the mortuary regarding the items in the bag and whether Ms. Jackson was to be clothed in those items at the time of her burial. The body was prepared in Winslow.
¶ 4 At the open casket viewing and funeral service, held on the Hopi Reservation, Ms. Jackson had not been dressed in the clothing or the jewelry provided to the mortuary. Instead, the Greers had placed the tote bag containing the items of clothing and jewelry directly in the casket. Ms. Jackson was buried on the Navajo Reservation.
ll 5 On August 27, 2001, Petitioner Maria Astorga filed a complaint against the mortuary with the Arizona State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers alleging that the Greers had failed to dress Ms. Jackson according to instructions and according to Navajo tradition and custom. The complaint further alleged that “the casket appeared soiled, nails showing with the bottom of the casket falling apart.” After taking testimony and reviewing the evidence presented, the Board found no funeral law violations.
¶ 6 On June 19, 2003, Petitioners filed a complaint in the Navajo Nation District Court, Judicial District of Window Rock, alleging wrongful burial and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The complaint also alleged “Claims arising from violations of Navajo Common Law, Custom, Tradition, and/or the Fundamental Laws of the Diñé.”
¶ 7 On June 30, 2003, Petitioners filed a parallel complaint in the Superior Court of Navajo County alleging that “the District Court of the Navajo Nation has jurisdiction over this action, and venue is proper in the Judicial District of Window Rock.” However, they added “[i]f it is determined [the Navajo Nation] does not have jurisdiction, it is alternatively alleged that the Superior Court of the State of Arizona has jurisdiction and that venue is proper in Navajo County.” Together with the complaint, Petitioners filed a Motion for Stay of Proceedings “pending a determination that the Navajo Nation District Court has jurisdiction over the above-named Defendants.” Petitioners argued that they were required to file the complaint in the superior court to satisfy the two year statute of limitations on their claims but that a stay of that litigation should be granted pending a determination that the Navajo Nation court has jurisdiction over the Greers.
¶ 8 The superior court denied Petitioners’ motion to stay finding that Petitioners “have not shown good cause for a stay order.” Petitioners filed a motion for reconsideration that was also denied.
¶ 9 The Greers filed a motion for summary judgment and a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over parties in the Navajo Nation District Court. Petitioners then filed a cross-motion for summary judgment on the issue of jurisdiction in that same court.
¶ 10 Subsequently, Petitioners requested a stay from the superior court pending a petition for special action challenging the superi- or court’s denial of a stay. They alleged that “where a party has instituted the same action in two courts of different sovereigns, a stay of proceedings is the preferred course of action.” Tonnemacher v. Touche Ross & Co., 186 Ariz. 125, 130, 920 P.2d 5, 10 (App. 1996) (finding trial court did not have discretion to dismiss claim before it that was also pending simultaneously in federal court, but did have discretion to stay the action). The superior court denied the stay, noting that neither party had provided the court with any records of the Navajo Nation court and thus “there is no basis to stay this action because of any past, present or prospective exercise of jurisdiction by a Navajo Nation court.”
¶ 11 Oral argument in the Navajo Nation District Court on the motion to dismiss and the cross-motions for summary judgment was held on March 24, 2004, at which time the Navajo Nation District Court took the matter under advisement. As of the filing of this special action there has been no ruling.
¶ 12 Petitioners filed a special action in this court requesting review of the superior court’s refusal to stay the litigation.
DISCUSSION
A. Jurisdiction
¶ 13 Special action jurisdiction is appropriate when there is no equally plain, speedy, and adequate remedy by appeal. Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a). The decision to accept jurisdiction is largely discretionary and should be reserved for “extraordinary circumstances.” State ex rel. Romley v. Fields, 201 Ariz. 321, 323, ¶ 4, 35 P.3d 82, 84 (App.2001) (citations omitted).
¶ 14 The denial of a motion to stay may be appropriately challenged by special action. See Ariz. Const, art. 6, §§ 5, 9; Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1, 3, 4, 7; Collins v. Truman, 162 Ariz. 367, 369, 783 P.2d 813, 815 (App. 1989). Due to the unique issues involved in this case we accept jurisdiction.
B. Merits
¶ 15 Petitioners contend that the superior court erred in failing to grant the stay because, due to principles of comity and respect for Indian courts, “the trial court had no discretion to exercise” and was obliged to grant a stay under the circumstances presented here. We disagree.
¶ 16 Petitioners cite three federal cases, Iowa Mut. Ins. Co. v. LaPlante, 480 U.S. 9, 107 S.Ct. 971, 94 L.Ed.2d 10 (1987), Crawford v. Genuine Parts, Inc., 947 F.2d 1405 (9th Cir.1991), and Wellman v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 815 F.2d 577 (9th Cir.1987), for the proposition that in eases in which there is an allegation that an Indian court has concurrent jurisdiction over a cause of action, principles of comity and respect for Indian courts require that tribal courts first be allowed to determine their own jurisdiction and exhaust it, prior to a matter being brought in either federal or state courts.
¶17 Despite Petitioners’ argument, however, the principle of exhaustion recognized by federal courts in this context does not similarly operate in Arizona state courts. State v. Zaman, 190 Ariz. 208, 212, 946 P.2d 459, 463 (1997) (“LaPlante describes an exhaustion rule. It does not purport to establish tribal court adjudicatory authority.”) (Citations omitted.). Unlike Arizona state courts, federal courts retain the power to review an Indian court’s exercise of jurisdiction over non-members. See Nat’l Farmers Union Ins. v. Crow Tribe, 471 U.S. 845, 850, 105 S.Ct. 2447, 85 L.Ed.2d 818 (1985). Thus, the relationship between the Navajo courts and the federal courts is (at least in part) a vertical one, governed by the rule of exhaustion. See LaPlante, 480 U.S. at 17, 107 S.Ct. 971; see also Crawford, 947 F.2d at 1407 (“The requirement of exhaustion of tribal remedies is not discretionary; it is mandatory.”) (quoting Burlington N. R.R. Co. v. Crow Tribal Council, 940 F.2d 1239, 1245 (9th Cir.1991)).
¶ 18 The principle of exhaustion requires that when the issue of tribal court jurisdiction over non-tribal defendants is raised in a federal court proceeding, a federal court shall “dismiss or abstain from deciding cases in which concurrent jurisdiction in an Indian tribal court was asserted” until jurisdiction has been determined and tribal remedies exhausted. Crawford, 947 F.2d at 1407. The examination of the jurisdictional question
should be conducted in the first instance by the [t]ribal [c]ourt itself ... [to] provide the forum whose jurisdiction is being challenged the first opportunity to evaluate the factual and legal bases for the challenge ... [and to foster] the orderly administration of justice in federal court ... by allowing a full record to be developed in the [t]ribal [c]ourt before either the merits or any question concerning appropriate relief is addressed.
Nat’l Farmers Union Ins., 471 U.S. at 856, 105 S.Ct. 2447. “At a minimum, exhaustion of tribal remedies means that tribal appellate courts must have the opportunity to review the determinations of the lower tribal courts____Until appellate review is complete ... federal courts should not intervene.” LaPlante, 480 U.S. at 17, 107 S.Ct. 971. Thus, “the federal court stays its hand until after the Tribal Court has had a full opportunity to determine its own jurisdiction and to rectify any errors it may have made.” Nat’l Farmers Union Ins., 471 U.S. at 857, 105 S.Ct. 2447 (footnote omitted).
¶ 19 Due to this relationship with federal courts, an Indian plaintiff cannot bring a matter against a non-Indian directly in federal court when a tribal court would also have jurisdiction without first exhausting such recourse as is available in Indian courts. See id.; Wellman, 815 F.2d at 578-79 (Indian contractor could not bring suit directly in federal court against non-tribal entity when tribal court had concurrent jurisdiction.).
¶ 20 The principle of exhaustion, however, does not apply to the Petitioners’ state court proceeding, because whether the Indian court has jurisdiction over the matter is not at issue in the state court proceeding. “Members of tribes are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside and thus have the right to bring actions in state court.” Zaman, 190 Ariz. at 211, 946 P.2d at 462 (citing McClanahan v. State Tax Comm’n, 411 U.S. 164, 172-73, 93 S.Ct. 1257, 36 L.Ed.2d 129 (1973)). When they do so, the jurisdiction of Indian courts is not at issue because the Indian plaintiffs are not invoking their right to Indian court jurisdiction. “The Indian interests which the infringement test seeks to protect are not present when an Indian plaintiff brings an action against a non-Indian defendant in state court.” Id. at 210, 946 P.2d at 460. This is so because “[s]tate court jurisdiction over actions brought by Indians against non-Indians does not infringe upon the rights of Indians to make their own laws and to be ruled by them.” Id. at 211, 946 P.2d at 462.
¶21 Thus, when an Indian plaintiff files suit in state court against a non-Indian defendant, there is no need to invoke the exhaustion requirement to protect the ability of the tribal court to determine in the first instance the facts and the law pertaining to whether it has jurisdiction. The tribal court will presumably decide the jurisdictional issue in the parallel proceeding that is before it, as the exhaustion doctrine requires. Nat’l Farmers Union Ins., 471 U.S. at 857, 105 S.Ct. 2447.
¶ 22 Petitioner cites Matsch v. Prairie Island Indian Cmty., 567 N.W.2d 276 (Minn. Ct.App.1997), for the proposition that when a state court and a tribal court have concurrent jurisdiction tribal court remedies must be exhausted before the state court may consider taking jurisdiction. In Matsch, a non-Indian plaintiff brought an action against the Prairie Island Indian Community in the tribal court and the Indian Community moved to dismiss on the grounds that it was immune from suit. Id. at 277. Following nearly a year without a tribal court ruling on the motion, the plaintiff filed her case in the state court. Id. Three days later, the tribal court dismissed the action, ruling that the Indian Community was immune from suit. Id. The Indian Community then moved to dismiss the action from the state court. Id. at 277-78. That motion was denied and the plaintiff appealed. Id. at 278. On appeal, the court reversed and remanded to the trial court for dismissal because the immunity question had already been decided by the tribal court. Id. at 279 (“Should [plaintiff] disagree with the tribal court’s determination, she has recourse in either the tribal appellate court or in federal court.”).
¶ 23 Although the plaintiffs in Matsch did file in the courts of separate sovereigns with concurrent jurisdiction, at the time the state court refused to dismiss the tribal court had already accepted jurisdiction and ruled on the merits of the claim. See id. at 277. In noting that the state court should have dismissed the action in such circumstances, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that “[o]nce Matsch refiled her action in the tribal court and the tribal court exercised its jurisdiction, the district court was no longer at liberty to interfere with the tribal court action.” Id. at 278. The exercise of tribal court jurisdiction referred to by the Matsch court, however, consisted of a decision on the merits by the tribal court. Id. Once a tribal court appropriately reaches a decision on the merits, Arizona law also provides that the decision be given effect. See Arizona Rules of Procedure for the Recognition of Tribal Court Civil Judgments, Rule 5; Tracy v. Su/perior Court, 168 Ariz. 23, 34, 810 P.2d 1030, 1041 (1991) (“Arizona courts have consistently afforded full recognition to tribal court proceedings.”); In re Lynch’s Estate, 92 Ariz. 354, 357, 377 P.2d 199, 201 (1962) (Navajo tribal court proceedings should be treated the same as court proceedings in a foreign state or country.); Canby, William C., Jr., American Indian Law in a Nutshell, 212 (3rd ed.1998). As Tonne-macher makes clear, however, the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction alone by a tribal court is insufficient to divest the superior court of all discretion in determining whether to grant a stay in the parallel proceedings before it. 186 Ariz. at 128-29, 920 P.2d at 8-9.
¶24 As Petitioners acknowledge in their brief, when an Indian plaintiff files concurrent actions in state and tribal court, the state court is not obliged to dismiss the matter, and, it may be error for it to do so. See id. at 130, 920 P.2d at 10. Policy considerations that prevent a court from dismissing a case when a similar case is pending in the court of a different sovereign include the possibility of:
1) unforeseen procedural problems in the other forum; 2) unreasonable delays in the other forum; 3) changes in the law; and 4) the need to provide interim relief, such as a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction. Because these factors may operate to deprive the litigants of justice if the case were dismissed, dismissal is not the desired outcome.
Id. We thus determined in Tonnemacher that in instances where courts of separate sovereigns have concurrent jurisdiction, the two courts may proceed simultaneously until one court reaches judgment. Id. at 128-29, 920 P.2d at 8-9 (citing Penn General Cas. Co. v. Pennsylvania, 294 U.S. 189, 195, 55 S.Ct. 386, 79 L.Ed. 850 (1935); Kline v. Burke Constr. Co., 260 U.S. 226, 230, 43 S.Ct. 79, 67 L.Ed. 226 (1922)). “The first judgment has res judicata effect in the other proceeding.” Tonnemacher, 186 Ariz. at 129, 920 P.2d at 9.
¶ 25 While the superior court did not have discretion to dismiss the action, it does have “the discretion to stay the action” pending a determination of the case in the other sovereign. See id. at 130, 920 P.2d at 10. When the superior court considers whether to grant a stay, the court should consider
1) avoiding increased costs; 2) preventing harassment by repeated suits involving the same subject matter; 3) avoiding extra cost and burden to judicial resources; 4) avoiding piecemeal litigation, 5) avoiding unusually difficult questions of ... law that bear upon important policy issues, and 6) avoiding conflicting judgments.
Id. (citations omitted). The superior court may also consider other factors in deciding whether to grant a stay. See Zaman, 190 Ariz. at 213, 946 P.2d at 464 (recognizing that the exercise of judicial restraint is not always appropriate when competing sovereigns may have concurrent jurisdiction).
¶26 In exercising its discretion in considering the stay, it is appropriate for the superior court to give some degree of deference to tribal courts that may have jurisdiction over a parallel proceeding. However, that a tribal court may have concurrent jurisdiction does not alone deprive the superior court of its discretion in determining whether a stay should be granted. While a stay may be indicated because it avoids needlessly duplicative litigation and at the same time gives the courts of the Navajo Nation an opportunity to assert jurisdiction should it be appropriate, we cannot say that the superior court abused its discretion in these circumstances.
¶27 Petitioners filed their complaint in both the Navajo Nation and the superior courts more than two years ago. They submitted the jurisdictional question to the Navajo Nation court after oral argument on cross-motions on March 24, 2004 — more than seventeen months ago. The Navajo Nation District Court has yet to rule, and we are not aware of any time limit under which the Navajo courts are obliged to rule. Thus, the stay requested “pending a determination” by the Navajo Nation District Court of its own jurisdiction was for an indefinite period. As the superior court noted in denying the stay, “[t]he Court determines that there is no basis to stay this action because of any past, present or prospective exercise of jurisdiction by a Navajo Nation court. The court does so with awareness that the instant case will have been pending two (2) years on June 30, 2005.”
¶ 28 In Tonnemacher we expressly noted that one of the reasons it would be error to dismiss a case in which the courts of another sovereignty have jurisdiction is the possibility of “unreasonable delays in the other forum.” 186 Ariz. at 130, 920 P.2d at 10. When considering a stay in such circumstances, the superior court must consider the right of the defendants to have their ease resolved in a reasonably timely manner. See Robe v. Cut and Curl of Plaza 75, Inc., 148 Ariz. 552, 553, 715 P.2d 1240, 1241 (App.1986) (The trial court should consider whether separation of causes of action will expedite and/or lessen the cost of litigation.). The superior court is also entitled to consider the time it must keep a pending but inactive case alive on its own docket.
¶ 29 While Petitioners may have a preference to have this matter heard by the Navajo Nation District Court, it was their decision to also file in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona as a “jurisdictional backstop” to ensure that they could bring their claim in some forum. They have thus created the potential for simultaneous litigation of which they now complain. The superior court acted within its discretion to deny Petitioners’ motion to stay. The court noted the two year delay in the litigation of the case before it. In considering this and Petitioners’ failure to seek a stay for a finite period, the Greers’ right to have their case heard, and Petitioners’ initiation of both pending actions, we cannot say the court abused its discretion in declining to grant Petitioners’ motion for stay. Tonnemacher, 186 Ariz. at 130, 920 P.2d at 10.
C. Attorneys’ Fees
¶ 30 The Greers request a grant of attorneys’ fees pursuant to Arizona Rule of Special Actions 4(g) and A.R.S. § 12-341.01 (2003). Because a prevailing party has yet to be determined in this action, a fee award is premature.
CONCLUSION
¶31 Accordingly, we accept jurisdiction and deny relief.
CONCURRING: PATRICIA K. NORRIS, Presiding Judge and JOHN C. GEMMILL, Judge.
. Petitioners also contacted law enforcement alleging the theft of turquoise jewelry from the mortuary. Police interviews were conducted, but no charges were filed.
. The Arizona Attorney General's Office conducted a review of the matter referred to the Arizona State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to ensure compliance with Section XII(A)(3) of the Indigent Burial Reimbursement Agreement that the Greers had signed with the Navajo Nation. As part of that agreement, the Greers were obligated to place special items furnished by the family into the casket. In a letter dated February 3, 2003, the office of the Attorney General informed the Greers that Greer’s Scott Mortuary was in full compliance and the matter was closed.
. Diñé is a Navajo word meaning "the people.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged) 635 (1993).
. Petitioners concede the state court has jurisdiction over their dispute with the Greers, and thus they do not argue that tribal interests are so uniquely at issue that our state courts do not have jurisdiction as LaPlante suggests might sometimes be the case. 480 U.S. at 15, 107 S.Ct. 971 (“If state-court jurisdiction over Indians or activities on Indian lands would interfere with tribal sovereignty and self-government, the state courts are generally divested of jurisdiction as a matter of federal law.").
. Somewhat inconsistently, Petitioners, in their Reply Brief, cite Agrie. Employment Relations Bd. v. United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO, 26 Ariz.App. 336, 340, 548 P.2d 429, 433 (1976), for the proposition that "where two tribunals have concurrent jurisdiction, the first acquiring jurisdiction retains it to the exclusion of the other until the case is finally determined.” However, that case and others cited therein refer to instances in which both tribunals derive their authority from the same sovereign. As discussed above, Tonnemacher sets forth the appropriate rule when the two tribunals are from separate sovereigns. 186 Ariz. at 128, 920 P.2d at 8.
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OPINION
PORTLEY, Judge.
¶ 1 We are asked to determine whether section 509 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (the “CDA”) bars a defamation claim and related state tort claims against an interactive computer services provider. We also examine whether the court had personal jurisdiction over John M. Daniels (“Daniels”), a resident of Bali, Indonesia. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the superior court’s rulings.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 Mark A. Austin (“Austin”) and Daniels operate separate travel-related businesses in Bali. CrystalTech Web Hosting (“Crystal-Tech”), an Arizona corporation, operates an internet website hosting company in Marico-pa County, and provides website services for Daniels’ business, Bali Discovery Tours.
¶ 3 Austin sued Daniels after an article appeared on the Bali Discovery Tours’ website alleging that Bali officials were going to file criminal charges against Austin. He sued CrystalTech because it refused to remove the allegedly defamatory statements from the Bali Discovery Tours website.
¶ 4 CrystalTech moved for summary judgment, and argued that the CDA granted it immunity from Austin’s state court claims. Daniels then moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal service and lack of personal jurisdiction. The superior court granted CrystalTech’s motion, and dismissed the claims against Daniels because he did not have sufficient minimum contacts with Arizona to establish personal jurisdiction.
¶ 5 Austin appealed the signed minute entry order. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-210KB) (2003).
DISCUSSION
I. Communications Decency Act
¶ 6 Austin challenges the superior court’s determination that CrystalTech was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. We review the ruling de novo. Ariz. Joint Venture v. Ariz. Dep’t. of Revenue, 205 Ariz. 50, 53, ¶ 14, 66 P.3d 771, 774 (App.2002).
¶ 7 CrystalTech contends that the CDA grants it immunity from state tort claims. Austin challenges that interpretation, and argues that because the federal statute only applies to claims against the primary publisher of defamatory material, CrystalTech is still liable as a distributor of defamatory material.
¶ 8 At common law, those who publicize another’s libel may be treated: (1) as primary publishers (such as book or newspaper publishers); (2) as conduits (such as a telephone company); or (3) as distributors (such as a book store, library, or news dealer). Primary publishers are generally held to a standard of liability comparable to that of authors because they actively cooperate in publication. See Prosser & Keeton on Torts 810 (W. Page Keeton, ed., West Group 5th ed.1984); see also Restatement (Second) of Torts (“Restatement”) § 581(1) cmt. c (1977). Conduits lack the ability to screen and control the information being communicated and are therefore ordinarily immune from liability. See Lunney v. Prodigy Services Co., 94 N.Y.2d 242, 701 N.Y.S.2d 684, 723 N.E.2d 539, 542 (1999); see also Restatement § 581(1) cmt. f. Distributors are, however, subject to an intermediate standard of responsibility, and may be held liable as publishers if they know or have reason to know of the defamatory nature of the matter they disseminate. See Restatement § 581(1) cmts. d, e.
¶ 9 The internet, however, has challenged the conventional analysis, and courts have attempted to apply common law principles to the new medium. See Jay M. Zitter, Annotation, Liability of Internet Service Provider for Internet or E-Mail Defamartion, 84 A.L.R. 5th 169 (2000). Congress intervened and enacted Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the CDA. Although its “primary goal ... was to control the exposure of minors to indecent material,” Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018, 1026 (9th Cir.2003), Congress wanted to “remove disincentives for the development and utilization of blocking and filtering technologies” and to encourage the development of technologies that allow users to control the information they receive. 47 U.S.C. § 230(b)(3)-(4). To effectuate its goals, Congress chose to “override[] the traditional treatment of publishers, distributors, and speakers under statutory and common law.” Batzel, 333 F.3d at 1026.
¶ 10 Section 230(e) of the CDA provides:
(1) Treatment of publisher or speaker
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
(2) Civil liability
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of—
(A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or
(B) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in [subparagraph (A)].
47 U.S.C. § 230(c). Thus, Congress sought to remove disincentives to self-regulation and “encourage service providers to self-regulate the dissemination of offensive material over their services” without fear they would incur liability as a result of their trouble. Zeran v. Am. Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327, 331 (4th Cir.1997).
V11 Austin contends, however, that the immunity in § 230(c) is limited by the plain language of the statute to publishers, and does not apply to distributors. We disagree.
¶ 12 The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was the first appellate court to consider this issue, and concluded that Congress intended § 230(c) to immunize both publishers and distributors (as a subset of publishers) from liability for defamatory content provided by others. Zeran, 129 F.3d 327. Zeran brought an action against America Online, Inc. (“AOL”), an interactive computer service provider, alleging that AOL had failed to timely remove defamatory messages posted by a third party. Id. at 328. Zeran argued that § 230 does not preclude liability for internet intermediaries who have notice of defamatory material posted through their services. Id. The Fourth Circuit ruled that § 230 “creates a federal immunity to any cause of action that would make [internet] service providers liable for information originating with a third-party user of the service. Specifically, § 230 precludes courts from entertaining claims that would place a computer service provider in a publisher’s role.” Id. at 330. The court found that § 230 was enacted, in part, to “maintain the robust nature of internet communication” and limit government interference with the medium. Id.; see also 47 U.S.C. § 230(b)(l)-(2). The court determined that Congress had made a policy choice not to deter harmful online speech by imposing tort liability on internet intermediaries for third parties’ potentially injurious speech. Zeran, 129 F.3d at 330-31.
¶ 13 Zeran argued, as Austin does now, that § 230 immunity eliminates only publisher, and not distributor, liability. Id. at 331. The court noted that everyone who takes part in a publication is considered to be a publisher and, accordingly, “distributors are considered to be publishers for purposes of defamation law.” Id. at 332. The distinction between a publisher and a distributor “signifies only that different standards of liability may be applied within the larger publisher category, depending on the specific type of publisher concerned.” Id.
¶ 14 The court determined that notice alone could not transform an original publisher into a distributor, stating, “once a computer service provider receives notice of a potentially defamatory posting, it is thrust into the role of a traditional publisher,” and must decide whether to publish, edit, or withdraw the material. Id. The court concluded that were it to adopt Zeran’s proposed interpretation of § 230, it would lead to the incongruous result of imposing liability on AOL for “assuming the role for which § 230 specifically proscribes liability — the publisher role.” Id. at 332-33. The court found that Congress had spoken directly to the issue by “employing the legally significant term ‘publisher,’ which has traditionally encompassed distributors and original publishers alike.” Id. at 334. The court held that distributor liability is a subset of publisher liability and therefore specifically foreclosed by § 230. Id. at 332.
¶ 15 The Fourth Circuit’s approach has been followed in two other circuits. See Green v. Am. Online, 318 F.3d 465 (3d Cir. 2003) (holding that § 230 barred a tort action against AOL for its failure to remove allegedly defamatory material (erroneous stock information) from its network); Ben Ezra, Weinstein & Co., Inc. v. Am. Online, Inc., 206 F.3d 980 (10th Cir.2000) (holding that § 230 proscribed a defamation claim against AOL based on material created by a third party). We have found no published opinions to the contrary, and find the interpretation of a federal statute by federal courts to be persuasive. See First Nat’l Bank of Ariz. v. Carruth, 116 Ariz. 482, 483, 569 P.2d 1380, 1881 (App.1977). Consequently, because the CDA provides immunity to interactive computer service providers, like CrystalTech, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment against Austin.
II. Personal Jurisdiction
¶ 16 Austin also challenges the superior court’s determination that it did not have personal jurisdiction over Daniels. We review the dismissal de novo, and view the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. A. Uberti & C. v. Leonardo, 181 Ariz. 565, 566, 569, 892 P.2d 1354, 1355, 1358 (1995).
¶ 17 Arizona may exercise either general or specific personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant. “General jurisdiction subjects the defendant to suit on virtually any claim, ‘[e]ven when the cause of action does not arise out of or relate to the [defendant’s] activities’” in Arizona. Batton v. Tenn. Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 153 Ariz. 268, 270, 736 P.2d 2, 4 (1987) (quoting Helicopteros Nacionales v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 414, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984)). General jurisdiction applies only when the defendant has “substantial” or “continuous and systematic” contacts with Arizona. Id. (quoting Helicopteros, 466 U.S. at 414, 104 S.Ct. 1868). Austin does not contend Arizona has general jurisdiction over Daniels; therefore, we only address whether specific jurisdiction applies. See Uberti, 181 Ariz. at 569, 892 P.2d at 1358.
¶ 18 Arizona courts exercise specific personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant to the extent permitted by the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.2(a); id. Due process is satisfied if the following three requirements are met: (1) the defendant performed some act or consummated some transaction within Arizona by which he purposefully availed himself of the privilege of conducting activities in Arizona; (2) the claim arises out of or results from the defendant’s Arizona-related activities; and (3) the exercise of jurisdiction would be reasonable. Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc., 130 F.3d 414, 416 (9th Cir.1997) (citing Ballard v. Savage, 65 F.3d 1495, 1498 (9th Cir.1995)); Williams v. Lakeview Co., 199 Ariz. 1, 3, ¶ 7, 13 P.3d 280, 282 (2000).
¶ 19 Austin argues that Daniels purposefully availed himself of our laws by using the website hosting services of CrystalTech. Daniels contends that he should not be haled into Arizona solely as a result of random, fortuitous, or attenuated contacts. See Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 475, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985).
¶ 20 In this ease, in addition to determining whether Daniels had minimum contacts with Arizona,
we must consider whether it is reasonable to subject [Daniels] to Arizona jurisdiction. This requires us to weigh several factors: [Daniel’s] burden of transoceanic litigation, Arizona’s interest in resolving this [defamation] action, [Austin’s] interest in obtaining relief in Arizona, and another nation’s procedural and substantive interests in Arizona’s exercise of jurisdiction.
Uberbi, 181 Ariz. at 575, 892 P.2d at 1364 (citing Asahi Metal Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Superior Court, 480 U.S. 102, 115, 107 S.Ct. 1026, 94 L.Ed.2d 92 (1987)).
¶ 21 We will assume, without deciding, that Daniels purposefully availed himself of our laws by contracting with CrystalTech and sending the offending article to Arizona for publication on the website, and that this claim arises out of those contacts. We then turn to whether exercising personal jurisdiction over Daniels would be reasonable.
¶ 22 The Supreme Court’s decision in As-ahi Metal Industry Co., Ltd. v. Superior Court, 480 U.S. 102, 107 S.Ct. 1026, 94 L.Ed.2d 92 (1987) guides our analysis. There, Asahi, a Japanese corporation, manufactured tire valve assemblies and sold them to a Taiwanese company for use as components in finished tire tubes. Asahi, 480 U.S. at 106, 107 S.Ct. 1026. The Taiwanese company sold the finished tire tubes in the United States, including California. Id. After a California driver injured by an allegedly defective tire tube sued the Taiwanese company, it filed a cross-complaint seeking indemnification from Asahi. Id. Asahi argued California “could not exert jurisdiction over it consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Id.
¶ 23 In considering whether the California court could exercise jurisdiction over Asahi consistent with the Due Process Clause, the Supreme Court noted the burden Asahi would face in defending itself in a foreign legal system. Id. at 114, 107 S.Ct. 1026. The Court also stated that because the third-party plaintiff [the Taiwanese company] was not a California resident, California’s legitimate interests in the dispute diminished considerably. Id. It held that the exercise of jurisdiction would be unreasonable and unfair in light of the “serious burdens on [the] alien defendant [which were] outweighed by minimal interests on the part of the plaintiff or the forum State.” Id. at 115-16, 107 S.Ct. 1026.
¶ 24 Applying the Asahi analysis, we find that it would be unreasonable for Arizona to exercise jurisdiction over this internet defamation case. First, neither Daniels nor Austin are Arizona residents, and neither lives here. Second, Arizona has no real interest in resolving a dispute between two Bali travel-related competitors. Third, Austin does not dispute Daniels’ claim that Bali law governs the dispute; and Arizona has no interest in the substantive law of Indonesia. Consequently, because Arizona has no specific interest in the alleged wrongful conduct or the alleged harm to a British citizen that would compel an Arizona court to protect Austin’s interests, personal jurisdiction over Daniels would be unreasonable.
III. Attorneys’ Fees on Appeal
¶25 CrystalTech and Daniels request an award of attorneys’ fees and costs on appeal pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-349 (2003). Because Austin’s position on appeal was not unreasonable, groundless, or made in bad faith, we decline to award them fees. However, we grant their request for costs pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-342(A) (2003) upon compliance with Arizona Rule of Civil Appellate Procedure 21.
CONCLUSION
¶ 26 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the superior court’s judgment in favor of CrystalTech and dismissal of Austin’s claims against Daniels.
CONCURRING: PATRICK IRVINE, Presiding Judge and JOHN C. GEMMILL, Judge.
. 47 U.S.C. § 230 (1996).
. The CDA defines an "interactive computer service” as "any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet and such systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational institutions.” 47 U.S.C. § 230(f)(2). There is no dispute that CrystalTech falls within this definition.
. Although the motion’s caption indicated both CrystalTech and Daniels sought dismissal, the motion only addressed the claims against Daniels.
. The superior court did not address Daniels’ argument regarding lack of personal service.
. Austin urges us to reject the Zeran analysis and instead follow Barrett v. Rosenthal, 9 Cal.Rptr.3d 142 (App.2004). The California Supreme Court granted review of Barrett, and as a result it was depublished pursuant to California Rule of Court 976(d)(1) ("Unless otherwise ordered ... an opinion is no longer considered published if the [California] Supreme Court grants review....”). As a result it may not be cited to this court and we will not consider it. Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Adams, 187 Ariz. 585, 593, 931 P.2d 1095, 1103 (App.1996). Austin also relies on Grace v. eBay, Inc., 16 Cal.Rptr.3d 192 (App.2004), but it too has been depublished.
. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have not directly addressed distributor immunity but noted that every appellate court to reach the issue has followed the Fourth Circuit's approach in Zeran. Doe v. GTE Corp., 347 F.3d 655, 659-60 (7th Cir.2003); Batzel, 333 F.3d at 1027 n. 10.
. For purposes of our personal jurisdiction analysis, we treat Daniels and Bali Discovery Tours as one entity and refer to them collectively as "Daniels."
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OPINION
RYAN, Justice.
¶ 1 This ease requires us to interpret real property restrictive covenants. One approach has been to construe such covenants narrowly, to favor the free use of land. We today adopt the approach of the Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes (“Restatement”) and hold that restrictive covenants should be interpreted to give effect to the intention of the parties as determined from the language of the document in its entirety and the purpose for which the covenants were created.
I
A
¶ 2 In November 1988, Thomas Washburn, President of K.R.C. Corporation, recorded the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (“CC & Rs”) for Indian Hills Airpark, an aviation-related planned community. The CC & Rs incorporate, by reference, the La Paz County zoning ordinances. The document creating the CC & Rs declared that its purpose was to develop the property “as an aviation related residential and commercial center” and that the CC & Rs “are intended to benefit the owners and their successors in interest who hold an ownership interest in all or any portion of the property.”
¶ 3 The Airpark is zoned as a manufactured home subdivision. At the time the CC & Rs were adopted, the zoning ordinances permitted only three residential uses in such a subdivision: manufactured homes, low den sity residential (R-l-6 district), and mobile homes. La Paz County, Ariz., The Zoning Ordinance Land Use Regulations (“Zoning Ord.”) art. VI, § 606.11 (Jan.1983). Hangar-houses (homes incorporating an airplane hangar) were added to the CC & Rs as a permissible use in 1992. In 1996, La Paz County amended the zoning ordinances to permit the use of recreational vehicles as residences in a manufactured home subdivision. La Paz County, Ariz., Zoning Regulations (“Zoning Reg.”) Appendix A, § VI (July 31, 1996); Zoning Reg. art. Ill, § III-2(F) (as amended Aug. 17, 1998). When the CC & Rs were adopted, the ordinances defined a recreational vehicle as
[a] vehicular type of dwelling unit thirty-five (35) feet or less in length and eight (8) feet or less in width primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use, which either has its own motive power or is mounted on or drawn by another vehicle.
Zoning Ord. art. II, § 201.63.
B
¶ 4 In August 2002, Edward Powell, along with several other property owners in the Airpark (“Powell”), filed suit in superior court against Thomas Washburn and others (“Washburn”) requesting an injunction prohibiting the use of RVs as single family residences within the Airpark. The parties filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment. The trial court granted Powell’s motion, finding that the CC & Rs did not permit the use of RVs as residences.
¶5 Washburn appealed, arguing that the trial court erred by not interpreting the restrictive covenants strictly in favor of the free use of land. In a memorandum decision, the court of appeals agreed, and reversed and remanded.
¶ 6 Powell petitioned for review, arguing that rules of contract construction, such as giving effect to all portions of the contract and enforcing the intent of the parties, supersede any policy in favor of strict construction of restrictive covenants. Powell also argues that changes in social policy toward equitable servitudes suggest abandoning the policy favoring strict construction and free use of land and adopting the Restatement rule, which requires giving effect to the intent of the parties. He contends that under the Restatement approach the CC & Rs forbid the use of RVs as residences in the Airpark.
¶ 7 We accepted review because of the widespread use of restrictive covenants in planned communities and the accompanying need for a clear statement of how to interpret such covenants. We have jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5(3), of the Arizona Constitution, Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-120.24 (2003), and Arizona Rule of Civil Appellate Procedure (“AR-CAP”) 23.
II
¶ 8 A deed containing a restrictive covenant that runs with the land is a contract. Ahwatukee Custom Estates Mgmt. Ass’n v. Turner, 196 Ariz. 631, 634, ¶ 5, 2 P.3d 1276, 1279 (App.2000); Ariz. Biltmore Estates Ass’n v. Tezak, 177 Ariz. 447, 448, 868 P.2d 1030, 1031 (App.1993). The interpretation of a contract is generally a matter of law. Hadley v. Sw. Props., Inc., 116 Ariz. 503, 506, 570 P.2d 190, 193 (1977); Biltmore Estates, 177 Ariz. at 448, 868 P.2d at 1031. At oral argument, the parties agreed there were no disputed facts concerning the creation of the CC & Rs or the meaning of the language used in the document; therefore, our review is de novo. See Andrews v. Blake, 205 Ariz. 236, 240, ¶ 12, 69 P.3d 7, 11 (2003).
A
¶ 9 In Arizona, the traditional rule has been that when a restrictive covenant is unambiguous, it is enforced so as to give effect to the intent of the parties. Biltmore Estates, 177 Ariz. at 449, 868 P.2d at 1032 (“[T]he cardinal principle in construing restrictive covenants is that the intention of the parties to the instrument is paramount.”) (citing Riley v. Stoves, 22 Ariz.App. 223, 225-26, 526 P.2d 747, 749-50 (1974)); Sky Mountain Ranch Subdiv. Prop. Owners Ass’n v. Williams, 12 Ariz.App. 244, 246, 469 P.2d 478, 480 (1970) (“ ‘[T]he intent of the parties and the object of the deed or restriction should govern, giving the instrument a just and fair interpretation.’ ”) (quoting R & R Realty Co. v. Weinstein, 4 Ariz.App. 517, 522 n. 2, 422 P.2d 148, 153 n. 2 (1966)).
¶ 10 Arizona’s rule that courts should enforce the intent of the parties to a restrictive covenant in the absence of ambiguity reaches back to the 1930s. In Ainsworth v. Elder, this Court adopted an intent-based analysis (without calling it sueh) when it stated that “courts should consider not only the strict and technical meaning of the particular words of restriction, but also the surrounding circumstances, the general purpose of the restrictions, and the manner in which they have been interpreted by the property owners.” 40 Ariz. 71, 74-75, 9 P.2d 1007, 1008 (1932).
¶ 11 This general principle of looking beyond the mere words of a restrictive covenant to the surrounding circumstances and the general purpose of the restriction has been repeated in subsequent decisions. See, e.g., Duffy v. Sunburst Farms E. Mut. Water & Agrie. Co., 124 Ariz. 413, 416, 604 P.2d 1124, 1127 (1979) (“This court has previously recognized that in determining the meaning of restrictive covenants, the surrounding circumstances will be looked to as well as the meaning of particular words.”) (citations omitted); Whitaker v. Holmes, 74 Ariz. 30, 32, 243 P.2d 462, 463 (1952) (stating that when interpreting restrictive covenants “the courts not only look to the meaning of the particular words but also to other surrounding circumstances”) (citation omitted).
¶ 12 Arizona decisions, however, have also posited a countervailing principle of interpreting restrictive covenants when a court perceives that a restrictive covenant is ambiguous or does not expressly prohibit a particular use of the property. A number of opinions state that a court must strictly construe the terms of the restrictive covenant in favor of the free use of land and against the restriction. See, e.g., Duffy, 124 Ariz. at 417, 604 P.2d at 1128; Burke v. Voicestream Wireless Corp. II, 207 Ariz. 393, 396, ¶ 13, 87 P.3d 81, 84, (App.2004) (stating that “[i]f the language of a restrictive covenant is judged to be ambiguous, it should be construed in favor of the free use of the land”) (citing Duffy, 124 Ariz. at 417, 604 P.2d at 1128); Grossman v. Hatley, 21 Ariz.App. 581, 583, 522 P.2d 46, 48 (1974) (“Restrictive covenants are to be strictly construed against persons seeking to enforce them and any ambiguities or doubts as to their effect should be resolved in favor of the free use and enjoyment of the property and against restrictions.”) (citations omitted).
¶ 13 Because a restrictive covenant is a contract, Ahwatukee Custom Estates Mgmt. Ass’n, 196 Ariz. at 634, ¶ 5, 2 P.3d at 1279, the doctrine of strict construction has been criticized as being too restrictive. See Restatement § 4.1 cmt. a (2000). Rather, “the function of the law is to ascertain and give effect to the likely intentions and legitimate expectations of the parties who create servitudes, as it does with respect to other contractual arrangements.” Restatement, Introductory Note to ch. 4, at 494 (2000); see also Taylor v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 175 Ariz. 148, 153, 854 P.2d 1134, 1139 (1993) (“When interpreting a contract ... it is fundamental that a court attempt to ‘ascertain and give effect to the intention of the parties at the time the contract was made if at all possible.’ ”) (quoting Polk v. Koerner, 111 Ariz. 493, 495, 533 P.2d 660, 662 (1975)). To this end, the Restatement recommends that
[a] servitude should be interpreted to give effect to the intention of the parties ascertained from the language used in the instrument, or the circumstances surrounding creation of the servitude, and to carry out the purpose for which it was created.
Restatement § 4.1(1). Although the Restatement rule “departs from the often expressed view that servitudes should be narrowly construed to favor the free use of land[,][i]t is based in the recognition that servitudes are widely used in modem land development and ordinarily play a valuable role in utilization of land resources.” Restatement § 4.1 emt. a.
B
¶ 14 We adopt the Restatement approach for interpreting restrictive covenants for three reasons. First, § 4.1 of the Restatement is consistent with long-standing Arizona case law holding that enforcing the intent of the parties is the “cardinal principle” in interpreting restrictive covenants. Biltmore Estates, 177 Ariz,. at 449, 868 P.2d at 1032; see also Whitaker, 74 Ariz. at 32, 243 P.2d at 463; O’Malley v. Cent. Methodist Church, 67 Ariz. 245, 247, 254-55, 194 P.2d 444, 446, 451 (1948) (holding that the intent of the parties, in light of the terms of the deeds and the surrounding circumstances, is central to determining both whether there is a general plan and the meaning of the restrictions contained in the deed); Ainsworth, 40 Ariz. at 74-75, 9 P.2d at 1008.
¶ 15 Second, although Arizona decisions have referred to the policy of construing restrictive covenants strictly and in favor of free use of land, these references have occurred exclusively in dicta. See, e.g., Duffy, 124 Ariz. at 417, 604 P.2d at 1128 (upholding the clear and unambiguous terms of the CC & Rs pertaining to the procedure to amend CC & Rs, even though stating that “when the language of a restrictive covenant is unclear, it should be construed in favor of the free use of land”); Burke, 207 Ariz. at 396-97, ¶¶ 13, 18, 87 P.3d at 84-85 (to same effect); Biltmore Estates, 177 Ariz. at 449-50, 868 P.2d at 1032-33 (to same effect); Carter v. Conroy, 25 Ariz.App. 434, 436, 544 P.2d 258, 260 (1976) (to same effect); Grossman, 21 Ariz. App. at 583, 585, 522 P.2d at 48, 50 (to same effect); R & R Realty Co., 4 Ariz.App. at 526-27, 422 P.2d at 157-58 (to same effect).
¶ 16 Third, the Restatement’s approach mirrors the contemporary judicial trend of recognizing the benefits of restrictive covenants. See, e.g., Lookout Mountain Paradise Hills Homeowners’ Ass’n v. Viewpoint Assocs., 867 P.2d 70, 75 (Colo.Ct.App.1993) (“Restrictive covenants must be construed as a whole and interpreted in view of their underlying purposes, giving effect to all provisions contained therein.”); Markey v. Wolf, 92 Md.App. 137, 607 A.2d 82, 88-93 (Ct. Spec.App.1992) (tracing evolution of rule from strict construction to reasonable construction to give effect to purpose of restrictive covenants); Griffin v. Tall Timbers Dev., Inc., 681 So.2d 546, 551 (Miss.1996) (“In construing covenants imposing restrictions and burdens on use of land, the language used will be read in its ordinary sense, and the restriction and burden will be constmed in light of the circumstances surrounding its formulation, with the idea of carrying out its object, purpose and intent, and the restrictions and burdens should be fairly and reasonably interpreted according to their apparent purpose.”) (citation omitted); Joslin v. Pine River Dev. Corp., 116 N.H. 814, 367 A.2d 599, 601 (1976) (“The former prejudice against restrictive covenants which led courts to strictly construe them is yielding to a gradual recognition that they are valuable land use planning devices.”) (citation omitted); Riss v. Angel, 131 Wash.2d 612, 934 P.2d 669, 676 (1997) (“ “While restrictive covenants were once disfavored by the courts, upholding the common law right of free use of privately owned land, modern courts have recognized the necessity of enforcing such restrictions to protect the public and private property owners from the increased pressures of urbanization.’ ”) (quoting Lakes at Mercer Island Homeowners Ass’n v. Witrak, 61 WashApp. 177, 810 P.2d 27, 28 (1991)); Wallace v. St. Clair, 147 W.Va. 377, 127 S.E.2d 742, 751 (1962) (“Covenants ... are designed to be for the benefit of every lot or parcel of land in the area affected by the restriction. Each lot or parcel is not merely burdened by a restriction but it is also clothed with the benefit which is enforceable against every other lot or parcel. The burdens and benefits are reciprocal. The reasons for the rule of strict construction do not obtain with full force in such a situation.”).
Ill
¶ 17 In this case, the court of appeals did not find the relevant portion of the restrictive covenants ambiguous. The court concluded, however, that because the covenants did not expressly prohibit RVs as single family residences, when La Paz County amended its zoning ordinance to permit the use of RVs as single family residences in a manufactured home subdivision, RVs became a permitted single family residence in the Airpark. Citing Duffy, the court also stated that “if there is any “wiggle’ in determining the intended meaning of a restrictive covenant, the outcome should favor free use of the property. When a set of covenants does not expressly restrict a particular use ... a restriction by implication will not advance the free use of property.” (Citation omitted.)
¶ 18 Applying the principles of the Restatement, we conclude that although the CC & Rs neither expressly prohibit nor permit RVs as residences, the plain intent and purpose of the restrictions was to limit residences in the Airpark to mobile or manufactured homes, constructed homes, or hangar-homes. We base this conclusion on the language used in the CC & Rs and the purpose for which the restrictions were created.
A
¶ 19 The language of the CC & Rs evidences an intent to limit the type of single family residences permitted in the Airpark in several ways. First, the strict controls the CC & Rs impose on the listed types of residences and the failure to specify any controls over any other type of residence lead to the conclusion that the parties to the CC & Rs intended to prohibit any type of residence not explicitly listed in the CC & Rs.
¶ 20 Section two of the CC & Rs includes a list of the permissible residential uses of the property. See Appendix. In this section, the CC & Rs list only three types of single family residences as a permitted use: mobile homes, constructed homes, and hangar-houses. For each type of residence listed, the CC & Rs provide specific and detailed limits to the size and appearance of the residence.
¶ 21 Mobile homes must be twenty feet or greater in width, have at least twelve hundred square feet of living space, be no more than one year old, and be on a permanent foundation. They must have exteriors of fir, exterior plywood, painted hardboard, lapsid-ing, or stucco. Their roofs must be tile, cedar, shake, or composition. Similarly, constructed homes must have at least twelve hundred square feet of living space and be compatible with the mobile homes and other structures in the subdivision. Further, all plans for constructed homes are subject to prior approval of the Architectural Committee. A hangar-house must include a hangar at least forty feet wide and thirty feet deep and contain eight hundred. square feet of living space, all under the same roof. Finally, hangar-houses are also subject to prior approval of the Architectural Committee.
¶22 The CC & Rs contain no catch-all language stating that other types of residences must conform to the appearance of the listed residences in the Airpark or that they are subject to approval by the Architectural Committee. Thus, if other types of residences were to be permitted under the CC & Rs, they could have an appearance and quality completely at odds with that required by the CC & Rs for mobile homes, constructed homes, and hangar residences. It is quite unlikely that the parties to the CC & Rs, having carefully specified how certain types of expressly permitted residences must be configured, would allow all other types of residences with no requirements whatsoever.
B
¶23 Second, the CC & Rs require that each of the three types of explicitly listed residences has a hangar. For example, mobile homes and constructed homes must have a hangar within one year of placement of the home on the lot. And hangars are integral parts of hangar-houses. If residences other than those described in the CC & Rs are permitted, apparently those homes need not include a hangar, as no other provision in the CC & Rs requires any non-specified type of residence have a hangar.
¶24 Thus, under the kind of literal construction of the CC & Rs adopted by the court of appeals, other types of residences, such as RVs, would not be required to have a hangar. Such an interpretation would be clearly at odds with the CC & Rs’ stated purpose: “[T]o develop the property as an aviation related residential and commercial center____” (Emphasis added.)
C
¶ 25 Third, the CC & Rs state that when they are consistent with, but are more restrictive than, applicable law, the CC & Rs will apply to the property. Thus the fact that the zoning ordinances — applicable law— have been amended to permit RVs to be used as a residence in a manufactured home subdivision does not determine the ultimate permitted use under the CC & Rs. Given our conclusion that the intent and purpose of the CC & Rs is to preclude the use of RVs and other non-listed “residences” in the Airpark, the amendment to the zoning law providing for less restrictions does not control.
D
¶26 An illustration in the Restatement explains the point:
Deed restrictions in Sandy Acres, a 200-lot subdivision originally developed with single-family homes, prohibit “apartment houses.” A developer who has acquired 10 contiguous lots plans to construct a 10-story condominium complex on the property. Condominiums were unknown in the jurisdiction when the restriction was created. The restriction should be interpreted to prohibit the proposed condominium complex because it presents density problems similar to those created by apartment houses. The servitude will not serve its purpose if interpreted literally.
Restatement § 4.1 cmt. i, illus. 5.
¶27 Here, the CC & Rs likewise only envisaged certain types of residences. Although section 2 does refer to possible amendments to the La Paz County zoning ordinances, that clause must be read in conjunction with the CC & Rs in their entirety. Specifically, section 2 also provides that “the use and improvement of the Property shall be in accordance with the covenants, conditions and restrictions herein set forth____” The subsequent restrictions plainly intend that only mobile homes, constructed homes, and hangar-houses be used as residences in the Airpark. None of the restrictions applicable to such residences could be reasonably applied to RVs as they are defined by the La Paz County zoning ordinance or regulation. See Zoning Ord. art. II, § 201.63; Zoning Reg. art. II, § II-2, p. II-9. Thus, the amendment to the zoning ordinances permitting RVs to be used as single family residences in a manufactured home subdivision does not serve the CC & Rs’ intent to have the Airpark development possess a particular appearance and quality.
¶28 Accordingly, the court of appeals erred in concluding that because “section 2 unambiguously omits any mention of RVs,” the amendment to the zoning ordinances left “the door open to the use of an RV” in the Airpark if it is used as a single family residence. Such a conclusion is contrary to the intent and the purpose of the CC & Rs.
IV
¶ 29 Citing A.R.S. § 12-341.01 (2003), Powell requests an award of attorneys’ fees. Because Powell presented the request for the first time in his supplemental brief, we deny the request. See ARCAP 21(c) (“If a petition ... for review is filed, a request for allowance of attorneys’ fees shall be made in the petition ----”); see also Wagenseller v. Scottsdale Mem’l Hasp., 147 Ariz. 370, 391, 710 P.2d 1025, 1046 (1985) (holding that “to be timely under Rule 21(c) on petitions for review by this court, the request for attorney’s fees must be made either in the petition for review, the response thereto or by separate written motion filed and served pri- or to oral argument”) (superseded by statute on other grounds).
V
¶ 30 For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the trial court’s judgment.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, ANDREW D. HURWITZ and W. SCOTT BALES, Justices.
Appendix
2. USE OF PROPERTY: Except as otherwise set forth herein, the use and improvement of the Property shall be in accordance with covenants, conditions and restrictions herein set forth, in accordance with applicable governmental law, including without limitation, the zoning ordinances of the County of La Paz, the Rules and Regulations of the FEDERAL AVIATION AUTHORITY as they may be amended or expanded from time to time.
A. Lots 1 through 77 shall be single family residential lots and subject to the following additional restrictions:
(1) No mobile home shall be less than 20 feet in width, no more than one year old at the time of placement on the lot.
(2) No mobile home shall be less than 1,200 square feet of living space.
(3) All mobile homes moved onto a lot in this subdivision shall be affixed on a permanent foundation.
(4) All mobile home units are required to have exteriors of fir, exterior plywood, painted hardboard (masonite) or lapsiding or stucco.
(5) All mobile homes are required to have tile, cedar, shake or composition roofs.
(6) Within one year after placement of mobile home on the lot the owner shall cause to be constructed on the lot a hangar 40 feet wide by 30 feet deep, to be approved by the Architectural Committee.
(7) Any constructed home placed on any lot within this subdivision shall have a minimum square footage of 1,200 and be compatible with the mobile himes [sic] or other structures in the subdivision. All plans are subject to prior approval of the Architectural Committee.
(8) Within one year after placement of constructed home on the lot the owner shall cause to be constructed on the lot a hangar 40 feet wide by 30 feet deep, to be approved by the Architectural COmmittee [sic].
(9) No hangar shall be less than 40 feet wide by 30 feet deep and are subject to prior approval of the Architectural Committee.
(10) A HANGAR-HOUSE shall be a minimum of 40 feet wide by 30 feet deep of hangar space and a minimum of 800 square feet of living space, all to be included under one roof, to be approved by the Architectural Committee.
B. Lots A1 through A6 and Lots B1 through Bll shall be Commercial lots and shall be subject to La Paz County Zoning Ordinances and all terms and conditions of this Declaration except those provisions out lined in numerical paragraph 2 A.(l) through (11) hereinabove.
. The relevant portion of the CC & Rs is set forth in the appendix to this opinion.
. An R-l-6 district is a low density residential district with lots having an area of 6,000 square feet and a minimum width of sixty feet. La Paz County, Ariz., The Zoning Ordinance Land Use Regulations art. VI, § 603.04(d) (Jan.1983).
. The zoning ordinances in effect when the Air-park was first established were titled "The Zoning Ordinance Land Use Regulations.” The current version is titled "Zoning Regulations.” We distinguish between the two by citing those in effect at the time of the adoption of the CC & Rs as "Zoning Ord.” and citing the current version as "Zoning Reg.”
. The current version of the La Paz County zoning regulations has a more expansive definition of a recreational vehicle. See Zoning Reg. art. II, § II-2, p. II — 9. Nevertheless, the thrust of the regulation still is aimed at "temporary living quarters.” Id.
. When the CC & Rs were adopted, the ordinances defined a mobile home as
A movable or portable dwelling unit over thirty-five (35) feet in length or over eight (8) feet wide, constructed to be towed on its own chassis and designed so as to be installed with or without a permanent foundation for human occupancy as a residence which may include one or more components that can be retracted for towing purposes and subsequently expanded for additional capacity, or two or more units separately towable but designed to be joined into one integral unit, as well as a portable dwelling composed of a single unit, except that it does not include recreational vehicle as defined herein. For the purposes of these regulations a mobile home is not considered to be a house.
Zoning Ord. art. II, § 201.54 (emphasis added).
. Section 20 of the CC & Rs states, in part, the following:
In the event any provision of this Declaration is consistent with, but more restrictive than, Applicable Law, such privision [sic] of this Declaration shall apply to the Property.
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OPINION
NORRIS, Judge.
¶ 1 Acacia Mortgage Corporation (“Acacia”) appeals from the superior court’s order granting what was in effect partial summary judgment in favor of Rodney Joffe. The superior court found Acacia had violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. § 227 (Supp.2005), by delivering unsolicited advertisements, in the form of text messages, to Joffe’s cellular telephone. Acacia argues the superior court should not have ruled against it because the TCPA does not apply to text messages, and if it does, the TCPA violated its rights under the First Amendment. For the following reasons, we affirm the superior court’s order and hold the TCPA applies to the text messages at issue here and does not violate Acacia’s First Amendment rights.
BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 On January 6, 2001, Joffe’s cellular telephone rang. When he answered it, he discovered he had received an unrequested text message solicitation from Acacia, a mortgage company. The message stated, “[C]arla, Greenspan lowered rates, 30 yr mortgage=6.875%. Still interested? 602-944-7200 or www.AcaciaNatio nal.com[J” On March 21, 2001, Joffe received a second text solicitation from Acacia on his cellular telephone. In similar form, this message stated, “Mr. Simms, Federal Reserve just cut rates by 1/2%. Still want new mortgage? 480-897-8944....”
II3 Acacia’s messages to Joffe were part of a marketing campaign to advertize low interest rates on home mortgages. Acacia programmed its computers to send the solicitations as electronic mail messages (“e-mail”) over the Internet to consumer e-mail addresses. In Joffe’s case, Acacia’s computers generated his cellular telephone number, “(602)XXX-XXXX,” plus his cellular telephone carrier’s domain name, “att.net,” and sent the solicitations to the e-mail address 602XXXXXXX@att.net.
¶ 4 When Acacia’s e-mails reached Joffe’s cellular carrier’s domain, his carrier automatically converted the text, that is, the content of the solicitations, into a format that could be transmitted to Joffe’s cellular telephone number. Acacia was thus able to take advantage of a service provided to Joffe by his cellular telephone carrier known as Short Message Service (“SMS”). As discussed in more detail below, SMS allows cellular telephone subscribers to send and receive text messages, known as SMS messages, on their cellular telephones.
¶ 5 On April 26, 2001, Joffe filed a complaint in justice court alleging Acacia had violated the TCPA’s prohibition on using “any automatic dialing system” to make “any call” to “any telephone number assigned to a ... cellular telephone service.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(l)(A)(iii). Acacia answered the complaint and filed a counterclaim requesting $55,000 in damages for “harassment.” Because the amount sought by Acacia in its counterclaim exceeded the jurisdiction of the justice court, the case was transferred to superior court. After the transfer, Acacia moved for summary judgment arguing the TCPA was inapplicable because it had simply sent Joffe e-mails. The superior court denied the motion:
By using an e-mail address composed primarily of a telephone number, [Acacia] initiated a telephone message to a telephone number assigned to a cellular telephone service. By this method, [Acacia] initiated a demand to make a connection to [Joffe’s] cellular telephone for the purpose of delivering a message by telephone encouraging the purchase of services or investment in a product offered by [Acacia]. By doing advertising in this manner, [Acacia] shifted some of the cost of its advertising to those receiving the telephone calls. The Court is of the opinion that such conduct violates the [TCPA].
¶6 Following the superior court’s ruling, Joffe moved to certify the case as a class action, alleging Acacia had sent the same promotional messages to 90,000 cellular telephones using the same method of transmission and form of e-mail address. Thereafter, Acacia filed a second “motion for summary judgment or, in the alternative, motion for reconsideration,” and argued the TCPA was directed at telephone calls that involved two-way voice communications and not at the sending of text messages. In response, Joffe filed a cross-motion for summary judgment and asked the superior court to grant summary judgment one way or the other on the issue of Acacia’s liability under the TCPA.
¶7 Relying on its prior ruling, the court granted what was in effect partial summary judgment in favor of Joffe and held Acacia liable under the TCPA. The court also rejected Acacia’s argument the TCPA violated its rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
¶ 8 Acacia timely appealed. As a consequence of the appeal, the superior court took no action on the motion to certify the class. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-2101(G) (2003).
DISCUSSION
¶ 9 Whether the TCPA applies to Acacia’s actions turns on the wording of 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(l)(A)(iii) and the resolution of two issues: first, whether Acacia called Joffe, and, second, if it did, whether Acacia used an “automatic dialing system” to do so. For the following reasons, we hold Acacia called Joffe using an automatic dialing system. Consequently, we agree with the superior court that Acacia violated the TCPA.
I. The TCPA
¶ 10 Enacted in 1991 as an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, the TCPA was designed to deal with various telemarketing practices arising out of the telemarketing industry’s use of sophisticated equipment, generically known as autodialers, to generate millions of automated telephone calls to residential and business telephone subscribers. S.Rep. No. 102-178, at 2-3 (1991), as reprinted in 1991 U.S.C.C.A.N.1968, 1969-71. Congress found consumers and businesses were especially frustrated by these calls, viewing them as a nuisance, an invasion of privacy and a threat to interstate commerce. Id. at 1; Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, Pub.L. No. 102-243, § 2,105 Stat. 2394 (1991) (current version at 47 U.S.C. § 227). Accordingly, as relevant here, the TCPA prohibits “any call” using “any automatic dialing telephone system” to “any telephone number assigned to a ... cellular telephone service.” Section 227(b)(l)(A)(iii) reads as follows:
It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States ...
(A) to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice—
(iii) to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.
¶ 11 Congress delegated authority to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to promulgate regulations implementing the TCPA’s requirements. 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(2). The FCC’s regulation implementing § 227(b)(l)(A)(iii) states:
No person ... may:(l) Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the pri- or express consent of the called party) using an automatic telephone dialing sys tem or an artificial or prerecorded voice ... (in) To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.
47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 (2004).
A. Acacia Called Joffe
¶ 12 The TCPA does not define the word “call.” Stating the word call should be given its ordinary meaning, Acacia argues the TCPA only regulates what it describes as ordinary telephone calls — calls that present the potential for two-way real time voice “intercommunication,” that is, “a connection that allows two people to speak to each other in ‘real time’ as though they were face-to-face.” Under Acacia’s description of a call, it did not call Joffe because, first, its text messages lacked the foregoing characteristics of a traditional telephone call, and second, it simply sent e-mail to an e-mail address.
¶ 13 To decide what Congress intended when it used the word call, we apply familiar rules of statutory construction. We begin with the language of the TCPA and interpret its words “as taking their ordinary, contemporary, common meaning.” Perrin v. United States, 444 U.S. 37, 42, 100 S.Ct. 311, 62 L.Ed.2d 199 (1979).
¶ 14 Viewed in isolation, the word call has many plain and ordinary meanings. See generally Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary Unabridged 317-18 (1993); Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 197 (1990); Random House College Dictionary 192 (1988). Call can be used as both a verb and a noun. As a verb “call” can mean “to command or request ... to come or be present.” Webster’s Third at 318; Random House College at 192. It can also mean to utter or cry out in a loud voice. Webster’s Third at 318; Random House College at 192. Call can also mean “to criticize adversely” as in “she called him on his vulgar language.” Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary 211 (1989). As a noun, “call” similarly has multiple meanings. For example, “the cry or vocal sound of a bird or other animal,” or “a short visit.” Random House Unabridged Dictionary 297 (2nd ed.1993).
¶ 15 Of course, call is also commonly associated with telephone use. In that context, when the word call is used as a verb, one if its most common meanings is to communicate or try to communicate with by telephone. E.g., Webster’s Third at 318 (“to communicate with or try to get into communication with a person by telephone”); Random House Unabridged at 297 (“to communicate or try to communicate with by telephone”); Random House Webster’s College Dictionary 194 (1991) (“to communicate or try to communicate with by telephone”). And when used as a noun in that context, it often refers to the act or instance of calling on the telephone. Random House Unabridged at 297; Webster’s Third at 318. In our view, given that the TCPA was designed to regulate the receipt of automated telephone calls, Congress used the word call to refer to an attempt to communicate by telephone. See United States v. Amer. Trucking Assoc., 310 U.S. 534, 542-43, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 84 L.Ed. 1345 (1940) (when words of a statute are susceptible to more than one meaning, courts are to interpret them in a matter which is reasonable given the subject matter of the statute and its purpose).
¶ 16 The TCPA does not limit the attempt to communicate by telephone to two-way real time voice “intercommunication,” as Acacia argues. As relevant here, the TCPA states it “shall be unlawful for any person ... to make any call ... using an automatic telephone dialing system ... to any telephone number assigned to a ... cellular telephone service____”47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(l)(A)(iii)(em-phasis added). It is the act of making a call, that is, of attempting to communicate to a cellular telephone number using certain equipment, that the TCPA prohibits. Whether the call had the potential for a two-way real time voice communication is irrelevant. Accordingly, we hold an attempt to communicate by telephone constitutes a call under the TCPA even if the attempted communication does not present the potential for two-way real time voice intercommunication.
¶ 17 Our conclusion that the word call is not restricted to the type of call described by Acacia is consistent with other language in the TCPA provisions at issue here. See King v. St. Vincent’s Hosp., 502 U.S. 215, 221, 112 S.Ct. 570, 116 L.Ed.2d 578 (1991) (“[T]he meaning of statutory language, plain or not, depends on context.”). In addition to prohibiting calls by automatic dialing systems, the TCPA also prohibits any call using any artificial or prerecorded voice to a telephone number assigned to a cellular telephone service, or to a residential telephone line. 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(l)(A)(iii),(b)(1)(B). A call made by an artificial or prerecorded voice has no potential for a real time voice intercommunication.
¶ 18 Our construction of the word call is also supported by the TCPA’s legislative history. The Senate Report accompanying the TCPA identified a litany of problems caused by the telemarketing industry’s aggressive use of machines to make automated calls. S.Rep. No. 102-178, at 2. Congress viewed these calls as more of a nuisance and a greater invasion of privacy than calls placed by “live” people because, for example, automated calls failed to “respond to human voice commands to disconnect” or to “allow the caller to feel the frustration of the called party____” Id. at 2, 4. Thus, one of the central purposes of the legislation was to protect the public from automated calls— calls made by machines without the potential for real time voice “intercommunication.”
¶ 19 The parties have not cited, nor have we been able to find, any case law interpreting the TCPA provisions at issue here. One court has, however, interpreted another TCPA provision as prohibiting telephone solicitations that did not involve the potential for a real time voice communication. See Irvine v. Akron Beacon Journal, 147 Ohio App.3d 428, 770 N.E.2d 1105 (2002). At issue in the Irvine case was 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(3) of the TCPA, which defines the term “telephone solicitation” as “the initiation of a telephone call or message for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of ... goods ... or services.” Id. at 1118, ¶ 71.
¶ 20 In Irvine, the defendant used an auto-dialer to generate a telemarketing solicitation list. Id. at 1109, ¶ 8. The autodialer called numbers from a preprogrammed list of disconnected telephone numbers and, depending on the type of sound signal received, recorded which of the telephone numbers had been reconnected and were working. Id. As soon as the autodialer detected the sound signal, it recorded the information and dropped the call. Id. The defendant asserted the calls were not telephone solicitations under the TCPA because no solicitors were on the calls when they were placed. Id. at 1118, ¶ 70. The court rejected the argument, stating there was “no language in the statute requiring that a conversation take place____” Id. at ¶ 72. The court explained:
This court is not persuaded by [defendant’s] argument that the calls it generated by the autodialer, with no intention of connecting them to a telephone solicitor, did not qualify as “telephone solicitations.” Whether a solicitor is at the other end of the phone or not, when the telephone rings, the intrusion into the home and the seizing of the telephone line is the same. In fact, an argument can be made that when the telephone rings and no one is on the other end, the recipient is even more disturbed and inconvenienced than if a sales person is at the other end of the line.
Id. at 1119, ¶ 74. We find the reasoning of Irvine persuasive. There is no language in the TCPA that restricts calls to only those that present the potential for a voice communication. The TCPA’s provisions at issue here apply to any type of call, voice or text.
¶ 21 For these reasons, we hold that a call subject to § 227(b)(l)(A)(iii) of the TCPA occurs when the caller has made an attempt to communicate by telephone, even if the attempt does not present the potential for a two-way voice intercommunication. A text message may constitute a call subject to the TCPA if the other requirements of the statute are met.
1122 We thus come to what is really at the heart of Acacia’s argument — even if the term call is not restricted to voice intercommunica-tions, it nevertheless did not call Joffe because it simply sent e-mail to an e-mail address — conduct the TCPA does not prohibit. Acacia’s description of what it did, however, is incomplete. To understand what Acacia actually did, which is subject to the TCPA, and what it says it did, requires a description of the technology involved in the transmission of its solicitations to Joffe, technology it adopted for its own commercial purposes.
¶23 SMS is a messaging system that allows cellular telephone subscribers to send and receive short messages (hence, the name) usually limited to 160 or so characters on their cellular telephones. An SMS message is a text message “directed to [a] wireless devic[e] through the use of the telephone number assigned to the device.” Notice of Proposed Rule Making in re Regulations Implementing the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and the TCPA 19 FCC Red. 5056, 2004 WL 547587 (2004) (“CAN-SPAM NPRM”). An SMS message may be transmitted phone-to-phone and, as Acacia did here, Internet-to-phone. Many cellular telephone carriers provide their customers with SMS. Implementation of Section 6002(B) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, 17 FCC Rcd. 12985, 13051-52, 2002 WL 1438562 (2002).
¶ 24 A phone-to-phone SMS message is, as its name suggests, a text message sent from one cellular telephone to another cellular telephone. The sender uses his cellular telephone to address a message to the recipient’s cellular telephone number, and types the message on the cellular telephone’s keypad. The text message then travels from the sending cellular telephone to the sender’s carrier and then through the appropriate cellular telephone switch to the recipient’s cellular telephone carrier who transfers it to the receiving cellular telephone. See generally Heng Xu, Foundations of SMS Commerce Success; see also CAN-SPAM NPRM, 19 FCC Red. at 5063, ¶ 15; 2003 TCPA Order, 18 FCC Red. at 14115 n. 606. The Internet is not involved when an SMS message is sent phone-to-phone. CAN-SPAM NPRM, 19 FCC Red. at 5063,1115.
¶ 25 The Internet becomes involved, however, when an SMS message is transmitted Internet-to-phone. Id. The text message is initially delivered over the Internet as an email directed to an e-mail address assigned by a cellular telephone carrier to a subscriber. Id. When the e-mail reaches the e-mail address, it is converted automatically by the carrier into a different format that can be transmitted to the customer’s cellular telephone. Id. To illustrate: assume cellular telephone carrier ‘Wireless” has assigned to its customer cellular telephone number (123)456-7890 and has also given its customer an e-mail address made up of the custom er’s cellular telephone number and Wireless’ domain name, wireless.com. An e-mail sent to that e-mail address, 1234567890@wire-less.com, will travel from the sender’s computer over the Internet to Wireless’ domain. After the e-mail arrives at Wireless’ domain, pursuant to the particular SMS protocol used by Wireless, Wireless will automatically convert the text of the message into an SMS message and forward the SMS message to its customer’s cellular telephone. Thus, Wireless actually receives the e-mail, and after processing it, directs the message to its customer’s cellular telephone as an SMS message. See generally T-Mobile comments in response to CAN-SPAM NPRM at 5-6 (April 30, 2004), http://gullfoss 2icc.gov/prod/ ecfs/retrieve.cg i?native_or_pdf=pdf & id_document=6516182561 (last visited Sept. 12, 2005); Verizon Wireless comments in response to CAN-SPAM NPRM at 2-3 (April 30, 2004), http://guUfoss 2ice.gov/prod/ eefs/retrieve.cgi? native_or_pdf=pdf & id_document=6516182468 (last visited Sept. 12, 2005).
¶ 26 Whether a text message is sent phone-to-phone or Internet-to-phone, the end result is the same. The recipient’s cellular telephone carrier forwards what is an SMS message to the recipient’s cellular telephone.
¶27 Here, Joffe received two SMS messages from Acacia. Acacia used its computers to generate the messages and direct them to an e-mail address provided to Joffe by his carrier that was made up of Joffe’s ten digit cellular telephone number and his cellular carrier’s domain name. When Acacia’s solicitations reached Joffe’s carrier, it converted them into SMS messages and delivered them to Joffe’s cellular telephone.
¶ 28 As is clear from the foregoing discussion, Acacia did not, as it contends, simply send e-mail to an e-mail address. Using its computers and the Internet, Acacia co-opted the SMS service offered by Joffe’s carrier to deliver SMS text messages to Joffe by telephone. As the trial court correctly observed, Acacia “initiated a demand to make a connection ... for the purpose of delivering a message by telephone encouraging the purchase of services or investment in a product offered” by it. In so doing, Acacia attempted to communicate by telephone. Under the TCPA, Acacia called Joffe.
B. Acacia Used an Automatic Dialing System to Call Joffe
¶29 Not every telemarketing call is subject to the TCPA. As relevant here, the TCPA is implicated only when the caller uses an automatic dialing system. The TCPA defines an “automatic telephone dialing system” as “equipment which has the capacity — (A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator, and (B) to dial such numbers.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1). Acacia does not dispute its computers randomly or sequentially produced telephone numbers. Instead, it argues it did not contact Joffe by using equipment that called or dialed his cellular telephone number. The focus of its argument is that its computers simply sent e-mail to an e-mail address.
¶30 But, as we have already discussed, Acacia did not simply send e-mail to an email address. Acacia took advantage of a service offered by Joffe’s carrier to reach Joffe’s cellular telephone. Even though Acacia used an attenuated method to dial a cellular telephone number, it nevertheless did so.
¶ 31 Although the technology Acacia used to deliver the SMS messages to Joffe’s cellular telephone may not have existed in 1991 when the TCPA was enacted, the wording of the statute is not limited to 1991 technology. Congress prohibited calls made using “any automatic telephone dialing system.” (Emphasis added.) Congress described such a system in functional terms: “equipment which has the capacity — (A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called ... and (B) to dial such numbers.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1). This wording demonstrates Congress anticipated the TCPA would be applied to advances in automatic telephone dialing technology.
¶ 32 We are not alone in reaching this conclusion. In exercising its rulemaking authority under the TCPA, the FCC has reached the same conclusion. For example, in 2002, the FCC invited comment on whether new autodialing technologies could be included within the restrictions on automatic telephone dialing systems. Notice of Proposed Rule Making in re Regulations Implementing the TCPA, 17 FCC Red. 17459, 17473-74, ¶¶ 23-24, 2002 WL 31084939 (2002)(“2002 TCPA Notice”). The FCC concluded the statutory definition of automatic dialing system included advances in technology: “[i]t is clear from the statutory language and the legislative history that Congress anticipated that the FCC, under its TCPA rulemaking authority, might need to consider changes in technologies.” 2003 TCPA Order, 18 FCC Red. at 14092, ¶ 132.
¶33 As we have explained, Acacia took advantage of Internet-to-phone SMS technology — technology that guaranteed its computer generated text messages would be delivered to Joffe’s cellular telephone. By pairing its computers with SMS technology, Acacia did what the TCPA prohibits. It used an automatic telephone dialing system to call a telephone number assigned to a cellular telephone.
II. The CAN-SPAM Act
¶ 34 Despite the wording of the TCPA, Acacia argues the language, legislative history, and FCC implementation of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (“CAN-SPAM Act”), passed 12 years after the TCPA, demonstrate Congress intended the CAN-SPAM Act and not the TCPA to apply to the messages it sent to Joffe’s cellular telephone. Pub.L. No. 108-187, 117 Stat. 2699 (2003), codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 7701-7713, 18 U.S.C. § 1037 and 28 U.S.C. § 994 (Supp.2005). We disagree.
¶ 35 The CAN-SPAM Act, which became effective on January 1, 2004, was enacted to protect consumers from unwanted commercial e-mail, known colloquially as “spam.” It imposes a number of restrictions on the sending of commercial e-mail, defined as messages that have as their primary purpose a commercial advertisement or a promotion of a commercial product or service. The CAN-SPAM Act also contains a section concerning unwanted messages to wireless devices, such as cellular telephones. Specifically, § 14(b), codified as 15 U.S.C. § 7712(b), directed the FCC to issue rules protecting consumers from “unwanted mobile service commercial messages,” or “MSCMs.” An MSCM is a “commercial electronic mail message that is transmitted directly to a wireless device that is utilized by a subscriber of commercial mobile service (as such term is defined in [47 U.S.C. § 382(d)(1) (2004) ][ ]) in connection with such service.” 15 U.S.C. § 7712(d). The legislative history of the CAN-SPAM Act reflects § 14 was inserted into the statute to address unwanted text messages sent to wireless devices including cellular telephones. Indeed, certain members of the House described this section of the CAN-SPAM Act as being the “first step” toward prohibiting such messages. 140 Cong. Rec. H12193, H12194, and H1298 (daily ed. Nov. 21, 2003)(statements of Reps. Markey, Dingell, Holt). Neither § 14 nor these comments, however, demonstrate Congress intended the CAN-SPAM Act, and only the CAN-SPAM Act, to apply to unsolicited text messages.
¶ 36 First, Congress contemplated the CAN-SPAM Act and the TCPA could have dual applicability. Section 14(a) specifically states “[n]othing in this Act shall be interpreted to preclude or override the applicability of [the TÓPA]....” 15 U.S.C. § 7712(a).
¶ 37 Second, although certain members of Congress may have thought the CAN-SPAM Act was the first legislation to attack unwanted text messages sent to wireless devices, their perceptions, stated years after the passage of the TCPA, fail to demonstrate the TCPA was inapplicable to the text messages Acacia delivered to Joffe. None of them mentioned the TCPA and none of them expressed any opinion about its applicability to text messages.
¶ 38 As the Supreme Court has repeatedly instructed, “the views of a subsequent Congress form a hazardous basis for inferring the intent of an earlier one.” E.g., United States v. Price, 361 U.S. 304, 313, 80 S.Ct. 326, 4 L.Ed.2d 334 (1960). This is especially true when the subsequent legislative history consists of statements made by individual legislators as to what they believe the prior legislation meant.
Such [subsequent] history does not bear strong indicia of reliability, however, because as time passes memories fade and a person’s perception of his earlier intention may change. Thus, even when it would otherwise be useful, subsequent legislative history will rarely override a reasonable interpretation of a statute that can be gleaned from its language and legislative history prior to its enactment.
Consumer Prod. Safety Comm’n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 118 n. 13,100 S.Ct. 2051, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980). This holds true even when a later Congress passes legislation to address actions it believes fall outside the scope of earlier legislation. United States v. Phila. Nat’l Bank, 374 U.S. 321, 349, 83 S.Ct. 1715, 10 L.Ed.2d 915 (1963).
¶ 39 We also do not agree, as Acacia suggests, that in adopting rules pursuant to § 14 of the CAN-SPAM Act, the FCC took the position the language of the TCPA is not broad enough to encompass Internet-to-phone SMS calls. As noted above, under the CAN-SPAM Act, an MSCM. is a commercial electronic mail message “transmitted directly to a wireless device.” After requesting and receiving public comment on how it should interpret and apply this language in its proposed rules, the FCC concluded MSCMs should include any commercial electronic mail message as long as it is sent or delivered to an address that includes a reference to an Internet domain. Rules and Regulations Implementing the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and the TCPA 19 FCC Red. 15927, 15933, ¶ 16, 2004 WL 1794922 (2004) (“CAN-SPAM Order”). Accordingly, the FCC has decided to include Internet-to-phone SMS messages as messages covered by § 14 of the CAN-SPAM Act because they are initially directed to an address that contains an Internet domain reference. Id.
¶ 40 Although the FCC has elected to regulate Internet-to-phone SMS under the CAN-SPAM Act, notably absent in the FCC’s order implementing the CAN-SPAM rules is any statement or suggestion that the language of the TCPA is not sufficiently broad to apply to Internet-to-phone SMS calls. Simply put, the FCC’s decision in 2004 to regulate prospectively Internet-to-phone SMS messages under the CAN-SPAM Act does not mean the TCPA is inapplicable to the Internet-to-phone SMS calls made by Acacia in 2001 to Joffe’s cellular telephone. Moreover, even if the FCC had taken that position, we would be left with the CAN-SPAM Act’s plain language that it shall not “be interpreted to preclude or override the applicability” of the TCPA. See Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 843, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984)(“If the intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.”); Bd. of Governors of the Fed. Reserve Sys. v. Dimension Fin. Corp., 474 U.S. 361, 368, 106 S.Ct. 681, 88 L.Ed.2d 691 (1986)(“The traditional deference courts pay to agency interpretation is not to be applied to alter the clearly expressed intent of Congress.”).
¶ 41 Application of the TCPA to Internet-to-phone SMS messages does not render the CAN-SPAM Act’s regulation of such messages superfluous. Section 7712 of the CAN-SPAM Act is broader than the TCPA. The CAN-SPAM Act applies to all uninvited MSCMs. In contrast, the TCPA applies to only those calls made using an automated dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice.
¶ 42 We conclude, therefore, that nothing in the wording, legislative history or FCC implementation of the CAN-SPAM Act demonstrates Congress intended only the CAN-SPAM Act, and not the TCPA, to apply to the SMS text message calls Acacia made to Joffe.
III. The TCPA Does Not Violate the First Amendment
¶ 43 Acacia finally argues the TCPA violates its rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. We have a duty, when possible, to read statutes in a manner that avoids constitutional invalidation. Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678, 689, 121 S.Ct. 2491, 150 L.Ed.2d 653 (2001). The parties agree the TCPA creates a content-neutral time, place, and manner restriction on speech. Such a restriction survives a First Amendment challenge if it serves “a significant governmental interest,” is “narrowly tailored” to serve that interest, and leaves “open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.” Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 791, 109 S.Ct. 2746, 105 L.Ed.2d 661 (1989)(quoting Clark v. Cmty. for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U.S. 288, 293, 104 S.Ct. 3065, 82 L.Ed.2d 221 (1984)). Applying these standards, we hold the TCPA does not violate Acacia’s First Amendment rights.
¶ 44 The thrust of Acacia’s argument is Congress did not articulate any applicable governmental interest because it could not have anticipated SMS messaging technology and thus did not actually consider whether the TCPA could apply to Internet-to-phone SMS. But, as we have discussed, Congress intended the TCPA to apply to advances in automatic telephone dialing technology and to the use of that technology to disrupt the privacy of residential (and business)telephone subscribers.
¶45 Protecting the privacy of the home from unwarranted and unrequested intrusions constitutes a significant governmental interest. E.g., Frisby v. Schultz, 487 U.S. 474, 484, 108 S.Ct. 2495, 101 L.Ed.2d 420 (1988) (municipal ordinance construed as banning targeted picketing in front of a particular residence serves significant governmental interest of protecting residential privacy). In enacting the TCPA, Congress recognized exactly that:
The Supreme Court has recognized the legitimacy of reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on speech when the restrictions are not based on the content of the message being conveyed. In 1948, the Court upheld an ordinance banning sound trucks. Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U.S. 77, 69 S.Ct. 448, 93 L.Ed. 513 (1948). The Supreme Court also has recognized that “in the privacy of the home ... the individual’s right to be left alone plainly outweighs the First Amendment rights of an intruder.” FCC v. Pacifica Found., 438 U.S. 726, 748, 98 S.Ct. 3026, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978). The case upheld an FCC ruling that prohibited the daytime broadcast of indecent language.
S.Rep. No. 102-178, at 4, 1991 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1968, at 1971. Cellular telephones have permeated American life, and have replaced traditional “land line” telephones in many homes and businesses. People keep their cellular phones on their person at nearly all times: in pockets, purses, and attached to belts. Unlike other modes of communication, the telephone commands our instant attention. While junk mail may be thrown away unopened, and television commercials turned off, the telephone demands to be answered. In protecting the privacy of cellular telephone subscribers from automated calls, the TCPA serves a significant governmental interest.
¶ 46 Second, the TCPA is narrowly tailored to serve the governmental interest identified by Congress. In the realm of content-neutral speech restrictions, a statute is narrowly tailored “so long as the ... regulation promotes a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation.” Ward, 491 U.S. at 799, 109 S.Ct. 2746. “So long as the means chosen are not substantially broader than necessary to achieve the government’s interest ... the regulation will not be invalid simply because a court concludes that the government’s interest could be adequately served by some less-speech-restricted alternative.” Id. at 800, 109 S.Ct. 2746. Through the TCPA, Congress sought to address consumer concerns about telephone solicitations, and in particular, automated calls that burden consumers. By prohibiting only those calls from automatic dialing systems, Congress narrowly tailored the TCPA to achieve this goal in a way not substantially broader than necessary.
¶ 47 Finally, Congress left open many alternative modes of communicating with consumers. For example, the TCPA restricts only calls using automatic telephone dialing systems or a prerecorded voice. Thus, Acacia could have sent its messages by entering the numbers it wished to reach by hand. Other examples include live solicitation calls, and autodialed calls consumers consent to receiving. See Moser v. FCC, 46 F.3d 970, 975 (9th Cir.1995).
¶ 48 Therefore, application of the TCPA’s restriction on autodialed calls to cellular telephones, including the Internet-to-phone SMS calls at issue here, is narrowly tailored to serve the significant and content-neutral gov ernmental interest of protecting consumer privacy from unsolicited telemarketing calls. As applied to Acacia’s conduct, the TCPA did not violate its rights under the First Amendment.
CONCLUSION
¶ 49 By using an automatic dialing system to make Internet-to-phone SMS calls to Joffe’s cellular telephone, Acacia violated § 227(b)(l)(A)(iii) of the TCPA. Because the TCPA is a content-neutral regulation narrowly tailored by Congress to further a significant governmental interest, the TCPA does not violate Acacia’s First Amendment rights. Accordingly, we affirm the superior court’s order granting Joffe partial summary judgment.
CONCURRING: JEFFERSON L. LANKFORD and JOHN C. GEMMILL, Judges.
. We cite to the current version of the applicable statutes if no revisions material to the decision have occurred.
. For privacy reasons, we have deleted the last seven digits of Joffe's cellular telephone number.
. On April 15, 2003, relying on our opinion in Mezey v. Fioramonti, 204 Ariz. 599, 65 P.3d 980 (App.2003), overruled by Bilke v. State, 206 Ariz. 462, 80 P.3d 269 (2003), this court dismissed Acacia's appeal as an improper interlocutory appeal. On February 13, 2004, the Arizona Supreme Court remanded the case to this court for reconsideration in light of Bilke, 206 Ariz. at 465, ¶ 12, 80 P.3d at 272 (A.R.S. § 12-2101(G) allows appeals from interlocutory judgments when only remaining issue determines amount of recovery). We determined the superior court’s order granting partial summary judgment complied with the requirements set out in Bilke for an interlocutory appeal. Accordingly, on August 3, 2004, we vacated our April 15, 2003 order and scheduled briefing.
. We review a superior court's decision granting summary judgment de novo. Great Am. Mortgage v. Statewide Ins. Co., 189 Ariz. 123, 125, 938 P.2d 1124, 1126 (App.1997). When, as here, the parties do not dispute the material facts, we must determine whether the trial court correctly applied the law to those facts. Walgreen Ariz. Drug Co. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Rev., 209 Ariz. 71, 72, ¶ 6, 97 P.3d 896, 897 (App.2004). Matters of statutory interpretation are issues of law we review de novo. Id.
. We apply the same rules of statutory construction in determining the meaning of state statutes. See Scottsdale Healthcare, Inc. v. Ariz. Health Care Cost Containment Sys. Admin., 206 Ariz. 1, 5, ¶ 10, 75 P.3d 91, 95 (2003) (citing Zamora v. Reinstein, 185 Ariz. 272, 275, 915 P.2d 1227, 1230 (1996))(“[W]e first look to the language of the statute itself. Our chief goal is to ascertain and give effect to the legislative intent.”); Calik v. Kongable, 195 Ariz. 496, 498, ¶ 10, 990 P.2d 1055, 1057 (1999) (if statute is unambiguous we apply language without using other means of statutory construction); Logan v. Forever Living Prods. Int’l, Inc., 203 Ariz. 191, 194, ¶ 10, 52 P.3d 760, 763 (2002)(when "plain language” analysis is insufficient to determine legislative intent we look to statute's policy or evil it was designed to address).
. We note that in 2003, the FCC issued an order specifically stating the TCPA’s prohibition on au-todialed calls "encompasses both voice calls and text calls to wireless numbers including, for example short message service (SMS) calls....” Rules and Regulations Implementing the TPCA, Report and Order, 18 FCC Red. 14014, 14115, ¶ 165, 2003 WL 21517853 (2003)("2003 TCPA Order”).
. Throughout this opinion we have cited to notices and orders issued by the FCC concerning the TCPA and the CAN-SPAM Act that describe the technology involved in this case. The FCC’s description of SMS, phone-to-phone SMS, and Intemet-to-phone SMS is consistent with how this technology has been described in the marketplace. See generally Heng Xu, et al., Foundations of SMS Commerce Success: Lessons from SMS Messaging and Co-opetition, §§ 2.1, 2.2.3, http://www.hi css. hawaii.edu/HICSS36 /HICSS-papers/DTM CC06.pdf (last visited Sept. 12, 2005); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, SMS and MMS, http://ewh.ieee .org/rlO/bombay/ news6/ SMSAndMMS/SMS.htm (last visited Sept. 12, 2005); Telemetrix Inc., GSM Network Access for your messaging needs, http://www.tlxt. net/developer.html (last visited Sept. 12, 2005); Cingular, Text Messaging FAQs, http://www.cingular. com/media/ textjmessagingJaqs (last visited Sept. 12, 2005); Verizon Wireless, How to Use Guide: TXT messaging, http://dts.vzw. com/pdf/HowTo_TXTmessaging.pdf (last visited Sept. 12, 2005).
. In an interrogatory answer, Joffe described the Internet-to-phone delivery system as follows:
The perception that a cellular phone can receive email is accomplished by the cellular phone’s service provider performing an automated message translation. Stated simply, the content of the e-mail message is converted into a new message and format that the cellular telephone can understand, therefore the content of the message is delivered, but it can in no way be considered or construed as email. The provider's message center then directs the newly created message back out to the switch in the appropriate cell and the message is transmitted to the cellular telephone with the same conventions employed for all other cellular telephone communication.
Acacia did not dispute Joffe’s description of Internet-to-phone SMS and, indeed, relied on his description of it in moving for partial summary judgment.
. Although an Internet-to-phone SMS message includes an Internet domain name at the point the sender transmits it over the Internet, the domain name is not used when the message is delivered by the carrier to its customer. This is because, once the message reaches the carrier, it converts the message into an SMS message (without the Internet domain) for forwarding to the customer's cellular telephone. T-Mobile comments in response to CAN-SPAM NPRM at 6.
. The TCPA does not define the word dial. Dial has many plain and ordinary meanings. E.g., Webster’s Ninth Collegiate at 349; Random House College at 366. For example, “a device (as a disk) that may be operated to make electrical connections or to regulate the operation of a machine and that usufally] has guiding marks around its border,” Webster’s Ninth at 349, or “a rotatable plate or disk,” Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary 397 (1989). In the context of the phrase "to dial such numbers” the words "to dial” mean to "operate” or “manipulate” a device "in order” to make or establish a telephone call or connection. Webster's Ninth at 349; Random House College at 366; Webster’s Third at 622; The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 660 (1993).
. In seeking such comment, the FCC recognized "that in the last decade new technologies have emerged to assist telemarketers in dialing the telephone numbers of potential customers. More sophisticated dialing systems, such as predictive dialers and other electronic hardware and software containing databases of telephone numbers, are now widely used by telemarketers to increase productivity and lower costs." 2002 TCPA Notice, 17 FCC Red. at 17474, ¶ 24.
. 47 U.S.C. § 332(d)(1) defines "commercial mobile service” as "any mobile service that is provided for profit and makes interconnected service available (A) to the public or (B) to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public, as specified by regulation by the [FCC].” The FCC interprets commercial mobile service to include wireless carriers. CAN-SPAM NPRM, 19 FCC Red. at 5016-62, ¶ 9.
. In requesting comment the FCC stated: SMS messages are text messages directed to wireless devices through the use of the telephone number assigned to the device. When SMS messages are sent between wireless devices, the messages generally do not traverse the Internet and therefore do not include a reference to an Internet domain. However, a message initially may be sent through the Internet as an electric mail message, and then converted by the service provider into an SMS message associated with a telephone number. We seek comment on whether the definition of an MSCM should include messages using such technology and similar methods, and specifically whether it should include either or both of these types of SMS messages described above. We note here that the TCPA and the Commission rules prohibit calls using autodial-ers to send certain voice calls and text calls, including SMS messages, to wireless numbers.
CAN-SPAM NPRM, 19 FCC Red. at 5063-64, ¶ 15 (footnotes omitted).
. In its order implementing rules pursuant to § 14, the FCC stated:
We conclude that the definition of MSCM under the CAN-SPAM Act includes any commercial electronic mail message as long as the address to which it is sent or transmitted includes a reference to the Internet and is for a wireless device as discussed above. This holds true regardless of the format of the message, such as audio messages. We believe this interpretation best applies the statutory language to the evolving technology for delivering such messages. Therefore, messages sent using Internet-to-phone SMS technology are among messages covered by section 14 when they include an Internet reference in the address to which the message is sent or delivered.
CAN-SPAM Order, 19 FCC Red. at 15933-34, ¶ 16. Because phone-to-phone SMS messages do not reference Internet domains, they are not "captured by section 14____” Id. at ¶ 17. Such calls are subject to the TCPA. See supra note 6.
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OPINION
ESPINOSA, J.
¶ 1 Appellant Elyse Kaufinann appeals from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of appellee M & S Unlimited, L.L.C. on its cross-motion for summary judgment and the denial of Kaufmann’s motion for summary judgment in her cause of action for fraudulent transfer of real property. Kaufinann contends the trial court erred by determining that Blalak v. Mid Valley Transportation, Inc., 175 Ariz. 538, 858 P.2d 683 (App.1993), was controlling authority and trumped the Arizona Fraudulent Transfer Act. We agree and therefore reverse.
Factual Background
¶ 2 In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we view the facts in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment. Hall v. World Sav. & Loan Ass’n, 189 Ariz. 495, 943 P.2d 855 (App.1997). Between March and July of 2003, Kaufmann lent or advanced a total of $195,000 to James Hessler and GWH Unlimited, L.L.C. Kauf-mann received two partially executed promissory notes, one in the amount of $25,000 signed by James Hessler and one in the amount of $100,000 signed by Gerald Hessler on his own behalf and purportedly under a power of attorney for Moshe Gedalia, the sole member of M & S Unlimited. Kauf-mann also received two partially executed deeds of trust covering two residential lots in Pima County. At that time, GWH held legal title to three other lots located in Pima County, and those lots are the subject of Kauf-mann’s fraudulent transfer claim.
¶ 3 In August 2003, Kaufmann demanded original promissory notes, recordable deeds of trust, and a construction contract as the security agreed upon when she had advanced the funds. On October 14, 2003, Kaufinann and Gedalia met to discuss the loan transaction situation. The next day, Gerald Hessler signed deeds transferring the three lots from GWH to M & S. The deeds were recorded on October 17. At the time it transferred the lots, GWH apparently received nothing for them. Moreover, at that time, GWH had no income and no assets other than the three lots in its name.
¶ 4 Kaufinann brought this action against M & S in June 2004, seeking to recover her funds under Arizona’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, A.R.S. §§ 44-1001 through 44-1010, (the Act), alleging she was entitled to relief under § 44-1007. Both Kaufinann and M & S filed motions for summary judgment. M & S, the transferee of the three lots that had been GWH’s only assets, asserted that M & S had provided “all of the monies to purchase the lots.” It conceded that GWH had held legal title to the property until the transfer, but argued that, under Blalak, Kaufmann could not recover because M & S had always been the equitable owner of the property and the transfer of legal title did not fall under the Act. The trial court “reluctantly” granted summary judgment in favor of M & S and denied Kaufinann’s motion, citing Blalak and stating: “The Court feels its hands are tied.” This appeal followed the trial court’s entry of judgment in favor of M & S pursuant to Rules 54(b) and 56, Ariz. R. Civ. P., 16 AR.S., Pt. 2.
Discussion
¶ 5 We review a grant of summary judgment de novo and will reverse if the trial court’s granting of M & S’s cross-motion was erroneous. See Hall. The denial of a motion for summary judgment is generally not ap-pealable, but once we have jurisdiction over an order granting summary judgment, we may consider the merits of an order denying summary judgment and direct entry of summary judgment if there are no issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Bothell v. Two Point Acres, Inc., 192 Ariz. 313, 965 P.2d 47 (App.1998).
¶ 6 We initially note that this is a fraudulent transfer action under the Act, not an action under Arizona’s conveyance statutes, A.R.S. §§ 33-401 through 33-513. In Blalak, after a third party had purchased real property with Blalak’s funds, a judgment creditor of the third party placed a lien on the property. Blalak sought to quiet title to the property in himself and to have the lien declared invalid on the ground that he had always been the equitable owner of the property notwithstanding § 33-412(A), which provides that unrecorded conveyances of property are void as to creditors, and § 33-404, which requires the disclosure of beneficiaries of property held in trust. Division One of this court granted Blalak the relief he sought, holding that “A.R.S. § 33-412(A) does not, standing alone, affect the validity of unrecorded equitable liens as against creditors ... without notice of the liens.” 175 Ariz. at 541, 858 P.2d at 686. The Blalak court further found that the only relief provided by § 33-404 is avoidance of the transaction by the grantor. We do not find Blalak controlling here for two reasons.
¶ 7 First, we reject M & S’s argument that GWH never owned the lots and therefore could not have transferred any interest in them because it had nothing to convey in view of Blalak’s interpretation of § 33-404(F). To the extent Blalak suggests that legal title is not an interest in property, we disagree. See Dunlap Investors Ltd. v. Hogan, 133 Ariz. 130, 132, 650 P.2d 432, 434 (1982) (owner of equitable title “not the legal owner of the property because its interest was not of record” but the “hold[er of[ all other rights”); Boone v. Grier, 142 Ariz. 178, 182, 688 P.2d 1070, 1074 (App.1984) (“There is a rebuttable presumption that record title accurately reflects the ownership interest in real property.”); see also Wayt v. Wayt, 123 Ariz. 444, 446, 600 P.2d 748, 750 (1979) (“A contract for the sale of realty does not effect a transfer of legal title. The vendor remains the owner of the legal estate, while the vend-ee holds an equitable interest in the property.”); Smith v. Tang, 100 Ariz. 196, 204, 412 P.2d 697, 703 (1966) (“The mutual interest the joint tenants retain after a contract to sell is legal title____Prior to entering the agreement to sell ..., the joint tenants own[ ] legal and equitable title to the land.”); Hoyle v. Dickinson, 155 Ariz. 277, 280, 746 P.2d 18, 21 (App.1987) (pursuant to a land contract, legal title remains in vendor until payment in full is made, but plaintiffs had “transferred legal title to the trustee and did not retain any interest in the property”).
¶8 Second, Blalak involved only the conveyance and deed statutes in Title 33 and did not address the law of fraudulent transfers. We reject M & S’s assertion that the legislature intended the expansive reach of the Act to be circumscribed by an arguably anomalous interpretation of Title 33. See Blalak (Garbarino, J., dissenting). Moreover, adopting the Blalak majority’s reasoning in this fraudulent transfer action would preclude Kaufmann from obtaining relief otherwise available under the Act.
¶ 9 Section 44-1005 provides that a transfer is “fraudulent as to a creditor whose claim arose before the transfer was made ... if the debtor made the transfer ... without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange ... and the debtor was insolvent at that time or the debtor became insolvent as a result of the transfer.” “Claim” is defined as “a right to payment, whether or not the right is reduced to judgment, liquidated, unliqui-dated, fixed, contingent, matured, unma-tured, disputed, undisputed, legal, equitable, secured or unsecured.” § 44-1001(2). The same remedies are available to creditors whether the claim has been reduced to a judgment or not. § 44-1007; Moore v. Browning, 203 Ariz. 102, 50 P.3d 852 (App. 2002). Kaufmann’s right to payment arose at the earliest when she received partially executed notes and security interests in two lots in exchange for her funds, and at the latest when she was notified that the loans would not be repaid as agreed. In any event, Kaufmann had a claim for purposes of the Act before this transfer occurred.
¶ 10 M & S argues that the transfer at issue is not covered by the Act because it merely consolidated the legal title of the property and its equitable ownership. We disagree because it is clear the transfer of legal title to real property is a “transfer” within the Act’s broad provisions. “It is not the transaction itself, but ratherf,] the purpose behind the transaction, that brings a transfer under the scrutiny of A.R.S. § 44-1004.” State ex rel. Indus. Comm’n v. Wright, 202 Ariz. 255, ¶ 20, 43 P.3d 203, 207 (App.2002); see also Backman v. Backman, 127 Ariz. 414, 418, 621 P.2d 920, 924 (App. 1980) (“[I]t is the relationship of debtor-creditor and the debtor’s ... intent to defraud creditors that makes the act ... operable.”).
¶ 11 Under the Act, a transfer is “every mode, direct or indirect, absolute or conditional, voluntary or involuntary, of disposing of or parting with an asset or an interest in an asset and includes payment of money, release, lease and creation of a lien or other encumbrance.” § 44-1001(9) (emphases added). “This broad statutory definition clearly includes any transaction in which a property interest was relinquished.” Wright, 202 Ariz. 255, f 8, 43 P.3d at 205. An asset is the property of a debtor to the extent it is not encumbered by. a valid lien. § 44 — 1001(l)(a). For purposes of the Act, “[l]ien” is defined as “a charge against or an interest in property to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation and includes a security interest created by agreement, a judicial lien ..., a common law lien or a statutory lien.” § 44-1001(6). And the Act specifically provides that a transfer to an “insider” is a factor to be considered in determining fraudulent intent. § 44-1004(B)(l).
¶ 12 In Premier Financial Services v. Citibank, 185 Ariz. 80, 912 P.2d 1309 (App.1995), Division One of this court found that a transfer of funds from the owners of a certificate of deposit to their daughter was fraudulent despite the daughter’s testimony that she previously had given the funds to her parents and they were merely returning the money. The court concluded that the timing of that transfer during litigation against the parents and other circumstances surrounding the transfer indicated the parties’ intent was to defraud creditors. In a similar vein, the court noted in Wright that “[a]n agreement returning a property right previously acquired is no less a transfer than the original agreement through which that right was acquired.” 202 Ariz. 255, ¶ 12, 43 P.3d at 206. Thus, the modification of a marital agreement to convert the husband’s earnings from separate property into community property was held to be a transfer within the Act because the change had been made to protect those earnings from potential garnishment. Similarly, in Gerow v. Covill, 192 Ariz. 9, 960 P.2d 55 (App.1998), the transfer of goodwill accrued in a husband’s separate business to a business owned by his sister-in-law was held to be a fraudulent conveyance because the intent was to prevent the wife from claiming her share of the community asset. See also Hullett v. Cousin, 204 Ariz. 292, ¶ 31, 63 P.3d 1029, 1036 (2003) (“[A] distribution of assets previously advanced by ... limited partners, for example capital contributions, may be a return of value ..., but it is not a transfer for value.”).
¶ 13 We note that, in an action pursuant to § 44-1005, proof of intent does not appear to be required; instead, the plaintiff must merely prove the circumstances listed in the statute. Id. ¶ 13 (“No proof of intent is required to maintain a fraudulent transfer action under A.R.S. section 44 — 1005.”). Under § 44-1006(l)(a), real property is transferred when “a good faith purchaser of the asset from the debtor ... cannot acquire an interest in the asset that is superior to the interest of the transferee.” In this case, that occurred on October 17, when the transfer deeds between GWH and M & S were recorded. See § 33-412. However, under § 44-1003(0), that transfer was not “made for present value” because the exchange between GWH and M & S was not “intended by them to be contemporaneous and [was not] in fact substantially contemporaneous.”
¶ 14 The record reflects that legal title to the lots at issue was transferred to M & S following Kaufmann’s meeting with Gedalia about her loans. Gerald Hessler, the principal of GWH, admitted in his deposition that the company had no other assets at the time of the transfer, which resulted in GWH becoming insolvent. See § 44-1002. Gerald Hessler also admitted he had received no value from M & S in exchange for the transfer. Accordingly, this transaction appears to include all of the elements of a fraudulent transfer under § 44-1005. Although M & S argues that GWH transferred the property only to consolidate legal and equitable ownership, our supreme court has stated that “[no] ... good faith defense [is] available to a debtor in a fraudulent transfer action brought under [§ 44-1005].” Hullett, 204 Ariz. 292, ¶ 13, 63 P.3d at 1032.
Disposition
¶ 15 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of M & S and remand the case for further proceedings.
PELANDER, C.J., and SOTO, J. , concurring.
. Although it is not clear in the record, the parties agreed at oral argument that neither of these residential lots was conveyed in the transfer at issue here.
. Kaufmann previously had sued the Hesslers and GWH in November 2003. GWH and Gerald Hessler stipulated to entry of judgment against them in February 2004 in the amount of $170,000 plus interest.
. Although M & S asserts in its brief that GWH "[a]t no time ... ma[d]e any payments toward purchase of the lots,” the record contains copies of multiple checks written by GWH or the Hes-slers to LandAmerica Account Servicing and Lawyers Title with corresponding copies of payment coupons for the lots at issue. The record also contains copies of checks to GWH from M & S, apparently written as reimbursement for those payments.
. Section 33-412, A.R.S., specifically provides:
A. All bargains, sales and other conveyances whatever of lands, tenements and heredita-ments, whether made for passing an estate of freehold or inheritance or an estate for a term of years, and deeds of settlement upon marriage, whether of land, money or other personal property, and deeds of trust and mortgages of whatever kind, shall be void as to creditors and subsequent purchasers for valuable consideration without notice, unless they are acknowledged and recorded in the office of the county recorder as required by law. B. Unrecorded instruments, as between the parties and their heirs, and as to all subsequent purchasers with notice thereof, or without valuable consideration, shall be valid and binding.
. Section 33-404, A.R.S., generally provides that all deeds or conveyances shall identify any beneficiaries for whom the grantee holds title, and that a failure to so identify shall render the conveyance voidable by the other party within two years of recording. Subsection F of the statute states:
If real property or any interest in real property, or any mortgage, deed of trust or other lien on real property, is acquired for value, the title, interest, mortgage, deed of trust or other lien is not impaired or in any way adversely affected by reason of the failure of any person to comply with the requirements of this section.
. Although the Blalak court’s conclusions may be questionable, see Blalak v. Mid Valley Transportation, Inc., 175 Ariz. 538, 858 P.2d 683 (App.1993) (Garbarino, J., dissenting), we need not, despite the parties’ repeated urging, address the soundness of Blalak's reasoning or result in view of our determination that the statutes in Title 33, most notably § 33-404, are not controlling here.
. Kaufmann alleged in her complaint that GWH had made this representation to her, and M & S has not disputed it.
. It is unclear from the record whether Gedalia may also be a debtor of Kaufmann. The record contains a promissory note and deed of trust Gerald Hessler signed under a purported power of attorney for Gedalia. In any event, we need not address that issue. Nor do we address Kauf-mann’s argument that the "clean hands doctrine" applies to defeat M & S’s claim of equitable ownership.
. In her briefs, Kaufmann asked us to both reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of M & S and remand to the trial court with instructions to enter summary judgment in her favor. But at oral argument, both parties acknowledged there exist issues of fact, precluding summary judgment. Therefore, we do not address the ultimate merit of the fraudulent trans fer claim. See Bothell v. Two Point Acres, Inc., 192 Ariz. 313, 965 P.2d 47 (App.1998).
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OPINION
IRVINE, Judge.
¶ 1 Appellants seek to overturn the trial court’s judgment that Pete Tanguma Saenz (“Saenz”) did not violate Arizona’s Adult Protective Services Act, Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) sections 46^51 through 46-457 (2005) (the “APSA”), in obtaining money and title to a parcel of property from Gertrude Zlatos and quieting title to the property in favor of Appellees, C. Bingham Davis and Robin Muller Davis (“the Davises”). Because we find that Mrs. Zlatos was a vulnerable adult under the APSA and that Saenz, as the Davises’ predecessor in interest, did not act for her benefit to the same extent as a trustee, we reverse.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2 Mr. and Mrs. Zlatos were born in 1908 and 1913, respectively, and were married in 1932. By 1980, the Zlatoses had relocated to Arizona. The couple’s daughter, Myma Cagney, resides in Houston, Texas.
¶ 3 During their marriage, Mr. Zlatos handled all of the couple’s finances. On July 11, 1991, the Zlatoses created a living trust naming themselves as trustees and authorizing either, acting alone, to transfer real or personal property of the trust. The Zlatoses then transferred title of some real property they owned in Sun City (the “Property”) to the trust.
¶4 In 1993 Mr. Zlatos’s health began to deteriorate. At about this time, Saenz started performing cleaning services for the couple. Over the years, Saenz began performing additional tasks, such as errands, cooking, and transportation services, and by 1999 was employed full-time for the Zlatoses. Saenz also performed some tasks for Mr. Zlatos’s sister. In December 1999, Mr. Zlatos was hospitalized and in January 2000 he was placed in a lockdown Alzheimer’s wing of Grandview Health Center (“Grandview”).
¶ 5 The Zlatoses’ son-in-law, Dale Cagney, testified that he had discovered several years before Mr. Zlatos was hospitalized that the Zlatoses’ tax returns had not been filed for several years. The Cagneys acted to bring the couple’s taxes up to date, filing the taxes and paying the penalties, fines, and interest. After this, in approximately 1998, the Cag-neys took over the Zlatoses’ bills, cancelled many of their credit cards, had their mail forwarded to the Cagneys’ home in Houston, and arranged for many of their utilities to be paid by direct withdrawal.
¶ 6 On a number of occasions in the late 1990s, Mr. Zlatos became lost and Saenz had to find him. During 1999 Mrs. Zlatos also fell several times. On one occasion Saenz was not at work but became concerned when the Zlatoses did not answer the telephone. When he stopped at the house he found Mrs. Zlatos had fallen in the bedroom four to five hours earlier and had not been able to get up.
¶7 In December 1999, following Mr. Zla-tos’s hospitalization, Dale Cagney told Saenz that Mrs. Zlatos needed two caretakers to provide companionship and care twelve hours a day. Saenz recruited the help of his daughter and the two provided Mrs, Zlatos with care for more than twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Saenz was paid $500 dollars a week and his daughter received comparable compensation. As part of his duties Saenz transported Mrs. Zlatos to Grandview every afternoon so she could have dinner with her husband. With regards to Mrs. Zlatos’s daily expenses, the record shows that Saenz would routinely cash checks for her at the bank and purchase her necessities such as groceries, toiletries, medical equipment, and other medical supplies.
¶ 8 In early 2000, Mrs. Zlatos began writing a series of large checks to Saenz. On February 3, 2000, Mrs. Zlatos wrote Saenz a check for $6,000. According to Saenz, he was having difficulty with his car and Mrs. Zlatos loaned him the money to buy another car because she was concerned about him arriving to work on time. Five days later Mrs. Zlatos wrote a check to Saenz for $900 that Saenz later believed was a loan for his son’s college tuition. On April 6, 2000, Mrs. Zlatos wrote Saenz another check for $6,000, as a loan, to buy a car for his wife, who was left all day without a car while he was with Mrs. Zlatos. On May 23, 2000, Mrs. Zlatos wrote Saenz a check for $1,500, with the notation “loan” written on the check. On June 5, 2000, Mrs. Zlatos wrote Saenz a check for $5,500, as a loan, which helped pay for Saenz’s mother-in-law’s funeral expenses. On June 16, 2000, a check was issued to Saenz for $3,500 as a loan to help pay medical bills for Saenz’s wife. Thus, from February to June 2000, payments labeled “loans” totaling $23,400 were made to Saenz. Saenz did not sign a promissory note for the loans and the loans did not have interest due. At trial, Saenz testified that sometime in February or March, 2000, Mrs. Zlatos told him: “You don’t need to pay me back. I just want to make sure that you’re here.” Even after this conversation, Mrs. Zlatos continued to write “loan” on the bottom of the checks.
¶ 9 In February 2000, Mrs. Zlatos told Saenz that she wanted to transfer the Property to him as a birthday gift. Mrs. Zlatos contacted Fidelity National Title Insurance Company (“Fidelity”) and opened an escrow account on February 24, 2000. Fidelity’s escrow agent Alicia Varela handled the transaction and prepared the appropriate transfer documents. On or about March 13, 2000, Varela and Saenz traveled to Mrs. Zla-tos’s home. Varela explained the documents and Mrs. Zlatos signed a warranty deed, on behalf of herself and Mr. Zlatos, conveying the Property to Saenz. Varela, along with Saenz, then traveled to Grandview and had Mr. Zlatos sign a specific power of attorney authorizing Mrs. Zlatos to sign for him. On March 14, 2000, Saenz recorded the Warranty Deed taking title to the Property.
¶ 10 In June 2000, the Cagneys discovered that Mrs. Zlatos had made the loans to Saenz, and later learned of the transfer of the Property. In June 2000, Mrs. Zlatos was examined by Dr. Amardeep Majhail who testified at trial that he had found that she was very frail and elderly, and had some breathing trouble. In July 2000, Mrs. Zlatos was placed in Grandview with her husband and Saenz’s employment was terminated by Mr. Cagney. In November 2000, Mrs. Zlatos was diagnosed with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia. Dr. Majhail testified that she “probably” had dementia in March 2000 because once a patient is diagnosed she may have had it for at least a couple of months or a year.
¶ 11 On or about November 28, 2000, the Zlatoses, through Mrs. Cagney, demanded that Saenz return the money and Property. Saenz refused. In January 2001, the Cag-neys contacted the Maricopa County Sheriff s Department. A deputy questioned Saenz regarding alleged elder abuse but no charges were ever brought against Saenz. During this interview Mr. Saenz indicated to the deputy that the checks “were for a loan. And he was going to pay those back. And there was some type of arrangement that they were going to be paid back.”
¶ 12 On January 10, 2001, the Zlatoses, through Mrs. Cagney, recorded a Notice of Claim of Interest with the Maricopa County Recorder giving notice that the Warranty Deed to Saenz, dated March 10, 2000, and recorded on March 14, 2000, was not properly obtained and such deed was void.
¶ 13 On January 7, 2002, the Zlatoses and Cagney filed a complaint against Saenz. The complaint alleged that Saenz breached his fiduciary duties to the Zlatoses by knowingly depriving an incapacitated or vulnerable adult of his or her assets or property in violation of the APSA and requested that title to the land be quieted to the Zlatoses. On March 4, 2002, Saenz sold the Property to the Davises for $20,000. On September 5, 2002, the Zlatoses, through Mrs. Cagney, recorded a Notice of Lis Pendens.
¶ 14 On December 2, 2002, the Davises filed a separate lawsuit claiming that they were the true owners of the Property and requesting that the trial court clear title to the Property. The Zlatoses then filed an amended complaint adding the Davises as defendants, alleging that the Davises had constructive notice of Mrs. Zlatos’s interest in the Property and requesting that the trial court quiet title to the Zlatoses. The trial court subsequently consolidated the two actions.
¶ 15 A two-day non-jury trial was held after which the trial court issued a minute entry adopting the parties’ joint pretrial statement of facts and setting forth findings of fact. Specific findings included: Saenz was in a position of trust and confidence with Mr. and Mrs. Zlatos at all relevant times; at all times Mr. Zlatos was incapacitated; none of the loans had been fully repaid, but all were eventually forgiven by Mrs. Zlatos; Mrs. Zlatos did not require assisted living until July 2000; and Mrs. Zlatos had frequent opportunities to raise concerns with others if she believed that Saenz was acting inappropriately, but did not do so. The trial court concluded that the Zlatoses had not met their burden to establish (1) that Mrs. Zlatos was an incapacitated or vulnerable adult under the statute during the time that the transactions at issue took place, (2) that the March 2000 transfer of the Property to Saenz was invalid pursuant to A.R.S. § 46-456(A), (3) that Saenz knowingly obtained control, title, use, or management of the property by intimidation or deception with any unlawful intent under § 46-456(B) and (4) that funds were obtained from an incapacitated or vulnerable adult in an unlawful manner. The trial court ordered judgment in favor of Saenz and quieted title to the Property in favor of the Davises. Final judgment was entered on November 5, 2003.
¶ 16 The Zlatoses’ motion for reconsideration and motion for a new trial were denied. The Zlatoses appeal. Saenz and his wife have not appeared in this appeal.
DISCUSSION
¶ 17 On appeal the Appellants claim that the trial court erred by finding (1) that Mrs. Zlatos was not a vulnerable or incapacitated adult for purposes of the APSA, (2) that Saenz did not knowingly take control, title, use or management of the Property or assets by use of intimidation or deception, (3) that Saenz did not acquire the Property in violation of A.R.S. § 46-456(A), and (4) that the trial court erred by quieting title to the Property in favor of the Davises.
¶ 18 The trial court made several findings of fact in its minute entry filed September 10,2003 and adopted the parties’ uncontested facts from the joint pretrial statement. Generally, a trial court’s factual findings must be accepted on appeal unless they are “clearly erroneous.” In re United States Currency in the Amount of $26,980.00, 199 Ariz. 291, 295, ¶ 9, 18 P.3d 85, 89 (App.2000). Factual findings “are not clearly erroneous if substantial evidence supports them,” and “[s]ubstantial evidence is evidence which would permit a reasonable person to reach the trial court’s result.” Id. “However, where facts are not in dispute and where the trial court’s findings of fact are in many respects conclusions of law, this court is not bound by them.” Globe Am. Cas. Co. v. Lyons, 131 Ariz. 337, 343, 641 P.2d 251, 257 (App.1981); see also Broemmer v. Abortion Servs, of Phoenix, Ltd., 173 Ariz. 148, 150, 840 P.2d 1013, 1015 (1992) (“When the facts are undisputed, this court is not bound by the trial court’s conclusions and may make its own analysis of the facts or legal instruments on which the case turns.”).
¶ 19 In 1988, the legislature determined that elder abuse in Arizona was a serious problem justifying legislative intervention and enacted the APSA, which criminalized abuse of an incapacitated or vulnerable adult, designating elder abuse a class 5 felony. Denton v. Superior Court, 190 Ariz. 152, 155, 945 P.2d 1283, 1286 (1997) (“The legislature’s intent and the policy behind the elder abuse statute are clear. Arizona has a substantial population of elderly people, and the legislature was concerned about elder ' abuse.”). The next year the legislature amended the statute to create a statutory civil cause of action for elder abuse. Id. at 156, 945 P.2d at 1287. The Arizona Supreme Court has interpreted the statute in two cases and each time held that the intent of the legislature was to provide the elderly population in Arizona greater protection under the APSA than already provided under other civil remedies. Estate of McGill v. Albrecht, 203 Ariz. 525, 528, ¶ 6, 57 P.3d 384, 387 (2002) (holding APSA not limited by any other civil remedy); Denton, 190 Ariz. at 155, 945 P.2d at 1286 (holding elder abuse victims may recover damages for pain and suffering endured notwithstanding the death of the victim).
¶20 Under the APSA, civil liability with damages of up to three times the amount of the monetary damages may be established under either A.R.S. § 46-456(A) or (B), or both. A.R.S. § 46-456(C). The burden of proof is a preponderance of the evidence. A.R.S. §§ 46-455(L), -456(E). Subsection A requires that a person “in a position of trust and confidence to an incapacitated or vulnerable adult shall act for the benefit of that person to the same extent as a trustee pursuant to title 14, chapter 7, article 3 [Section 14-7301 et seqj.” A.R.S. § 46-456(A). Under subsection B, criminal and civil liability exists if a “person who is in a position of trust and confidence and who by intimidation or deception knowingly takes control, title, use or management of an incapacitated or vulnerable adult’s asset or property with the intent to permanently deprive that person of the asset or property.” A.R.S. § 46-456(B). The common threshold elements of the two subsections are “a position of trust and confidence” with “an incapacitated or vulnerable adult.” In this case, the trial court specifically found that Saenz was in a position of trust and confidence with Mrs. Zlatos, so the central issue on appeal is whether Mrs. Zla-tos was incapacitated or vulnerable.
¶ 21 “Incapacity” and “vulnerable” are defined in the APSA.
5. “Incapacity” means an impairment by reason of mental illness, mental deficiency, mental disorder, physical illness or disability, advanced age, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication or other cause to the extent that the person lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate informed decisions concerning his person.
10. “Vulnerable adult” means an individual who is over eighteen years of age or older who is unable to protect himself from abuse, neglect or exploitation by others because of a physical or mental impairment.
A.R.S. § 46-451(A)(5) and (10).
¶ 22 The trial court found that “[i]t [was] extremely difficult to determine at what point Mrs. Zlatos became incapacitated and vulnerable, but Plaintiffs [had] not met their burden to demonstrate incapacity or vulnerability prior to the real estate transaction in question occurring in March 2000.” The Davises argue that this finding is conclusive because it is supported by substantial evidence. Appellants respond that the finding is not binding on appeal because “other than one or two vague generalizations [the Davises] cannot cite to any evidence in the record to support the trial court’s finding.” In essence, Appellants argue that the trial court’s conclusion that Mrs. Zlatos was not “incapacitated or vulnerable” was a legal conclusion unsupported by the trial court’s specific factual findings, some of which were themselves unsupported by the record. With regard to the trial court’s conclusion that Mrs. Zlatos was not a “vulnerable adult” for purposes of the APSA, we agree with Appellants. The trial court’s general finding on this issue was in many respects a conclusion of law, and this court is not bound by it.
¶ 23 Most of the trial court’s specific findings addressed only Mrs. Zlatos’s mental capacity to understand the nature of her actions. Because we conclude below that Mrs. Zlatos met the definition of a vulnerable adult, we need not address whether the evidence was sufficient to find Mrs. Zlatos was also incapacitated. To apply the APSA to Mrs. Zlatos it is only necessary to find that she was either incapacitated or vulnerable. Although a person may be both, see McGill, 203 Ariz. at 528, ¶¶ 5-6, 57 P.3d at 387 (“Ms. McGill, of course, fits either definition, and APSA clearly covers her.”), the terms are not equivalent and address distinct dangers to the elderly. An incapacitated person cannot make informed decisions. A vulnerable person may be able to make such decisions, but is unable to protect herself against being abused, neglected or exploited. The protections of the statute extend to a vulnerable adult even if the person is not incapacitated.
¶ 24 The first step in our analysis of the statutory definition of “vulnerable adult” is to consider whether Mrs. Zlatos suffered from an “impairment.” The APSA does not define “impairment,” so we apply the ordinary meaning of the word. Mid Kansas Fed. Sav. & Loan v. Dynamic Dev. Corp., 167 Ariz. 122, 128, 804 P.2d 1310, 1316 (1991). An “impairment” is something that causes a “decrease in strength, value, amount, or quality.” Websters II, New College Dictionary 553 (Houghton Mifflin Co.2001). Other definitions have defined impairment in terms of injury, deterioration, or lessening. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1131 (Unabridged 1993); see also Oxford English Dictionary (Compact Ed.1971) (“deterioration; injurious lessening or weakening”).
¶ 25 The trial court made no specific findings as to whether Mrs. Zlatos was physically impaired. The nearest it came to doing so was its finding that Mrs. Zlatos did not require assisted living until July 2000. We conclude that this finding is clearly erroneous because it is not supported by the evidence. During the six-month period in which Mrs. Zlatos made the alleged loans and transferred the Property to Saenz she was an eighty-six-year-old woman who was physically frail and unable to walk. Saenz and his daughter were hired by the Cagneys to provide Mrs. Zlatos with care and companionship twelve hours a day, seven days a week. The daughter would arrive in the morning to bathe Mrs. Zlatos and care for her until Saenz arrived in the afternoon to escort her to Grandview to visit Mr. Zlatos.
¶ 26 Mrs. Zlatos was entirely dependent on Saenz and his daughter during her waking hours. The fact that this assistance was provided in her home rather than in a nursing facility is irrelevant. The undisputed facts show that Mrs. Zlatos was in need of assistance to carry out many of her daily activities such as bathing, walking and meal preparation. Many of her financial activities were being handled by her son-in-law, including engaging Saenz and his daughter to care for her. Mrs. Zlatos’s husband had handled many of these activities in earlier years, but by January 2000 he was neither able to do them himself nor available at home to assist her.
¶ 27 Even putting aside the evidence showing that Mrs. Zlatos had at the very least begun a slide into dementia and mental impairment, the uncontested facts discussed above show that she was physically impaired. Her ability to care for herself was plainly lessened due to her age and health problems.
¶ 28 The next question is whether she was “unable to protect [herself] from abuse, neglect or exploitation by others” because of her physical impairment. The trial court found that “Mrs. Zlatos had frequent opportunities to raise concerns with bankers, doctors, escrow personnel and family members if she believed that Saenz was acting inappropriately, and no ... evidence has been presented” that she did so. The Davises argue that this shows that Mrs. Zlatos did not have an impairment that precluded her from protecting herself from abuse, neglect, or exploitation. We disagree.
¶ 29 Failing to complain is not persuasive evidence that a person is not vulnerable. Just because an individual does not act to protect herself by complaining about abuse, neglect, or exploitation does not mean that person is able to protect herself. As explained in a recent law review article:
Elderly abuse is often difficult to detect because the victim is frequently reluctant to report the abuse. A victim may be ashamed to admit that she is experiencing any sort of abuse. The victim may be afraid of her abuser and may fear retaliation if she reports the behavior. She may not know where to find help. Ultimately, she may be too impaired to report the abuse, or, in some cases, to even realize that [she] is being abused. However, the circumstances surrounding financial abuse are further complicated because unlike the bruises that often accompany physical abuse, the signs of financial abuse may not be so obvious. Elderly victims are more likely to report physical abuse, believing that bodily injury is more threatening than any material loses [sic] they suffer. Further, many senior citizens are embarrassed about being financially victimized, and there are rarely witnesses to report it. Sometimes the elderly simply do not realize that anything is amiss.
Shelby A.D. Moore and Jeanette Schaefer, Remembering the Forgotten Ones: Protecting the Elderly From Financial Abuse, 41 San Diego L.Rev. 505, 509-11 (May-June 2004) (internal quotes and footnotes omitted).
¶30 In this case, there is nothing in the record to indicate that Mrs. Zlatos considered herself to be abused, neglected or exploited, but her silence does not control whether she was a “vulnerable adult” under the statute. As mentioned above, a victim may not even realize she is being abused or exploited, particularly when the issue is financial exploitation and she is willingly parting with her money or property. Exploitation may occur with the full participation of the victim, but it is no less exploitation. The legislature plainly intended the statute to increase protection for those who are “unable to protect” themselves. We do not believe the legislature intended the statute to apply only to elderly persons who can prove that they unsuccessfully fought against actual abuse, neglect or exploitation. Therefore, the trial court’s finding that she had the opportunity to object cannot support the conclusion that she was able to protect herself.
¶ 31 Excluding the unsupported findings, and considering the undisputed facts, the trial court erred in concluding that Mrs. Zla-tos was not a “vulnerable adult” under the APSA. She was a frail eighty-six-year-old in failing health. Many of her financial affairs were handled by the Cagneys. She was totally dependent on Saenz for her daily needs. With her husband in the hospital, she was alone for the first time in almost seventy years. Her dependence was so great that when Saenz had car trouble that made him late to care for Mrs. Zlatos, she immediately wanted to give him money to buy a new car “because I want to make sure that you’re here everyday. I don’t want you to be late like you were today.” Her earlier fall had shown her inability to fully look after her physical needs without the assistance of others, and, indeed, the potential danger to her life if she tried. Under these facts, we must conclude that Mrs. Zlatos was physically impaired to such an extent that she was unable to protect herself if targeted for abuse, neglect or exploitation. Therefore, we hold that Mrs. Zlatos was a vulnerable adult under the APSA.
¶ 32 This conclusion does not, however, mean that the statute was violated when Mrs. Zlatos transferred property and money to Saenz. A vulnerable adult may still have the capacity to make financial decisions, deed property and transfer cash. The APSA is violated only if it is shown that the person in a position of trust and confidence to the vulnerable adult either (1) failed to act for the benefit of the vulnerable adult to the same extent as a trustee, A.R.S. § 46-456(A), or (2) by intimidation or deception knowingly took control, title, use or management of the vulnerable adult’s property with the intent to permanently deprive the vulnerable person of the property. A.R.S. § 46-456(B). We find the trustee issue conclusive, therefore we need not consider whether Saenz’s actions constituted intimidation or deception. Moreover, because the facts are undisputed, and for the most part based on Saenz’s own testimony, there is no need to remand this issue for further fact-finding. The parties have fully briefed the issue, so we decide it on the record before us.
¶ 33 Pursuant to § 46-456(A), “[a] person who is in a position of trust and confidence to an incapacitated or vulnerable adult shall act for the benefit of that person to the same extent as a trustee pursuant to title 14, chapter 7, article 3.” The trial court found that “Saenz was in a position of trust and confidence” to Mrs. Zlatos, and that finding is not disputed on appeal. Under Arizona law, a trustee is required to “observe the standard in dealing with the trust assets that would be observed by a prudent man dealing with the property of another.” A.R.S. § 14-7302 (Supp.2004). “The first duty of any trustee is to act with undivided loyalty to the trustor.” Shetter v. Rochelle, 2 Ariz.App. 358, 366, 409 P.2d 74, 82 (1965), modified by 2 Ariz.App. 607, 411 P.2d 45 (1966). Self-dealing can occur when “a trustee, acting for himself and also as trustee, seeks to consummate a deal where self interest is opposed to duty.” Seven G. Ranching Co. v. Stewart Title & Trust of Tucson, 128 Ariz. 590, 592, 627 P.2d 1088, 1090 (App. 1981).
¶ 34 The record reveals that Mrs. Zlatos trusted and liked Saenz and was very grateful for his help over the years. The evidence, however, also illustrates that Mrs. Zlatos was very dependent on Saenz. Saenz was hired to provide care to Mrs. Zlatos, a vulnerable adult, and, therefore, in dealing with Mrs. Zlatos’s assets he was expected to put her interests first, particularly when his own self-interest was involved. At the very least, a prudent trustee dealing with Mrs. Zlatos’s assets would have advised her to seek the help of a family member or lawyer in making such transfers. If Mrs. Zlatos still wished to make the transfers after receiving independent advice, and possibly in the face of her advisor’s outright opposition, Saenz could not be faulted for accepting her generosity. Instead, Saenz simply and quietly accepted the money and the Property from Mrs. Zlatos. In doing so he profited from such transactions to Mrs. Zlatos’s detriment.
¶ 35 With regard to the real estate, the Davises argue that Saenz did not breach his fiduciary duty as a trustee because Mrs. Zlatos gifted the Property to Saenz for her own benefit. The record, however, shows that Saenz knew the transfer would not benefit Mrs. Zlatos. According to Saenz, Mrs. Zlatos transferred the Property so that he could live closer to her. Saenz testified, however, that he was not interested in the land and never intended to build a home on the Property. Under these circumstances, there was no benefit to Mrs. Zlatos.
¶36 As for the loans made to Saenz, he clearly benefited to Mrs. Zlatos’s detriment by acquiring large sums of her money. Saenz argued at trial that Mrs. Zlatos benefited from the loans because the loans made it possible for Saenz to continue his employment with her. His employment, however, was compensated and he does not allege that the compensation paid was unreasonable for the services provided. See Kamrath v. Great Sw. Trust Corp., 27 Ariz.App. 102, 105, 551 P.2d 92, 95 (1976) (holding a trustee is not permitted to profit out of dealing with the trust, except for his lawful compensation). Moreover, Saenz never explained how Mrs. Zlatos benefited from forgiving the loans after she plainly labeled them as loans on the checks. A central aspect of acting as a trustee is accountability, so a trustee who accepts money from a vulnerable adult must be prepared to explain how the vulnerable adult benefited from the transfer. No such explanation was presented here.
¶37 Under these circumstances, we conclude that Saenz breached his fiduciary duties as a trustee in violation of § 46-456(A). Accordingly, Saenz is hable to Mrs. Zlatos for damages, A.R.S. § 46-456(C), and the trial court should quiet title to the Property in favor of the Zlatoses’ estate. See A.R.S. §§ 46^455(F) (court may issue appropriate orders to remedy a violation); -456(0) (provisions of § 46-455(0) also apply to civil violations of § 46-456).
CONCLUSION
¶ 38 For the reasons stated above, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and find in favor of the Appellants. Accordingly, we vacate the trial court’s order quieting title of the Property in favor of the Davises and remand to the trial court with the direction to quiet title in favor of the Zlatoses’ estate. Additionally, we remand the case to the trial court for a new trial to determine damages. Appellants request attorneys’ fees on appeal pursuant to A.R.S. § 46-455. We grant the request. Accordingly, upon compliance with Arizona Rule of Civil Appellate Procedure 21, we award Appellants reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs on appeal.
CONCURRING: DONN KESSLER, Presiding Judge, and JON W. THOMPSON, Judge.
. The decision refers to the current version of the statute, which is essentially the same as that in effect at the relevant time.
. Pursuant to Rule 28(g), Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure, we address and reject in a separate memorandum decision the Davises' cross-appeal from the trial court's finding that they had constructive notice of Appellants’ claim upon the properly and, therefore, were not bona fide purchasers for value. On that issue, we affirm the trial court.
. Mr. Zlatos passed away on October 9, 2002. Mrs. Zlatos was alive during trial but has since died.
. Mrs. Zlatos did not testify at trial and the stated facts concerning her statements to Saenz are based on his testimony.
. Arizona Revised Statutes § 46-456(G)(3) defines "position of trust and confidence” to mean that a person is any one of the following:
(a) One who has assumed a duty to provide care to the incapacitated or vulnerable adult.
(b) A joint tenant or a tenant in common with an incapacitated or vulnerable adult.
(c) One who is in a fiduciary relationship with an incapacitated or vulnerable adult including a de facto guardian or de facto conservator.
. Because we find the evidence shows that Mrs. Zlatos was physically impaired, we need not address whether she was also mentally impaired. The statute only requires a finding of “physical or mental impairment,” not both.
. The legislature recognized that advanced age may itself cause an impairment when it defined “incapacity” to mean "an impairment by reason of mental illness, mental deficiency, mental disorder, physical illness or disability, advanced age, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication...." A.R.S. § 46-451(A)(5). Although this list is not included in the accompanying definition of "vulnerable adult,” we see no reason to exclude any of these causes of impairment when considering whether a person is "impaired” under that definition.
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OPINION
PELANDER, Chief Judge.
¶ 1 After a jury trial, appellant Jay David Ramsey, Sr. was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child in violation of A.R.S. § 13-1417. He was sentenced to a presumptive, twenty-year prison term pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-604.01(C). Among the multiple, overlapping issues Ramsey raises on appeal, he argues that the indictment against him was duplicitous and that § 13-1417 unconstitutionally violates the jury unanimity requirement of article II, § 23 of the Arizona Constitution. Finding no merit to those or the other issues he raises, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 We view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to sustaining the conviction. See State v. Riley, 196 Ariz. 40, ¶ 10, 992 P.2d 1135, 1139 (App.1999). In October 2001, on his daughter A.’s twelfth birthday, Ramsey had her read aloud a portion of a story in a binder he had about a father kissing and touching his daughter. That same day, Ramsey took A. to an adult store called Fascinations and bought her a vibrator and a bottle of lubricant.
¶ 3 Several days later, Ramsey’s wife, S., found the binder, which Ramsey usually took to work, on the roof of the family’s home. She looked at the binder, saw that it contained graphic, sexual stories involving incest, and contacted the police. In addition to the binder, S. and police officers found other sexual stories in a kitchen drawer, among Ramsey’s clothing, and in a duffel bag in the garage, where they also found a vibrator. A. eventually told S. and police detectives, and testified at trial, that Ramsey had repeatedly touched her breasts, “butt,” and vagina on multiple occasions starting in early 1999.
DISCUSSION
I. Duplicitous indictment and A.R.S. § 13-1417 ■
¶ 4 Ramsey first contends § 13-1417 is “unconstitutionally duplicitous and therefore the indictment against [him was] duplicitous.” Enacted in 1993, the statute provides in part that “[a] person who over a period of three months or more in duration engages in three or more acts in violation of [A.R.S.] § 13-1405, 13-1406 or 13-1410 with a child under fourteen years of age is guilty of eon-tinuous sexual abuse of a child.” § 13-1417(A). The indictment against Ramsey alleged in a single count that, “[o]n or about the dates of January 1999 through December 2000,” he had “committed continuous sexual abuse of a child by engaging in three or more acts of sexual conduct with a minor under fifteen and/or molestation of a child ... in violation of A.R.S. § 13-1417.”
¶ 5 Before trial, Ramsey moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds “that the indictment was duplicitous in stating multiple offenses in one count and was outside the purview and constitutional jurisdiction of the jury.” The trial court denied the motion. We review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss criminal charges for abuse of discretion. State v. Sandoval, 175 Ariz. 343, 347, 857 P.2d 395, 399 (App.1993). But we review questions of statutory interpretation and constitutional law de novo. State v. Carrasco, 201 Ariz. 220, ¶ 10, 33 P.3d 791, 794 (App.2001); State v. Tamplin, 195 Ariz. 246, ¶ 6, 986 P.2d 914, 915 (App.1999).
¶ 6 First, we agree with the state that Ramsey has “fail[ed] to cite to any authority for the proposition that a statute can be found ‘unconstitutionally duplicitous.’ ” Because of that failure to comply with Rule 31.13(c)(l)(vi), Ariz. R.Crim. R, 17 A.R.S., we consider only whether the indictment against Ramsey was duplicitous. Separate offenses must be charged in separate counts. Spencer v. Coconino County Superior Court, 136 Ariz. 608, 610, 667 P.2d 1323, 1325 (1983); see also Ariz. R.Crim. P. 13.3(a), 16A A.R.S.; State v. Axley, 132 Ariz. 383, 392, 646 P.2d 268, 277 (1982); State v. Schroeder, 167 Ariz. 47, 51, 804 P.2d 776, 780 (App.1990). An indictment that charges separate or multiple crimes in the same count is duplicitous. Spencer, 136 Ariz. at 610, 667 P.2d at 1325. “Duplicitous indictments are prohibited because they fail to give adequate notice of the charge to be defended, because they present the hazard of a non-unanimous jury verdict and because they make a precise pleading of prior jeopardy impossible in the event of a later prosecution.” Id.
¶ 7 Ramsey argues “[a]ll of the problems with a duplicitous indictment ... apply to this case.” He first maintains he did not receive adequate notice of the alleged misconduct to enable him to defend against the charge. Ramsey’s global defense, however, was that his wife had set him up out of revenge and that he had not, and could not have, committed any of the alleged sexual acts against A. Although, under some circumstances, an indictment’s lack of specificity might hamper a defendant’s ability to rebut or defend against the charges, Ramsey has not specifically articulated how his defense was impaired or prejudiced by the indictment against him. See State v. Whitney, 159 Ariz. 476, 480, 768 P.2d 638, 642 (1989) (defendant not denied “essential right to his defense” when defense was denial that offenses had occurred); People v. Gear, 19 Cal.App.4th 86, 23 Cal.Rptr.2d 261, 268 (1993) (finding no due process violation of defendant’s “right to present a defense” when, “not untypically, [defendant] presented an all-or-nothing defense based on credibility — either he is telling the truth and he did not commit any act of molestation or [the victim] is telling the truth and he is guilty”).
¶ 8 Ramsey also contends the lengthy time period of the acts alleged in the indictment raises double jeopardy concerns. See U.S. Const, amend. V (“[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ____”); Ariz. Const, art. II, § 10 (“No person shall ... be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.”). According to Ramsey, nothing would prevent the state from again prosecuting him for events within the two-year period of the indictment by “arbitrarily and randomly picking three or more dates ... from the same 1999-2000 period, claiming [A.] remembers more specific details ... [and] repeating] the process.” Although the state argues § 13-1417(D) “dispenses with any problem with duplicity or double jeopardy,” that subsection does not alleviate all double jeopardy concerns relating to potential future prosecutions. Rather, subsection (D) merely addresses what charges may be brought in a current proceeding involving a charge under § 13-1417, providing in pertinent part:
Any other felony sexual offense involving the victim shall not be charged in the same [i.e., current] proceeding with a charge under this section unless the other charged felony sexual offense occurred outside the time period charged under this section or the other felony sexual offense is charged in the alternative.
¶ 9 Nonetheless, the description of continuous sexual abuse in § 13-1417(A) is sufficiently clear to allow the “precise pleading of prior jeopardy” if the state were to attempt to reprosecute Ramsey for the same offense charged in the indictment in this case. Spencer, 136 Ariz. at 610, 667 P.2d at 1325. Although Ramsey posits hypothetical scenarios in which he might later be prosecuted under different statutes for some of the same conduct at issue in this case, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not necessarily protect him from that risk. See United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 696, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 2856, 125 L.Ed.2d 556, 568 (1993) (confirming for double jeopardy purposes a “same elements” test, as promulgated in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306, 309 (1932), and overruling Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990), that had promulgated a broader, “same conduct” test); State v. Sanders, 205 Ariz. 208, ¶ 65, 68 P.3d 434, 448 (App.2003) (“Th[e] test [under Dixon ] inquires whether each of two offenses contains an element not contained in the other. If not, they are the same offense and double jeopardy bars successive prosecutions.”); State v. Siddle, 202 Ariz. 512, ¶ 10, 47 P.3d 1150, 1154 (App.2002) (“Distinct statutory provisions constitute the same offense if they are comprised of the same elements.”). In sum, we cannot find the indictment duplicitous based on double jeopardy concerns when Ramsey has not clearly articulated any specific scenario in which the indictment’s single charge under § 13-1417 would “make a precise pleading of prior jeopardy impossible in the event of a later prosecution.” Spencer, 136 Ariz. at 610, 667 P.2d at 1325.
¶ 10 Ramsey also argues Spencer “is a case exactly on point,” “mirror[s] exactly the problems with [his] indictment,” and required the state to “charg[e] the three or more predicate offenses [in § 13-1417] separately” and to “prove[ ] [each] as a mandatory element before [he] could be found guilty of a continuing course of conduct.” But Spencer was not charged under § 13-1417. Rather, he was charged with one count each of incest and molestation in violation of A.R.S. §§ 13-1410 and 13-3608. Spencer, 136 Ariz. at 609, 667 P.2d at 1324. In that case, “the two charges brought by the grand jury [were] based upon allegations of numerous episodes of sexual misconduct.” Id. at 610, 667 P.2d at 1325. And the court there stated that “each occurrence of such a prohibited act [was] a separate offense under [that] statute.” Id.; cf. State v. Davis, 206 Ariz. 377, ¶¶ 59, 60, 79 P.3d 64, 77 (2003) (finding one charge of sexual misconduct with a minor duplicitous when defendant “was convicted of one count, based on proof of two acts,” and when court could not “be certain which offense served as the predicate for the conviction”).
¶ 11 In contrast, the indictment against Ramsey did not charge him with separate, individual counts of molestation or incest, but rather, with a single count of continuous sexual abuse of a child in violation of § 13-1417, a statute that had not been enacted when Spencer was decided. See 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws, eh. 33, § 2. Therefore, contrary to Ramsey’s assertions, we do not find Spencer controlling.
¶ 12 Moreover, as the state points out, “[a] continuing scheme or course of conduct may properly be alleged in a single count.” See State v. Via, 146 Ariz. 108, 116, 704 P.2d 238, 246 (1985) (“[W]here numerous transactions are merely parts of a larger scheme, a single count encompassing the entire scheme is proper.”). And an indictment is not rendered duplicitous merely because “one of the elements of the crime alleged is a separately indictable offense.” Whitney, 159 Ariz. at 480, 768 P.2d at 642.
¶ 13 Ramsey cites several out-of-state cases for the proposition that § 13-1417 “is not a continuing-course-of-conduet statute because it mandates three or more separate ‘violations’ of A.R.S. §§ 13-1405, 13-1406 or 13-1410.” None of those eases, however, involved a defendant charged, as Ramsey was, under a continuing-course statute. See Covington v. State, 703 P.2d 436 (Alaska Ct.App.1985); State v. Snook, 210 Conn. 244, 555 A.2d 390 (1989); State v. Petrich, 101 Wash.2d 566, 683 P.2d 173 (1984). Rather, in each case, the state had charged the defendant with individual counts of sexual misconduct “but proceeded at trial to present evidence of numerous separate criminal acts.” Petrich, 683 P.2d at 177; see also Davis, 206 Ariz. 377, ¶¶ 51-52, 79 P.3d at 75-76. In contrast, in this case, the state charged Ramsey with a continuing course of conduct under a statute clearly defining the offense as a continuing course.
¶ 14 Ramsey’s citation of State v. Rabago, 103 Hawai'i 236, 81 P.3d 1151 (2003), however, is more apropos. The court there addressed a statute similar to § 13-1417 and concluded that the behavior proscribed does not constitute a continuous course. In so ruling, the court in Rabago stated:
To highlight the distinction between “continuing offenses” and “several distinct acts,” we defined a “continuing offense” as “a continuous, unlawful act or series of acts set on foot by a single impulse and operated by an unintermittent force, however long a time it may occupy[, or] an offense which continues day by day[, or] a breach of the criminal law, not terminated by a single act or fact, but subsisting for a definite period and intended to cover or apply to successive similar obligations or occurrences.”
Id. at 1162-63 (alterations and emphasis in Rabago), quoting State v. Arceo, 84 Hawai'i 1, 928 P.2d 843, 860 (1996). And, the court stated,
“[t]he test to determine whether [a] defendant intended to commit more than one offense in the course of a criminal episode is whether the evidence discloses one general intent or discloses separate and distinct intents. If there is but one intention, one general impulse, and one plan, there is but one offense.”
Id. at 1163 (emphasis in Rabago), quoting Arceo, 928 P.2d at 860. According to the Rabago court,
[t]he conduct element requisite to [Hawaii’s statute on continuous sexual assault of a minor], i.e., “three or more acts of sexual penetration or sexual contact,” when combined with the attendant circumstance of “over a period of time,” ... necessarily entails multiple impulses and the operation of intermittent forces and thus deviates from the construct of “continuing offenses” adopted by this court in Arceo.
Id. at 1167, quoting Haw.Rev.Stat. § 707-733.5. We, of course, are not bound by Raba-go and question the underlying premise for its conclusion. But, even if we were to adopt its definition of a continuous course of conduct, we would, unlike the Hawaii court, conclude that the conduct § 13-1417 prohibits clearly fits within that definition.
¶ 15 Although § 13-1417 requires three or more separate acts to constitute a continuing course, under Arizona law, as noted above, an indictment is not duplicitous merely because the elements of a charge may also be separately indicted. Whitney, 159 Ariz. at 480, 768 P.2d at 642. And a continuing scheme may be charged under one count. Via, 146 Ariz. at 116, 704 P.2d at 246. Thus, that the state could have charged Ramsey with separate counts of sexual conduct with a minor in violation of § 13-1405, sexual assault in violation of § 13-1406, or child molestation in violation of § 13-1410 does not preclude or undermine the jury’s conclusion that Ramsey’s ongoing molestation of his daughter constituted a continuing scheme. Although we disagree with Rabago’s conclusion, the record here supports a finding that Ramsey’s actions, in the words of that court, had been driven by “ ‘one intention, one general impulse, and one plan’ ” — to molest his daughter. Rabago, 81 P.3d at 1163, quoting Arceo, 928 P.2d at 860. Because Ramsey’s acts constituted a continuous course of conduct under § 13-1417, they could be properly charged in one count. Therefore, the trial court did not err in denying Ramsey’s motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground it was duplicitous.
II. Jury unanimity
¶ 16 Ramsey next argues § 13-1417 is unconstitutional because it does not require “a unanimous jury verdict on the three or more predicate violations of A.R.S. §§ 13-1405,13-1406 and 13-1410 as required by [the] Arizona Constitution.” Similarly, he maintains the trial court erred by instructing the jury, in accordance with § 13-1417(C) and over his objection: “The jury must make a unanimous finding that three or more acts occurred. The jury is not required to agree on which acts constitute the three or more acts.” Ramsey contends the instruction was a “constitutionally defective jury instruction on the definition of A.R.S. § 13-1417 and the unanimity requirement.”
¶ 17 We review the constitutionality of a statute and the propriety of a jury instruction de novo. State v. Orendain, 188 Ariz. 54, 56, 932 P.2d 1325, 1327 (1997); Carrasco, 201 Ariz. 220, ¶ 10, 33 P.3d at 794. We have a duty, when possible, to construe a statute in a way that renders it constitutional. State v. Padilla, 169 Ariz. 70, 71, 817 P.2d 15, 16 (App.1991). “There is a strong presumption supporting the constitutionality of statutes, and the party challenging the validity of a statute has the burden to establish its invalidity beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id.; see also Chevron Chem. Co. v. Superior Court, 131 Ariz. 431, 438, 641 P.2d 1275, 1282 (1982); State ex rel. Thomas v. Foreman, 211 Ariz. 153, ¶ 12, 118 P.3d 1117, 1120 (App. 2005).
¶ 18 Article II, § 23 of the Arizona Constitution provides: “The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate .... In all criminal cases the unanimous consent of the jurors shall be necessary to render a verdict.” “The jury [must] unanimously find every element of [a crime] beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Peña, 209 Ariz. 503, ¶ 12, 104 P.3d 873, 876 (App.2005). But our supreme court has stated, “[although a defendant is entitled to a unanimous jury verdict on whether the criminal act charged has been committed, the defendant is not entitled to a unanimous verdict on the precise manner in which the act was committed.” State v. Encinas, 132 Ariz. 493, 496, 647 P.2d 624, 627 (1982) (citation omitted); see also Griffin v. United States, 502 U.S. 46, 49-51, 112 S.Ct. 466, 469-70, 116 L.Ed.2d 371, 376-77 (1991); Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624, 629-30, 111 S.Ct. 2491, 2496, 115 L.Ed.2d 555, 563-64 (1991); State v. Herrera, 176 Ariz. 9, 16, 859 P.2d 119, 126 (1993); Peña, 209 Ariz. 503, ¶ 12, 104 P.3d at 876.
¶ 19 Therefore, we must determine whether the “three or more acts in violation of § 13-1405, 13-1406 or 13-1410” required by § 13-1417 constitute elements of the offense or are merely the means by or the manner in which one commits the crime of continuous sexual abuse of a child. Citing Richardson v. United States, 526 U.S. 813, 119 S.Ct. 1707, 143 L.Ed.2d 985 (1999), Ramsey argues the “three or more acts” constitute elements of the crime. We find Ramsey’s reliance on Richardson for that proposition misplaced.
¶20 In Richardson, the Supreme Court held that, in order to convict a defendant under the federal continuing criminal enterprise (CCE) drug statute, 21 U.S.C. § 848, a jury must agree unanimously on the specific, underlying drug code violations that comprise the “continuing criminal enterprise.” 526 U.S. at 815, 119 S.Ct. at 1709, 143 L.Ed.2d at 991 (“That is to say, a jury in a federal criminal case brought under § 848 must unanimously agree not only that the defendant committed some ‘continuing series of violations’ but also that the defendant committed each of the individual ‘violations’ necessary to make up that ‘continuing series.’ ”). As the state points out, the Court in Richardson “was analyzing the federal right to a unanimous jury verdict, pursuant to the Due Process Clause, on each element of the crime under the United States Constitution.” See 526 U.S. at 817, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 992. In addition, the Court noted that, in state cases, it “ha[d] not held that the [federal] Constitution imposes a jury-unanimity requirement.” Id. at 821, 119 S.Ct. at 1712, 143 L.Ed.2d at 995; see also State v. Bishop, 144 Ariz. 521, 523 n. 4, 698 P.2d 1240, 1242 n. 4 (1985) (“Jury unanimity is a federal constitutional right not extended to the states through the doctrine of selected incorporation of the fourteenth amendment.”).
¶ 21 In view of Arizona’s own constitutional requirement of jury unanimity in criminal cases, however, we look to Richardson for helpful guidance in determining whether § 13-1417 violates article II, § 23 of the Arizona Constitution. See State v. Transon, 186 Ariz. 482, 485, 924 P.2d 486, 489 (App. 1996) (when “the language of the federal and state constitutional provisions [is] substantially similar, we will use the same standard to analyze both provisions”). The Court in Richardson framed the issue as
whether the [federal CCE] statute’s phrase “series of violations” refers to one element, namely a “series,” in respect to which the “violations” constitute the underlying brute facts or means, or whether those words create several elements, namely the several “violations,” in respect to each of which the jury must agree unanimously and separately.
526 U.S. at 817-18, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 992. In resolving that issue, the Court markedly differentiated “brute facts” from “elements,” noting that “a federal jury need not always decide unanimously which of several possible sets of underlying brute facts make up a particular element, say, which of several possible means the defendant used to commit an element of the crime.” Id. at 817, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 992. As the Court stated:
If the statute creates a single element, a “series,” in respect to which individual violations are but the means, then the jury need only agree that the defendant committed at least three of all the underlying crimes the Government has tried to prove. The jury need not agree about which three. On the other hand, if the statute makes each “violation” a separate element, then the jury must agree unanimously about which three crimes the defendant committed.
Id. at 818, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 992-93.
¶ 22 Because the federal CCE statute “does not explicitly [reveal] whether the individual violation is an element or a means,” id., the Court engaged in a statutory interpretation analysis and concluded that Congress had intended each violation to be treated as an element of the offense. Id. at 818-19, 119 S.Ct. at 1710-11, 143 L.Ed.2d at 993. The Court also addressed the “statute’s breadth,” noting that “[t]he statute’s word ‘violations’ covers many different kinds of behavior of varying degrees of seriousness” and could encompass “drug crimes contain[ed in] approximately 90 numbered [Federal Criminal Code] sections, many of which proscribe various acts that may be alleged as ‘violations’ for purposes of the series requirement in the statute.” Id. at 819, 119 S.Ct. at 1711, 143 L.Ed.2d at 993. Those considerations, including the statutory language and its “potential unfairness,” id. at 820, 119 S.Ct. at 1711, 143 L.Ed.2d at 994, led the Court “to conclude that the statute requires jury unanimity in respect to each individual ‘violation.’” Id. at 824, 119 S.Ct. at 1713, 143 L.Ed.2d at 997.
¶ 23 Employing Richardson’s analysis here leads us to uphold, not invalidate, § 13-1417. Unlike Richardson, this case does not involve statutory “language [that] may seem to permit [different] interpretation[s]” on the jury-unanimity question. Id. at 818, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 993. Section 13-1417(0 clearly states: “To convict a person of continuous sexual abuse of a child, the trier of fact shall unanimously agree that the requisite number of acts occurred. The trier of fact does not need to agree on which acts constitute the requisite number.” Thus, in contrast to the federal CCE statute, § 13-1417 “does ... explicitly tell us whether the individual violation is an element or a means.” Richardson, 526 U.S. at 818, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 993; see State v. Johnson, 243 Wis.2d 365, 627 N.W.2d 455, ¶ 14 (2001) (noting that, unlike the CCE statute at issue in Richardson, Wisconsin’s statute “is unambiguous as to the elements of the offense and the question of what the jury must be unanimous about before convicting a defendant of repeated sexual assault of the same child”).
¶ 24 In other words, under § 13-1417(0, the specific, individual “acts [that] constitute the requisite number” of predicate acts for purposes of § 13-1417(A) clearly “constitute the underlying brute facts or means” rather than “elements” of the crime on which “the jury must agree unanimously and separately.” Richardson, 526 U.S. at 817-18, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 992. Section 13-1417 singularly prohibits “continuous sexual abuse of a child” and, therefore, essentially “creates a single element, a ‘series,’ in respect to which individual violations are but the means.” 526 U.S. at 818, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 992. Accordingly, in prosecutions under § 13-1417, “the jury need only agree that the defendant committed at least three of all the underlying crimes the [state] has tried to prove.” 526 U.S. at 818, 119 S.Ct. at 1710, 143 L.Ed.2d at 992.
¶25 In addition, § 13-1417 does not give rise to the same types of concerns about statutory “breadth” and “dangers of unfairness” as were expressed in Richardson. Id. at 819, 119 S.Ct. at 1711, 143 L.Ed.2d at 993. “In Richardson there was insufficient moral equivalence and conceptual similarity in the 90 or so predicate drug crimes included within the ambit of the CCE to sustain an interpretation of the statute that would permit nonunanimity on the predicate acts.” Johnson, 627 N.W.2d 455, ¶ 26. By contrast, the predicate acts in § 13-1417(A) “are sufficiently equivalent to justify the legislature’s decision to dispense with unanimity on the predicate acts.” 627 N.W.2d 455, ¶ 26. Simply stated, “the risk of unfairness in dispensing with unanimity on the predicate acts under [§ 13-1417] is not present as it was in Richardson.” 627 N.W.2d 455, ¶ 26; see also id. ¶ 18 (“Lack of jury unanimity regarding the specific acts constituting the required minimum of three raises no concern about fundamental fairness under these circumstances.”).
¶ 26 In sum, Richardson is not only distinguishable from this case but also compatible with our conclusion that § 13-1417 does not violate the Arizona constitutional requirement of jury unanimity. Moreover, and significantly, the Court in Richardson distinguished “state statutes making criminal such crimes as sexual abuse of a minor.” 526 U.S. at 821, 119 S.Ct. at 1712, 143 L.Ed.2d at 995. Citing People v. Gear, 19 Cal.App.4th 86, 23 Cal.Rptr.2d 261 (1993), and other state cases, the Court recognized that “[s]tate courts interpreting such statutes [as § 13-1417] have sometimes permitted jury disagreement about a specific underlying criminal incident, insisting only upon proof of a continuous course of conduct in violation of the law.” 526 U.S. at 821, 119 S.Ct. at 1712, 143 L.Ed.2d at 995. In such cases, the Court noted, “[t]he state practice may well respond to special difficulties of proving individual underlying criminal acts.” Id.; see also State v. Sleeper, 150 N.H. 725, 846 A.2d 545, 550 (2004) (“[P]attern sexual assault statutes ‘respond to special difficulties’ and are unique.”), quoting Richardson, 526 U.S. at 821, 119 S.Ct. at 1712, 143 L.Ed.2d at 995; Jeffrey A. Sandquist, Continuous Child Sexual Abuse, 26 Ariz. St. L.J. 317, 318 (1994) (“Because of the duration of time over which the predicate offenses may occur and the regularity and frequency of the offenses, the victim often cannot distinguish the events of each offense.”). Those special difficulties, as well as the absence of various fairness concerns the Richardson Court cited, distinguish that case from this.
¶27 In addition, the language of § 13-1417 itself suggests that the requisite three acts do not constitute elements of the offense. The statute does not criminalize the underlying acts, but rather, incorporates the other statutes merely to define the acts that make up the continuous course of sexual abuse prohibited by § 13-1417. See Gear, 23 Cal.Rptr.2d at 266 (“ ‘The continuous-course-of-conduet crime does not require jury unanimity on a specific act, because it is not the specific act that is criminalized.’”), quoting People v. Jones, 51 Cal.3d 34, 270 Cal.Rptr. 611, 792 P.2d 643, 663-64 (1990) (Mosk, J., dissenting).
¶28 Thus, the actus reus of § 13-1417 is the pattern of sexual assaults — the continuous course of conduct — rather than each individual act, which would constitute a violation of one of the cited statutes if so charged. See Johnson, 627 N.W.2d 455, ¶¶ 14-15; see also Gear, 23 Cal.Rptr.2d at 266 (“[T]he actus reus of the crime is the course of conduct encompassing the individual acts of sexual conduct.”); Sleeper, 846 A.2d at 548 (in cases involving a continuous course of conduct, “the actus reus is a series of acts occurring over a substantial period of time, generally on the same victim and generally resulting in cumulative injury”). Section 13-1417 properly requires jury unanimity on its elements — a continuous course of sexual abuse as demonstrated by three or more acts in violation of one or more of the statutes referred to therein, over a period of three or more months. The jurors need not agree on which three acts constitute the course of conduct, as long as they unanimously agree that the defendant committed the requisite three acts. See Gear, 23 Cal.Rptr.2d at 266; Sleeper, 846 A.2d at 548; but see State v. Rabago, 103 Hawai'i 236, 81 P.3d 1151, 1168 (2003) (holding that multiple sexual acts against a child “are, by nature, separate and discrete and therefore may not form the basis of a ‘continuing offense” ’ and that jury must unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt which specific, predicate acts constituted the crime).
¶ 29 Ramsey’s constitutional challenges to § 13-1417 mirror those made to Wisconsin’s similar statute in Johnson. In finding the Wisconsin statute “not unconstitutional on unanimous verdict or due process grounds,” 627 N.W.2d 455, ¶ 27, the court in Johnson aptly stated:
It is clear from this [statutory] language that the predicate acts of sexual assault are not themselves elements of the offense, about which the jury must be unanimous before convicting the defendant. Rather, to convict under this statute, the jury need only unanimously agree that the defendant committed at least three acts of sexual assault of the same child within the specified time period. Where evidence of more than three acts is admitted, the jury need not unanimously agree about the underlying acts as long as it unanimously agrees that the defendant committed at least three.
In other words, it is the course of sexually assaultive conduct that constitutes the primary element of this offense, about which the jury must be unanimous ____ Unanimity is explicitly not required regarding the individual acts of sexual assault.
After all, the violations of the law about which the jury need not be unanimous under this statutory scheme all involve the sexual abuse of children, crimes of the same or similar nature and level of culpability. It is therefore not unfair or irrational to lift the requirement of jury unanimity as to the specific underlying acts as long as unanimity is required regarding the existence of the course of conduct, defined as at least three acts of sexual assault of the same child.
Id. ¶¶ 15, 16, 19. We agree with Johnson’s analysis and conclusions, which apply equally to § 13-1417.
¶ 30 In sum, Ramsey has not met his burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that § 13-1417 is unconstitutional. See State v. Padilla, 169 Ariz. 70, 71, 817 P.2d 15, 16 (App.1991); cf. State v. Tocco, 156 Ariz. 116, 119-20, 750 P.2d 874, 877-78 (1988) (upholding against vagueness challenge statutory definition of “criminal syndicate” in former A.R.S. § 13-2301(0(2), now (C)(4), in connection with criminalization of continuous course of conduct in A.R.S. § 13-2308). And, because the trial court properly stated the law, we find no error in the jury instructions it gave. See State v. Sucharew, 205 Ariz. 16, ¶ 33, 66 P.3d 59, 69 (App.2003) (appellate court will not reverse conviction unless jury instructions incorrectly stated law or would have misled jurors).
III. Evidence of incestuous stories
¶ 31 Ramsey also contends he was “denied a fair trial because the court admitted highly prejudicial evidence that was not relevant or admissible under Rule 404(b) or Rule 404(c),” Ariz. R. Evid., 17A A.R.S. Two incestuous stories were admitted at trial — one handwritten and the other a computer-generated print-out taken from the binder of printed stories found at Ramsey’s residence. In questioning prospective jurors during voir dire, defense counsel read a portion of another sexually explicit story in an attempt, according to Ramsey, “to innoculate the jury.” A vibrator and bottle of lubricant that Ramsey had given A. also were admitted. We review a trial court’s ruling on the admissibility of evidence for a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Tankersley, 191 Ariz. 359, ¶ 37, 956 P.2d 486, 496 (1998).
¶ 32 Much of Ramsey’s argument centers on the trial court’s rulings on the admissibility of evidence in a previous case against him, CR-20013448. He maintains that “[t]he trial court did not reach its ruling based solely on the proceedings” in this case and that “the court must consider the entire history on the [evidentiary] issues” because “[t]he two cases are inherently related.” But Ramsey does not cite any law for that proposition, nor are we aware of any. Because a trial court’s evidentiary rulings result from its exercise of discretion in a particular case, that certain evidence was not admitted in an entirely separate trial did not preclude it from being admitted at trial in this case. See State v. Davolt, 207 Ariz. 191, ¶ 60, 84 P.3d 456, 473 (2004); cf. Jimenez v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 206 Ariz. 424, ¶ 12, 79 P.3d 673, 676 (App.2003) (on retrial, parties may ‘“make new motions, raise new objections, and present additional evidence’”), quoting United States v. Tham, 960 F.2d 1391, 1397 n. 3 (9th Cir.1991). And, as the state points out, Ramsey had “a full opportunity to raise and brief issues regarding his trial” in the prior case, and any issues relating to that trial were addressed in our decision in that appeal. See State v. Ramsey, No. 2 CA-CR 2003-0367 (memorandum decision filed Aug. 31,2005).
1Í 33 Accordingly, irrespective of evidentiary rulings in a different case, we consider whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the stories, vibrator, and lubricant in this case. Relevant evidence generally is admissible unless it is otherwise precluded by “the Constitution of the United States, by the Constitution of Arizona or by applicable statutes or rules.” Ariz. R. Evid. 402, 17A A.R.S. Evidence is relevant if it “ha[s] any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Ariz. R. Evid. 401.
¶ 34 Citing his expert’s testimony, Ramsey argues the stories were irrelevant because “there is no correlation between molests and possession of pornography.” Although the expert testified that an interest in pornography does not “establish a causal relationship” with the propensity to commit child molestation, he also testified that “it is a link.” And he stated that he could not “testify to [Ramsey’s] specific pattern because there [was not] literature on [him] as an individual.” Thus, contrary to Ramsey’s assertions, the expert’s testimony did not show that possession of incestuous pornography is irrelevant to a person’s propensity to commit sexual crimes against a child. We agree with the state that the pornographic material was relevant to Ramsey’s “intent and motive to have a sexual relationship with [A.].” See Ariz. R. Evid. 404(b). Likewise, the material and the lubricant and vibrator were probative of A.’s credibility and supported her testimony that Ramsey had read one of the stories to her.
¶35 Although the state relied on Rule 404(b), the trial court also admitted the stories under Rule 404(c), which allows admission of other act evidence “if relevant to show that the defendant had a character trait giving rise to an aberrant sexual propensity to commit the offense charged.” Under Rule 404(e)(1), however, the court must first specifically find the following:
(A) The evidence is sufficient to permit the trier of fact to find that the defendant committed the other act.
(B) The commission of the other act provides a reasonable basis to infer that the defendant had a character trait giving rise to an aberrant sexual propensity to commit the crime charged.
(C) The evidentiary value of proof of the other act is not substantially outweighed by danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of issues, or other factors mentioned in Rule 403.
The trial court made specific findings on each of those points, and the evidence supports each of those findings. We need not address Ramsey’s unsupported argument that the court “was without authority or jurisdiction” to render a ruling under Rule 404(e) because the state had not sought to admit the evidence under that rule. See Ariz. R.Crim. P. 31.13(c)(l)(vi). The trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding the evidence admissible under Rule 404(c).
¶ 36 Relevant evidence, however, may be excluded if “its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury.” Ariz. R. Evid. 403. Ramsey argues that “[a]ny probative value of... these items was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.” He also maintains “the court established the stories [were] unfairly prejudicial” in his previous trial. As discussed above, however, we evaluate the evidentiary rulings in this case separately and without regard to rulings in Ramsey’s prior case. And, viewing “the evidence in the light most favorable to its proponent,” as we must, we cannot say the probative value of this evidence was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. State v. Castro, 163 Ariz. 465, 473, 788 P.2d 1216, 1224 (App.1989). In sum, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s evidentiary rulings. See Tankersley, 191 Ariz. 359, ¶ 37, 956 P.2d at 496.
IV. Motion for change of judge
¶ 37 Ramsey argues he “was denied a fair trial because of the bias of the judge.” In July 2003, before trial, Ramsey moved for a change of judge for cause pursuant to Rule 10.1, Ariz. R.Crim. P., 16A A.R.S. A different judge denied that motion as untimely. Later, at trial, Ramsey objected to A.’s reading from a transcript after she had said her memory had been refreshed by it. A bench conference ensued, during which the following exchange took place:
THE COURT: All right, we’re dealing with a child victim who’s obviously very nervous about her testimony and about events that happened a long time ago. If she looks at the transcript and indicates it refreshes her memory and has to glance down to help her with her testimony, I’m going to allow her to do that, but I’ll allow it with you, too. I think that’s the only way to do it because of the difficulty any child witness who’s testifying against her father in a child sexual abuse case—
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Well, I understand what you’re saying. Obviously I accept the ruling. Two things, though, one is you are assuming she is a victim and we don’t know that.
THE COURT: Well, based upon having sat through her testimony previous times, yes, you’re correct, I’m assuming that.
Alleging judicial bias, Ramsey moved for a mistrial and change of judge. The trial court denied the motion. Ramsey now claims the court’s “slip of the tongue” reference to A. as a “victim” during the bench conference “clearly establishes that the trial judge had formed a predisposition or opinion that [Ramsey] was guilty of a criminal act ... sometime prior to or during [his] trial.” We review a trial court’s ruling on claims of judicial bias for an abuse of discretion. State v. Schackart, 190 Ariz. 238, 257, 947 P.2d 315, 334 (1997).
¶ 38 “A trial judge is presumed to be free of bias and prejudice,” and a defendant must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the trial judge was, in fact, biased. State v. Hurley, 197 Ariz. 400, ¶ 24, 4 P.3d 455, 459 (App.2000). Ramsey has not produced sufficient evidence to rebut this presumption of judicial impartiality.
“[0]pinions formed by the judge on the basis of facts introduced or events occurring in the course of the current proceedings, or of prior proceedings, do not constitute a basis for a bias or partiality motion unless they display a deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.”
State v. Henry, 189 Ariz. 542, 546, 944 P.2d 57, 61 (1997), quoting Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 555-56, 114 S.Ct. 1147, 1157, 127 L.Ed.2d 474, 491 (1994). The trial court’s statement that A. was a victim was based not only on testimony to that effect in the prior trial, over which the same judge had presided, but also on Ramsey’s conviction in that very case for furnishing obscene or harmful items to A. Ramsey, No. 2 CA-CR 2003-0367. Thus, the court’s reference to A. as a victim was well grounded and did not necessarily demonstrate bias. Because Ramsey failed to meet his burden of showing prejudice, see Hurley, 197 Ariz. 400, ¶ 24, 4 P.3d at 459, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying his motion for a change of judge or his motion for a mistrial based on judicial bias.
Y. Motion for judgment of acquittal
¶ 39 Ramsey also argues the trial court erred “by denying [his] Rule 20[, Ariz. R.Crim. P., 17 A.R.S.,] motion for judgment of acquittal.” According to Ramsey, although § 13-1417 defines continuous sexual abuse as “engaging] in three or more acts in violation of § 13-1405, 13-1406 or 13-1410” over a period of three months or more, “[t]he State had only shown two instances of alleged sexual contact, one of which was outside the indictment period.” And, he maintains, the state “failed to prove a time period of three months or more.”
¶ 40 In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion for judgment of acquittal, “we view the evidence in the light most favorable to supporting the verdict and will reverse only if there is a complete absence of ‘substantial evidence’ to support the conviction.” State v. Sullivan, 187 Ariz. 599, 603, 931 P.2d 1109, 1113 (App.1996), quoting Ariz. R.Crim. P. 20. Substantial evidence is evidence that reasonable jurors “could accept as sufficient to support a guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Davolt, 207 Ariz. 191, ¶ 87, 84 P.3d 456, 477 (2004). We consider evidence substantial if reasonable persons could differ on whether it establishes a fact in issue. Id.
¶ 41 At trial, A. testified that the first time Ramsey had touched her breasts or vagina was while the family lived in the first or second house in a certain subdivision. S. testified that the family had moved into the first house in that subdivision in March 1999 and had lived there until November 1999. Ramsey testified he had sprained his ankle in April 1999 and, as a result, had not slept in the couple’s bed, where A. alleged most of the abuse had occurred, from then until approximately July 7. Ramsey and S. separated in November 1999, and during the period of separation, he did not sexually abuse A. But, when the couple reunited in May or June of 2000, Ramsey continued to touch A.’s vaginal area. The family moved into the second home in the subdivision in June 2000 and lived there until January 2001. Thus, contrary to Ramsey’s assertions, the state presented evidence of two separate time periods longer than three months when Ramsey was at home and apparently sleeping in the bed where A. testified the touching had occurred.
¶42 Additionally, A. testified that, while the family had lived in the subdivision, the touching had occurred “over and over again.” A. also described how she had gone into her parents’ bedroom when she had nightmares. A. and S. testified those nightmares had occurred approximately once a week over a period of a year and a half, but A. also acknowledged that she had told detectives she had had the nightmares from ages “eight to twelve.” A. testified that, while she was in her parents’ bed, her father would touch her vagina, breasts, and buttocks. And, of the many times she had gone into their bedroom, A. said there was only “once that it didn’t happen.” A. also testified about a specific incident in which Ramsey had put his finger in her vagina while the family lived in the subdivision.
¶ 43 As explained above, the jury was not required to unanimously agree which three acts constituted the underlying acts required by § 13-1417. See ¶¶ 16-30, supra. Therefore, the jury could have relied on A.’s testimony that her father had touched her breasts and vagina “over and over” to find that Ramsey had committed three or more acts as required by the statute. Because reasonable minds could differ on whether this evidence established the time span and number of incidents, we find it was substantial. See Davolt, 207 Ariz. 191, ¶ 87, 84 P.3d at 477.
¶ 44 Citing People v. Jones, 51 Cal.3d 34, 270 Cal.Rptr. 611, 792 P.2d 643 (1990), Ramsey argues that A.’s testimony was “broadly generic” and that “certain factors [that] must be present” were not. But, in Jones, the court stated: “Does the victim’s failure to specify precise date, time, place or circumstance render generic testimony insufficient? Clearly not.” Id. 270 Cal.Rptr. 611, 792 P.2d at 655. The court held that a child must describe the kinds of acts committed, the number of acts (“e.g., ‘twice a month’ or ‘every time we-went camping’”), and the general time period. Id. Thus, even if we were bound or persuaded by Jones, A.’s testimony clearly met its standard. In sum, because the record contains substantial evidence to support Ramsey’s conviction, we find no error in the trial court’s denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal. See Sullivan, 187 Ariz. at 603, 931 P.2d at 1113.
YI. Sentencing issues
¶45 Ramsey lastly argues the trial court “violated the holding of Blakely v. Washington [, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004) ],” by considering aggravating factors in sentencing him. The court, however, sentenced Ramsey to a presumptive, twenty-year prison term. See A.R.S. § 13-604.01(C). As this court stated in State v. Johnson, 210 Ariz. 438, ¶ 12, 111 P.3d 1038, 1042 (App.2005), “no constitutional violation occurs if the ultimate sentence falls within the range authorized by the jury verdict alone.” “[U]nder Arizona law, the statutory maximum sentence for [Blakely ] purposes in a case in which no aggravating factors have been proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt is the presumptive sentence.” State v. Martinez, 210 Ariz. 578, ¶ 17, 115 P.3d 618, 623 (2005); see also A.R.S. §§ 13-701(0), 13-702(A); State v. Brown, 209 Ariz. 200, ¶ 12, 99 P.3d 15, 18 (2004). Thus, because the trial court imposed a presumptive term, which does not exceed the statutory maximum, it did not violate Ramsey’s Sixth Amendment rights under Blakely. See Johnson, 210 Ariz. 438, ¶ 10, 111 P.3d at 1041; State v. Miranda-Cabrera, 209 Ariz. 220, ¶ 32, 99 P.3d 35, 42 (App.2004).
DISPOSITION
¶ 46 Ramsey’s conviction and sentence are affirmed.
Concurring: PHILIP G. ESPINOSA, Presiding Judge and PETER J. ECKERSTROM, Judge.
. See also Wong Tai v. United States, 273 U.S. 77, 80-81, 47 S.Ct. 300, 301, 71 L.Ed. 545, 547 (1927) (valid indictment "shall advise the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation in order that he may meet it and prepare for trial, and after judgment, be able to plead the record and judgment in bar of a further prosecution for the same offense”); State v. Davis, 206 Ariz. 377, ¶ 54, 79 P.3d 64, 76 (2003); State v. Tison, 129 Ariz. 526, 538, 633 P.2d 335, 347 (1981) (defendant has fundamental right to reasonable notice of specific charge); State v. O'Brien, 123 Ariz. 578, 583, 601 P.2d 341, 346 (App. 1979) (duplicitous charges prohibited in order to give defendant notice and to avoid "consequences of the inability of the jury to indicate which way they are voting on each of the charges”).
. Ramsey’s jury-unanimity arguments in relation to the alleged duplicity of the indictment against him mirror those in his separate argument on the constitutionality of the statute. We therefore address those arguments below. See ¶¶ 16-30, infra.
. See also State v. Jones, 188 Ariz. 534, 544, 937 P.2d 1182, 1192 (App.1996) (”[a]ny defect in the dates alleged in the indictment ... could not have prejudiced [the defendant’s] defense” when “his sole defense was that [the victim] was lying”); State v. Hamilton, 177 Ariz. 403, 410, 868 P.2d 986, 993 (App.1993) (”[I]n order to prevail on an arguably duplicitous indictment, defendant must demonstrate that he was actually prejudiced thereby.”).
. See State v. Cameron, 185 Ariz. 467, 469, 916 P.2d 1183, 1185 (App.1996) (Arizona courts are not bound by decisions from other jurisdictions).
. Our primary purpose in interpreting statutes is to discern the legislature's intent. State v. Moer-man, 182 Ariz. 255, 260, 895 P.2d 1018, 1023 (App.1994). In enacting A.R.S. § 13-1417, the Arizona legislature clearly sought to criminalize a continuous course of conduct rather than specific acts. See Continuous Child Sexual Abuse: Minutes from Hearing on S.B. 1028 before the House Comm, on Judiciary, 41st Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Mar. 11, 1993); Ariz. H.R. B. Summ, 1993 Reg. Sess. S.B. 1028, 1993. Because the language of § 13-1417 is clear, however, we need not probe its legislative history. See State v. Riggs, 189 Ariz. 327, 333, 942 P.2d 1159, 1165 (1997); see also State v. Sepahi, 206 Ariz. 321, ¶¶ 15-16, 78 P.3d 732, 735 (2003) (courts may not “amend[][a] statute to require proof of elements not set forth by the legislature,” and "[i]n the end, a statute’s language is the most reliable index of its meaning").
. Ramsey also contends generally, without supporting argument, that A.R.S. § 13-1417 and the trial court's denial of a unanimity jury instruction for the three or more predicate violations of A.R.S. §§ 13-1405, 13-1406, or 13-1410 violated his right to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and article II, § 4 of the Arizona Constitution. Ramsey has waived any due process issues, however, by failing to raise them below. See State v. Spreitz, 190 Ariz. 129, 145, 945 P.2d 1260, 1276 (1997). And he has not argued, much less carried his burden to establish, fundamental error on those claims. See State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d 601, 607 (2005). But, even had Ramsey preserved the argument, we agree with those courts that have rejected due process challenges to similar continuous-course statutes such as § 13-1417. See People v. Gear, 19 Cal.App.4th 86, 23 Cal.Rptr.2d 261, 267-68 (1993); State v. Sleeper, 150 N.H. 725, 846 A.2d 545, 550-51 (2004); State v. Johnson, 243 Wis.2d 365, 627 N.W.2d 455, ¶¶ 22-28 (2001); but see State v. Rabago, 103 Hawai'i 236, 81 P.3d 1151, 1169 (2003) (finding Hawaii’s continuous-course statute “unconstitutional violation of a defendant’s right to due process of law”).
. Citing State v. Hardwick, 183 Ariz. 649, 656-57, 905 P.2d 1384, 1391-92 (App.1995), Ramsey also argues the trial court violated his constitutional rights by citing his lack of remorse as an aggravating factor. In view of the number of additional aggravating factors the trial court cited and the court’s imposition of a presumptive sentence, "the record clearly shows the trial court would have reached the same result even without consideration of the [arguably] improper factor[].” State v. Ojeda, 159 Ariz. 560, 562, 769 P.2d 1006, 1008 (1989). Therefore, Ramsey has not established a basis for overturning his sentence.
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OPINION
HOWARD, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 Appellant William Wilson challenges the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to his homeowners’ association, appellee Pla-ya de Serrano, in his declaratory judgment action. He claims the trial court erred in finding that Playa de Serrano’s bylaws amendment was sufficient to impose a requirement that his townhouse be occupied by a person fifty-five years of age or older. Because we find Playa de Serrano lacked the contractual right to impose this restriction on Wilson’s townhouse, we reverse the judgment.
¶ 2 When reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we view the evidence and reasonable inferences from it in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Link v. Pima County, 193 Ariz. 336, ¶ 12, 972 P.2d 669, 673 (App.1998). The Playa de Serrano subdivision was established in 1969. Its declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions (the Declaration) provides that each purchaser will receive a deed to an individual townhouse and that an association will own and control the common areas. It also states that it shall be “known as Playa de Serrano, an adult townhouse development.” At best, therefore, minors were not permitted to live in Playa de Serrano until Congress enacted the Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (FHAA). Pub.L. No. 100-430, 102 Stat. 1619 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 through 3631). The FHAA prohibited discrimination based on familial status unless the community fell within one of three exemptions. Pub.L. No. 100 — 430, § 6(b), 102 Stat. 1619, 1622. One such exemption allowed familial discrimination by communities that provided “housing for older persons” if each lot in the community was intended to be occupied by at least one person over the age of fifty-five. Pub.L. No. 100-430, § 6(d)(2), 102 Stat. 1619, 1623. A community qualified as “housing for older persons” if it had “significant facilities” designed to meet older persons’ needs, at least eighty percent of its lots were occupied by someone fifty-five or older, and the community published and adhered to policies and procedures demonstrating its intent to be an over fifty-five community. Id.
¶ 3 Five years after Congress passed the FHAA, Wilson and his mother purchased a townhouse in Playa de Serrano. She subsequently transferred her interest to him. In 1995, Congress amended the FHAA by enacting the Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA). Pub.L. No. 104-76, 109 Stat. 787 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 3607(b)(2)(C)). HOPA eliminated the “significant facilities requirement” from the FHAA, thereby making it easier for Playa de Serrano to meet the requirements necessary to fit within an FHAA exemption. Id.
¶ 4 In 2002, Playa de Serrano’s owners attempted to comply with HOPA by passing an amendment to its bylaws by a vote of twenty-five to six. The amended bylaws declared that Playa de Serrano was intended to be an age-restricted community, imposed that restriction, and provided means for its Board to verify that the restriction was being met. Playa de Serrano displayed a sign stating it was an age-restricted community, informed real estate salespersons of the age restriction, and interviewed prospective purchasers to verify their age. After a complaint was filed against Playa de Serrano, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) investigated and determined that the restrictions complied with HOPA.
¶ 5 Wilson sued Playa de Serrano in 2004 seeking both a declaratory judgment that the restriction was invalid and injunctive relief. Wilson then moved for summary judgment, and Playa de Serrano filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. The trial court found that Playa de Serrano complied with HOPA and, therefore, that the restriction was valid. The court accordingly denied Wilson’s motion and granted Playa de Serrano’s cross-motion.
¶ 6 Wilson argues the trial court erred by granting summary judgment against him, claiming Playa de Serrano’s 2002 attempt to form a legal age-restricted community was inadequate. He asserts that, although the Declaration states that Playa de Serrano is “an adult” community, it does not purport to restrict occupancy to persons at least fifty-five years of age. Thus, he reasons, the 2002 amended bylaws were insufficient to create an enforceable deed restriction limiting the age of the community’s occupants to fifty-five and older. We review de novo the propriety of summary judgment. Link, 193 Ariz. 336, ¶ 12, 972 P.2d at 673. We also interpret deed restrictions de novo. Johnson v. The Pointe Cmty. Ass’n, Inc., 205 Ariz. 485, ¶ 23, 73 P.3d 616, 621 (App.2003).
¶ 7 Deed restrictions constitute “ ‘a contract between the subdivision’s property owners as a whole and the individual lot owners.” ’ Horton v. Mitchell, 200 Ariz. 523, ¶ 8, 29 P.3d 870, 872 (App.2001), quoting Ariz. Biltmore Estates Ass’n v. Tezak, 177 Ariz. 447, 448, 868 P.2d 1030, 1031 (App. 1993). A lot owner is bound by the deed restrictions incorporated into his or her deed. See Johnson, 205 Ariz. 485, ¶ 23, 73 P.3d at 620; Hueg v. Sunburst Farms (Glendale) Mut. Water & Agric. Co., 122 Ariz. 284, 288, 594 P.2d 538, 542 (App.1979). The parties did not find any Arizona authority directly deciding the issue Wilson raises. But, generally, to impose a restriction on a lot owner’s use of the lot, the restriction must appear in the recorded declarations. See Shamrock v. Wagon Wheel Park Homeowners Ass’n, 206 Ariz. 42, ¶ 14, 75 P.3d 132, 135 (App.2003). If the recorded declaration does not contain or at least provide for later adoption of a particular restriction or requirement, that restriction or requirement is invalid. See id. at ¶ 15.
¶ 8 Playa de Serrano cites the Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes (2000) as authority for the proposition that it had the power to restrict the occupancy of the townhouses by amending its bylaws. But the portions of the Restatement Playa de Serrano cites are directed to the use and maintenance of common areas in common interest communities. See Restatement § 6.4 cmt. a. Section 6.7(3) of the Restatement, on the other hand, states that a common interest association does not have inherent authority to restrict occupancy of its lots, providing:
Absent specific authorization in the declaration, the common-interest community does not have the power to adopt rules, other than those [designed to protect the common property], that restrict the use or occupancy of, or behavior within, individually owned lots or units.
Therefore, rather than supporting Playa de Serrano’s position, the Restatement actually directly supports Wilson’s. Moreover, we conclude that Restatement § 6.7(3) is consistent with Shamrock and other Arizona law on the subject. See Shamrock, 206 Ariz. 42, 1115, 75 P.3d at 136. Consequently, absent a specific authorization in the Declaration, neither the Board nor a majority of the owners in Playa de Serrano has authority to restrict occupancy in the subdivision to persons fifty-five years of age or older.
¶ 9 The Declaration does not expressly restrict occupancy to persons of fifty-five years of age or older. Nor does it expressly grant the Board the power to impose such a restriction. Although the language of the Declaration does allocate certain powers to the association and its board, these powers are largely limited to constructing, managing, and maintaining the common areas, which we assume it owns, and enforcing the other rights and restrictions contained in the Declaration.
¶ 10 Nevertheless, Playa de Serrano argues that, because the 1969 Declaration gave the association the power to adopt “rules and regulations governing the properties in accordance with the bylaws,” it had authority to implement the occupancy restriction. In the absence of extrinsic evidence, we interpret declarations containing restrictive covenants as a matter of law. Johnson, 205 Ariz. 485, ¶ 23, 73 P.3d at 621. When interpreting a declaration containing restrictive covenants, we give its words their ordinary meaning, the best evidence of which is the words themselves. Duffy v. Sunburst Farms E. Mut. Water & Agric. Co., 124 Ariz. 413, 416, 604 P.2d 1124, 1127 (1979). Clear and unambiguous restrictive covenants are thus enforced according to their express terms. Id. at 416-17, 604 P.2d at 1127-28. But, when there is any ambiguity “in [the] terms of the restrictive covenant or [the] intent of the parties,” we resolve it “against the restriction” and “ ‘in favor of the free use and enjoyment of the property.’ ” Id. at 417, 604 P.2d at 1128, quoting Grossman v. Hatley, 21 Ariz.App. 581, 583, 522 P.2d 46, 48 (1974).
¶ 11 The statutes governing horizontal property regimes and condominiums provide some guidance concerning the ordinary meaning of the word “regulation” in similar contexts. Under former A.R.S. § 33-561, which pertained to horizontal property regimes and was in effect at the time Playa de Serrano was formed, the council of co-owners was required to provide for the “maintenance of the common elements, ... assessment of expenses, payment of losses, division of profits, disposition of hazard insurance proceeds and similar matters and ... to adopt bylaws, rules and regulations.” 1962 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 89, § 1; repealed, 1985 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 192, § 1. The delegation of authority pertained to the common elements and the housekeeping requirements of the regime. Id. It did not provide for a regulation concerning a restriction in the occupancy of units. Id.
¶ 12 Under current A.R.S. § 33-1242, which governs condominiums, a unit owners’ association has many powers. These include adopting bylaws, rules, and budgets; hiring and firing agents; suing and being sued; making contracts and incurring liabilities; “regulating] the use, maintenance, repair, replacement and modification of common elements”; owning and making improvements to the common elements; receiving payments for the common elements; and imposing penalties. But, like the powers of the council of co-owners, a unit owners’ association’s ability to adopt these “regulations” pertains to the use of the common elements defined in A.R.S. § 33-1212. § 33-1242; see also former § 33-561. None of the powers relates to a fundamental change in the occupancy of the units. § 33-1242. Additionally, “bylaws” typically pertain to internal corporate governance. A.R.S. § 10-206.
¶ 13 Finally, the 2002 amendment to the bylaws, which included the restriction on occupancy, provides that the Board shall adopt “rules and regulations” “for the use of, and conduct in, the common areas.” Consistent with the statutes discussed above, this language extends the Board’s power only to matters involving the common areas and does not include the ability to restrict the occupancy of the townhouses. Finally, Playa de Serrano has not offered any evidence or authority that “regulation” would encompass such a restriction. Therefore, we conclude the term “regulation” is not a “specific au thorization” to impose an occupancy restriction.
¶ 14 Playa de Serrano, however, further relies on the language in the Declaration referring to itself as an “adult townhouse development” to support its position that the Declaration contemplated that the development would be an age-restricted community. At the time Playa de Serrano was established, a person over the age of majority was someone at least twenty-one years of age. See former A.R.S. § 8-101, 1970 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 205, § 2; amended by 1972 Ariz. Sess. Laws, eh. 142, § 3, and ch. 146, § 9; former A.R.S. § 1-215, 1959 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 65, § 1. Thus, although the Declaration’s language might have been sufficient to restrict the ownership and occupancy of a townhouse to persons over the age of twenty-one, it still would have allowed persons less than fifty-five years of age to occupy the townhouses. See id. Therefore, the Declaration’s language does not infer an intent to restrict occupancy to those over fifty-five years of age. Additionally, we note that Congress declared that covenants restricting occupancy to adults are discriminatory and illegal in 1988 when it passed the FHAA. 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 through 3631. Accordingly, the “adult townhouse” provision does not help Playa de Serrano establish an over fifty-five community. See Massaro v. Mainlands Section 1 & 2 Civic Ass’n, 3 F.3d 1472, 1482 (11th Cir.1993) (adult restriction does not establish compliance with FHAA); Westwood Cmty. Two Ass’n v. Lewis, 687 So.2d 296, 298 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1997) (same).
¶ 15 At oral argument, Playa de Serrano contended that paragraph 26 of the Declaration provided the owners the ability to restrict occupancy of the townhouse units to persons fifty-five years of age or older. But paragraph 26 merely imposes a right of first refusal in favor of the co-owners if an owner desires to sell a townhouse. That right is not tied in any way to either occupancy or an age restriction. Playa de Serrano also contended that the Declaration conveyed any powers “reasonably related” to the authority specifically granted in the Declaration to the association. It admitted, however, that no Arizona authority supports this assertion in this context. Even assuming there was support for its proposition, we conclude that the authority to restrict occupancy of the townhouse units is not reasonably related to the powers granted to the association in the Declaration, which pertain to common areas, enforcing other restrictions, and corporate governance.
¶ 16 We conclude, therefore, that the Declaration does not specifically authorize either the Board or a majority of the owners to impose an occupancy restriction, as the Restatement § 6.7(3) requires. We further conclude that a general provision that the owners may adopt regulations does not constitute a specific authorization for the Board or a majority of the owners to restrict occupancy of a dwelling. We agree with the Restatement that such a fundamental restriction of the individual owners’ expected property rights must be set forth in the Declaration with sufficient specificity that purchasers are on notice that the occupancy of their property could be severely restricted. See id. Absent such a clear statement, we will construe the Declaration “against the restriction” and “‘in favor of the free use and enjoyment of the property.’” Duffy, 124 Ariz. at 416, 604 P.2d at 1127, quoting Grossman, 21 Ariz.App. at 583, 522 P.2d at 48.
¶ 17 Playa de Serrano argues, however, that the “FHAA gave the Association the power to declare its intent to discriminate against families with children” and that it complied with all the requirements of the FHAA and HOPA. Based on this assertion, Playa de Serrano concludes, and the trial court found, that the restriction the Association added to its bylaws is valid.
¶ 18 Playa de Serrano’s argument is fatally flawed. Its compliance with HOPA merely establishes that it would not act illegally by enforcing an age restriction; such compliance does not mean, however, that it has the contractual authority or right to impose that requirement on its members in the first instance. As we have found above, it did not. Therefore, the trial court erred by concluding that compliance with HOPA validated the age restriction.
¶ 19 The authority Playa de Serrano cites does not require a different result. It relies on O’Buck v. Cottonwood Village Condomini- urn Ass’n, 750 P.2d 813 (Alaska 1988), to support its position that the Declaration gave its Board authority to adopt the occupancy regulation. The court in O’Buck held a board’s enactment of rules that did not contravene express provisions of the association’s declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions or rights reasonably inferred from the declaration were valid and within the scope of its authority. Id. at 815. But O’Buck is factually distinguishable from this case. First, the board in O’Buck had enacted regulations that governed a condominium community, which Playa de Serrano adamantly asserted at oral argument it is not. Second, the residents in O’Buck sought to install television antennas on their roofs, which were part of the common area of the community. Id. at 814. The court relied on the declaration’s grant to the board of specific authority to adopt rules and regulations concerning the common areas. Id. at 815. The declaration further allowed the board to regulate anything affecting the exterior appearance of any unit. Id. Here, common area use or occupancy is not implicated by the bylaw amendment but, rather, the occupancy of the individual townhouses. And the Declaration here does not specifically grant the Board the right to control the occupancy of the townhouses.
¶ 20 Because the Declaration does not provide that the subdivision shall be limited to older-person housing, the amendment to the bylaws was insufficient to impose this age restriction. Therefore, the trial court’s judgment is reversed, and this matter is remanded to the trial court for entry of judgment in favor of Wilson, including awarding him reasonable attorney fees. Wilson is awarded attorney fees on appeal upon his compliance with Rule 21, Ariz. R. Civ.App. P., 17B A.R.S.
J. WILLIAM BRAMMER, Jr. and PETER J. ECKERSTROM, JJ., concurs.
. Arizona's Fair Housing Act is similar to the federal act. Neither party makes any separate argument concerning it. See A.R.S. §§ 41-1491 through 41-1491.35.
. The copy of the Declaration in the record does not contain a proper signature and notary’s acknowledgment. See A.R.S. § 33-416. Additionally, the parties have not provided this court documents connecting Playa de Serrano Townhouses, Inc., which adopted the restated bylaws, to real property. We do not determine whether the Declaration or the bylaws are valid.
. We express no opinion on the validity of the restriction if the vote had been unanimous. But see Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes, § 6.10(3) (2000).
. Preliminarily, we note that the Declaration actually provides that the "council of co-owners shall have the right to adopt regulations in accordance with the by-laws adopted by the council for the regulation and operation of the regime.” (Emphasis added.) But, because Wilson has not argued that any amendment to the bylaws is invalid because it was not adopted by the council of co-owners, we presume that the owners who voted on the amended bylaws are the present equivalent of the council of co-owners. Therefore, we conclude the owners of Playa de Serrano townhouses are allowed to adopt "regulations ... in accordance with the by-laws ... for the regulation and operation of the regime,” as the Declaration provides.
. The parties agree that this development is not governed by these statutes, an agreement we accept for purposes of this opinion.
. Because we have decided this case in Wilson’s favor, we need not address his argument that the bylaws amendment constitutes an improper restraint on alienation.
|
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OPINION
FLÓREZ, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 Sarah Wertheim, the widow of Carter Wertheim and the personal representative of his estate, brought this wrongful death action against Pima County and Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik (collectively, the County) and the City of Tucson. The trial court granted defendants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law following Wertheim’s presentation of evidence at trial. She appeals. We review the court’s ruling de novo to determine whether the evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom, viewed in the light most favorable to Wertheim, demonstrate that no material issues of fact existed and that the County and the City were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Crackel v. Allstate Ins. Co., 208 Ariz. 252, 92 P.3d 882 (App.2004). We affirm.
¶ 2 Wertheim presented the following evidence. On July 29, 2001, Kenneth Dillard shot and killed Carter Wertheim at the home of Dillard’s estranged wife, Shari Dillard, and then killed himself. Kenneth Dillard was a Tucson Police Department (TPD) detective assigned to the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Trafficking Interdiction Squad (MANTIS) and was supervised by both TPD and the Pima County Sheriffs Department (PCSD). Dillard’s immediate supervisor was TPD Sergeant Robert Martin. In the MANTIS chain of command, Martin reported to PCSD Lieutenant Ron Benson, and Benson reported to MANTIS commander and TPD Captain Robert Shoun. Dillard was not on duty at the time of the shooting, but he shot Carter with a gun he used as his primary on-duty weapon. The gun was not a TPD-issued weapon but was Dillard’s personal property that he had purchased and that TPD had approved for Dillard to use on duty.
¶ 3 On May 27, 2001, approximately two months before the shooting, Dillard had entered the Wertheims’ residence in the middle of the night and had found his wife and Carter asleep in bed together. Dillard confronted the two. He yelled and screamed at the couple and then struck himself violently over the head with a large, heavy flashlight, causing himself serious injury. After PCSD responded to Shari’s 911 call, Dillard was taken to a hospital for emergency medical treatment and then was voluntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
¶4 PCSD reported the incident to TPD, and TPD ordered Dillard to undergo a fitness-for-duty evaluation. When Dillard was released from the psychiatric hospital, TPD granted him leave from work, and he spent, approximately four weeks with family members out of state. When he returned, TPD placed Dillard on limited duty pending the outcome of the evaluation. No criminal charges were pursued against Dillard as a result of the May 27 incident.
¶ 5 On July 13, 2001, Shari was granted an order of protection against Dillard. On the same day, Carter was granted an injunction from harassment by Dillard. The order of protection, if served, would have required Dillard to “not possess, receive and/or purchase firearms.” The injunction was served on Dillard; the order of protection was not.
¶ 6 On Sunday, July 15, Shari contacted Lieutenant Benson and asked for his “assistance in serving” the order of protection. She also apparently told Benson that Dillard had been stalking her. Benson did not question Shari about the details of the order and did not request or obtain a copy of it, but he told her that he “would help her to the extent [he] could.” Benson then contacted Sergeant Martin and asked if TPD procedures required Dillard to “stay at one place” until the process server arrived or if TPD was obligated to assist Shari in having the order served on Dillard. Martin told Benson no such policy or obligation existed, and Benson did nothing else about the order.
¶ 7 After the May 27 incident, PCSD had given Dillard’s gun to TPD along with other items deputies had collected from Dillard’s MANTIS vehicle that night. Dillard’s gun remained in TPD’s possession until sometime during the week of July 16 through 20 when Sergeant Martin returned it to Dillard at his request. Dillard told Martin he needed the gun because, although he was assigned to desk duty, he was driving to and from work daily in his MANTIS vehicle. Martin explained to the jury that police officers are required to be armed while on duty and are “required to intervene” if they observe a felony being committed or some other “incident.” Martin conferred with Lieutenant Benson and Captain Shoun about returning Dillard’s gun; neither voiced an objection. Martin returned the gun even though the fitness-for-duty evaluation had not been completed and even though the psychologist who was to conduct the evaluation told the TPD psychologist on July 18 that Dillard should not be given his weapon until the evaluation was completed. As noted above, Dillard used the gun to kill Carter and himself on July 29.
¶ 8 Wertheim asserts that the trial court erred in granting the motion for judgment as a matter of law, arguing the jury could reasonably have concluded, based on these facts and reasonable inferences therefrom, that the City and the County had negligently investigated the circumstances that had triggered TPD’s decision to conduct the fitness-for-duty evaluation and the facts underlying Shari’s order of protection; that Dillard’s supervisors had failed to recognize and/or pursue Dillard’s criminal conduct and the domestic violence issues Wertheim asserts should have been apparent in the situation; and that, therefore, they had failed to comprehend the risk Dillard had posed to Carter and had negligently returned Dillard’s gun to him. Wertheim further asserts that TPD’s negligence in returning Dillard’s gun to him was a proximate cause of Carter’s death.
¶ 9 “The basic elements of actionable negligence are a duty owed to the plaintiff, a breach thereof and an injury proximately caused by the breach.” Ballesteros v. State, 161 Ariz. 625, 627, 780 P.2d 458, 460 (App. 1989). The trial court granted judgment as a matter of law on the element of causation. It concluded that, “at best, the probabilities [that the defendants had or had not caused Carter’s death] are evenly balanced.” Thus, although the court recognized that causation is generally a question of fact, it concluded a reasonable jury could not have found causation here by a preponderance of the evidence.
¶ 10 We may affirm a trial court’s ruling if it is correct for any reason. Glaze v. Marcus, 151 Adz. 538, 729 P.2d 342 (App. 1986). We need not reach the issue of causation, because we conclude that the County and City owed no duty to Carter. “Whether a legal duty exists is a question of law that we review de novo.” Clark v. New Magma Irrigation & Drainage Dist., 208 Ariz. 246, ¶ 8, 92 P.3d 876, 878 (App.2004).
The question of duty ... is whether the relationship of the parties was such that the defendant was under an obligation to use some care to avoid or prevent injury to the plaintiff. If the answer is no, the defendant is not liable even though he may have acted negligently in light of the foreseeable risks.
Markowitz v. Ariz. Parks Bd., 146 Ariz. 352, 356, 706 P.2d 364, 368 (1985).
¶ 11 Put in the context of the relationships here, the question is whether an employer (the City and/or the County) owed a duty to a third person (Carter) injured by the conduct of its off-duty employee (Dillard). Arizona has adopted and follows the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 315 (1965) and its related sections.
In Arizona, there is no duty to control the conduct of a third party unless “ ‘(a) a special relation exists between the [defendant] and the third person which imposes a duty upon the [defendant] to control the third person’s conduct, or (b) a special relation exists between the [defendant] and the [plaintiff] which gives to the [plaintiff] a right of protection.” ’ Martinez v. Woodmar IV Condominiums Homeowners Ass’n, 189 Ariz. 206, 207-08, 941 P.2d 218, 219-20 (1997), quoting Martinez v. Woodmar IV Condominiums Ass’n, 187 Ariz. 408, 409, 930 P.2d 485, 486 (App.1996), quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 315 (1965) (brackets added by supreme court); Fedie v. Travelodge Int’l, Inc., 162 Ariz. 263, 265, 782 P.2d 739, 741 (App.1989). Therefore, a duty to control the conduct of a third party arises only when a special relationship exists between the defendant and the third party, such as “parent-child, master-servant, possessor of land-licensee, or guardian-ward.” Fedie, 162 Ariz. at 265, 782 P.2d at 741; see also Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 316-319. And a duty to protect arises only where there is a special relationship between the defendant and the victim, “such as carrier-passenger, innkeeper-guest, landlord-invitee, guardian-ward, teacher-student, or jailer-prisoner.” Fedie, 162 Ariz. at 265, 782 P.2d at 741; see also Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 314A, 320; Martinez.
Bloxham v. Glock Inc., 203 Ariz. 271, ¶ 7, 53 P.3d 196, 199 (App.2002); see also Collette v. Tolleson Unified Sch. Dist. No. 214, 203 Ariz. 359, 54 P.3d 828 (App.2002); Tamsen v. Weber, 166 Ariz. 364, 802 P.2d 1063 (App.1990); Cooke v. Berlin, 153 Ariz. 220, 735 P.2d 830 (App.1987), disapproved on other grounds, Dunn v. Carruth, 162 Ariz. 478, 784 P.2d 684 (1989); Davis v. Mangelsdorf, 138 Ariz. 207, 673 P.2d 951 (App.1983).
¶ 12 Although Dillard and the City and the County had an employment relationship, that relationship did not impose a duty on either to control the actions Dillard took here. Under the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 317 (1965), an employment relationship imposes a duty on the employer “to exercise reasonable care ... to control his servant while acting outside the scope of his employment” only when the employee is on the employer’s premises or using the employer’s chattel. Neither was the case here. The gun Dillard used to kill Carter was Dillard’s property, and Dillard was not on duty or on defendants’ premises when he shot Carter.
¶ 13 That the gun was also Dillard’s service weapon did not create a duty. For a duty to exist under the Restatement, the employee must use the chattel of the employer. The obvious basis for this requirement is that the employer may exercise control over the use of its property. TPD had authorized Dillard to use his own gun in his employment, but Wertheim has cited no authority for the proposition that, by doing so, TPD gained control over the property itself.
¶ 14 Nor do we find the requisite relationship between the City or the County and Carter to create a duty to protect him. Wertheim argues a duty arose because TPD and PCSD should have foreseen the danger Dillard had posed to Carter as “an object of ... Dillard’s emotions,” which they would have understood had they fully investigated the May 27 incident at the Wertheims’ residence and the order of protection Shari had subsequently obtained. But, even if the jury could have determined some risk had reasonably been foreseeable, “foreseeable danger d[oes] not dictate the existence of a duty but only the nature and extent of the conduct necessary to fulfill the duty.” Martinez v. Woodmar IV Condos. Homeowners Ass’n, 189 Ariz. 206, 211, 941 P.2d 218, 223 (1997); see also Riddle v. Ariz. Oncology Servs., Inc., 186 Ariz. 464, 467, 924 P.2d 468, 471 (App. 1996) (“Foreseeability alone ... does not create a duty.”).
¶ 15 We find this ease analogous to Riddle. In that case, an injured motorist sued an employer after colliding with a car being driven by the employer’s impaired employee. The employer had ordered the employee to leave work because she had been “conspicuously intoxicated and incapable of performing her work duties.” 186 Ariz. at 465, 924 P.2d at 469. Relying in part on Restatement § 317, we found the employer had owed no duty of care to the injured motorist even though the employer had known the employee had a history of drug abuse and “knew or should have known” that she could not safely operate a motor vehicle when she left the premises. 186 Ariz. at 468, 924 P.2d at 472.
¶ 16 Wertheim attempts to distinguish Riddle on the ground that the employer had “not furnish[ed the employee] with any intoxicants or with a vehicle.” Id. at 468, 924 P.2d at 472. Although we noted that fact, we did so in pointing out that courts in other cases had found no duty existed even when employees had consumed alcohol on the employer’s premises, Bruce v. Chas. Roberts Air Conditioning, Inc., 166 Ariz. 221, 801 P.2d 456 (App.1990), and had contributed to the purchase and consumption of the alcohol on his premises, Keckonen v. Robles, 146 Ariz. 268, 705 P.2d 945 (App.1985). Contrary to Wertheim’s suggestion, we are not persuaded that the outcome in Riddle necessarily would have been different had the employer ordered the employee to leave and then handed her her keys. See Markowitz (in absence of duty, defendant not liable even for negligent action).
¶ 17 We find distinguishable the principal eases on which Wertheim relies. Both Hutcherson v. City of Phoenix, 192 Ariz. 51, 961 P.2d 449 (1998), and Austin v. City of Scottsdale, 140 Ariz. 579, 684 P.2d 151 (1984), addressed allegations that 911 operators had negligently responded to emergency calls by either failing to act on a reported threat (Austin) or assigning a low priority to an eventual murder victim’s call for help (Hutcherson). Neither case addressed an injury caused by a law enforcement officer’s off-duty conduct. Wertheim seizes on the court’s statement in Austin that “the City of Scottsdale, having opted to provide police protection, had a duty to act as would a reasonably careful and prudent police department in the same circumstances.” 140 Ariz. at 581-82, 684 P.2d at 153-54. We do not interpret that language as broadly as Wertheim would have us do. Essentially, she contends that, under Austin, a police agency, by its very existence, owes a duty to all persons to act reasonably at all times under all circumstances. Cf. Hafner v. Beck, 185 Ariz. 389, 391, 916 P.2d 1105, 1107 (App.1995) (‘We do not understand the law to be that one owes a duty of reasonable care at all times to all people under all circumstances.”).
¶ 18 Had the supreme court intended to impose such a broad duty, it could easily have said so. Instead, in Hutcherson, the supreme court interpreted its own language in Austin much more narrowly. It stated that, under Austin, “[t]he City clearly had a duty to act reasonably in handling emergency calls,” and “[b]y creating a 911 system, it accepted the obligation of attempting to prevent the very kind of harm that occurred” in that case. 192 Ariz. at 55, 961 P.2d at 453. And it cited De Long v. County of Erie, 60 N.Y.2d 296, 469 N.Y.S.2d 611, 457 N.E.2d 717 (1983), for the proposition that the city had “owed a special duty to the victim by creating a 911 system and encouraging the public to use it.” 192 Ariz. at 56, 961 P.2d at 454.
¶ 19 Wertheim cites Newman v. Maricopa County, 167 Ariz. 501, 808 P.2d 1253 (App. 1991), to support her argument that the language in Austin is broad enough to impose a duty in this case. We find that case unhelpful. There, the plaintiff had alleged the Maricopa County sheriff had negligently failed to protect against or warn others of a hazardous condition it had discovered on private land when it investigated a fatal accident that had occurred there. There was no allegation that the sheriff had failed to control the conduct of a third person or to protect the plaintiff from that person’s actions. Moreover, the issue in Newman was whether the plaintiff had stated a claim upon which relief could be granted. And, although the court discussed the issue of duty, it ultimately concluded it was unable to resolve that issue because of an inadequate record. The court called the “theme” of its conclusion “prematurity, not duty” and held “only that it d[id] not appear ‘beyond doubt that the plaintiff c[ould] prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.’ ” Newman, 167 Ariz. at 505-06, 808 P.2d at 1257-58, quoting 5A Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1357, at 325 (1990). Therefore, although the court in Neuman characterized the language Wer- theim relies on in Austin as “broad,” neither Austin nor Newman supports imposition of a duty on the part of TPD or PCSD under the circumstances of this case.
¶ 20 Duty is “ ‘an expression of the sum total of those considerations of policy which lead the law to say that a particular plaintiff is entitled to protection.’ ” Ontiveros v. Borak, 136 Ariz. 500, 508, 667 P.2d 200, 208 (1983), quoting William L. Prosser, Handbook on the Law of Torts § 42, at 324-27 (4th ed.1971). “Courts traditionally ‘ “fix the duty point by balancing factors, including the reasonable expectations of parties and society generally, the proliferation of claims, the likelihood of unlimited or insurer-like liability, disproportionate risk and reparation allocation, and public policies affecting the expansion or limitation of new channels of liability.” ’ ” Bloxham v. Glock Inc., 203 Ariz. 271, ¶ 9, 53 P.3d 196, 200 (App.2002), quoting Hamilton v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 96 N.Y.2d 222, 727 N.Y.S.2d 7, 750 N.E.2d 1055, 1060 (2001), quoting Polka v. Servicemaster Mgmt. Servs. Corp., 83 N.Y.2d 579, 611 N.Y.S.2d 817, 634 N.E.2d 189, 193 (1994). We do not conclude that our supreme court, by considering these and similar factors, intended to impose a duty on law enforcement agencies consistent with Wertheim’s interpretation of Austin. Rather, the language in Austin on which Wertheim relies must be interpreted within the context of that case — a member of the public’s use of the 911 system and the agency’s response to the information given in the call.
¶21 Finally, Wertheim suggests that an analysis of whether a “special relationship” existed between Dillard, the defendants, and/or Carter under Restatement § 315 is inappropriate under Ryan v. State, 134 Ariz. 308, 656 P.2d 597 (1982). We disagree. In Ryan, our supreme court overruled Massen-gill v. Yuma County, 104 Ariz. 518, 456 P.2d 376 (1969), and the line of eases that had required a determination that a government tortfeasor’s general duty be narrowed to an individual duty to the injured plaintiff before liability could attach. The court in Ryan stated:
We shall no longer engage in the speculative exercise of determining whether the tort-feasor has a general duty to the injured party, which spells no recovery, or if he had a specific individual duty which means recovery. Thus, the parameters of duty owed by the state will ordinarily be ■coextensive with those owed by others.
134 Ariz. at 310, 656 P.2d at 599 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). Our analysis of TPD’s and PCSD’s duty is not based on the principles of Massengill or any concept of governmental immunity. We are required by Markowitz to consider the relationship of the individuals involved in determining whether a duty exists. Having found no “Arizona law to the contrary,” we have applied the rules and principles set forth in the Restatement that are applicable to governmental and individual defendants alike. See Ft. Lowell-NSS Ltd. P’ship v. Kelly, 166 Ariz. 96, 800 P.2d 962 (1990).
¶ 22 Because we conclude the City and the County owed no duty to Carter, we affirm the trial court’s grant of judgment as a matter of law.
Concurring: JOHN PELANDER, Chief Judge and PHILIP G. ESPINOSA, Judge.
. Wertheim claims Shari testified about this in her deposition, the transcript of which was read to the jury but not recorded by the court reporter. The transcript is not in the record before us, but no defendant disputes that that testimony was presented to the jury.
. Although Wertheim cites and relies on only the court of appeals’ opinion in Hutcherson, our supreme court vacated that opinion on review. Vacated cases have no precedential value. Wetherill v. Basham, 197 Ariz. 198, 3 P.3d 1118 (App.2000).
|
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OPINION
OROZCO, Judge.
¶ 1 The Phoenix City Prosecutor’s Office (State) brought this special action requesting reversal of the municipal court’s order granting Judd Levinson (Real Party in Interest), a jury trial for misdemeanor driving under the influence (DUI). For the reasons that follow, we accept jurisdiction but deny relief.
BACKGROUND
¶2 Levinson was arrested and charged with violating three separate misdemeanor DUI statutes: (1) DUI while impaired to the slightest degree; (2) driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 or more; and (3) driving with a BAC of .15 or more (Extreme DUI).
¶ 3 The State filed the charges in the City of Phoenix Municipal Court and later amended its complaint to include a prior DUI conviction. The trial court set the matter for a jury trial and on February 14, 2005, the State filed a motion opposing the jury trial. On March 2, 2005, the trial court denied the State’s motion and ruled:
After review of the new jury eligibility test announced in Derendal v. Griffith... and the pleadings and arguments of counsel herein, this court concludes that misdemeanor DUI offenses are no longer jury eligible. However, in light of the ruling in Myers v. Reeb, 190 Ariz. 341, 947 P.2d 915 (App.1997), this court feels compelled to grant jury trials in DUI eases until instructed not to do so by an appellate court.
¶ 4 The State argues that under Derendal v. Griffith, 209 Ariz. 416, 104 P.3d 147 (2005), defendants charged with misdemeanor offenses, including misdemeanor DUI offenses, are no longer jury trial eligible. Levinson contends he is entitled to a jury trial because he meets the test under Derendal, and more importantly, the legislature specifically provided for the right to a jury trial in A.R.S. §§ 28-138RF), -1382(C).
SPECIAL ACTION JURISDICTION
¶ 5 Special action jurisdiction is discretionary. State ex rel. Romley v. Martin, 208 Ariz. 46, 47, ¶4, 49 P.3d 1142, 1143 (App.2002)(citing State ex rel. Romley v. Hutt, 195 Ariz. 256, 259, ¶ 5, 987 P.2d 218, 221 (App.1999)). Special action jurisdiction may be accepted when there is no other means of obtaining justice, King v. Super. Ct., 138 Ariz. 147, 149, 673 P.2d 787, 789 (1983)(citing Nataros v. Super. Ct. of Maricopa County, 113 Ariz. 498, 557 P.2d 1055 (1976)), or where the issue is one of statewide importance. Citizens Clean Elections Comm’n v. Myers, 196 Ariz. 516, 518, ¶ 1, 1 P.3d 706, 708 (2000). Special action jurisdiction is proper when the party has no plain, adequate or speedy remedy by appeal. Luis A. v. Bayham-Lesselyong, 197 Ariz. 451, 453, ¶ 2, 4 P.3d 994, 996 (App.2000) (citation omitted). Whether a defendant has the right to a jury trial is an appropriate issue for special action jurisdiction. Campbell v. Super. Ct., 186 Ariz. 526, 527, 924 P.2d 1045, 1046 (App. 1996) (citing Mungarro v. Riley, 170 Ariz. 589, 590, 826 P.2d 1215, 1216 (App.1991)). Moreover, the State has no remedy by appeal. See A.R.S. § 13-4032 (2001). For the above-mentioned reasons, we accept jurisdiction.
DISCUSSION
¶ 6 In 1966, the Arizona Supreme Court in Rothweiler v. Super. Ct., 100 Ariz. 37, 410 P.2d 479 (1966), adopted “a three-prong test to decide whether, with regard to a particular criminal offense, the federal or Arizona Constitution guarantee[d] the right to a jury trial.” Derendal, 209 Ariz. at 419, ¶ 5, 104 P.3d at 149. The test required courts to analyze: “(1) the relationship of the offense to the common law crimes; (2) the severity of the statutory penalties that apply; and (3) the moral quality of the act,” to determine whether a defendant is jury trial eligible. Id. (citing Rothweiler, 100 Ariz. at 42, 410 P.2d at 483).
¶ 7 Recently, in Derendal, the Arizona Supreme Court re-examined and modified that test. Derendal, 209 Ariz. 416, 104 P.3d 147. Based on the new test set forth in Derendal, the State requests we determine that the Arizona Constitution provides no right to a jury trial for charges of misdemeanor DUI. However, because Levinson has a statutory right to a jury trial we need not apply the constitutional analysis contained in Derendal.
¶ 8 The statutes under which Levinson was charged plainly provide a right to a jury trial for the offenses if requested. They both state “the court shall inform ... [and] the defendant may request a trial by jury and that request, if made, shall be granted.” See A.R.S. §§ 28-138KF), -1382(C).
¶ 9 Despite this plain language, the State argues that, Goldman v. Kautz, 111 Ariz. 431, 432, 531 P.2d 1138, 1139 (1975), demonstrates that the legislature did not intend to grant a jury trial right to persons charged with misdemeanor DUI unless the right otherwise exists. We disagree.
¶ 10 In Goldman, the defendant was charged with a misdemeanor assault and battery in a criminal justice court proceeding. He alleged that he was entitled by the terms of A.R.S. § 22-320 to a trial by jury if he demanded one. AR.S. § 22-320, which governs trial procedures in justice courts, states “[a] trial by jury shall be had if demanded by either the state or defendant____” Goldman argued that this language gave any criminal defendant in a justice court proceeding the statutory right to a jury trial on the charges regardless of whether he was otherwise entitled to a jury trial. Goldman, 111 Ariz. at 432, 531 P.2d at 1139. The supreme court, however, rejected Goldman’s contentions and observed that the statute was a procedural one that did not, in and of itself, grant a right to a jury trial where one did not otherwise exist:
We do not think the quoted section grants a substantive right, but, rather, was intended to be procedural and must be read as meaning that a trial by jury shall be had if demanded in cases where a jury trial is appropriate. If the Legislature intended to grant a jury trial in every ease, it would have no doubt said so in plain, explicit language.
Id. (emphasis in original). Thus, the State argues that the apparent jury trial right given in similar language in the misdemeanor DUI statutes provides no jury trial right unless such a jury trial right otherwise exists. We reject this argument because it fails to distinguish between the two settings in which the language pertaining to jury trials is placed.
¶ 11 As the supreme court noted, language pertaining to jury trials in a procedural statute governing jury trials in justice courts does not in and of itself create a substantive right to a jury trial. Such language did not create a right to a jury trial for any particular offense “in plain, explicit language,” nor did it create a jury trial right for all offenses tried in justice courts. However, in this ease, the legislature has included in the very statutes which establish and define misdemeanor DUI offenses subsections that states “the court shall inform ... [and] the defendant may request a trial by jury and that request, if made, shall be granted.” A.R.S. §§ 28-1381, -1382. By doing so, the legislature clearly established “in plain, explicit language” that a substantive right to a jury trial for the statutory offenses exists. In cases where the statutory meaning is “plain and unambiguous, we apply it without resorting to other rules of statutory construction.” Dugan v. Fujitsu Business Communications Systems Inc., 188 Ariz. 516, 518, 937 P.2d 706, 709 (1997).
¶ 12 Because the legislature has granted a right to a jury trial for misdemeanor DUI offenses, Levinson is so entitled.
CONCLUSION
¶ 13 For the above mentioned reasons we affirm the ruling that Levinson is entitled to a jury trial.
CONCURRING: G. MURRAY SNOW, Presiding Judge.
. Arizona Revised Statutes ("A.R.S.”) section 28-1381(A)(1) (Supp.2004)
. A.R.S. § 28-1381(A)(2)
. A.R.S. § 28-1382(A)
. In Derendal, the Supreme Court held that a misdemeanor offense punishable by no more than six months incarceration is presumptively a petty offense that falls outside state constitutional guarantees of jury trial; but that presumption may be overcome if a defendant can establish that "the offense carries additional severe, direct, uniformly applied, statutory consequences”; and "moral quality” is no longer a factor in determining jury-eligibility of an offense, overruling Rothweiler. Derendal, 209 Ariz. at 424-25, 104 P.3d at 155-56.
. By contrast, the state acknowledged at oral argument that its proposed interpretation of the misdemeanor DUI statutes deprives the subsections pertaining to a right to a jury trial of any meaning. In interpreting statutes, we are obliged to give each "section meaning so that no part is rendered void, superfluous, contradictory or insignificant." State v. Heinze, 196 Ariz. 126, 132, ¶ 27, 993 P.2d 1090, 1093 (1999).
|
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OPINION
BARKER, Judge.
¶ 1 In 2003 the Arizona legislature provided that “[a] hearing to terminate parental rights ... shall be tried to a jury” if a parent requests. Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 8-223 (Supp.2004). The rules of juvenile procedure were then amended to require the State to provide notice to parents of that right. Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 64(C). The issue in this opin ion is whether the State’s error in failing to provide this notice warrants a new termination hearing. We determine that in this case it does not.
Facts and Procedural History
¶ 2 Monica C. (“Monica”) appeals from the juvenile court’s order terminating her parental relationship with Amaya C. (“Amaya”). On April 2, 2003, Monica gave birth to Ama-ya. Amaya was born substance exposed and was diagnosed as suffering from congenital syphilis. Amaya remained in the hospital until April 30, 2003. Child Protective Services (“CPS”) took temporary custody of Amaya upon her release from the hospital. The Arizona Department of Economic Security (“ADES”) filed a dependency petition on May 5, 2003, and a preliminary protective hearing was held on May 9, 2003. At that hearing Monica did not contest temporary custody, and the court ordered Amaya remain in the temporary custody of ADES.
¶ 3 On May 9, 2003, the court issued orders relating to the custody of Amaya. One order was that visitation between Monica and Amaya be at the discretion of ADES. The court also ordered Monica to undergo a psychological evaluation and Value Options assessment. Finally, ADES was to provide parenting skills training and transportation for Monica’s visits with Amaya.
¶4 The court held an initial dependency hearing on June 10, 2003. The court learned there was more than one individual who was potentially Amaya’s father. The court was told the alleged fathers had not yet been served. The court then set a publication hearing for August 11, 2003. Prior to that hearing ADES attempted to locate the possible fathers but was unsuccessful. The court found Amaya dependent as to the alleged fathers on August 11, 2003. The court also stated that the case plan was family reunification.
¶ 5 Monica was scheduled for a psychological evaluation on September 3, 2003. She did not appear at that appointment. Other appointments were made, but she also failed to attend those appointments. Eventually she was seen on October 6, 2003, but the tests could not be completed that day. Appointments were scheduled again, but she failed to keep them. She was finally seen again on November 16, 2003. According to the evaluation completed pursuant to those visits, Monica has a history of drug use and mental health issues. Monica was diagnosed as suffering from mood disorder, cannabis dependence, mild mental retardation, and dependent personality disorder. The evaluator stated parenting would be “extremely difficult” for Monica and recommended CPS consider “other permanency plans for the child than return to parent” “[d]ue to [Monica’s] mental retardation and other mental health and substance abuse problems.”
¶ 6 Monica’s case worker sent her a letter on December 12, 2003 asking if she wished to visit Amaya. Monica did not respond to this letter. The ease worker sent another letter to Monica and gave her the telephone number to contact Amaya’s foster home. Monica did not respond.
¶ 7 On January 6, 2004, Monica’s case was transferred to the Division of Developmental Disabilities. A new caseworker was assigned due to the transfer. That caseworker sent a letter advising Monica of the change but did not receive any response. On January 12, 2004, the court held a report and review hearing on the dependency petition. Monica did not appear for the hearing. At the hearing, Monica’s case worker reported little contact with Monica. The court found there was a need for continued out-of-home care for Amaya. The court chose to hold a permanency planning hearing on March 8, 2004.
¶8 At the permanency planning hearing, the caseworker reported Monica was not complying with the case plan. ADES moved to change the case plan to termination and adoption. The court ordered the change in case plan and ordered ADES to conduct a parent locator for Monica.
¶ 9 On March 18, 2004, ADES filed a motion for termination of parent-child relationship. That motion stated three grounds for termination: 1) Monica had abandoned Ama- ya “and failed to maintain a normal parental relationship ... for a period greater than six months”; 2) Monica was “unable to discharge her parental responsibilities because of mental illness, and/or mental deficiency, and/or a history of chronic abuse of dangerous drugs, controlled substances and/or alcohol”; and 3) Amaya had been cared for in an out-of-home placement for a period of nine months or longer. The motion was accompanied by a notice of initial hearing. The notice stated that if Monica failed to appear at the hearing the court could find she had waived her legal rights. There was no mention of a right to a jury trial in the notice. A contested severance hearing was set for July 21,2004.
¶ 10 Monica had a supervised visit with Amaya on July 9, 2004. The visit lasted one hour. According to Monica’s caseworker, it did not appear that Monica and Amaya were bonded.
¶ 11 At the termination hearing, the caseworker testified regarding Monica’s psychological evaluation. According to that testimony, Monica had been diagnosed as suffering from a mood disorder. Monica also suffered psychotic symptoms such as hearing voices. The caseworker believed that termination and adoption were in the best interests of Amaya “[bjecause Monica is not currently stable and she has mental health problems and mild mental retardation.”
¶ 12 The court issued written findings of fact and conclusions of law, filed on August 4, 2004. It stated, “[a]ll grounds alleged [for termination] have been proven by the State to the standard of clear and convincing evidence.” Accordingly, Monica’s parental relationship with Amaya was terminated,
¶ 13 Monica filed a notice of appeal on August 17, 2004. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 12 — 120.21(A)(1) (2003), 12-210KB) (2003), and 8-235(A) (Supp.2004).
Discussion
¶ 14 Monica argues that her due process rights were violated when she did not receive notice of her jury trial rights. She advances two separate claims under this argument. First, she claims the notice of hearing on the motion to terminate did not advise her of the right to a jury trial and requires reversal. Second, Monica claims ADES’s failure to provide a copy of the Notice to Parent in Termination Action (“Form III”) mandates a reversal and new trial.
1. Notice of Right to Jury Trial
¶ 15 Section 8-223 provides as follows:
A hearing to terminate parental rights that is held pursuant to § 8-537 or 8-863 shall be tried to a jury if a jury is requested by a parent, guardian or custodian whose rights are sought to be terminated.
A.R.S. § 8-223 (emphasis added). Under Arizona Rule of Procedure for Juvenile Court 66.1(A), “following a timely request, a parent shall have the right to a trial to a jury in a hearing to terminate parental rights.” Those rules also provide that “[a] notice of hearing shall accompany the motion or petition for termination of parental rights.” Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 64(C). That notice “shall advise the parent ... that failure to appear ... without good cause, may result in a finding that the parent ... has waived legal rights, including the right to a trial to a jury.” Id. (emphasis added). We first analyze Monica’s general due process right to notice and then turn to her statutory right to notice.
¶ 16 “Parents possess a fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, and management of their children.” Kent K. v. Bobby M., 210 Ariz. 279, 284, ¶24, 110 P.3d 1013, 1018 (2005). But “parental rights are not absolute.” Id. “A court may order severance of parental rights under certain circumstances, so long as the parents whose rights are to be severed are provided with fundamentally fair procedures that satisfy due process requirements.” Id. (quoting Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 754, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982)). In termination proceedings, “[d]ue process requires notice reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and to afford them an opportunity to present their objections.” Maricopa County Juv. Action No. JS-501904, 180 Ariz. 348, 355, 884 P.2d 234, 241 (App.1994) (quotation omitted).
¶ 17 Neither the Arizona Constitution nor the federal constitution inquires a jury-trial for severance proceedings, although some states (including Arizona) have made that provision on a statutory basis. See generally James L. Buchwalter, Annotation, Right to Jury Trial in Child Neglect, Child Abuse, or Termination of Parental Rights Proceedings, 102 A.L.R. 5th 227 (2004) (discussing other states’ constitutional and statutory bases for right to jury trial in severance proceeding). Indeed, until A.R.S. § 8-223 was amended in 2003, there was no ability or authority for a court to convene a jury for a severance proceeding, let alone a constitutional mandate that required a jury. In other settings involving juveniles, the Supreme Court has also confirmed that a jury trial is not constitutionally required. See McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 403 U.S. 528, 91 S.Ct. 1976, 29 L.Ed.2d 647 (1971) (holding the federal constitution does not require a jury trial for juvenile delinquency proceedings). Our own supreme court has also stated, in a juvenile setting, that “we disagree with the ... assertion that a jury trial provides more protection for the due process rights of the juvenile than does an adjudication before a judge.” David G. v. Pollard ex rel. County of Pima, 207 Ariz. 308, 314, ¶ 26, 86 P.3d 364, 370 (2004).
¶ 18 Monica was given notice of the reasons ADES was seeking termination by the motion for termination. See Juv. Action No. JS-501904, 180 Ariz. at 355, 884 P.2d at 241 (finding “adequate notice” of grounds for termination satisfied due process). Aso, at the termination hearing Monica was given an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses as well as testify on her own behalf. See id. (finding due process satisfied when parent was given “opportunity to defend against the allegations”). Due process was satisfied.
¶ 19 Admittedly, Monica was not provided formal notice of the right to jury trial. This was error by the State, and its counsel had a duty to provide that notice. Monica’s counsel, however, also had a duty to advise her of the right to a jury trial even absent notice by the State. See In re Wines, 135 Ariz. 203, 206, 660 P.2d 454, 457 (1983) (“We charge lawyers with knowledge of what the law requires and place them under an affirmative duty to accomplish what is required of them.”); Mageary v. Hoyt, 91 Ariz. 41, 46, 369 P.2d 662, 665 (1962) (“Certainly an attorney owes a duty of utmost good faith to his client and must inform his client of matters that might adversely affect his client’s interests.”) (citation omitted). Importantly, Monica does not claim that she did not know of her right to a jury trial. She only claims that she did not receive notice from the court. On these facts, Monica was not denied her right to due process.
¶ 20 Beyond the general due process right to notice, Monica also asserts a right to notice under court rules. We agree with this assertion. As noted above, Rule 64 of the Arizona Rules of Procedure for Juvenile Court specifically requires notice by the State that failure to appear may result in waiver of “the right to trial to a jury.” Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 64(C). The notice provided Monica did not comply with this rule. The notice advised Monica that her failure to appear at the hearing might lead the court to find she waived her legal rights, but there was no specific mention of the right to jury trial.
¶ 21 Monica asserts this failure to strictly comply with the rules of procedure constituted a violation of her right to due process. See Maricopa County Juv. Action No. JS-731, 25 Ariz.App. 333, 338, 543 P.2d 454, 459 (1975) (observing parental rights may not be severed “without due process and compliance with the statutes involved”). We agree ADES should have provided notice in compliance with Rule 64. See Levinson v. Jarrett ex rel. County of Maricopa, 207 Ariz. 472, 475, ¶ 10, 88 P.3d 186, 189 (App.2004) (“Rules should be construed to give effect to their plain language, if possible.”). We also agree that ADES’s failure to comply with the rule of procedure was error. See Creach v. Angulo, 189 Ariz. 212, 214, 941 P.2d 224, 226 (1997) (observing it was clearly error for court not to comply with civil procedure rules). But error alone, unless it is structural, does not mandate reversal. See State v. Henderson, 115 P.3d 601, 456 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 10, 12, ¶ 17 (July 8, 2005) (distinguishing between structural error and error that is subject to trial error analysis); State v. Ring, 204 Ariz. 534, 552, ¶45, 65 P.3d 915, 933 (2003) (stating structural error requires reversal, but trial error requires further analysis).
¶ 22 Failure to comply with the Arizona Rules of Procedure for Juvenile Court does not necessarily require a reversal. See In re Melissa K., 197 Ariz. 491, 494, ¶ 8, 4 P.3d 1034, 1037 (App.2000) (observing failure of court to comply with rules may or may not require reversal). Because noncompliance with the rules does not mandate reversal, noneompliance cannot be termed structural error. See State v. Hickman, 205 Ariz. 192, 199 n. 7, ¶ 29, 68 P.3d 418, 425 n. 7 (2003) (“[Sjtructural errors require automatic reversal.”). Instead, noncompliance with the rules falls under either the harmless error (if an objection was made) or fundamental error (if no objection was made) framework. Henderson, 115 P.3d 601, 456 Ariz. Adv. Rep. at 12, ¶¶ 18-19; State v. Kayer, 194 Ariz. 423, 430, ¶ 18, 984 P.2d 31, 38 (1999) (“Because no objection was made ... at trial, we review the claim only for fundamental error.”); State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 588, 858 P.2d 1152, 1191 (1993) (evaluating errors raised below under harmless error standard when objection was raised). As there was no objection below, we employ the fundamental error framework here.
¶ 23 Our cases also hold that “[t]he doctrine of fundamental error is sparingly applied in civil cases and may be limited to situations [that] deprive[ ] a party of a constitutional right.” Bradshaw v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 157 Ariz. 411, 420, 758 P.2d 1313, 1322 (1988). Because of the constitutional ramifications inherent in termination proceedings, we apply the doctrine of fundamental error here. See, e.g., Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65, 120 S.Ct. 2054, 147 L.Ed.2d 49 (2000) (“[T]he interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children [ ] is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized____”).
¶ 24 Fundamental error is defined as error “which ‘goes to the very foundation’ of a case.” Data Sales Co. v. Diamond Z Mfg., 205 Ariz. 594, 601, ¶31, 74 P.3d 268, 275 (App.2003) (quoting State Consol. Publ’g Co. v. Hill, 39 Ariz. 163, 167, 4 P.2d 668, 669 (1931)). As our supreme court recently stated, “[t]o establish fundamental error, [the complaining party] must show that the error complained of goes to the foundation of his ease, takes away a right that is essential to his defense, and is of such magnitude that he could not have received a fair trial.” Henderson, 115 P.3d 601, 456 Ariz. Adv. Rep. at 13, ¶ 24; State v. Hunter, 142 Ariz. 88, 90, 688 P.2d 980, 982 (1984) (same).
¶25 The question whether error is fundamental is “fact intensive.” Bible, 175 Ariz. at 572, 858 P.2d at 1175. Because of this, “the same error may be fundamental in one case but not in another.” Id. As our supreme court has held:
Fundamental error, of course, does not occur in the abstract. After determining that an error occurred at trial, “the prejudicial nature of the unobjected-to error must be evaluated in light of the entire record” before the error can be labeled as fundamental.
State v. King, 158 Ariz. 419, 424, 763 P.2d 239, 244 (1988) (quoting State v. Thomas, 130 Ariz. 432, 436, 636 P.2d 1214, 1218 (1981)). In Henderson, the supreme court reaffirmed that there must be prejudice involved in fundamental error to justify relief. 115 P.3d 601, 456 Ariz. Adv. Rep. at 13, ¶ 26 (“Fundamental error review involves a fact-intensive inquiry, and the showing required to establish prejudice therefore differs from case to case.”) (emphasis added).
¶ 26 Monica did not establish that she did not know of the right to a jury trial and would have opted for a jury trial in any event. Nor did she present evidence that the deficient notice deprived her of a fair trial or otherwise prejudiced her. Monica was represented by counsel at the hearing; Monica, through counsel, was able to cross-examine the witnesses and present argument; and Monica was allowed to testify. She presented no evidence that a reasonable jury would have concluded differently than did the trial judge. The burden of proof, in a fundamental error setting, is on the complaining party. Id. at 12, ¶ 19.
¶27 We conclude the failure by ADES to provide notice of Monica’s right to a jury trial did not deprive Monica of a fair trial. In light of Monica’s failure to provide any specific evidence regarding the impact of the lack of notice, the deficient notice was not fundamental error on the record here.
2. Form III Requirement
¶28 Monica’s second claim regarding her due process rights is that ADES’s failure to provide a copy of Form III of the Arizona Rules of Procedure for Juvenile Court requires a reversal. That form is “[t]o be given to [a] parent at permanency hearing if termination is ordered and each subsequent hearing until termination adjudication and noted on the record.” The form is a general statement of the parent’s rights and includes the warning that these rights might be waived if the parent fails to appear. Monica is correct that there is no record she was given Form III at the initial termination hearing. But Monica is incorrect that Rule 66 requires the form be given; Rule 66 contains no such requirement. See Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 66. But even if we assume that ADES erred by not providing Form III, such error would not be fundamental.
¶29 Again, Monica did not object to the lack of Form III below, meaning fundamental error analysis applies. Henderson, 115 P.3d 601, 456 Ariz. Adv. Rep. at 12, ¶ 19. Form III lists four specific rights: “[t]he right to counsel”; “[t]he right to cross-examine witnesses”; “[t]he right to trial by the court on the allegations in the termination motion”; and “[t]he right to use the process of the court to compel the attendance of witnesses.” At the “trial by the court on the allegations in the termination motion” Monica was represented by counsel and that counsel cross-examined witnesses. There was no evidence Monica was denied the right to compel witnesses. Because Monica was aware of, and took advantage of, the rights set forth in Form III, any failure by ADES to provide a copy of Form III was not fundamental error. There is no indication that she was prejudiced by failure to receive Form III. See, e.g., Henderson, 115 P.3d 601, 456 Ariz. Adv. Rep. at 13, ¶ 26.
Conclusion
¶ 30 For the foregoing reasons, and those in the simultaneously filed memorandum decision, the judgment of the juvenile court is affirmed.
CONCURRING: MAURICE PORTLEY and SUSAN A. EHRLICH, Judges.
. We also file separately this date a memorandum decision that addresses other issues raised in this appeal. ARCAP 28(g) (allowing for partial publication of decisions).
. The statute allowing a parent to request a jury trial in a termination of parental rights proceeding contains a delayed repeal clause. 2003 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 6, § 45. Pursuant to that clause, the statute will be "repealed from and after December 31, 2006.” Id.
. We note that the statutory scheme does not require that the notice refer to a jury trial. A.R.S. § 8-535(A) (Supp.2004). This is so even though the statute gives a specific form for the notice. Id. The statute provides:
The notice required by the subsection shall include the following statement:
You have a right to appear as a party in this proceeding. The failure of a parent to appear at the initial hearing, the pretrial conference, the status conference or the termi nation adjudication hearing may result in an adjudication terminating the parent-child relationship of that parent.
Id.
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OPINION
PELANDER, Chief Judge.
¶ 1 After a jury trial, appellant Robert Johnathan Miles was convicted of aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument, endangerment with a substantial risk of imminent death, and criminal damage in the amount of $10,000 or more. The trial court imposed concurrent, presumptive prison terms, the longest of which was 7.5 years on the aggravated assault conviction. Among the three issues raised on appeal, Miles argues that the trial court violated the physician-patient privilege by admitting certain medical evidence and that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of criminal recklessness. We disagree and, finding no reversible error, affirm.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 We view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to sustaining the jury’s verdicts. See State v. Riley, 196 Ariz. 40, ¶ 2, 992 P.2d 1135, 1137 (App.1999). On July 20, 2002, Miles was driving a pickup truck west on Drexel Road in Tucson when he failed to stop at a stop sign at Country Club Road. The front of Miles’s vehicle collided with the passenger side of a 17,000-pound tanker truck in the middle of the intersection. The tanker truck was knocked onto its driver’s side, the driver was injured, and the truck was destroyed. Miles’s vehicle also was destroyed, and a passenger who had been riding with him sustained significant injuries that required four days of hospitalization.
¶ 3 Miles was tried on two counts of aggravated driving while under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI), aggravated assault against his passenger, endangerment of the tanker truck driver, and criminal damage based on the destruction of the tanker truck. During trial, the trial court granted Miles’s motion for a judgment of acquittal on the DUI charges pursuant to Rule 20, Ariz. R.Crim. P., 17 A.R.S., finding “the evidence [presented was] not sufficient to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was impaired.” The jury found Miles guilty on the remaining counts. The aggravated assault and endangerment convictions were for dangerous-nature offenses because the jury also found that Miles had used a “dangerous instrument” (his vehicle) and had caused “serious physical injury” to both his passenger and the tanker truck driver.
DISCUSSION
I. Admission of evidence on passenger’s injuries and medical treatment
¶ 4 Before trial, Miles moved in limine to exclude evidence of the passenger’s medical records and any testimony by Dr. Warneke, the passenger’s treating physician after the accident. Miles argued evidence of the passenger’s post-accident treatment was precluded by the physician-patient privilege, which the passenger had not waived. See A.R.S. § 13-4062(4) (“A physician or surgeon ... [shall not be examined as a witness] without consent of the physician’s or surgeon’s patient ... as to any information acquired in attending the patient which was necessary to enable the physician or surgeon to prescribe or act for the patient.”).
¶ 5 During a hearing on pretrial motions, the trial court denied Miles’s request to exclude evidence of the passenger’s injuries, treatment, and medical records, apparently based on its finding that Miles lacked standing to assert the privilege on behalf of the passenger. Shortly before trial, Miles asked the court to reconsider that ruling, citing Tucson Medical Center, Inc. v. Rowles, 21 Ariz.App. 424, 520 P.2d 518 (1974). The trial court again denied Miles’s request, finding Rowles “factually dissimilar and ... inapplicable to the matter at bar.”
¶ 6 During trial, Warneke testified about the severity of the passenger’s injuries, which included numerous cuts, a large loss of blood, and a dislocated hip. The passenger’s post-accident medical records also were admitted into evidence. As noted above, in finding Miles guilty of aggravated assault, the jury found the offense was a dangerous offense because it had caused “serious physical injury” to the passenger. See A.R.S. §§ 13-604(W)(4)(d); 13-1204(A)(1).
¶ 7 As he did below, Miles contends the trial court erred in admitting the foregoing evidence because the passenger did not waive his physician-patient privilege. Without such evidence, Miles argues, his conviction for aggravated assault and the jury’s related dangerous-nature finding should be vacated. “The question of whether a privilege exists is generally a legal question that is subject to our de novo review.” State v. Wilson, 200 Ariz. 390, ¶ 4, 26 P.3d 1161, 1164 (App.2001). ‘We also review de novo the question of whether a party has waived a privilege, unless that question hinges on resolution of conflicting facts or witness credibility issues.” Id. (citation omitted). Similarly, issues relating to a party’s standing are reviewed de novo. See Alliance Marana v. Groseclose, 191 Ariz. 287, 289, 955 P.2d 43, 45 (App.1997).
¶ 8 Under § 13-4062(4), “a person’s medical records and oral communications to physicians are protected by the physician-patient privilege” unless the patient waives it. State v. Morales, 170 Ariz. 360, 363, 824 P.2d 756, 759 (App.1991). The state contends the passenger “apparently waived [the privilege] in a signed release.” In its response to Miles’s motion for reconsideration of the trial court’s in limine ruling, the state asserted that the passenger had signed an “Authorization for Disclosure of Protected Health Information” sometime during his treatment and that the authorization “covered” and “permitted” Dr. Warneke’s testimony. The record, however, contains no such form, and without it, we cannot conclude the passenger affirmatively waived his right to assert the privilege on either his medical records or Warneke’s testimony. The absence of any showing of waiver, however, does not end our inquiry. We must still address the related questions of whether the physician-patient privilege applies in this context and whether Miles has standing to assert it.
¶ 9 In Benton v. Superior Court, 182 Ariz. 466, 467, 897 P.2d 1352, 1353 (App.1994), Division One of this court held: “[T]he State may, without the permission of a victim, obtain the victim’s medical records when such records are needed for the prosecution of a criminal ease.” Benton involved an uncooperative victim of a domestic violence incident who refused to release her medical records to the state to use' in its prosecution of her partner, the alleged abuser. In concluding that the victim’s “medical records are neither protected by the Victims’ Bill of Rights[, A.R.S. §§ 13-4419(0), 13-4434,] nor the physician-patient privilege,” 182 Ariz. at 470, 897 P.2d at 1356, the court reasoned that, “since there was no physician-patient privilege at common law, it must be strictly construed.” Id. at 469, 897 P.2d at 1355. The court further stated that “the public’s interest in protecting victims outweighs the privacy interest reflected in the physician-patient privilege.” Id. at 468, 897 P.2d at 1354; see generally State v. Karcher, 155 Ohio St. 253, 98 N.E.2d 308, 312 (1951) (“[C]ourts have sometimes sought, by main force, to set limits [on the physician-patient privilege] and prevent its evil effects, namely, in cases where the physician ... has acted on behalf of the victim of a crime.”).
¶ 10 In State v. Wilson, 200 Ariz. 390, 26 P.3d 1161 (App.2001), this court distinguished Benton and upheld a claim of privilege. Wilson involved a defendant charged with having made and pursued a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim. Relying on Benton, the state argued the physician-patient privilege should not apply to prevent the state from eliciting testimony from the defendant’s treating physicians in the case against him. Id. ¶ 10. Although we agreed “ ‘the physician-patient privilege has never been absolute,’ ” id. ¶ 11, quoting Benton, 182 Ariz. at 469, 897 P.2d at 1355, we declined to carve out a broad, crime-fraud exception to the privilege in the “particular context” of a criminal defendant’s assertion of the privilege on his or her own behalf. Id. That context was materially different and distinguishable from Benton’s, in which an uncooperative victim/third party sought to assert the privilege, not necessarily to protect her own privacy, but rather, to protect a criminal defendant who allegedly had assaulted and injured her.
¶ 11 Neither Benton nor Wilson, however, involved a situation such as this, in which a criminal defendant seeks to assert a privilege on behalf of a victim whose injuries and resulting need for medical treatment were caused by the defendant’s actions. In this context, we agree with the view of most, if not all, courts that have addressed the issue: even assuming the physician-patient privilege applies to the victim, here, Miles’s passenger, a criminal defendant does not have standing to assert the privilege on the victim’s behalf in an attempt to shield himself or herself from prosecution. See 81 Am. Jur.2d Witnesses § 465 (2004) (“Because the physician-patient privilege is intended for the patient’s benefit, the defendant in a criminal prosecution has no right to object to the testimony of a physician ... concerning communications made by the crime victim to the physician, or information gained from the victim by the physician in a professional relationship, since the privilege is personal to the victim or his or her estate.”).
¶ 12 In State v. Boehrne, 71 Wash.2d 621, 430 P.2d 527, 536 (1967), a case in which the defendant was convicted of assault for having attempted to poison his wife, the court held “the defendant could not assert the doctor-patient privilege flowing to ... the ... victim of the alleged crime.” Addressing a privilege statute similar to § 13-4062(4), the Washington Supreme Court reasoned that the statute’s purpose was “to surround communications between patient and physician with the cloak of confidence, and thus allow complete freedom in the exchange of information between them to the end that the patient’s ailments may be properly treated.” 430 P.2d at 535. The court further stated that the privilege was designed to protect a patient for purposes of treatment and “should not, by unrealistic or impractical application, become a means whereby criminal activities of third persons may be shielded from detection, prosecution, and punishment, however magnanimous, compassionate or conciliatory the victim might otherwise wish to be.” Id. at 536.
¶ 13 In interpreting statutory physician-patient privileges similar to § 13-4062(4), several other courts have come to the same conclusion as the Washington Supreme Court, determining that a defendant does not have standing to assert the privilege on a victim’s behalf. See, e.g., Wimberley v. State, 217 Ark. 130, 228 S.W.2d 991, 993 (1950) (“The doctrine of privileged communications only extends to the physician’s patients and himself. A defendant in a prosecution for crime has no right to claim the protection.”); People v. Palomo, 31 P.3d 879, 885 (Colo. 2001) (“[I]t falls not to [a] defendant ... to raise issues concerning the medical records in [the victim’s] file____”); State v. Evans, 802 S.W.2d 507, 511 (Mo.1991) (defendant convicted of raping his girlfriend was “without standing to object to the introduction of [her] records”); In re Grand Jury Proceedings (Doe), 56 N.Y.2d 348, 452 N.Y.S.2d 361, 363, 437 N.E.2d 1118 (1982) (“[A] person ... subject to proceedings for having committed crimes against an individual should not be permitted to assert the victim’s physician-patient privilege as a bar to production of relevant medical records or testimony.”). We agree with the reasoning and conclusions of those courts that have found the privilege inapplicable in this context based on lack of standing.
¶ 14 In an effort to avoid this result, Miles cites Tucson Medical Center, Inc. v. Rowles, 21 Ariz.App. 424, 520 P.2d 518 (1974). Rowles was a special action that arose from a discovery request and ruling in a medical malpractice case against a hospital. Id. at 425, 520 P.2d at 519. The plaintiffs sought to discover the medical records of another patient (“Jane Doe”) of the hospital who was not directly involved in the case and, more importantly, who presumably had no reason to know that the case existed or that her records were pertinent or would possibly be the subject of a discovery request. In interpreting A.R.S. § 12-2235, the civil counterpart to § 13-4062(4), this court ruled that “hospital records are covered by the physician-patient privilege” and that a hospital must “assert this privilege when neither the patient nor his physician are parties to the proceeding.” 21 Ariz.App. at 429, 520 P.2d at 523. This court also
fe[lt] obliged to carry this reasoning one step further and h[e]ld that when the holder of the physician-patient privilege is absent from the proceedings with no opportunity to assert the privilege, it is incumbent upon the trial court to frame its discovery orders in a manner which will protect an absent patient.
Id.
¶ 15 We agree with the trial court’s conclusion that Rowles is not applicable or controlling here. Unlike the “Jane Doe” in Rowles, who was totally uninvolved in the underlying civil case and whose hospital records had been sought without her knowledge or consent, the record here does not suggest that Miles’s passenger was an unaffected party who had no way of knowing his medical records would be relevant and sought in a criminal prosecution arising from a collision in which he had been injured. In view of Miles’s failure to furnish the pertinent transcript of the hearing on his motion in limine, see n. 1, supra, and the trial court’s ruling that Rowles was “factually dissimilar” to this case, the court could have concluded that the passenger had had reason to know his medical records and treatment details would be of interest in the prosecution against Miles and, therefore, had had an opportunity to protect his interests and assert his privilege had he chosen to do so.
¶ 16 Importantly, Rowles did not involve or address the competing policies at issue here. On the one hand, “[t]he [physician-patient] privilege is primarily intended to protect ‘communications made by the patient to his physician for the purpose of treatment,’ so as ‘to insure that the patient will receive the best medical treatment by encouraging full and frank disclosure of medical history and symptoms by a patient to his doctor.’ ” Wilson, 200 Ariz. 390, ¶ 5, 26 P.3d at 1164, quoting State v. Santeyan, 136 Ariz. 108, 110, 664 P.2d 652, 654 (1983), and Lewin v. Jackson, 108 Ariz. 27, 31, 492 P.2d 406, 410 (1972); see also Rowles, 21 Ariz.App. at 425, 520 P.2d at 519. On the other hand, as most courts have concluded, the law should not permit a criminal defendant to impede or prevent a prosecution by invoking a victim’s privilege, even when the victim is uncooperative, “magnanimous, compassionate or conciliatory.” Boehme, 430 P.2d at 536.
¶ 17 As the court in Benton observed, “the public’s interest in protecting victims outweighs the privacy interest reflected in the physician-patient privilege.” 182 Ariz. at 468, 897 P.2d at 1354. If that is so when a victim actually attempts to invoke the privilege, as occurred in Benton, it is more so when, as here, a defendant seeks to exclude from evidence relevant medical testimony or records by asserting the privilege of a victim who has neither appeared in the case nor expressed any concerns about confidentiality. In our view, allowing a criminal defendant in a case like this to invoke a victim’s privilege could result in great mischief and miscarriages of justice; but disallowing that practice poses little if any danger of frustrating the basic purposes that underlie the privilege. As the state persuasively argues, “it would make a mockery of Rowles to hold that a criminal defendant, simply by invoking the physician-patient privilege on the victim’s ‘behalf,’ could immunize himself from prosecution for injuring the victim.”
¶ 18 In accord with the majority rule, we hold that Miles, as the defendant who caused the passenger’s injuries, does not have standing in this criminal case to assert the physician-patient privilege on the passenger’s behalf. Consequently, the trial court did not err in denying Miles’s motion in limine and in admitting Warneke’s testimony and the passenger’s medical records.
II. Sufficiency of the evidence
¶ 19 As noted above, in addition to the charges that were submitted to the jury, Miles was charged with two counts of aggravated DUI, one count based on DUI while his license had been suspended and the other on his having committed or been convicted of two prior DUI violations within the previous sixty months. See A.R.S. § 28-1383(A)(l), (2). Miles stipulated at trial that, at the time of the accident, he had been aware that his driver’s license was suspended and that he had been convicted of two DUI violations within the previous sixty months.
¶ 20 The state presented other evidence on the DUI charges, including a lay witness’s testimony that Miles’s truck had smelled “like blood mixed with alcohol” and that, after the accident, Miles’s eyes had been “halfway open ... like [he was] really drunk.” Similarly, sheriff’s deputies testified about having smelled alcohol on Miles’s breath, seen his bloodshot eyes, and heard his slurred speech. And a criminalist testified that “[alcohol] depresses the function of our brain.”
¶ 21 Nonetheless, the trial court concluded the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that Miles was guilty of the DUI charges and, pursuant to Miles’s Rule 20 motion, granted a judgment of acquittal on those counts. Based on that ruling, the court later instructed the jury to “disregard any evidence that was presented as to [the DUI counts] and any evidence regarding alcohol.”
¶22 Miles argues the remaining evidence was insufficient to prove he had been criminally reckless, but rather, “at best supported a finding that [he] was civilly negligent.” He argues the verdicts on the other three, non-DUI counts likely were based on impermissible evidence of alcohol the court had instructed the jury to disregard. We first note that “jurors are presumed to follow instructions.” State v. LeBlanc, 186 Ariz. 437, 439, 924 P.2d 441, 443 (1996); State v. Herrera, 174 Ariz. 387, 395, 850 P.2d 100, 108 (1993). Therefore, absent any indication otherwise, we will not speculate on whether the jury considered stricken evidence in deliberating and returning verdicts on the other three counts. Rather, we analyze whether the admissible evidence was sufficient to support Miles’s convictions on those counts.
¶ 23 Every conviction must be based on “substantial evidence.” Ariz. R.Crim. P. 20(a), 16A A.R.S. “Substantial evidence is proof that reasonable persons could accept as sufficient to support a conclusion of a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Spears, 184 Ariz. 277, 290, 908 P.2d 1062, 1075 (1996); see also State v. Terrazas, 189 Ariz. 580, 586, 944 P.2d 1194, 1200 (1997). In evaluating the evidence on appeal, we view it in the light most favorable to upholding the verdict. State v. Sullivan, 187 Ariz. 599, 600, 931 P.2d 1109, 1110 (App.1996). We will reverse a conviction for insufficient evidence “only if ‘there is a complete absence of probative facts to support [the jury’s] conclusion.”’ State v. Carlisle, 198 Ariz. 203, ¶ 11, 8 P.3d 391, 394 (App. 2000), quoting State v. Mauro, 159 Ariz. 186, 206, 766 P.2d 59, 79 (1988); see also State v. Alvarado, 178 Ariz. 539, 542, 875 P.2d 198, 200 (App.1994).
¶24 Each of Miles’s convictions required proof that he had acted with a mental state of recklessness. See A.R.S. §§ 13-1203(A)(1); 13-1201(A); 13-1602(A). Arizona law defines “recklessly” as: “[W]ith respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, that a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists.” A.R.S. § 13-105(9)(c). The statute also requires that “[t]he risk ... be of such nature and degree that disregard of such risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.” Id.
¶ 25 Miles cites In re William G., 192 Ariz. 208, 963 P.2d 287 (App.1997), in support of his argument that his behavior constituted nothing more than civil negligence. In William G., the court held that a juvenile who had ridden on a shopping cart in a parking lot and had hit a parked car had not been criminally reckless. In so holding, the court distinguished civil negligence, in which a party is unaware of potential results, from recklessness, in which a party is “aware of and consciously disregard[s] the risk his conduct is creating.” Id. at 213, 963 P.2d at 292. But Miles’s conduct was hardly similar to that of the juvenile in William G, in which the risk created by the parking lot joyride on a shopping cart could not be characterized as both “unreasonable” and “substantial.” Id. at 214, 963 P.2d at 293. Rather, even without the evidence relating to Miles’s use of alcohol, the other evidence was sufficient to support a finding of Miles’s recklessness when viewed in the light most favorable to sustaining the Verdicts.
¶ 26 A lay witness who had been driving behind Miles testified that Miles’s truck had entered Drexel Road with its tires spinning, going fast; that the stop sign Miles had failed to observe had been clearly visible; and that Miles had not appeared to slow down at all at that stop sign. The driver of the tanker truck testified that Miles had approached his vehicle “coming very fast” with screeching tires. Another witness testified that Miles’s vehicle had “hit [the tanker truck] so hard that the rear end of the truck lifted up a little bit and slammed to the ground.” And a police officer testified that the skid marks left by Miles’s vehicle did not start until the beginning of the intersection and that Miles’s truck had been traveling at an absolute minimum speed of thirty-two miles per hour when the skid marks started.
¶ 27 Based on the evidence that Miles had failed to stop or even slow down at a clearly visible stop sign and that he had entered the intersection “very fast,” with tires screeching, a reasonable juror could have found that Miles had been aware of and had consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that other motorists or pedestrians could be seriously injured. Similarly, a reasonable juror could have found that his actions constituted a gross deviation from conduct a reasonable person would observe in a similar situation. See Savage v. State, 650 N.E.2d 1156, 1161 n. 10 (Ind.Ct.App.) (“A driver who speeds and who disregards stop signs, creates a situation in which his disregard of potential harm is a substantial deviation from acceptable standards of conduct, and is considered reckless ____”), vacated in part on other grounds, 655 N.E.2d 1223 (Ind.1995); State v. Morrison, 174 S.W.3d 646 (Mo.Ct.App. 2005) (driver acted in criminally reckless manner “by failing to take any evasive action until he was within four to six car lengths of the [vehicle with which he collided], when it was too late to prevent a collision at his excessive speed”); State v. Herring, 502 S.W.2d 405, 409 (Mo.Ct.App.1973) (finding motorist’s recklessness “may be justified by a combination of excessive speed and other circumstances which would indicate a conscious disregard of a substantial risk likely to cause death or great bodily harm to others”). Accordingly, the evidence was sufficient to support a finding under § 13-105(9)(c) that Miles had been reckless.
III. Jury instructions
¶ 28 Miles lastly contends “[t]he trial court committed fundamental error by failing to give a limiting instruction regarding [his] prior misdemeanor DUI convictions.” To establish fundamental error, a defendant must show the “ ‘error [goes] to the foundation of the case, ... takes from the defendant a right essential to [the] defense, and ... [is] of such magnitude that the defendant could not possibly have received a fair trial.’ ” State v. Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d 601, 607 (2005), quoting State v. Hunter, 142 Ariz. 88, 90, 688 P.2d 980, 982 (1984). “To prevail.under this standard of review, a defendant must establish both that funda mental error exists and that the error in his case caused him prejudice.” Id. ¶ 20.
¶29 As noted above, the trial court told the jury Miles had stipulated that, at the time of the accident, his license had been suspended; that he had known about the suspension; and that he had been convicted of two DUI violations within the prior sixty months. Those facts constituted elements of the aggravated DUI counts charged. See A.R.S. § 28-1383(A)(l), (2). As also noted above, after the trial court granted a judgment of acquittal on the DUI counts, it instructed the jury to “disregard any evidence that was presented as to [the DUI counts] and any evidence regarding alcohol.” Miles argues that instruction was “inadequate to address the impact of the prior DUI convictions” because it did not “directly address the highly prejudicial evidence” of those convictions. Because the trial court informed the jury that Miles had two prior DUI convictions, Miles argues, “[t]he jury would necessarily infer ... it was to consider the other acts in determining [his] guilt,” contrary to Rule 404(b), Ariz. R. Evid., 17A A.R.S.
¶ 30 Again, however, “jurors are presumed to follow instructions.” State v. LeBlanc, 186 Ariz. 437, 439, 924 P.2d 441, 443 (1996); State v. Herrera, 174 Ariz. 387, 395, 850 P.2d 100, 108 (1993). We therefore presume the jurors disregarded all evidence that had been presented to prove the aggravated DUI charges, including the fact that Miles had been convicted of two prior DUI violations. Consequently, Miles has not met his burden of establishing prejudice from any alleged fundamental error. See Henderson, 210 Ariz. 561, ¶ 19, 115 P.3d at 607. But, even assuming the trial court’s general instruction to disregard any evidence relating to the DUI counts did not adequately direct the jury to disregard Miles’s previous DUI convictions, the court’s instruction did not constitute fundamental error.
¶ 31 Although evidence of other acts is not allowed to show that a defendant acted in conformity with them, Rule 404(b), Ariz. R. Evid., a trial court is not required, sua sponte, to give a limiting instruction on such evidence. See State v. Taylor, 127 Ariz. 527, 530, 622 P.2d 474, 477 (1980) (‘We cannot find that the failure of the trial court to instruct without a request by counsel deprived appellant of a right essential to his defense nor of a fair trial.”); State v. Francis, 91 Ariz. 219, 222-23, 371 P.2d 97, 99 (1962) (“This Court has repeatedly held that if a defendant wants an instruction limiting the effect of certain evidence he must request it, and the failure of the trial court to so instruct is not error in the absence of a request therefor.”); State v. Hernandez, 7 Ariz.App. 200, 205, 437 P.2d 952, 957 (1968) (when party does not request instruction, “failure to give [a prior act] limiting instruction is not fundamental error”).
¶ 32 Miles attempts to distinguish Taylor, stating that, in that case, “the other-act evidence was properly before the jury on a material issue — the defendant’s credibility. ... Here, there was no material issue before the jury to which the other-act evidence was relevant and the court’s endangerment instruction made the other-act evidence relevant.” We are not persuaded. The trial court specifically instructed the jury not to consider any alcohol-related evidence, and defense counsel reiterated in closing argument that alcohol was “not part of the case.” Finally, that the facts of this case differ from those in Taylor is of no moment. We find no fundamental error relating to the trial court’s jury instructions.
DISPOSITION
¶ 33 Miles’s convictions and sentences are affirmed.
Concurring: PHILIP G. ESPINOSA, Presiding Judge and WILLIAM E. DRUKE, Judge .
. Any information bearing on the relationship between Miles and his passenger and on the latter's whereabouts and unavailability for trial presumably was discussed at the hearing on Miles’s motion in limine. The transcript of that hearing, however, was not furnished to this court. Accordingly, we presume the missing portions of the record support the trial court's ruling. See State v. Brooks, 107 Ariz. 364, 365, 489 P.2d 1, 2 (1971).
. The minute entry of the hearing on Miles's motion in limine does not include the trial court’s ruling on the privilege issue. But it is undisputed the court denied that motion on the ground Miles lacked standing to assert the passenger’s privilege.
. Miles contended below that the document was merely a "generic records release form” and that it did not constitute a waiver of the passenger’s privilege. Similarly, in his reply brief, Miles asserts the authorization form "only allowed law enforcement to obtain, but not disclose or use at trial, certain medical records.” We are unable to address these assertions because the record contains neither the authorization form itself nor any other evidence relating to it. In any event, as Miles points out, ”[i]t was for the trial court to determine whether [the passenger had] waived the privilege,” and the court made no such finding.
. See State v. Geist, 142 Ariz. 375, 379, 690 P.2d 94, 98 (App.1984) (trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that authorizing release of one’s medical records to department of public safety was not sufficient to waive privilege in criminal proceeding); see also Bain v. Superior Court, 148 Ariz. 331, 334, 714 P.2d 824, 827 (1986) (”[W]aiver of the physician-patient privilege is two-fold: where a privilege holder (1) offers himself as a witness and voluntarily testifies with reference to privileged communications concerning the condition, ... or (2) places a particular medical condition at issue by means of a claim or affirmative defense."). We also note that "the burden of demonstrating waiver [of the physician-patient privilege] rests with the party seeking to overcome the privilege." Alcon v. Spicer, 113 P.3d 735, 739 (Colo.2005).
. Because the two statutes are “not significantly different!)] ... there is no sound reason why the legal interpretation of the statutes should be any different.” State v. Santeyan, 136 Ariz. 108, 110, 664 P.2d 652, 654 (1983).
. We note that, at Miles's sentencing hearing, defense counsel stated the passenger had "elected not to participate in the case" and apparently “was satisfied with the fact that Mr. Miles took care of him — personally took care of him” after the collision.
. Although the state argues the "jurors ... were free to consider, based on their common experience, whatever else bloodshot, half-lidded eyes, slurred speech, and bad driving might indicate,” the trial court clearly ruled the state had failed to show that Miles had been "affected to the slightest degree” by any alcohol he had drunk and, therefore, the state could not use the evidence about alcohol to prove his recklessness. Because the state presumably introduced the evidence about Miles's bloodshot eyes and slurred speech to prove the DUI charges and because the court instructed the jury to "disregard ... any evidence regarding alcohol," we must assume the jurors did indeed disregard any evidence associated with alcohol and based their verdicts solely on admissible evidence. See State v. LeBlanc, 186 Ariz. 437, 439, 924 P.2d 441, 443 (1996).
. Because Miles failed to object to the jury instructions, he is "preclude[d] ... from claiming error on appeal absent fundamental error.” See State v. Van Adams, 194 Ariz. 408, ¶ 17, 984 P.2d 16, 23 (1999); See also Ariz. R.Crim. P. 21.3(c), 17 A.R.S. ("No party may assign as error on appeal the court’s giving or failing to give any instruction or portion thereof ... unless the party objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict .... ”).
. In its juiy instructions on the endangerment charge, the trial court defined "recklessly” to include “[a] person who creates such a risk but is unaware of such risk solely by reason of voluntary intoxication.”
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OPINION
RYAN, Justice.
¶ 1 Article 18, Section 8 of the Arizona Constitution mandates that an employee receive workers’ compensation if the employee is injured in “any accident arising out of and in the course of ... employment,” and the injury “is caused in whole, or in part, or is contributed to, by a necessary risk or danger of such employment, or a necessary risk or danger inherent in the nature thereof, or by failure of such employer or its agents or employee or employees to exercise due care.” The issue in these consolidated matters requires us to determine whether Article 18, Section 8 precludes the legislature from requiring proof that the presence of alcohol or illegal drugs in an injured worker’s system was not a contributing cause of the accident before workers’ compensation benefits may be awarded.
I
A
¶2 David C. Grammatieo, who installed metal trim on building exteriors for AROK, Inc., performed his work on drywall stilts approximately forty-two inches in height. After working for most of his shift on stilts, Grammatieo fell while walking, on stilts, through a cluttered area of the job site. He broke his right wrist and left knee in the fall.
¶ 3 Grammatieo admitted that he had smoked marijuana and ingested methamphetamine on the previous two days, days he was not required to be at work. His post-accident urine test showed positive results for marijuana, amphetamine, and methamphetamine, all of which are illegal to use in Arizona. See, e.g., Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 13-3401 (Supp.2003). Grammatico’s employer maintained a certified drug-testing policy under A.R.S. § 23-1021(D) (Supp. 2004). Under the terms of the statute, if an employer maintains such a policy, “an employee’s injury ... shall not be considered a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment and is not com-pensable ... if the employee fails to pass ... a drug test for the unlawful use of any controlled substance,” A.R.S. § 23-1021(D), unless the employee proves that the use of an unlawful substance “was not a contributing cause of the employee’s injury.” A.R.S. § 23-1021(D)(l). When Grammatico’s employer’s insurer denied him benefits, he requested a hearing before the Industrial Commission.
¶ 4 After the hearing, the administrative law judge found Grammatico’s claim noncom-pensable because Grammatico failed to prove that his use of unlawful controlled substances “was not even a ‘slight contributing cause’ ” of his injuries. Grammatico then filed a statutory special action in the court of appeals. See A.R.S. § 23-95RA) (1995). The court of appeals set aside the judge’s award, holding that A.R.S. § 23-1021(D) violates Article 18, Section 8 of the Arizona Constitution. Grammatico v. Indus. Comm’n, 208 Ariz. 10,16, ¶ 25, 90 P.3d 211, 217 (App.2004). Judge Barker dissented. Id. at 16-20, ¶¶ 26-44, 90 P.3d at 217-21.
B
¶ 5 Austin Komalestewa worked for Stone-ville Pedigree Seed. Shortly after he began work one morning, Komalestewa, as he and his fellow workers often were required to do, tried to fix a conveyor belt that had “bogged down.” He crawled under the belt to put pressure on the drum, and his arm became caught in the belt, resulting in serious injury. Komalestewa’s employer’s insurance carrier denied his workers’ compensation claim because blood tests taken at the hospital shortly after the accident revealed alcohol in his blood. Komalestwa protested the denial of benefits, and hearings were conducted before an administrative law judge at the Industrial Commission.
¶ 6 During the hearing, Komalestwa admitted that he had four mixed drinks containing vodka the night before the accident. An expert testified that based on blood drawn after the accident, Komalestewa’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident would have been at least 0.176 percent. However, Komalestewa’s wife, the employer’s site manager, and a co-worker testified that Komales-tewa did not appear intoxicated the morning of the accident.
¶ 7 The administrative law judge initially determined that Komalestewa had sustained a compensable injury. Subsequently, however, upon request for review by the insurance carrier, see A .R.S. §§ 23-942(D), -943(A)-(B) (1995), the judge determined that the claim was noncompensable under AR.S. § 23-1021(C) because Komalestewa’s intoxication had contributed to the accident. That section provides that “[a]n employee’s injury ... shall not be considered a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment and is not compensable ... if the impairment of the employee is due to the employee’s use of alcohol ... and is a substantial contributing cause of the employee’s personal injury.” Id. “‘Substantial contributing cause’ means anything more than a slight contributing cause.” Id. § 23-1021(H)(2).
¶ 8 Komalestewa filed a statutory special action in the court of appeals. In affirming the award, another panel of that court rejected the majority’s approach in Grammatico and held that A.R .S. § 23-1021(C) did not violate Article 18, Section 8 of the Arizona Constitution. Komalestewa v. Indus. Comm’n, 209 Ariz. 211, 219, ¶ 31, 99 P.3d 26, 34 (App.2004).
C
¶ 9 In Grammatico, Arok and the State Compensation Fund petitioned the Court for review, and Komalestewa petitioned for review in his matter. We granted review in both cases because of the conflict between the panels of the court of appeals on the applicability of Article 18, Section 8 and be cause these eases concern a matter of statewide importance. We have jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 12-120.24 (2003).
II
¶ 10 Before statehood, all Arizona employees injured by their employers’ negligence could bring common law tort actions against them. See Consol. Arizona Smelting Co. v. Ujack, 15 Ariz. 382, 383-84, 139 P. 465, 466 (1914); Red Rover Copper Co. v. Indus. Comm’n, 58 Ariz. 203, 210, 118 P.2d 1102, 1105 (1941); Arizona Workers’ Compensation Handbook § 1.1, at 1-1 (Ray J. Davis et al. eds., 1992) (hereinafter “Davis”). But success with such actions was rare because not only did employees have to show that the employers were negligent and that that negligence had caused the injuries, but also because such actions were “restricted further by the ‘unholy trinity’ of common law defenses — contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow servant rule.” William L. Prosser, Law of Torts § 80, at 526-27 (4th ed.1971); see also Red Rover, 58 Ariz. at 210, 118 P.2d at 1105.
¶ 11 “For twenty-five years, labor interests had unsuccessfully lobbied for an employer’s liability act in the territorial legislature.” Gordon M. Bakken, The Arizona Constitutional Convention of 1910, 1978 Ariz. St. L.J. 1,18. Responding to those calls, the framers of the Arizona Constitution in 1910 enacted Article 18, which included a wide range of measures to protect labor. See id. at 18-20. Article 18 abolished the fellow servant doctrine and substantially curtailed the defenses of contributory negligence and assumption of risk. See Ariz. Const, art. 18, §§ 4, 5; Heimke v. Munoz, 106 Ariz. 26, 28-30, 470 P.2d 107, 109-11 (1970).
¶ 12 Although Article 18, Sections 4 and 5 restricted employers’ common law defenses to employee negligence actions, neither section affected the basic requirement that the employee prove negligence and causation, an often long and expensive process for both employees and employers. See Davis, §§ 1.1, at 1-1 & 1.3.1, at 1-6. To address this issue, Delegate Everett E. Ellinwood, “an attorney who had served the railroads and the Phelps Dodge Arizona interests,” John D. Leshy, The Making of the Arizona Constitution, 20 Ariz. St. L.J. 1, 35 (1988), introduced Proposition 72 at the constitutional convention, which proposed to require the legislature to enact a “compulsory workmen’s compensation law.” The Records of the Arizona Constitutional Convention of 1910, 65-66 (John S. Goff ed., 1991) (hereinafter “Goff’). Proposition 72 was approved and adopted by the convention delegates as Article 18, Section 8. Id. at 549, 555, and 886.
¶ 13 After Arizona became a state in 1912, the first session of the Arizona Legislature implemented the constitutional mandate by adopting a “Compulsory Compensation Law.” Ujack, 15 Ariz. at 384, 139 P. at 466. The present version of the statutory scheme is found in A.R.S. §§ 23-901 to 23-1091 (1995 & Supp.2003).
¶ 14 Article 18, Section 8 and the implementing statutes provide workers in Arizona with an alternative to common law tort actions against employers. Under this “new civil action,” Ujack, 15 Ariz. at 387, 139 P. at 467, neither the employee’s nor the employer’s negligence would affect compensation. See Davis, pt. I, at 1-1.
¶ 15 This Court recognized that the new civil action was simply an alternative to the still-existing common law tort action. In In dustrial Commission v. Crisman, for example, we held that the legislature’s attempt to require pre-injury election of either workers’ compensation or the common law tort action was unconstitutional under Article 18, Section 8 because it did not provide workers with the constitutionally mandated option to elect, after the injury, to accept compensation or, instead, sue the employer. 22 Ariz. 579, 584, 199 P. 390, 392 (1921); see also Ujack, 15 Ariz. at 388, 139 P. at 468.
¶ 16 In 1925, the voters amended Article 18, Section 8 to provide for pre-injury election, thus creating a constitutional exception to Article 18, Section 6, the anti-abrogation clause. Kilpatrick v. Superior Court, 105 Ariz. 413, 418-19, 466 P.2d 18, 23-24 (1970). As Kilpatrick, 105 Ariz. at 419, 466 P.2d at 24, and Ruth v. Industrial Comm’n, 107 Ariz. 572, 575, 490 P.2d 828, 831 (1971), demonstrate, Article 18, Section 6 still protects an employee’s right to maintain a common law negligence action against his or her employer. That right, however, is subject to the exception provided in Article 18, Section 8— that the legislature may enact a law with the nearly irrebutable presumption that an employee accepted the alternative of workers’ compensation benefits unless the employee made a pre-accident election to reject workers’ compensation and retain his or her common law rights.
¶ 17 Under the Arizona Constitution, therefore, absent an employee’s express rejection of workers’ compensation, a no-fault system has replaced the prior fault-based tort system. See Stoecker v. Brush Wellman, Inc., 194 Ariz. 448, 451, ¶ 11, 984 P.2d 534, 537 (1999) (“The underlying principle of the compensation system is a trade of tort rights for an expeditious, no-fault method by which an employee can receive compensation for accidental injuries sustained in work-related accidents.”); see also Pressley v. Indus. Commn, 73 Ariz. 22, 28, 29, 236 P.2d 1011, 1015-16 (1951).
Ill
¶ 18 We now turn to whether A.R.S. § 23-1021(D) and A.R.S. § 23-1021(0 violate Article 18, Section 8, as Grammatico and Komalestewa contend. We begin our analysis with a brief summary of a few principles underlying workers’ compensation law.
A
¶ 19 To receive workers’ compensation benefits, an injured employee must demonstrate both legal and medical causation. DeSchaaf v. Indus. Comm’n, 141 Ariz. 318, 320, 686 P.2d 1288, 1290 (App.1984) (citing IB Arthur Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Law § 38.83 (1982)) (additional citations omitted). Article 18, Section 8 addresses legal causation. See DeSchaaf, 141 Ariz. at 321, 686 P.2d at 1291. As relevant to these cases, Section 8 divides legal causation into three elements. First, the employee must have been acting in the course of employment. Second, the employee must have suffered a personal injury from an accident arising out of and in the course of such employment. Third, the resulting injury must have been caused in whole or in part, or contributed to, by a necessary risk of the employee’s employment, or a necessary risk or danger inherent in the nature of that employment or the employer’s lack of due care.
¶ 20 Medical causation, in contrast, is established by showing that the accident caused the injury. See id. By its plain terms, Article 18, Section 8 does not limit the legislature’s power to enact legislation affecting medical causation. Cf. Ford v. Indus. Comm’n, 145 Ariz. 509, 518, 703 P.2d 453, 462 (1985) (stating that the constitution does not prevent the legislature from enacting specific factors to be considered “in determining whether industrial exposure is a cause of an occupational disease,” thus implicitly recog nizing that the legislature could enact standards for medical causation).
¶ 21 Consequently, the legislature has some latitude to establish the requisite medical causation for workers’ compensation recovery. In contrast, however, the legislature may not define legal causation in a way that conflicts with Article 18, Section 8 because the legislature “cannot enact laws which will supersede constitutional provisions adopted by the people.” Kilpatrick, 105 Ariz. at 415-16, 466 P.2d at 20-21.
B
¶ 22 The resolution of this case, therefore, hinges upon whether A.R.S. § 23-1021(C) and (D) impermissibly define legal causation by requiring proof that the presence of alcohol or illegal drugs in a claimant’s system did not contribute to the industrial accident. Turning first to A.R.S. § 23-1021(D)-(D)(l), those subsections provide that an employee who fails to pass, refuses to cooperate with, or refuses to take a qualified alcohol or drug test, is prohibited from receiving compensation, even if his or her injury would otherwise require compensation, unless the employee can prove that the intoxication or unlawful drug use was not a contributing cause of the accident.
¶ 23 The majority in Grammatico concluded that A.R.S. § 23-1021(D) impermissibly restricts legal causation. 208 Ariz. at 13-14, ¶¶ 12-15, 90 P.3d at 214-15. We agree. Under Article 18, Section 8, an employee demonstrates legal causation by showing that a necessary risk or danger of employment caused or contributed to the industrial accident “in whole or in part.” (Emphasis added.) Section 23-1021(D), however, denies compensation to an injured worker unless the worker proves that a necessary risk or danger of employment wholly caused the accident. Specifically, if alcohol or illegal drug use contributed even slightly to the accident, section 23-1021(D) denies compensation to the employee, even if a necessary risk or danger of employment partially or substantially caused or contributed to the accident. Article 18, Section 8 does not permit the legislature to limit legal causation in that manner. See Ford, 145 Ariz. at 518, 703 P.2d at 462 (holding that A.R.S. § 23-901.01 (1985), which lists factors that indicate whether employment caused an occupational disease, cannot be constitutionally interpreted to require proof that the disease was solely or exclusively caused by the industrial exposure).
C
¶24 Section 23-1021(C), the statute at issue in Komalestewa, similarly runs afoul of Article 18, Section 8. That statute provides that
[a]n employee’s injury or death shall not be considered a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment and is not compensable pursuant to this chapter if the impairment of the employee is due to the employee’s use of alcohol ... and is a substantial contributing cause of the employee’s personal injury or death. This subsection does not apply if the employer had actual knowledge of and permitted, or condoned, the employee’s use of alcohol____
Id. (footnote omitted).
¶25 Although Article 18, Section 8 requires compensation if a necessary risk or danger of employment partially caused or contributed to the accident, section 23-1021(C) denies benefits if alcohol or drug use contributed to the accident. Thus, even if an accident was caused, in part, by a necessary risk or danger of employment, A.R.S. § 23-1021(C) would preclude benefits if alcohol was “anything more than a slight contributing cause” of the injury. A.R.S. § 23-1021(H)(2). Again, such a provision requires proof that an employee was not at fault when the industrial accident occurred. Article 18, Section 8 does not permit the legislature to enact such a statute. See Inscoe v. DeRose Indus., Inc., 30 N.C.App. 1, 226 S.E.2d 201, 206 (1976) (holding that such a requirement injects “‘fault’ as negligence back into the statute in its broadest sense____That is, to deny relief to [an employee] ... would present a situation analogous to the common law understanding of contributory negligence which, of course, has been eliminated from Workmen’s Compensation”); see also Davis pt. I, at 1-1 (“When an injury ... is covered by workers’ compensation, the worker ... obtains no-fault protection. Neither the employer’s nor anyone else’s fault is relevant.”).
IV
A
¶ 26 The dissent in Grammatico, as well as the court in Komalestewa, concluded that the legislature is permitted to define the phrase in Article 18, Section 8, “a necessary risk or danger of ... employment,” to exclude accidents occurring when the employee has recently used illegal drugs or alcohol before the injury. See Grammatico, 208 Ariz. at 16, ¶ 26, 90 P.3d at 217 (Barker, J., dissenting); Komalestewa, 209 Ariz. at 212-13, ¶ 1, 99 P.3d at 27-28. As the Grammatico majority correctly pointed out, however, such a definition of “a necessary risk or danger of ... employment,” would impermissibly “injeet[] fault into the no-fault workers’ compensation system and effectively abrogate[ ] claims for injuries partially caused or contributed to by workplace dangers.” 208 Ariz. at 15, ¶ 20, 90 P.3d at 216. Moreover, if we agreed with the Grammatico dissent and Komalestewa opinion, the legislature could circumvent Article 18, Section 8 by defining “a necessary risk or danger” to exclude a variety of injuries if caused in part by an employee’s reckless or even negligent acts. The legislature, for example, could preclude recovery for injured employees whose injuries were caused, in part, by talking on cell phones while driving, by taking cold medication, or even by being tired on the job. However, the language of Article 18, Section 8 and the history behind it prohibit the legislature from enacting legislation that injects fault into the workers’ compensation system.
B
¶27 The dissent in Grammatico further concluded that an employee’s drug use before coming to work and suffering an injury is analogous to a meat cutter intentionally cutting off his own hand. See 208 Ariz. at 16-17, ¶ 28, 90 P.3d at 217-18 (Barker, J., dissenting); A.R.S. § 23-1021(A) (excluding compensation for self-inflicted injuries). We find that analogy analytically flawed.
¶ 28 To be sure, our courts have long held that employees who intentionally injure themselves may not recover workers’ compensation. See, e.g., L.B. Price Mercantile Co. v. Indus. Comm’n, 43 Ariz. 257, 268, 30 P.2d 491, 495 (1934) (“The only injury resulting from an accident which arises out of and in the course of employment that is not compensable under the law of Arizona is one that the employee purposely inflicts upon himself____”); Lopez v. Kennecott Copper Corp., 71 Ariz. 212, 215-16, 225 P.2d 702, 705 (1950) (upholding industrial commission’s determination that the employee’s injury was self-inflicted, and thus noncompensable, because circumstantial evidence showed that the employee had ignited a stick of dynamite at his feet); Rural Metro Corp. v. Indus. Comm’n, 197 Ariz. 133, 135, ¶ 7, 3 P.3d 1053, 1055 (App.2000) (“[P]ursuant to our statutory scheme, an employee’s injury is compensable so long as it is work related and has not been purposely self-inflicted.”); Glodo v. Indus. Comm’n, 191 Ariz. 259, 262, 955 P.2d 15, 18 (App.1998) (holding that an employee cannot recover under workers’ compensation if the injury results from an intentional act).
¶ 29 Intentionally self-inflicted injuries, however, bar compensation only to those employees who clearly have purposely inflicted their injuries. In L.B. Price Mercantile, for example, we concluded that an employee who violated criminal laws and was injured in the process was not barred from workers’ compensation because such a violation merely established contributory negligence, which does not bar recovery under the workers’ compensation scheme. 48 Ariz. at 265-68, 30 P.2d at 494-95. We explained that “[m]any people violate these provisions, some unintentionally, and some intentionally but certainly with no purpose of causing injury to themselves. By no construction of the facts can it be said that [the employee] by crossing McDowell Road in violation of traffic regulations intended to inflict an injury upon himself.” Id. at 268, 30 P.2d at 495.
¶ 30 But in Glodo, the court of appeals determined that the employee had intentionally injured himself by punching a freezer door. 191 Ariz. at 262, 955 P.2d at 18. The court noted that the employee had argued that “while he may have purposely punched the freezer door, he did not ‘purposely' fracture his finger.” Id. The court disagreed, however, holding that “[a]n intentional act of violence that produces an injury that should be expected is not accidental.” Id.
¶ 31 In contrast, Rural Metro concluded that an employee’s decision to reject medical advice, which resulted in a workplace injury, did not constitute an intentional injury. There, the employee had suffered a shoulder injury, which required surgery, and was told by her doctor not to return to work. 197 Ariz. at 134, ¶¶2-3, 3 P.3d at 1054. She nevertheless decided to return to work, stating that she “had no choice” because of financial reasons. Id. at ¶ 3. She re-injured her shoulder her first day back on the job. Id. at ¶ 4. The court of appeals upheld the administrative law judge’s determination that the injury was compensable, concluding that “[although such action was arguably careless, if not reckless, no evidence was presented to suggest, nor does Rural Metro argue, that [the employee’s] purpose in returning to work at Rural Metro was to reinjure herself.” Id. at ¶ 8.
¶ 32 In distinguishing Glodo, the Rural Metro court emphasized that the employee in Glodo injured himself through an “intentional act of violence.” Id. at 135, ¶ 9, 3 P.3d at 1055. In addition, the court pointed out that the injury in Glodo was “‘almost inevitable].’ ” Id. at 135-36, ¶ 9, 3 P.3d at 1056 (quoting Glodo, 191 Ariz. at 264, 955 P.2d at 20). The employee’s action in Rural Metro, in contrast, “was neither an act of violence nor, as the [administrative law judge] found, was it predictably certain to result in injury.” Id. Rural Metro concluded, therefore, that the employee’s “shoulder reinjury was not purposely self-inflicted.” Id. at 136, 3 P.3d 1053.
C
¶ 33 Alcohol and drug use is more akin to the facts of Rural Metro than to the facts of Glodo. While alcohol consumption and illegal drug use shortly before work or during work undeniably increase the chances of being injured on the job, it cannot be unequivocally said that employees with alcohol or drugs in their systems who sustain injuries have intentionally injured themselves. See L.B. Price Mercantile, 43 Ariz. at 268, 30 P.2d at 495.
Y
¶ 34 We recognize that compelling policy reasons support banning drug and alcohol use in the workplace. In fact, the legislature has enacted several statutes in addition to A.R.S. § 23-1021(0 and (D) to further this policy. See A.R.S. §§ 23-493 to -493.11 (1995 & Supp.2004) (providing for, among other things, collection of samples, scheduling of tests and procedures for drug and alcohol testing, disciplinary procedures, and employer protection from litigation). Specifically, A.R.S. § 23-493.05 permits an employer to “take adverse employment action based on a positive drug test or alcohol impairment test,” including termination of employment. But as the majority in Grammatico stated:
we cannot ignore that our constitutional system for workers’ compensation requires the payment of benefits if a necessary risk or danger of employment partially caused or contributed to an industrial accident, without consideration of any fault by the injured employee. Thus, unless and until the constitution is changed, the legislature cannot abrogate claims for workers’ compensation for injuries wholly or partially caused or contributed to by necessary employment risks or dangers solely because an employee fails to pass ... a drug or alcohol test.
208 Ariz. at 15, ¶ 18, 90 P.3d at 216.
¶ 35 Consequently, because the necessary risks and dangers of working on drywall stilts could have partially caused or contributed to Grammatico’s injury, A.R.S. § 23-1021(D) is unconstitutional as applied to deny Grammatico workers’ compensation benefits. Likewise, because the necessary risks and dangers of putting pressure on a drum to fix a “bogged down” conveyor belt could have partially caused or contributed to Komaleste-wa’s injury, A.R.S. § 23-1021(0) is unconstitutional as applied to deny Komalestwa benefits.
VI
¶ 36 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the court of appeals’ decision in Grammatico setting aside the award, and reverse the court of appeals’ decision in Komalestewa, and set aside the award.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, ANDREW D.
HURWITZ, Justice, and CHARLES E. JONES, Justice (Retired).
. By separate order, we consolidated these cases for the purposes of this opinion.
. As originally enacted, Article 18, Section 8 directed the legislature to
enact a Workmen’s Compulsory Compensation law applicable to workmen engaged in manual or mechanical labor in such employments as the Legislature may determine to be especially dangerous, by which compulsory compensation shall be required to be paid to any such workman by his employer, if in the course of such employment personal injury to any such workman from any accident arising out of, and in the course of, such employment is caused in whole, or in part, or is contributed to, by a necessary risk or danger of such employment, or a necessary risk, or danger inherent in the nature thereof, or by failure of such employer, or any of his or its officers, agents, or employee, or employees, to exercise due care, or to comply with any laws affecting such employment; Provided, that it shall be optional with said employee to settle for such compensation, or retain the right to sue said employer as provided by this Constitution.
Goff at 1435-36.
. The amended version of Article 18, Section 8 provided that employees "engaged in ... private employment, may exercise the option to settle for compensation by failing to reject the provisions of such Workmen's Compensation Law prior to the injury.”
. The current version of Larson also discusses this principle. See 2 Arthur Larson & Lex K. Larson, Larson's Workers’ Compensation Law § 46.03[1], at 46-6 (2004).
. The Amicus Curiae Brief of Southern Arizona Workers’ Compensation Claimants Association ("SAWCCA”) points out that Article 18, Section 6, the anti-abrogation clause of Arizona’s constitution, preserves each person's "right of action to recover damages" for injuries. From this, SAWCCA reasons that if an Arizona worker is deprived of the right to worker’s compensation by a statute that introduces fault into the worker's compensation system, the worker retains the remedy of bringing a common law tort action against the employer. Given our disposition of the issues in this consolidated matter, we need not consider SAWCCA's argument.
. Studies demonstrate that talking on cell phones while driving is extremely dangerous. See, e.g., Donald A. Redelmeir & Robert J. Tibshirani, Association Between Cellular-Telephone Calls and Motor Vehicle Collisions, 336 New England Journal of Medicine 453, 456 (1997) (risk of accident increased 400% for drivers using cell phones; “relative risk is similar to the hazard associated with driving with a blood alcohol level at the legal limit”); David L. Strayer et al., Fatal Distraction? A Comparison of the Cell-Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver, http:// www.psych.utah.edu/Ap pli edCognitionLab /DrivingAssessm ent2003.pdf ("cell-phone drivers may actually exhibit greater impairments ... than legally intoxicated drivers”).
. Using over-the-counter cold medicine, such as Benadryl, can significantly increase the chance of automobile accidents. See, e.g., John M. Weiler et al., Effects of Fexofenadine, Diphenhydra-mine, and Alcohol on Driving Performance, 132 Annals of Internal Medicine 354, 362 (2000) (driving performance was generally worse after taking Benadryl than after drinking alcohol).
. L.B. Price Mercantile did not refer to Article 18, Section 8, but to sections 1421 and 1426 of the Revised Code of 1928. 43 Ariz. at 268, 30 P.2d at 495.
. The court in Komalestewa also used a flawed analogy to argue that an employee who is impaired from either drugs or alcohol has abandoned his or her employment. According to Komalestewa, Grammatico's fall while under the influence of drugs is analogous to an employee who, in a moment of tomfoolery, walks across the room on stilts while blindfolded, simply to show his fellow employees that he could, and falls in the process. See Komalestewa, 209 Ariz. at 218, ¶ 27, 99 P.3d at 33. That analogy is analytically flawed because, in that hypothetical, the employee has actually abandoned his employment. An employee who walks across a room on stilts while blindfolded to show fellow employees that he is capable of doing it, is not doing anything connected to his employment. Thus, it is fair to conclude that the employee has abandoned his employment. See, e.g., Anderson Clayton & Co. v. Indus. Comm’n, 125 Ariz. 39, 40-41, 607 P.2d 22, 23-24 (App.1979) (finding that an employee who injured himself after jumping a bicycle seventy feet from a conveyor belt into a pile of seed was not acting in the course of employment: " '[Wjhere an injury is suffered by an employee while engaged in acts for his own purposes or benefits, other than acts necessary for his personal comfort and convenience while at work, such injury is not in the course of his employment.’ ”) (quoting Rodriguez v. Indus. Comm’n, 20 Ariz.App. 148, 150-51, 510 P.2d 1053, 1055-56 (1973)). In neither Grammatico’s nor Komalstewa’s case did the record establish, nor did the respective administrative law judges find, that Grammatico or Komalestewa abandoned their employment.
. In the 2005 session of the legislature, Representative Eddie Farnsworth introduced House Concurrent Resolution 2007, which would have amended Article 18, Section 8 by including language that would have precluded an injured worker from receiving compensation "if an accident [was] caused in whole or in part by a worker's use of alcohol or a controlled substance.” The resolution passed both the Commerce and Judiciary Committees of the House of Representatives but apparently no further action was taken on it. See Minutes of Committee on Commerce, Arizona House, 47th Legislature, 1st Reg. Sess., 7-8 (Feb. 16, 2005), available at http://www.azleg .state.az.us.legalte xt/471eg/lr/ comm — min/house/ 216comm.doc.htm; Minutes of Arizona House Committee on Judiciary, 47th Legislature, 16-17 (Feb. 24, 2005), available at http://www.azleg .state.az.us/legtext /471eg/lr/ comm — min/house /0224jud.doc.htm.
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OPINION
IRVINE, Judge.
¶ 1 Appellant, National Broker Associates, Inc. (“NBA”), appeals from the trial court’s orders preventing it from presenting witness testimony at trial to support its damages claim, dismissing its case with prejudice, and awarding attorneys’ fees and costs in favor of appellee, Marlyn Nutraceuticals, Inc. (“Mar-lyn”). For the following reasons, we affirm all of the trial court’s rulings.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 NBA is a Florida corporation with an office located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Marlyn is also an Arizona corporation with an office located in Scottsdale, Arizona. On March 20, 1998, Marlyn hired NBA to manage its sales for two Marlyn products: Wobenzym Formula “50” and 4 Hair. The parties also agreed that NBA might manage additional products in the future. Paragraph ten of the agreement states, in pertinent part, that “NBA [is] to receive as a management fee, $5,000.00 per month plus 3% of net invoice sales.”
¶ 3 NBA filed its complaint on March 15, 2000 alleging breach of contract. In support of its cause of action, NBA claimed that Marlyn did not provide it with product literature or samples for the purpose of marketing the products and that Marlyn stopped paying the management fee of $5,000.00 per month after October 1, 1998. It further alleged that, as a “result of [Marlyn’s] breach of its contract with [NBA], [NBA] suffered damage and loss including ... management fees totaling $85,000.00 and 3% of the net sales of [Marlyn’s] product in an amount to be proven at trial.” Marlyn answered the complaint and asserted a claim for attorneys’ fees and costs incurred.
¶4 In NBA’s June 2000 initial disclosure statement, NBA informed Marlyn that it in tended to call NBA’s president, Mr. Harold Beatty (“Beatty”), as a witness to testify to, among other things, the damages that NBA incurred by Marlyn’s alleged breach. Beatty’s address was given as NBA’s counsel’s address in Arizona, even though Beatty’s residence was in Missouri. Beatty was deposed on October 31, 2000 in Phoenix, Arizona. Gaylord “Buck” Prestidge (“Prestidge”), another witness for NBA, was deposed on September 19, 2000 in Phoenix, Arizona.
¶ 5 On July 1, 2002, NBA filed a motion for leave to amend the complaint with a proposed First Amended Complaint. On July 26, the trial court issued an order stating that it “reluctantly grants [NBA’s] Motion to Amend its complaint ...,” and added that “if [Marlyn] require[s] additional time to do discovery it will be granted and the trial date and motion in limine date will be vacated.” Trial was subsequently set for October 6, 2003.
¶ 6 NBA’s damage expert, Donald R. Bays (“Bays”), submitted his Report on Damages (the “Bays Report”) on May 30, 2003 and was deposed on August 1, 2003. In his report, Bays relied on sales data provided by Beatty to calculate damages.
¶ 7 In June 2003, several discovery issues arose. Marlyn did not receive the Bays Report until June 6, 2003. Marlyn also had difficulty obtaining documents from NBA that were referred to in the Bays Report. NBA sought sanctions from the trial court based on its allegation that Marlyn had violated its discovery obligations and, specifically, altered or destroyed its sales records. Marlyn asserted that the accusations were speculative and the trial court ordered that the issue be set aside and argued at trial.
¶ 8 After receiving the Bays Report, Mar-lyn gave notice on July 3, 2003 to redepose Beatty and Prestidge at the office of Mar-lyn’s counsel in Phoenix. Marlyn sent the notice to Beatty in Scottsdale, care of NBA’s counsel. NBA’s counsel refused to agree to the deposition, requesting that Marlyn’s counsel “[s]top ignoring the rules and aggravating me at the same time” and stating that Marlyn had to seek permission from the court before deposing a witness for the second time.
¶ 9 On August 1, 2003, Marlyn filed its Motion to Compel, seeking to compel the depositions of Beatty and possibly Prestidge regarding the sales data used by Bays to create the Bays Report. In its motion, Mar-lyn requested that Bays be precluded from testifying as an expert witness if Beatty’s deposition was not permitted. On August 6, 2003, Marlyn sent a letter to NBA’s counsel stating: “Please advise the status of the deposition for Harold Beatty. It is imperative that the deposition proceed as soon as possible.” On August 8, 2003, NBA filed its Response to the Motion to Compel, arguing that deposing Beatty was inappropriate and further stating “[i]t takes time because presently Mr. Beatty is in Orland [sic], Florida, but it is forthcoming.” NBA’s response did not dispute that the deposition was to take place in Arizona.
¶ 10 At the August 13, 2003 hearing on the Motion to Compel, the trial court granted Marlyn’s Motion to Compel and ordered that Beatty be redeposed only on the sales data provided to Bays. The trial court subsequently awarded attorneys’ fees to Marlyn for its Motion to Compel in the amount of $2,336.00. In a follow-up letter to NBA’s counsel sent on August 13, 2003, Marlyn’s counsel wrote, “I will work with you in scheduling Mr. Beatty’s deposition. However, I will not agree to take his deposition by telephone. Please immediately contact me as soon as you know Mr. Beatty’s availability.”
¶ 11 Counsel discussed the Beatty deposition again at an August 22, 2003 hearing regarding production of documents. NBA’s counsel advised the trial court that Beatty lived in Missouri and was presently out of town. NBA’s counsel further requested a telephonic deposition and stated that NBA was not requiring that Beatty be deposed in Missouri. Marlyn’s counsel asked the court for an in-person deposition and further requested “an order that Mr. Beatty appear for deposition within the next ten days____” The trial court ordered that Beatty’s deposition be taken in person in Arizona and that Mar-lyn “give him 10 days notice.”. Marlyn’s counsel then discussed with the trial court “what 10 days is from today. It strikes me as probably a week from Monday or Tuesday.” August 22, 2003 was a Friday. NBA’s counsel made no comment.
¶ 12 On August 22, 2003, Marlyn gave notice to NBA’s counsel and Beatty at the Scottsdale address that the deposition was scheduled for September 3, 2003 at the office of Marlyn’s counsel in Arizona. On August 27, 2003, NBA’s counsel stated that Beatty would not appear for the September 3, 2003 deposition because Beatty was presently out of town and would continue to be out of town until September 8, 2003. NBA’s counsel also informed Marlyn’s counsel of his intent to seek a reversal of the trial court’s August 22, 2003 decision. In addition, NBA’s counsel stated that the October 6, 2003 trial date would be vacated because it fell on a religious holiday and asked Marlyn’s counsel to contact him to reschedule. Marlyn’s counsel wrote to NBA’s counsel on August 29, 2003, stating:
I am in receipt of your August 27, 2003 letters. Since receipt of these letters, I have left four messages on your voice mail and have not received a return phone call.
With respect to Mr. Beatty’s deposition, unless you contact me by 1:00 p.m. today and we agree to reschedule Mr. Beatty’s deposition, I expect him to appear on September 3, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. The Court ordered Mr. Beatty’s deposition and I noticed his deposition consistent with the Court’s ruling. I will do everything I can to cooperate, but your failure to communicate with me regarding Mr. Beatty’s deposition leaves me no choice but to confirm his deposition on Wednesday, September 3, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. If Mr. Beatty does not appear, I will advise the Court and seek appropriate sanctions. Furthermore, the documents responsive to the Request for Production of Documents must be produced by Tuesday, September 2, 2003. I am not trying to be difficult ..., but you have not returned any of my phone messages and we are approximately five weeks away from trial. As you know, it may also be necessary to take Mr. Prestidge’s deposition. I will not know that until I take Mr. Beatty’s deposition.
I urge you to contact me as soon as possible. I am leaving the office early today and will not be available again until Tuesday, September 2, 2003. Please contact me immediately.
¶ 13 As mentioned in the letter, Marlyn’s counsel left several voice messages for NBA’s counsel in the week preceding the deposition, none of which were returned, but neither NBA’s counsel nor Beatty appeared for the deposition scheduled on September 3, 2003.
¶ 14 Marlyn filed its Motion for Sanctions on September 5, 2003, citing NBA’s failure to produce Beatty to be deposed and failure to produce documents. In its motion, Marlyn requested that the trial court preclude any testimony by either Beatty or Bays with regard to sales data or the Bays Report because it was based on Beatty’s sales data.
¶ 15 Marlyn’s counsel sent a letter to NBA’s counsel on September 12, 2003 regarding Beatty’s deposition. On September 16, 2003, Marlyn’s counsel sent another letter to NBA’s counsel with regard to Beatty’s deposition and asked NBA’s counsel to contact him. After the September 16, 2003 letter was drafted and Marlyn’s counsel had made numerous attempts to contact NBA’s counsel, NBA’s counsel called, but did not provide any indication as to when the deposition would take place.
¶ 16 In its Response to Marlyn’s Motion for Sanctions, NBA raised the issue that the deposition was not properly scheduled pursuant to Rule 6(a), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, and that it was improper to require Beatty to be deposed in Arizona. The trial court granted Marlyn’s Motion for Sanctions, stating:
As pointed out by defense counsel during the oral argument on the Motion for Sanctions, if Plaintiff took issue with any of the Court’s prior orders, he had remedies available to him. He could have filed a Motion for Reconsideration if he believed that the Court erred in any of its rulings. Further, Plaintiffs counsel could have filed a Motion for Protective Order after receiving the Notice of Deposition of Mr. Beatty if he believed it had been prematurely set or if he believed this Court had no authority to order his deposition to take place in Arizona. Additionally, if he believed the Court’s orders were unreasonable, he could have filed a Petition for Special Action with the Court of Appeals to seek review of those orders by a higher court.
Despite the availability of various legal remedies, Plaintiff did nothing. He simply ignored the Court’s orders regarding producing documents to Defendant, and he did not produce Mr. Beatty for his deposition. The Court finds and determines that there was no valid reason for Plaintiff to ignore this Court’s orders in regard to' the production of documents and in regard to producing Mr. Beatty at his deposition.
As a sanction the court ordered that NBA was precluded from offering “any testimony by any witness, including, but not limited to, Harold Beatty ... or Mr. Bays’ Report (which relies in its entirety on Mr. Beatty’s Report).”
¶ 17 Based on NBA’s counsel’s oral statement that the sanctions prevented NBA from proving any damages, the trial court agreed to NBA’s request that the remaining claims be involuntarily dismissed. NBA’s counsel informed the court that the dismissal would fall “within the parameters of Rule 54(b) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure” and he would appeal the case “following the signing of the order.” Marlyn had no objection to the dismissal, but asked the court to “reserve jurisdiction to determine the issue of attorney’s fees” in its favor. The signed minute entry filed on October 13, 2003 specified that the “Court signs this minute entry Order as the formal Judgment and Order of Dismissal” and the “Court will retain jurisdiction to hear and determine any claims re: attorney’s fees.”
¶ 18 Marlyn filed its request for attorneys’ fees relating to the motion for sanctions on October 3, 2003. NBA did not object. On October 23j 2003, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Marlyn awarding $13,238.20 in fees. NBA timely filed its notice from the October 13 and October 23 rulings. This court docketed the notice of appeal as case number CV 03-0810.
¶ 19 On November 20, 2003, Marlyn filed an application for an award of attorneys’ fees for defending the merits of the ease. On the same day it filed a statement requesting an award of costs incurred in defending the case. NBA opposed the requests on the ground that the earlier signed order ended the ease so the trial court could not consider the claims for fees and costs. NBA also argued that the requests were untimely because they were filed outside the time period allowed by statute or rule. Marlyn replied that the trial court expressly retained jurisdiction to decide the attorney fee claim and the trial court may extend the time for filing claims. Without addressing NBA’s objections, the trial court granted Marlyn $25,882.56 in fees and $1,325 of costs. After the court entered the award as a judgment, NBA filed a second notice of appeal. This court docketed this case as case number CV 04-0534.
¶ 20 On our own motion, we consolidated the two appeals for decision.
DISCUSSION
¶ 21 NBA argues in No. 03-0810 that: (1) the trial court abused its discretion by imposing sanctions because Marlyn failed to timely and properly notice Beatty’s deposition; (2) the trial court abused its discretion when it required that Beatty, a resident of Missouri, be deposed in Arizona; (3) the trial court abused its discretion when it imposed sanctions that resulted in involuntary dismissal of the case without an evidentiary hearing; (4) the trial court erred when it awarded attorneys’ fees to Marlyn; and (5) the trial court erred when it awarded attorneys’ fees and costs more than fifteen days after the dismissal. In No. 04-0534, NBA argues that (1) the trial court erred when it awarded attorneys’ fees because the application was not filed within twenty days from the decision pursuant to Rule 54(g) or fifteen days from the entry of judgment pursuant to Rule 59(1), and (2) costs could not be awarded because the claim was filed more than ten days after entry of judgment in violation of Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-346 (2003) and Rule 54(f). For the following reasons, we affirm.
A. Timeliness of Notice for Deposition
¶22 NBA argues that the notice of deposition was improper because it gave eleven calendar days’ notice, but the rules require at least ten business days’ notice. Rule 30(b)(1), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, states that a party is entitled to ten days’ notice prior to taking a deposition in the absence of a court order or stipulation by the parties agreeing to a shorter time for notice. Rule 6(a), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, entitled “Computation,” provides, in pertinent part:
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules, by any local rules, by order of court, or by any applicable statute, the day of the act, event or default from which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. When the period of time prescribed or allowed ... is less than 11 days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays shall not be included in the computation. When that period of time is 11 days or more, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays shall be included in the computation. The last day of the period so computed shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday.
Construing Rules 30(b)(1) and 6(a) together, we conclude that intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays shall not be included in the ten days notice required for a deposition. Therefore, NBA is correct that a party is generally entitled to ten business days notice.
¶23 The general rule, however, does not apply if the trial court exercises its authority under Rule 30(b)(3) to “enlarge or shorten the time for taking the deposition” for cause. Our review of the record shows that the trial court did so. On August 22, 2003, the trial court ordered Marlyn’s counsel to give notice for Beatty’s deposition to take place in Arizona and “give [Beatty] ten days notice.” Read in context, the discussion between the court and Marlyn’s counsel during that hearing, in the presence of NBA’s counsel, shows that Marlyn and the trial court understood that they were talking about ten calendar days. Although the trial court never formally invoked its authority under Rule 30(b)(3), we do not believe such formality is required when all parties are present in open court and the court’s statements are subject to immediate clarification.
¶ 24 NBA’s counsel neither objected to the computation of time at the August 22, 2003 hearing, nor spoke up to say “a week from Monday or Tuesday” was too short for proper notice under the rule. The tidal court made it clear that the deposition needed to take place expeditiously because of the approaching trial date. In light of this, Mar-lyn’s counsel properly noticed the deposition with at least ten calendar days’ notice. After receiving the August 22, 2003 notice, NBA’s counsel never asked the court to clarify the method of computation of the ten days, sought reconsideration, or moved for a protective order. NBA’s counsel sent a letter to Marlyn on August 27, 2003 stating that Beatty would not appear for his deposition, but never replied to Marlyn’s letters or telephone messages requesting discussion about scheduling the deposition. Neither NBA’s counsel nor Beatty appeared for the deposition scheduled on September 3, 2003. It was not until September 25, 2003 that NBA argued that the trial court’s computation of the ten days’ notice was inaccurate.
¶ 25 Given that the trial court ordered the deposition to take place and trial was rapidly approaching, NBA could not just ignore the notice of deposition because of alleged technical defects. NBA’s failure to seek clarification from the court or take some other affirmative action to resolve the problems of timely deposing its witnesses effectively constituted a failure to obey the court’s order. The trial court properly considered it so.
II26 Therefore, we hold that counsel properly noticed the deposition and the trial court acted within its discretion in imposing sanctions for failure to appear'.
B. Order for Beatty Deposition to Take Place in Arizona
¶27 NBA also argues that the trial court lacked authority to order Beatty, a Missouri resident, to be deposed in Arizona. NBA’s counsel did not object to taking the deposition in Arizona at any time during the court proceedings or in the correspondence preceding the date scheduled for the deposition. Because NBA did not object, we will not address on appeal the issue of the trial court’s authority. In any event, NBA’s real complaint is that the trial court imposed a sanction for NBA’s failure to comply with an order that NBA now argues was ineffective.
¶ 28 As we discussed above, a party cannot simply ignore an order of the court until the time for compliance passes and then argue in defense that the order was ineffective. If a party believes that a defect exists, it is incumbent on the party to approach the court for clarification or reconsideration. This is particularly true when time is short because of an approaching trial or other deadline. Therefore, NBA’s argument that the trial court could not order the deposition to take place in Arizona was not properly asserted as a defense to the imposition of sanctions for failing to follow the court’s order.
C. Sanctions Dismissing Complaint With Prejudice
¶ 29 NBA also asserts on appeal that the trial court erred when it imposed sanctions emasculating its case and causing the case to be dismissed with prejudice. We find that the sanctions did not preclude NBA from making any claim. Without Beatty’s and Bays’ testimony, NBA was only prevented from establishing its damages claim based on its percentage of money earned through successful product sales. NBA was not precluded from establishing its claim that it was entitled to $100,000.00 for the agreement between the parties of the $5,000.00 management fee each month, beginning on October 1, 1998. NBA, not the trial court, suggested that simply entering judgment against it might be the better option because it could no longer seek certain damages. Therefore, we reject NBA’s claim that the trial court improperly dismissed the Complaint.
¶30 For the first time on appeal, NBA asserts that the trial court abused its discretion when it failed to hold an evidentiary hearing prior to its dismissal of the claim to determine whether NBA’s failure to follow a court order and cooperate with discovery was the NBA’s counsel’s fault or Beatty’s fault. We will not address issues raised for the first time on appeal. State v. Fagnant, 176 Ariz. 218, 219, 860 P.2d 485, 486 (1993).
D. Marlyn’s Awards of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs
¶ 31 NBA argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it awarded attorneys’ fees and costs to Marlyn, contending that the awards, as well as the claims for costs and fees on the merits, were untimely. NBA argues that the signed order filed October 13, 2003 resolved all issues of the case so that any fee awards could only be accomplished by amending the judgment pursuant to Rule 59(Z). Marlyn counters that Rule 54(b) makes attorneys’ fee claims separate claims that may be litigated after judgment has been entered on the merits.
¶ 32 Although NBA asked the trial court to apply Rule 54(b) to its order and treated the October 13 order as a final, appealable judgment, it argues that the October 13 order was not a Rule 54(b) judgment because it does not contain the proper certification language. NBA’s argument is difficult to follow, but it appears to argue that because the October 13 order did not contain specific reference to Rule 54(b) it was a final judgment terminating the case in the trial court. Therefore, NBA argues, any attorneys’ fee claim cannot be separately and later considered because the trial court no longer had jurisdiction over the case and the only way fees could be awarded was by filing a Rule 59(i) motion to amend the judgment. In support of its argument it cites Mark Lighting Fixture Co. v. General Electric Supply Co., 155 Ariz. 27, 745 P.2d 85 (1987), and Monti v. Monti, 186 Ariz. 432, 924 P.2d 122 (App.1996). These cases were decided before the most recent amendments to the rules governing judgments and the timing of claims for attorneys’ fees. We conclude that the current rules are directly at odds with NBA’s argument.
¶ 33 Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) currently states:
When more than one claim for relief is presented in an action, whether as a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, or when multiple parties are involved, the court may direct the entry of final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of the claims or parties only upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay and upon an express direction for the entry of judgment. In the absence of such determination and direction, any order or other form of decision, however designated, which adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties shall not terminate the action as to any of the claims or parties, and the order or other form of decision is subject to revision at any time before the entry of judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties. For purpose of this subsection, a claim for attorneys’ fees may be considered a separate claim from the related judgment regarding the merits of a cause.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 54(b). Rule 54(b) was amended in 1999, in part for the purpose of allowing a trial court to expressly enter a judgment on the merits that may immediately be appealed while retaining jurisdiction over an attorneys’ fees issue for later resolution. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 54(b) note (State Bar Committee Notes 1999 Amendments).
¶ 34 Other 1999 amendments also affected claims for fees. Rule 54(g), which governs the timing and method of claiming fees, was “amended expressly to provide that the rule does not apply to attorneys’ fees and costs sought as sanctions pursuant to statute or rule. The amendment was adopted to avoid confusion of the type discussed in Monti v. Monti 186 Ariz. 432, 924 P.2d 122 (App.1996).” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 54(g) note (State Bar Committee Notes 1999 Amendments).
¶ 35 Current Rule 58(g) was amended to provide that “a judgment shall not be entered until claims for attorneys’ fees have been resolved and are addressed in the judgment.” As explained in the State Bar Committee Notes, the rule
was amended to provide that a judgment normally should not be entered until all attorneys’ fees issues have been resolved and can be addressed in the judgment. This procedure will allow all issues to be addressed efficiently in a single appeal, and will avoid the problem identified in Mark Lighting Fixture Co. v. General Electric Supply Co., 155 Ariz. 27, 745 P.2d 85 (1987) (holding that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to award attorneys’ fees after judgment absent a timely motion to alter or amend judgment). In the rare case in which a judgment on the merits of a cause would be appropriate prior to resolution of attorneys’ fees, the trial court may certify the entry of a “merits” judgment under Rule 54(b).
Rule 58(g) note (State Bar Committee Notes 1999 Amendments). NBA makes no attempt to explain why these amended rules do not render Mark Lighting and Monti inapplicable to this case.
¶36 NBA’s fundamental mistake appears to be its belief that Rule 54(b) is only applicable when the trial court expressly certifies a ruling for immediate appeal. It seems to believe that if there is no Rule 54(b) certification the subsection has no effect and a signed order will be effective as a final judgment even when claims for attorneys’ fees have not been resolved. This interpretation is directly contrary to the language of the subsection, particularly when considered with amended Rule 58(g). The first sentence of Rule 54(b) prescribes what is necessary to make an order adjudicating less than all claims final. But if the first sentence does not apply, the second sentence is triggered and there will be no final, appealable judgment until all claims involving all parties are adjudicated. The third sentence specifically makes a claim for attorneys’ fees a separate claim for purposes of Rule 54(b), so the claims that must be adjudicated before the case is final include fee claims. Thus, as provided for in Rule 58(g), except in the rare case when a judgment on the merits is appropriate prior to the resolution of attorneys’ fees, a final, ap-pealable judgment shall not be entered until attorneys’ fees are resolved and addressed in the judgment. If this procedure is followed and understood, parties will avoid what the parties in this case have gone through — the expense and time incurred in preparing multiple appeals of what is actually a single case.
¶ 37 Under the circumstances of this case, we do not need to decide whether the October 13, 2003 order qualified as a Rule 54(b) judgment. Either way NBA’s objections to the attorneys’ fee awards are without merit. If the trial court had certified the October 13 order under Rule 54(b), it plainly could have later ruled on the separate claim for attorneys’ fees. If the order was not certified under Rule 54(b), Marlyn’s two claims for attorneys’ fees, one raised in Marlyn’s answer and in open court and the other awarded as a sanction, remained to be adjudicated because the October 13 order was not a final judgment. Without Rule 54(b) certification, the case only becomes final when a judgment or judgments are entered adjudicating all the claims, including fee claims, and the rights and liabilities of all parties. See Hill v. City of Phoenix, 193 Ariz. 570, 573, ¶ 15, 975 P.2d 700, 703 (1999) (“holding that in the absence of a Rule 54(b) certification, all judgments become effective upon entry of the one last in time which disposes of the last claim”). In either circumstance, we reject NBA’s claim that the trial court lacked the authority to enter the two attorneys’ fee awards.
¶ 38 NBA also argues that the attorneys’ fees claim for defending the merits was untimely because Marlyn did not submit it within twenty days of the decision on the merits, as required by Rule 54(g), and the claim for costs was untimely because Marlyn did not submit it within ten days as required by A.R.S. § 12-346 and Rule 54(f). Under each of these provisions, the trial court has the discretion to extend the time for filing the claims. Rule 54(f) and § 12-346 provide for an extension “for good cause shown.” NBA raised these same objections before the trial court, which then granted the claims, noting “[g]ood cause appearing.” NBA argues this finding is insufficient, but we have previously held that a trial judge does not abuse its discretion by summarily overruling objections to an untimely statement of costs. Brant v. Hargrove, 129 Ariz. 475, 484, 632 P.2d 978, 987 (App.1981). In this case, the trial court ruled upon the merits in October and all fee and cost claims were filed and ruled upon by the end of December. Under these circumstances, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling NBA’s objections to the timeliness of the fee and cost claims.
E. Attorneys’ Fees and Costs on Appeal
¶39 Finally, both NBA and Marlyn request that we award attorneys’ fees pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-341.01(A), which provides the court with the authority to award attorneys’ fees to the successful party arising out of a contract action, and Rule 21, Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure. In the exercise of our discretion, we award reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to Marlyn upon its compliance with Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure 21(c).
CONCLUSION
¶ 40 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court and award attorneys’ fees and costs to Marlyn on appeal.
CONCURRING: PATRICIA K. NORRIS, Presiding Judge and G. MURRAY SNOW, Judge.
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OPINION
KESSLER, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 This appeal arises out of a challenge to an application for an appropriative water right to instream flows filed with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (“ADWR”). We are called upon to decide whether Arizona law allows the ADWR to issue permits for instream water rights, and whether the ADWR violated the Arizona Administrative Procedure Act (the “APA”) by using the Guide to Filing Applications for Instream Flow Water Rights in Arizona (December 1991) (“1991 Instream Flow Guide”). We hold that the ADWR has the authority to issue permits for instream water rights and that Phelps Dodge Corporation (“Phelps Dodge”) did not preserve its claim that ADWR violated the APA by applying the 1991 Instream Flow Guide.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶ 2 The United States Forest Service (the “Forest Service”) applied to the ADWR for a permit to appropriate the waters of Cherry Creek, a tributary of the Salt River located in the Tonto National Forest. The permit would grant the Forest Service the right to certain instream flows for fish, wildlife and recreation purposes. The ADWR thereafter issued a notice to interested parties concerning their right to file protests to the Forest Service’s application (the “Application”).
¶3 The Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (“SRP”) protested on behalf of the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association, stating that SRP had previously appropriated all normal flow and flood waters of the Salt River, the Verde River, and their tributaries, including Cherry Creek. According to SRP, the Application conflicted with its vested rights. Other parties, including Phelps Dodge, also filed protests. The ADWR referred the protests to the Office of Administrative Hearings, which in turn bifurcated the issues. The first phase, addressing whether the ADWR has authority to issue permits for instream water rights, is the subject of this appeal.
¶ 4 The Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) conducted a hearing on the first phase issues, and concluded:
[T]he Arizona Legislature has granted the Department the authority to issue permits to appropriate water for instream flows. Furthermore, the Administrative Law Judge concludes that Arizona’s prior appropriation system does not require an actual physical diversion of water where no diversion is necessary to put the water to beneficial use.
The ADWR director subsequently adopted the ALJ’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.
¶ 5 Phelps Dodge unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the superior court, which held that the “statutory framework appears to grant the ADWR the authority to issue permits to appropriate water for instream flows.” The court also rejected Phelps Dodge’s argument that any authority the ADWR had to issue permits for instream water rights was negated by its failure to adopt the 1991 Instream Flow Guide as a rule. Phelps Dodge timely filed this appeal. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 12-2101(B) (2003).
DISCUSSION
¶ 6 Phelps Dodge argues the ALJ and the superior court erred in holding the ADWR may issue a permit for instream water rights to the Forest Service because the ADWR has no explicit statutory authority to issue such permits. It also contends the ADWR may not rely upon the 1991 Instream Flow Guide without first promulgating it as a rule. We address each argument in turn.
I. Instream Water Rights
¶ 7 According to Phelps Dodge, since Arizona follows a prior appropriation system of water rights, a physical diversion is an essential element of an appropriation. Since an instream water right by definition does not involve a physical diversion, Phelps Dodge reasons, it cannot be a valid appropriation of water necessary to effect a water right. Accordingly, Phelps Dodge contends the ADWR is without authority under Arizona law to issue instream water rights.
¶ 8 In response, the ADWR argues that the statute confers authority to issue in-stream water permits. We affirm the superi- or court’s ruling because Arizona’s historic prior appropriation scheme, the current water use statute, and the ADWR’s interpretation of Arizona water law do not affirmatively require a diversion to establish an instream or in situ water right.
¶ 9 We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. Canon Sch. Dist. No. 50 v. W.E.S. Constr. Co., 177 Ariz. 526, 529, 869 P.2d 500, 503 (1994). When interpreting statutes, we strive to “discern and give effect to legislative intent.” People’s Choice TV Corp. v. City of Tucson, 202 Ariz. 401, 403, ¶ 7, 46 P.3d 412, 414 (2002). A statute’s meaning is conclusive if it is unambiguous considering the statute’s language as a whole. US West Communications v. City of Tucson, 198 Ariz. 515, 520, ¶ 12, 11 P.3d 1054, 1059 (App.2000). “If ambiguity exists, however, we determine legislative intent by looking first to the text and context of the statute and then considering its historical background, effects and consequences, and its spirit and purpose.” Kent K. v. Bobby M., 210 Ariz. 279, 283, ¶ 14, 110 P.3d 1013, 1017 (2005).
¶ 10 General water usage rights are governed by Title 45, Chapter 1 of the Arizona Revised Statutes. Under the statutory scheme, “beneficial use shall be the basis, measure and limit to the use of water.” A.R.S. § 45-141(B) (2003). Beneficial uses include “recreation, [and] wildlife, including fish....” A.R.S. § 45-151(A) (2003). In addition, the surface waters of lakes, ponds, or streams, are subject to appropriation and beneficial use. A.R.S. § 45-141(A). The sections defining an acceptable appropriation and beneficial use do not explicitly refer to either instream flow rights or a diversion requirement.
¶ 11 A party must apply to the ADWR director for a permit to make an appropriation and acquire the right to a beneficial use of water. A.R.S. § 42-152(A) (2003). An application must state the applicant's name and address, the water supply from which the right is sought, the nature and amount of the proposed use, the point of diversion and a description of the works by which the water will be put to use, and the time frame for construction of such works. Id. In addition, an application for fish, wildlife, and recreational permits must list “the location and the character of the area to be used and the. specific purposes for which such area will be used.” A.R.S. § 45-152(B)(6). The ADWR director must approve proper applications for “the appropriation of water for a beneficial use” unless the proposed use “conflicts with vested rights, is a menace to public safety, or is against the interests and welfare of the public....” A.R.S. § 42-153(A) (2003).
¶ 12 The portion of the water use statute controlling applications for water use permits does not affirmatively require physical diversion to effect a beneficial use. Although an applicant may list a point of diversion and the time frame for completing works necessary to effectuate the proposed use under the statute, the logical reading of these requirements is that they must be provided only if relevant to the proposed use. Moreover, the subsection of the statute that requires applicants for wildlife, fish, and recreation permits to list the character of the area to be used does not mention a point of diversion. Had the Legislature intended to require a diversion for a successful application for such a water use permit, it could have done so in this subsection. Since the requirements for such a water rights application do not mandate a physical diversion, there is no statutory support for finding a diversion requirement, especially considering the statutory definition of beneficial use does not refer to such a requirement, A.R.S. § 45-151(A). See State v. Morros, 104 Nev. 709, 766 P.2d 263, 266 (1988) (refusing to find a diversion requirement in application criteria when no such requirement exists in the statutory definition of beneficial use).
¶ 13 Given the ambiguity of the statutory requirements with regards to instream flow rights and a diversion requirement, we look next to the historical context of the statute. Kent K., 210 Ariz. at 283, ¶ 14, 110 P.3d at 1017. In response to water scarcity and preexisting cultural norms regarding water usage, Arizona has historically operated under a prior appropriation scheme of water use law. See Clough v. Wing, 2 Ariz. 371, 379-81, 17 P. 453, 455-56 (Terr.1888); Norman K. Johnson & Charles T. DuMars, A Survey of the Evolution of Western Water Law in Response to Changing Economic and Public Interest Demands, 29 Nat. Res. J. 347, 348-50 (1989). Our supreme court defined an appropriation as:
the intent to take, accompanied by some open, physical demonstration of the intent, and for some valuable use----When the individual, by some open, physical demonstration, indicates an intent to take for a valuable and beneficial use, and, through such demonstration, ultimately succeeds in applying the water to the use designed, there is such an appropriation. While a diversion must of necessity take place before the water is actually applied to the irrigation of the soil, the appropriation thereof is, in legal contemplation, made when the act evidencing the intent is performed.
Clough, 2 Ariz. at 382-83, 17 P. at 457 (internal quotations omitted) (emphasis supplied). The right of the prior appropriator was limited to the scope of beneficial use. Id. at 378, 17 P. at 455. Because the right was usufruc-tory in nature, an appropriator was bound to make water exceeding his beneficial use available to junior appropriators. Id. at 377-78, 17 P. at 454-55; Johnson & DuMars, supra, at 351. As such, the focus in early water use law was upon the appropriator’s intent to use. Diversion was acknowledged only as a practical necessity for irrigation and other off-site uses.
¶ 14 In 1893, the Territorial Legislature passed Act No. 86. See 1893 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 86. That law provided two methods for appropriation: by posting and filing a notice of intent with the county recorder and then applying the water to the beneficial use contemplated, or simply by applying the water to a beneficial use. Id.; Parker v. McIntyre, 47 Ariz. 484, 489, 56 P.2d 1337, 1339 (1936). The only difference between the two methods was that, if notice was filed, the appropriation dated back to the filing of the notice. Parker, 47 Ariz. at 489, 56 P.2d at 1339. Applying this law, the Arizona Supreme Court found that bringing cattle to drink from nearby water sources constituted a valid appropriation of waters because it was a beneficial use, despite that no notice had been posted. England v. Ally Ong Hing, 105 Ariz. 65, 71, 459 P.2d 498, 504 (1969). Thus, the focus remained upon the use, and not necessarily the physical diversion of the water.
¶ 15 In 1919, the Arizona Legislature amended the above scheme and enacted the predecessors to the current water rights statutes. See 1919 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 164. As noted above, neither instream water rights nor diversion are explicitly mentioned in Arizona’s current statutory water scheme. The thrust of Phelps Dodge’s argument in favor of interpreting a diversion requirement in the statutory water scheme is that the common law diversion requirement predates the development of the statutory scheme. Therefore, Phelps Dodge reasons, the diversion requirement was implicitly adopted into the statutory scheme, and may not be stricken absent a subsequent legislative act.
¶ 16 We reject that argument because, as noted above, there was no clear common law diversion requirement for all purposes. Diversion was recognized as a practical necessity under the traditional prior appropriation scheme when a beneficial use historically required the transportation of water to arid land for irrigation or similar off-site purposes. See Arizona v. California, 283 U.S. 423, 459, 51 S.Ct. 522, 75 L.Ed. 1154 (1931); Clough, 2 Ariz. at 382-83, 17 P. at 457; McClellan v. Jantzen, 26 Ariz.App. 223, 225, 547 P.2d 494, 496 (1976) (citing Arizona v. California, 283 U.S. at 459, 51 S.Ct. 522); Johnson & DuMars, supra at 350; Cynthia Covell, A Survey of State Instream Flow Programs in the Western United States, 1 U. Denv. Water L.Rev. 177, 178-79 (1998). However, Arizona common law and statutes preceding the current statutory scheme were unclear as to the existence of a substantive diversion requirement for establishing a valid appropriation for all purposes. The court in Clough noted that, while a diversion was necessary for effecting a beneficial use in irrigation, a legal appropriation occurs when “the act evidencing intent is performed,” 2 Ariz. at 382-83, 17 P. at 457 (emphasis added), thus indicating that there may be acts beside an actual diversion that would effect an appropriation other than for irrigation. Moreover, the requirements for a valid appropriation listed in 1893 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 86 made no reference to a diversion, and the Arizona Supreme Court accordingly interpreted those requirements in England to allow cattle watering, an in situ use, as a prior appropriation. 105 Ariz. at 71, 459 P.2d at 504.
¶ 17 In interpreting the water use statute we further look to its effects and consequences. Kent K., 210 Ariz. at 283, ¶ 14, 110 P.3d at 1017. Phelps Dodge argues that a physical diversion is required to provide notice of the appropriation to other par ties, and that without diversion, water rights are not subject to abandonment or forfeiture. However, there are alternative methods under Arizona law for providing notice and establishing abandonment and forfeiture.
¶ 18 At common law, the courts recognized alternative means to provide notice in order to effect a valid appropriation. As noted in Clough, an appropriation occurred when there was an “open, physical demonstration” of intent to take for beneficial use. 2 Ariz. at 382, 17 P. at 457. This demonstration, which was not limited to a physical diversion, would serve to provide actual notice of the appropriation. See Pomeroy § 52, at 83 (an appropriator had to manifest intent to appropriate, although no particular method of manifestation or notice was required). The plaintiff in England established a valid appropriation in this manner merely by watering his cattle in nearby water sources for an extended period of time. 105 Ariz. at 71, 459 P.2d at 504.
¶ 19 Arizona’s development of a constructive notice system further discredits the practical necessity of a diversion to show notice. By passing Act No. 86 in 1893, the Legislature supplemented the open, physical demonstration requirement with the possibility of filing a notice with the county recorder, thus introducing into water law the concept of constructive notice preceding actual use. See Parker, 47 Ariz. at 489, 56 P.2d at 1339. This system of providing constructive notice through a public filing procedure, as well as the derivative application system reflected in the current statute, negates any supposed necessity for a diversion to show notice. See Christine A. Klein, “The Constitutional Mythology of Western Water Law,” 14 Va. Envtl. L.J. 343, 351 (Winter 1995); In re Application A-16642, 236 Neb. 671, 463 N.W.2d 591, 601 (1990) (“Since the permit system provides a surer method of providing lasting notice of the existence and quantity of valid appropriative rights, requiring a diversion as a prerequisite serves no useful purpose.”). Furthermore, the current application system provides that the water usage is limited to the initial notice, unlike a diversion, which by no means indicates or limits the scope of the appropriation. Recognition of diversion as serving a notice function therefore is not consistent with the spirit and purpose of the water statute, given the usu-fructory nature of water rights in Arizona and the aim of Arizona water law to maximize the beneficial use for all users, see supra n. 5.
¶ 20 Nor is diversion necessary to show abandonment and forfeiture. Abandonment and forfeiture are shown not through absence of diversion, but through cessation of beneficial use. “So long as utilization [of the legal water right] continues, the right remains secure.” In re General Adjudication of All Rights to Use Water in the Gila River System and Source, 201 Ariz. 307, 310, ¶ 3, 35 P.3d 68, 71 (2001). A water right is deemed abandoned if the holder intends to abandon the right and a period of non-use occurs. Gould v. Maricopa Canal Co., 8 Ariz. 429, 448, 76 P. 598, 601 (Terr.1904). Forfeiture occurs when the right is not used for a period of time and there is no intent to abandon. Gila Water Co. v. Green, 29 Ariz. 304, 306, 241 P. 307, 308 (1925). Under the current statute, forfeiture occurs when the water right has not been used for five successive years, unless the statute excuses the non-use. A.R.S. § 45-141(C). In addition, a water right may revert to the State if “a person entitled to the use of water has not beneficially used all or a portion of the water right for a period of five or more consecutive years.” A.R.S. § 45-189(A). Failure to use a permitted instream flow right during the statutory period may result in a finding of abandonment or forfeiture as it would any other water right in Arizona. It may be shown through means other than lack of diversion, such as sustained absence of fish, wildlife, or recreational activity from the relevant water source. Therefore, recognizing instream flow rights does not preclude the application of abandonment or forfeiture principles.
¶21 Contrary to Phelps Dodge’s argument, nothing in the statute, its history, or its practical application affirmatively points to a diversion requirement. Existing ease law interpreting the water use statute in fact militates against a diversion requirement in favor of recognizing instream water rights. In McClellan v. Jantzen, this Court interpreted the Legislature’s inclusion of “wildlife, including fish” and “recreation” into the statutory list of beneficial uses as providing for in situ appropriation in the statutory water scheme. 26 Ariz.App. at 225, 547 P.2d at 496. The court found that, while diversion may have been necessary to effect a statutory beneficial use prior to the addition of wildlife and recreational use into accepted beneficial uses, it was not a necessity thereafter. Id.
¶ 22 These findings are persuasive notwithstanding that the ultimate holding in McClellan did not directly address whether the statute provided for in situ water use permits. The sole issue in McClellan was “whether the stocking of a lake with fish by the Arizona Game & Fish Department is an appropriation of the waters of that lake requiring a permit from the State Land Department.” Id. at 224, 547 P.2d at 495. The court ultimately held that merely stocking fish in the lake was not an appropriation requiring a permit. Id. at 226, 547 P.2d at 497. However, in so holding the court also stated, “[w]e therefore find that by these amendments the legislature intended to grant a vested right to the State of Arizona to subject unappropriated waters exclusively to the use of recreation and fishing.” Id. This language indicates an express declaration that the court intended its finding not merely as an expostulation on water use law, but as a rule to guide the conduct of the State Land Department on remand. It is therefore judicial dictum, rather than obiter dictum, and should be followed absent a cogent reason for departing from it. State v. Fahringer, 136 Ariz. 414, 415, 666 P.2d 514, 515 (App.1983). Accord Resolution Trust Corp. v. Segel, 173 Ariz. 42, 44, 839 P.2d 462, 464 (App.1992).
¶23 There is no sound reason to depart from the above interpretation in McClellan. The Legislature has not acted to forbid in situ or instream rights for wildlife and recreational water use since its publication. If the Arizona Legislature found the McClellan analysis erroneous, it could have passed or amended a statute to require physical diversion. In the twenty-nine years since McClellan was decided, the Legislature has not so acted. Accordingly, we presume it has approved McClellan’s analysis. See Blake v. Schwartz, 202 Ariz. 120, 125, ¶ 26, 42 P.3d 6, 11 (App.2002) (when the Legislature retains statutory language that has been interpreted by the courts, it is presumed to have approved those interpretations).
¶24 Neither are the in situ rights addressed in McClellan distinct from the in-stream rights sought in this case. The issue is whether the law requires a physical diversion for the purposes requested here and in McClellan. Whether the case involves a lake or a stream has no bearing upon the analysis of this issue. Other courts have not recognized an analytical distinction between in-stream and in situ uses. E.g., In re Adjudication of Existing Rights to Use of All the Water, 311 Mont. 327, 344, ¶ 36, 55 P.3d 396, 406 (Mont.2002) (“Thus, instream/inlake appropriations of water for beneficial uses may be valid when the purpose (e.g., stock-watering, fish, wildlife and recreation) does not require a diversion.”).
¶ 25 Finally, the ADWR has consistently interpreted Arizona water use law as allowing for instream flow rights since 1983. In cases in which the ADWR has consistently interpreted a statute related to water rights, we will afford that interpretation “great weight in the absence of clear statutory guidance to the contrary.” Arizona Water Co. v. Arizona Dep’t of Water Res., 208 Ariz. 147, 154, ¶ 30, 91 P.3d 990, 997 (2004). “In cases like this, in which the statutory language is admittedly not dispositive, the director’s expert interpretation deserves considerable deference by the judiciary, and should not be overturned simply because judges could find a greater ‘sensibility quotient’____” Id. at 155, 91 P.3d at 998.
¶ 26 Phelps Dodge argues this Court should not defer to ADWR’s interpretation because to do so would “reward it for years of usurping legislative authority.” As noted above, the statute does not expressly allow for or condemn instream water rights, and historic accounts of the prior appropriation scheme in Arizona do not indicate diversion is a common law element of a valid appropriation for all purposes. Given that Arizona law does not prohibit, nor has it ever prohibited, the issuance of instream or in situ water rights, we defer to the ADWR’s interpretation of A.R.S. § 45-152 allowing for issuance of instream flow rights, especially because it is consistent with the common law and the statutory scheme.
¶27 In conclusion, neither the historical context of Arizona water use law nor the language of the water rights statute compel a reading of the statute that would require a physical diversion in order to effect an appropriation in this context. Consistent with England and McClellan, as well as the ADWR’s interpretation of its own statute, we hold that Arizona law allows the ADWR to issue instream and in situ water use permits.
II. ADWR’s Use of the 1991 Instream Flow Guide.
¶28 Phelps Dodge also argues that any authority of the ADWR to issue a permit is negated by its reliance upon an invalid rule. According to Phelps Dodge, the ADWR violated the APA, A.R.S. §§ 41-1021 to -1035, by applying the 1991 Instream Flow Guide without codifying it as a regulation.
¶ 29 The superior court rejected this argument in part because it found that the ADWR had not relied upon the 1991 In-stream Flow Guide as a rule and has not applied it against Phelps Dodge. On appeal, Phelps Dodge fails to address this ruling. Accordingly, we decline to reach the merits of this issue. DeElena v. Southern Pac. Co., 121 Ariz. 563, 572, 592 P.2d 759, 768 (1979).
CONCLUSION
¶ 30 There is not a physical diversion requirement for valid appropriation of instream or in situ water rights under AR.S. § 45-152. The Arizona Department of Water Resources therefore has the authority under Arizona law to issue permits for such water rights. We affirm the judgment of the superior court.
LAWRENCE F. WINTHROP and PHILIP HALL, JJ., concur.
. Because this case involves a stream, it is distinguishable from Arizona Public Service Co. v. Long, 160 Ariz. 429, 773 P.2d 988 (1989). There, the Arizona Supreme Court held that effluent was not subject to appropriation because it was neither included in the groundwater definition nor in "the type of water subject to appropriation.” Id. at 436, 773 P.2d at 995. In contrast, the water of Cherry Creek is clearly within the definition of appropriable waters.
. Usufructary is derived from the noun, usufruct, which is “[t]he right to utilize and enjoy the profits and advantages of something belonging to another so long as the property is not damaged or altered.” Webster's II: New Riverside University Dictionary 1272 (1994).
. We reject Phelps Dodge’s contention at oral argument that cattle watering is a diversion, wherein the point of diversion is the cattle’s mouth and the water is diverted to where the cattle roam. Creative though this characterization of the beneficial use may be, we cannot conclude that the England court saw Bessie the Cow as a diversion mechanism. Such interpretation is too attenuated from the plain meaning of diversion to interpret England as a case of appropriation through diversion.
In addition, we decline to adopt the New Mexico Supreme Court's holding in State ex rel. Reynolds v. Miranda, 83 N.M. 443, 493 P.2d 409 (1972). The court in that case relied on a common law definition of appropriation requiring intent to appropriate coupled with a man-made diversion to find that past livestock grazing in and around a wash was not a prior appropriation. Id. at 411. No such definition exists under Arizona law.
. See also John Norton Pomeroy & Henry Campbell Black, A Treatise on the Law of Water Rights § 49, at 79 (St. Paul, West 1893) (hereinafter, "Pomeroy"). As Pomeroy explains, diversion was required to obtain an appropriation because "no exclusive property is or can be acquired in the water while still remaining or flowing it its natural condition, distinct and separate from the property in the land over which it runs....” Id. However, neither of the cases cited by Pomeroy to support this contention actually state a diversion is required to effect an appropriation. Riverside Water Co. v. Gage, 89 Cal. 410, 26 P. 889 (1891); Dalton v. Bowker, 8 Nev. 190, 1873 WL 3405, at *7 (Nev. Jan. 1873).
. We decline to adopt the Colorado Supreme Court's recognition of a diversion element for an appropriation under Colorado law. Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. Rocky Mountain Power Co., 158 Colo. 331, 406 P.2d 798, 800 (1965). The court in that case relied on precedent establishing a common law diversion element. Id. at 799-800. There is no such clear precedent under Arizona law.
. The thrust of Clough is that any water right is usufructary, to ensure a maximum beneficial use of Arizona’s water resources. Id. at 377-78, 17 P. at 454-55. This principle has been incorporated into the present statutory scheme. See A.R.S. § 45-153(B). The allowance of an in-stream right for wildlife, fish, and recreation is more in harmony with this principle than requiring a diversion, since it would not require the removal of available water from the watercourse.
. We decline to address Phelps Dodge's hypothetical conflict between the holder of an in-stream water right and a town wishing to change the point of diversion for its senior water right. This is not the situation before us, and "[w]e will not render advisory opinions anticipative of troubles which do not exist; may never exist; and the precise form of which, should they ever arise, we cannot predict.” Velasco v. Mallory, 5 Ariz. App. 406, 410-11, 427 P.2d 540, 544-45 (1967).
. The court in McClellan erroneously assumed that all water appropriation prior to the statutory amendments involved a diversion. 26 Ariz.App. at 225, 547 P.2d at 496. This assumption is erroneous given the in situ appropriation recognized in England, a case not cited in McClellan.
. "Judicial dictum” is a statement the court expressly declares to be a guide for future conduct and is therefore considered authoritative. Segel at 45, 839 P.2d at 465. "Obiter dictum,” on the other hand, is "[a] judicial comment made during the course of delivering a judicial opinion, but one that is unnecessary to the decision in the case and therefore not precedential (although it may be considered persuasive)." Black’s Law Dictionary 490-91 (2d Pocket Ed.2001).
. Even if we were to address the merits, we would hold that ADWR did not violate the Act. As the ADWR points out, it adopted the 1991 In-stream Flow Guide as a substantive policy statement in accordance with A.R.S. § 41-1091. That statute permits an agency to adopt a written expression that "informs the general public of an agency’s current approach to, or opinion of, the requirements of ... state statute----” The 1991 Instream Flow Guide describes the process for obtaining water rights to enable applicants to comply and to provide the ADWR with guidance on whether to approve certain applications. It does not set any new requirements or require that a specific methodology be used, but encourages applicants to make their own judgments.
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OPINION
JONES, Justice (retired).
¶ 1 On February 19, 2003, a Maricopa County jury convicted Robert Louis Cromwell of one count of first-degree murder and one count of sexual assault in the October 8, 2001 death of eleven-year-old Stephanie Shortt. The jury also convicted Cromwell of two counts of aggravated assault, one against Ella Speaks, Stephanie’s mother, and the other against Ella’s friend, Kim Jensen. On March 6, 2003, Cromwell was sentenced to death for the murder, to life imprisonment without the possibility of release for thirty-five years for the sexual assault, and to ten years’ imprisonment each for the two aggravated assault charges.
¶2 On March 14, 2003, notice of appeal was filed in this court under Rules 26.15 and 31.2(b), Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, and Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) § 13-4031 (2001). This court has jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5.3, of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 13-4031.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 3 Stephanie Shortt lived with her mother, Ella Speaks, and two younger sisters, Aman da and Heather, in a one-bedroom apartment located on Flower Street, near the intersection of 32nd Street and Osborn Road in Phoenix. Ella met the defendant, Robert Cromwell, in the early evening hours of October 7, 2001 while walking from her apartment to a nearby convenience store to purchase transmission fluid for her car. Ella passed a building where she saw Cromwell sitting on a bench. Cromwell yelled out to her, “Hey, are you a prostitute or a police officer?” Ella continued walking and replied, “I’m neither one. I’m a mother and I’m having a bad day. Leave me alone.” Cromwell then got on his bike and rode toward Ella. Upon reaching her, he said, “I just want to apologize to you. That was a very rude thing I said. In this area, there’s a lot of prostitutes. I can’t believe that I disrespected you that way and I want to give you my fullest apology.” Ella told Cromwell, “It’s okay. I’m just having a bad day. I don’t mean to lash out at you, but I’m not in the mood for those kind of comments.” Cromwell then told Ella he would escort her to the store because “this is a bad area and it’s now dark at this time.” Ella saw some men off to her left and was “almost relieved” that Cromwell was going to walk with her to the store.
¶ 4 Ella went into the store alone where she purchased transmission fluid. When she emerged, Ella found Cromwell waiting for her. The two walked back to her apartment and according to Ella’s testimony, Cromwell seemed “kind” and “caring.”
¶ 5 At the apartment, Cromwell helped Ella put the transmission fluid into the automobile. Ella then asked Cromwell if he would like to accompany her and her three daughters to a nearby fast-food restaurant. Cromwell agreed to go, but wanted first to take the bicycle back to his apartment. Ella and the children followed Cromwell and parked the car to wait for him outside the apartment. Cromwell parked his bike, changed his clothes, then drove with Ella and her three girls to the restaurant.
¶ 6 On the way, Cromwell and the children sang songs. At the drive-through window, Ella offered to buy Cromwell a hamburger. He declined. They obtained food for Ella and the children and went back to Ella’s apartment. While the children ate, Ella and Cromwell went into her bedroom where the two talked and Ella smoked methamphetamine. After spending about an hour in the bedroom, Cromwell agreed to accompany Ella to a number of local bars where she filled out job applications and played a few games of pool.
¶ 7 Cromwell had one drink during the bar visits, and Ella had none. At one bar location, Cromwell leaned over a pool table and tried to kiss Ella on the mouth, but she turned her cheek. Cromwell said, “I can tell you didn’t like it, but I will do it again.” Ella replied, “I don’t think you will,” at which time Ella noticed that Cromwell smiled as-if he understood, and he apologized once again.
¶ 8 When Ella and Cromwell returned to her apartment around 1:00 a.m., the children were on a mattress in the living room, still awake. Ella told the girls to go to sleep, and Ella and Cromwell went into the bedroom where they played cards for about an hour.
¶ 9 At some point, with Cromwell still in the apartment, Ella received a phone call from a friend, Kelly Lancaster, asking that she come to his house to help resolve a disturbance being caused by a mutual acquaintance, Kim Jensen. Ella agreed and determined to leave her children with Cromwell because “he seemed so nice.” Cromwell told Ella he would just stay in her room while she was gone. Ella was gone from the house for a little more than an hour.
¶ 10 During Ella’s absence, Stephanie’s nine-year-old sister Amanda was awakened by the sound of Stephanie making a noise as if “she was really hurt.” Amanda then saw Stephanie standing in the bathtub, unclothed, while Cromwell, with socks on both of his hands, washed her with soap. Amanda got out of bed on several occasions while Ella was gone, but Cromwell angrily told her to get back to bed each time. Eventually, Amanda saw Stephanie follow Cromwell into Ella’s bedroom. Although Stephanie, remained in Ella’s bedroom, Amanda saw Cromwell move from the bedroom to the kitchen several times. During one such trip, Amanda heard a noise like “silverware shat ter,” and while Cromwell and Stephanie were in the bedroom, she heard noises that made her think Stephanie was hurt. She then heard a “big bang” that sounded like a television dropping to the floor. Amanda finally fell asleep while Stephanie was in the bedroom with Cromwell.
¶ 11 When Ella returned to the apartment, accompanied by Kim Jensen, Cromwell attacked both of them with a pool cue, resulting in injuries to each. Cromwell ran out of the apartment after the attack and Ella quickly followed, after looking unsuccessfully for Stephanie.
¶ 12 Cromwell’s attack on Ella and Kim awakened Amanda. She saw her mother chase Cromwell out of the apartment. Kim Jensen was lying on the floor with a head injury. Amanda and Heather, the youngest sister, then got up and went to the bedroom to look for Stephanie. Amanda reached into the bed, felt Stephanie’s legs and saw that the television set was resting on Stephanie’s head. She and Heather removed it, then ran downstairs and asked the landlord to call 9-1-1, which he did. After the call, Amanda and Heather went back upstairs and into the bedroom. They observed blood stains on the bedding and found Stephanie’s body, bruised and bloody.
¶ 13 Police Officer Tallón Busby responded to the 9-1-1 call. When he arrived, the door was open and Kim Jensen was on the floor. Officer Busby described the scene: “Laying [sic] inside the doorway was a white female. From the waist down she was outside the apartment, from the waist up, she was laying [sic] facedown in the apartment. There was a blood smear on the door.” He asked Kim, who was semi-conscious, if anyone else was in the apartment. She replied that the baby was in the bedroom. He then asked Kim where she was injured, and she replied that she had been hit on the back of the head. Officer Busby observed that the hair on the back left side of Kim’s head was “matted in blood.”
¶ 14 The officer then went into the dark apartment and observed a light in the bedroom. He walked toward the doorway and saw Stephanie lying face up on the bed. A blanket covered her unclothed body from the waist down. She had “visible wounds on her face and blood coming out of her nose and lips and out of her mouth.” There was a “huge pool of blood” under her head and shoulders. Officer Busby checked to see if Stephanie was breathing and if she had a pulse. He felt a “slight pulse” at her neck. He placed his hand on Stephanie’s chest and “felt a slight rise and fall.” Visible evidence of severe vaginal trauma indicated that Stephanie also had been sexually abused.
¶ 15 By the time Gary Ford, a Phoenix Fire Department paramedic, arrived, Stephanie no longer had a pulse and had stopped breathing. While performing cardiac pulmonary resuscitation, Ford observed that Stephanie had suffered a head wound and multiple stab wounds to her back. Ford also observed the vaginal injuries. After attempting CPR and other life-saving procedures, the paramedics rushed Stephanie to Good Samaritan Hospital.
V16 Dr. Wendy Lucid was on duty at the Good Samaritan emergency room when Stephanie arrived. Stephanie had no heartbeat and was not breathing. Initially, Dr. Lucid did a full body assessment. She found a large laceration on Stephanie’s forehead. Closer inspection revealed a skull fracture. Due to the severity of Stephanie’s head injuries, Dr. Lucid stopped all life support efforts and pronounced her dead. Dr. Lucid then turned Stephanie onto her side and observed eleven stab wounds on her back. Further examination also revealed the vaginal injuries.
¶ 17 The medical examiner performed an autopsy on Stephanie’s body. Based on the injuries, he determined Stephanie had received a minimum of five blows to the head and thirteen stab wounds to the back. The stabbing punctured her right lung, causing it to collapse. In the opinion of the examiner, Stephanie was alive at the time she suffered the vaginal trauma and at the time she was stabbed. The cause of death was multiple blunt force and stabbing injuries inflicted on her head and back.
¶ 18 The grand jury indicted Cromwell October 16, 2001 on one count of first degree murder, one count of sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault. On November 9, 2001, the State filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty for the murder and on August 9, 2002, filed its notice of aggravating factors. Trial began February 3, 2003, resulting in conviction by the jury on all counts in the indictment.
TRIAL ISSUE
Did the Trial Court Err in Denying Cromwell’s Request for New Counsel?
Background
¶ 19 On November 13, 2002, slightly more than two months before the scheduled start of trial, Cromwell’s court-appointed attorney, James Logan, filed a “Motion to Withdraw or in the Alternative Motion to Determine Counsel.” The motion was filed in response to Cromwell’s pro se request that his attorney be removed from the case. On November 20, 2002, the trial court held a hearing and asked Cromwell why he no longer wanted Logan as his lawyer. Cromwell responded:
Mr. Logan and I are on differences [sic] on key points of my defense. I’m in left field and he’s in right field. He informed me about DNA information at one point in the case and come [sic] back three months later to find out that it was completely false.
At the — I’m not sure that I want to continue to say what he said to me in private and in open court, and what he has also said in court to indicate that Mr. Logan has no intention of defending me zealously. He has much said in court and on the record that there would be a guilt phase during the trial and he quickly corrected himself in front of you last time I was here, but Mr. Logan said no uncertain terms that not only would I be found guilty, but I will die. Those were his exact words to me. That’s all, your honor.
¶20 When specifically asked by the trial court regarding what differences existed between himself and Logan, Cromwell stated: “I’m sure he’s a great lawyer, but we don’t agree on where to go with my defense and especially where the DNA is concerned and one or two witnesses are concerned and specific questions that are supposed to be answered.”
¶21 In order to explore the relationship between client and counsel in more detail, the trial judge cleared the courtroom, ordered the transcript portion of this part of the hearing sealed, and continued his investigation regarding Cromwell’s motion for new counsel. During the closed-courtroom discussion, Cromwell informed the trial court that he and Logan had a disagreement. He indicated four areas in which they differed on the handling of his case.
¶22 First, Cromwell said the two disagreed on how to question the State’s DNA expert. Cromwell wanted the expert questioned in a way that would ascertain whether the DNA results were consistent with sexual intercourse. Logan explained that the DNA expert was not qualified to express an opinion whether the DNA results were consistent with sexual intercourse but was qualified and would testify concerning the presence and quality of DNA evidence allegedly linking Cromwell to the crimes charged.
¶ 23 Second, Cromwell told the trial court that he and Logan disagreed on whether to call Ella’s friend, Kelly Lancaster, to testify at trial. Logan acknowledged the disagreement but stated that even under Cromwell’s approach to the case, calling Lancaster would be a strategically unwise maneuver.
¶24 Third, Cromwell disagreed with Logan’s discovery efforts, specifically, his decision not to subpoena the telephone records of Ella Speaks and his failure to obtain Stephanie’s school records. Logan informed the trial court that he had indeed received the relevant telephone records from the State, but that some landline calls could not be obtained. Regarding Stephanie’s school records, Logan asserted this was the first time he had heard of Cromwell’s request for those records. Logan stated he would attempt to obtain them but questioned whether he would be successful, pointing out that they were victim records, and even if obtained, may not have been admissible.
¶25 Finally, Cromwell asserted that he and Logan differed on how to proceed with the defense of his case and that Logan told him that if he were to proceed to trial, he would be found guilty. Logan responded: “I believe I was absolutely required to give him my opinion of the case by the Code of Ethics and to tell him what I thought of it and give him what I thought were potential viable alternatives to what could be a worse situation.” Logan also stated:
Mr. Cromwell tends to reject anything that I tell him that is not in line with his theory that he be found not guilty and there really is no evidence against him of any sort. He has instead vastly maintained that there is no evidence against him. He wanted to go to trial on the first trial setting, because there was no evidence against him. When I point out to him evidence that is clearly damaging evidence and clearly evidence that would support a conviction, he becomes upset. He becomes angry with me and I am not assisting him.
¶ 26 The trial judge denied Cromwell’s motion for change of counsel, stating:
Appellant is not entitled to counsel of choice and is not entitled to a meaningful, that’s “meaningful,” relationship with his attorney. I have considered all the relevant factors. I’ll note that the quality of counsel currently representing [Cromwell] is excellent.
I’ll note that a significant amount of time has elapsed since the alleged date of violation and since charges were filed. I’ll note that trial is set for January 21 of 2003 and we have some motion hearings set for December 6th of this year. I’ll note that and confirm what I said earlier, which is, if a new lawyer would be put on the case now, it would lead to a significant delay in the processing of the case, which would be to the prejudice of [Cromwell], to the prejudice of the victims, to the prejudice of the State, and to the prejudice of the interests of justice, not only in the form of resolving matters with due speed, but also in the form of the potential for fading memories. Counsel and [Cromwell] have a conflict with respect to strategy. To me, this is a conflict that will reappear ad infinitum if a new quality lawyer is appointed to represent [Cromwell]. So I could appoint a new counsel, which would lead us back to exactly the same situation that we’re in, only it would be about a year later. In other words, to the extent that you could characterize the disagreement between Defense Counsel and [Cromwell] as a conflict, the new lawyer, to the extent [he] is competent counsel, would be confronted with exactly the same conflict.
I’ll also note that granting the motion would lead to significant inconvenience to witnesses and victims.
Standard of Review
¶27 A trial court’s decision to deny the request for new counsel will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Lee, 142 Ariz. 210, 220, 689 P.2d 153, 163 (1984).
Applicable Law
1128 A criminal defendant has a Sixth Amendment right to representation by competent counsel. U.S. Const, amend. VI; see also Ariz. Const, art. 2, § 24; A.R.S. § 13-114(2) (2001); Ariz. R.Crim. P. 6.1. A defendant is not, however, entitled to counsel of choice or to a meaningful relationship with his or her attorney. Morris v. Slappy, 461 U.S. 1, 13-14, 103 S.Ct. 1610, 75 L.Ed.2d 610 (1983); State v. Moody, 192 Ariz. 505, 507, ¶ 11, 968 P.2d 578, 580 (1998).
¶ 29 The presence of an irreconcilable conflict or a completely fractured relationship between counsel and the accused ordinarily requires the appointment of new counsel. Conflict that is less than irreconcilable, however, is only one factor for a court to consider in deciding whether to appoint substitute counsel. State v. Henry, 189 Ariz. 542, 546-47, 944 P.2d 57, 61-62 (1997); State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 591, 858 P.2d 1152, 1194 (1993); State v. LaGrand, 152 Ariz. 483, 486-87, 733 P.2d 1066, 1069-70 (1987); see also Moody, 192 Ariz. at 508-09, ¶ 21, 968 P.2d at 581-82. A single allegation of lost confidence in counsel does not require the appointment of new counsel, and disagreements over defense strategies do not constitute an irreconcilable conflict. Henry, 189 Ariz. at 546-47, 944 P.2d at 61-62; Bible, 175 Ariz. at 591, 858 P.2d at 1194.
¶ 30 To constitute a colorable claim, a defendant’s allegations must go beyond personality conflicts or disagreements with counsel over trial strategy; a defendant must allege facts sufficient to support a belief that an irreconcilable conflict exists warranting the appointment of new counsel in order to avoid the clear prospect of an unfair trial. See Slappy, 461 U.S. at 13-14, 103 S.Ct. 1610; United States v. Hillsberg, 812 F.2d 328, 333-34 (7th Cir.1987) (holding that denial of a motion to substitute counsel is not reversible error when the “defendant abruptly states that he does not trust his attorney but gives no grounds for that distrust ... or where defendant and counsel have ‘personality conflicts and disagreements over trial strategy.’ ”).
¶ 31 Thus, when considering a motion to substitute counsel, the judge evaluates several factors designed specifically to balance the rights and interests of the defendant against the public interest in judicial economy, efficiency and fairness. See Moody, 192 Ariz. at 507, ¶ 11, 968 P.2d at 580. These include:
[Wjhether an irreconcilable conflict exists between counsel and the accused, and whether new counsel would be confronted with the same conflict; the timing of the motion; inconvenience to witnesses; the time period already elapsed between the alleged offense and trial; the proclivity of the defendant to change counsel; and quality of counsel.
LaGrand, 152 Ariz. at 486-87, 733 P.2d at 1069-70; see also Moody, 192 Ariz. at 507, ¶ 11, 968 P.2d at 580.
Analysis
¶ 32 Cromwell argues that he had irreconcilable differences with Logan and claims the trial court failed to make any meaningful inquiry into the conflict. The State responds that the conflict between Cromwell and Logan amounted to differences in strategy and personality and that the irreconcilable differences asserted by Cromwell were not substantive, would not affect the quality of representation by otherwise competent counsel and that taking all factors into account, the appointment of new counsel was not warranted under the circumstances.
¶ 33 Additionally, Cromwell claims the trial court improperly based its decision to deny the change of counsel on delay caused by the state between the day of the crime until the day the indictment was handed up, and the delay following the indictment through discovery and trial. As noted, however, the trial court considered all of the LaGrand factors, including the delay, and concluded that there was insufficient basis on which to justify a substitution of counsel. The court further concluded that even if new counsel were appointed, Cromwell’s assessment of the ease would remain unchanged and that new counsel, inevitably, would be confronted with the same disagreement.
¶ 34 Further concerning the LaGrand factors, the court found that if new counsel were appointed, the witnesses and victims would be significantly inconvenienced by added delay and that further delays were unwarranted because substantial time had elapsed since the date of the murder, the filing of charges, and the filing of the motion. The court thus concluded that appointing a new lawyer at this stage would be to the prejudice of all interests relevant to the timely administration of justice.
¶ 35 On review, we conclude the denial of new counsel was based on a proper balancing of relevant interests. Denial of the motion was discretionary and we find no abuse of discretion. There was no irreconcilable conflict between Cromwell and Logan. The friction between them stemmed strictly from disagreement as to their respective assessments of the facts and trial strategy.
¶ 36 The defense claims this case is similar to our decision in Moody. We disagree. The Moody record was “replete with examples of a deep and irreconcilable conflict” between the defendant and his attorney. 192 Ariz. at 507, ¶ 13, 968 P.2d at 580. Moody accused his lawyer and the lead public defender of being “incompetent and crazy.” Id. at 508, ¶ 16, 968 P.2d at 581. He developed an “obsessive hatred” for his attorney and the public defender’s office and, on at least one occasion, he and his attorney were “almost at blows” with one another. Id. Moody believed his lawyers were conspiring with the prosecutor, the court and the doctor to have him declared insane. Id. Moreover, Moody threatened to file ethical complaints against his lawyer and the public defender’s office. Id. at ¶ 18. None of these is present in the instant case. Cromwell, in open court, stated his belief that Logan was competent and there was no expression of hatred or violence, nor was there an allegation of conspiracy with prosecutors, the court, or the doctors to have Cromwell declared insane. Nor is there anything in the record before us suggesting ethical complaints against Mr. Logan.
¶ 37 Cromwell’s reliance on Moody is misplaced. The facts in the instant case do not resemble the intense acrimony and depth of conflict found in Moody. Instead, Cromwell’s case resembles LaGrand, Henry and Bible, in which the conflicts “amounted to nothing more than a disagreement over appropriate defense strategies,” Henry, 189 Ariz. at 547, 944 P.2d at 62, and “maybe even some feelings of not getting along so well together.” Bible, 175 Ariz. at 591, 858 P.2d at 1194. Finally, we defer to the discretion of the trial judge who has seen and heard the parties to the dispute. There was no abuse of discretion by the judge in this instance inasmuch as he did exactly what we expect trial judges to do: he held a hearing, heard the statements and responses of both the defendant and counsel, gave consideration to each, knew and applied the LaGrand factors, and, in a reasonable exercise of discretion, denied the defendant’s request.
SENTENCING ISSUES
A. Is the “Especially Heinous, Cruel or Depraved” Language of A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(6) Unconstitutionally Vague?
Standard of Review
¶ 38 We review the validity of a statute de novo and construe it, whenever possible, to uphold its constitutionality. State v. Davolt, 207 Ariz. 191, 214, ¶ 99, 84 P.3d 456, 479 (2004).
Applicable Law
¶ 39 The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution require that a capital sentencing scheme place limits on the discretion of the sentencer. See Lewis v. Jeffers, 497 U.S. 764, 774, 110 S.Ct. 3092, 111 L.Ed.2d 606 (1990). The scheme must “ ‘channel the sentencer’s discretion by clear and objective standards that provide specific and detailed guidance and that make rationally reviewable the process for imposing a sentence of death.’ ” Id. (quoting Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 428, 100 S.Ct. 1759, 64 L.Ed.2d 398 (1980)); see also Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 303, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976).
Analysis
¶ 40 Cromwell argues that the aggravating factor “especially heinous, cruel or depraved” as set forth in A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(6) is unconstitutionally vague. His contention rests on the distinction created by the Supreme Court in Ring II that juries, rather than judges, must find the aggravating factors that can result in the imposition of capital punishment. Ring v. Arizona (“Ring II”), 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). He claims the Supreme Court’s decision in Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990), overruled in part by Ring II, remains instructive because in Walton, the Court upheld the “heinous, cruel or depraved” aggravator, but did so only because the Arizona sentencing scheme provided that the aggravating factors and the ultimate sentence were to be determined by the trial judge. Walton, 497 U.S. at 654, 110 S.Ct. 3047. Using Walton as his base of reasoning, Cromwell asserts that the saving factor of Arizona’s statute when Walton was decided was that the trial judge, not the jury, determined the existence or nonexistence of aggravating circumstances.
¶41 Cromwell cites Maynard v. Cartwright, 486 U.S. 356, 108 S.Ct. 1853, 100 L.Ed.2d 372 (1988), and Godfrey, 446 U.S. 420, 100 S.Ct. 1759, claiming the Supreme Court held that statutory language substantially similar to A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(6) was unduly vague when applied in the context of jury findings. We disagree. The holdings in both Maynard and Godfrey were based not on the language of the sentencing statutes, but on the inadequacy and lack of specificity in the jury instructions. See Walton, 497 U.S. at 653-54, 110 S.Ct. 3047. In our recent decision in State v. Anderson, 210 Ariz. 327, 352-53, ¶¶ 109-14, 111 P.3d 369, 394-95 (2005), the defendant advanced the same argument. There, we said:
In Anderson’s case, the jury was instructed in detail as to what would support a finding that the murders were “especially heinous, cruel or depraved.” The jury instructions, to which Anderson did not object, gave substance to the terms “cruel” and “heinous or depraved” in accordance with our case law narrowing and defining those terms. Thus, this case is distinguishable from Maynard and Godfrey in which no limiting instructions were giv-en____ [W]e conclude that the jury instructions here were adequate to provide a narrowed construction of the facially vague statutory terms.
Id. at ¶¶ 111, 114 (footnotes omitted).
¶42 Similarly, in the instant case, the jury instruction on cruelty contained the essential narrowing factors and provided the specificity and direction required by this court, foreclosing a constitutional challenge to the (F)(6) statute. The jury was instructed that:
Cruelty goes to mental and physical anguish suffered by the victim. Mental anguish occurs when the victim experiences significant uncertainty about her fate. In order to constitute cruelty, conduct must occur before death and while a victim is conscious. Conduct occurring after death or while a victim is unconscious does not constitute cruelty. Before conduct can be found to be cruel, the State must prove that the defendant knew or should have known that the conduct would cause suffering to the victim.
This language does not suffer from vagueness. State v. Cañez, 202 Ariz. 133, 160, ¶ 100, 42 P.3d 564, 591 (2002); State v. Medina, 193 Ariz. 504, 513, ¶¶ 34-35, 975 P.2d 94, 103 (1999).
¶ 43 As in prior decisions, we note once again that the (F)(6) aggravator is stated in the disjunctive, indicating that evidence of any one of the statutory prongs, “heinous,” “cruel,” or “depraved” will support a finding that the (F)(6) aggravator is present. Medina, 193 Ariz. at 513, ¶ 33, 975 P.2d at 103 (citing State v. Laird, 186 Ariz. 203, 208, 920 P.2d 769, 774 (1996)). Because we conclude that the jury’s cruelty finding is amply supported by the evidence, we need not address Cromwell’s challenges to the instructions concerning heinousness or depravity.
¶44 Cromwell also takes issue with the term “especially” as used in (F)(6) to underscore the terms “heinous, cruel or depraved,” arguing again that judges understand what the word “especially” means, but that juries do not. Supreme Court case law, however, dispels that notion because it distinguishes constitutional statutes from unconstitutional statutes on the basis of the clarifying definition, not on the supposition that judges may apply the statute one way and jurors another. Maynard, 486 U.S. at 365, 108 S.Ct. 1853 (finding an instruction to the jury limit ing “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel” to some kind of torture or serious physical abuse as constitutionally acceptable).
¶ 45 The trial court properly relied on and included language from this court’s decisions, cited above, when it drafted the (F)(6) jury instructions. The instructions given in the instant case provided accurate and carefully drawn guidance for the jurors. We therefore reject Cromwell’s vagueness argument and conclude that A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(6), on the record before us, must be upheld as constitutional.
B. Are Cromwell’s Non-Capital Sentences Constitutional in Light of Blakely v. Washington ?
¶ 46 Cromwell does not challenge the statutes on which the non-capital sentences are based, but rather the validity of the sentences themselves.
¶ 47 The essence of his argument is that he was sentenced unconstitutionally for the non-capital convictions in violation of the Sixth Amendment, citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004).
¶48 The jury convicted Cromwell of a single count of sexual assault, a dangerous crime against children, and for that crime, imposed an enhanced statutory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release for thirty-five years. See A.R.S. § 13-604.01(A) (Supp.2001). The jury also convicted him of two counts of aggravated assault, class three dangerous offenses, one involving Stephanie’s mother, Ella, and the other involving Kim Jensen. He was given sentences of ten years’ imprisonment for each, pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-604(1) (2001).
The Sexual Assault
¶ 49 Cromwell contends that his non-capital sentence for sexual assault was unconstitutional because the trial judge took his probationary status into account as the aggravating factor. Although the trial court found that Cromwell was on probation when he committed the offense, it did not rely on that fact. The sentence was enhanced not on the basis of Cromwell’s status as a probationer, but on express findings by the jury that the victim was a child under twelve years of age and that Cromwell was at least eighteen years of age at the time of the crime. The trial court thus gave Cromwell the mandatory sentence on the sexual assault charge pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-604.01(A), which provides:
A person who is at least eighteen years of age and who stands convicted of a dangerous crime against children in the first degree involving sexual assault of a minor who is twelve years of age or younger ... shall be sentenced to life imprisonment and is not eligible for suspension of sentence, probation, pardon or release from confinement ... until the person has served thirty-five years or the sentence is commuted.
(Emphasis added). Because the jury found all facts necessary under the statute to impose a sentence of life imprisonment, there is no Sixth Amendment violation.
The Aggravated Assaults
¶ 50 Cromwell’s sentences on the two aggravated assault convictions also do not contravene Blakely. The jury expressly found that Cromwell used a dangerous instrument (the pool cue) to commit each assault. The assaults were therefore both class three felonies. See A.R.S. § 13-1204(A)(1) & (B) (Supp.2001). Under A.R.S. § 13-604(1), the presumptive sentence for a class three felony involving the use of a dangerous instrument is seven and one-half years. However, the presumptive sentence may be aggravated to a maximum of fifteen years pursuant to § 13-702(C). That statute permits aggravation when “[t]he defendant was previously convicted of a felony within the ten years immediately preceding the date of the offense.” A.R.S. § 13-702(0(11) (Supp.2001).
¶ 51 The superior court increased each aggravated assault sentence to ten years based on two prior felony convictions in Cromwell’s record. Prior convictions constitute an exception to the jury requirement and need only be found by the trial judge. Blakely, 124 S.Ct. at 2536; Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Thus, the ten-year sen tences on these convictions, being within the prescribed range, did not violate Cromwell’s Sixth Amendment rights under Blakely.
INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF DEATH SENTENCE
¶ 52 This court is required by statute not only to review all death sentences, but also to perform a separate, independent review of each aggravating factor found by the jury and any mitigating evidence for the purpose of determining the propriety of the death penalty:
The supreme court shall review all death sentences. On review, the supreme court shall independently review the trial court’s findings of aggravation and mitigation and the propriety of the death sentence.
A.R.S. § 13-703.04(A) (Supp.2003) .
¶ 53 Although Cromwell has not raised a question about the independent review process and the propriety of the death sentence, the statutory mandate to this court is clear:
If the supreme court determines that an error was made regarding a finding of aggravation or mitigation, the supreme court shall independently determine if the mitigation the supreme court finds is sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency in light of the existing aggravation. If the supreme court finds that the mitigation is not sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency, the supreme court shall affirm the death sentence. If the supreme court finds that the mitigation is sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency, the supreme court shall impose a life sentence pursuant to § 13-703, subsection A.
A.R.S. § 13-703.04(B). This language is identical to superseded A.R.S. § 13-703.01(B), which was applicable during the time trial judges performed the entire sentencing function. Under the superseded statute, we determined that in the process of conducting this court’s independent review, “we consider the quality and the strength [of the aggravating and mitigating factors], not simply the number.” State v. Greene, 192 Ariz. 431, 443, ¶ 60, 967 P.2d 106, 118 (1998). Because of the identical statutory language, our role in the independent review process has not been altered. We therefore proceed as before.
¶ 54 Reviewing the capital aggravators in this case is not complex. The jury found two in support of the death penalty: 1) that the murder was committed in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner (A.R.S. § 13 — 703(F)(6)); and 2) that the victim was under the age of fifteen years (A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(9)). These aggravators were essentially uncontested.
¶ 55 The record is replete with evidence of cruelty. Stephanie, the eleven-year-old victim, unquestionably suffered unspeakable mental anguish, given the medical examiner’s finding that she was still alive at the time of the stabbing injuries and the sexual assault. The crimes committed by Cromwell against the child bespeak horrific cruelty. Eleven-year-old Stephanie, given her tender age, was made to suffer pre-death anguish by conduct indescribable except in the most repulsive terms.
¶ 56 In Greene, although there was but one aggravator and several mitigators, we concluded that the evidence of mitigation was nevertheless insufficient to warrant leniency and upheld the death sentence. Id. at 443-44, ¶ 60, 967 P.2d at 118-19. In reweighing the aggravators and mitigators as required by the statute, we have uniformly focused on the quality, not the quantity, of the factors. See, e.g., State v. Rogovich, 188 Ariz. 38, 45-46, 932 P.2d 794, 801-02 (1997) (holding that the quality of three aggravators outweighed the value of six mitigators and that the death penalty was appropriate).
¶ 57 The mitigating factors, consisting of Cromwell’s less than adequate childhood experiences and his mental state, were remarkably weak. Weighed against the aggravating factors, the evidence of mitigation deserves inconsequential weight. We conclude, therefore, that the evidence of mitigation is not sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency.
CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS RAISED TO PREVENT FEDERAL PRECLUSION
¶ 58 1. The prosecutor’s discretion to seek the death penalty has no standards and therefore violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Sections 1, 4, and 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by State v. Sansing, 200 Ariz. 347, 361, ¶ 46, 26 P.3d 1118, 1132 (2001), vacated on other grounds, Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002); State v. Rossi 146 Ariz. 359, 366, 706 P.2d 371, 378 (1985).
¶ 59 2. Arizona’s death penalty applies dis-criminatorily against poor, young, and male defendants, in violation of Article 2, Sections 1, 4, and 13 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by Sansing, 200 Ariz. at 361, ¶ 46, 26 P.3d at 1132.
¶ 60 3. The death penalty is cruel and unusual under any circumstance and violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by State v. Harrod, 200 Ariz. 309, 320, ¶ 59, 26 P.3d 492, 503 (2001).
¶ 61 4. The absence of proportionality review of death sentences by Arizona courts denies capital defendants due process of law and equal protection and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by Harrod, 200 Ariz. at 320, ¶ 65, 26 P.3d at 503; State v. Salazar, 173 Ariz. 399, 416, 844 P.2d 566, 583 (1992).
¶ 62 5. Arizona’s capital sentencing scheme is unconstitutional because it does not require that the State prove the death penalty is appropriate, in violation of the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by State v. Ring, 200 Ariz. 267, 284, ¶ 64, 25 P.3d 1139, 1156 (2001), rev’d on other grounds, Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002).
¶ 63 6. The death penalty is cruel and unusual because it is irrationally and arbitrarily imposed and serves no purpose that is not adequately addressed by life in prison, in violation of the defendant’s right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Sections 1 and 4 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by State v. Pandeli, 200 Ariz. 365, 382, ¶ 88, 26 P.3d 1136, 1153 (2001), vacated on other grounds, Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002); State v. Beaty, 158 Ariz. 232, 247, 762 P.2d 519, 534 (1988).
¶ 64 7. Arizona’s death penalty scheme does not provide a defendant convicted of a capital crime the opportunity to death-qualify the sentencing judge, in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by Pandeli, 200 Ariz. at 382, ¶ 89, 26 P.3d at 1153.
¶ 65 8. A.R.S. § 13-703 provides no objective standards to guide the jurors in weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and therefore violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by Pandeli, 200 Ariz. at 382, ¶ 90, 26 P.3d at 1153.
¶ 66 9. A.R.S. § 13-703 does not sufficiently channel the sentencing jurors’ discretion because the broad scope of Arizona’s aggravating factors encompasses nearly anyone involved in a murder, violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Rejected by Pandeli 200 Ariz. at 382, ¶ 90, 26 P.3d at 1153.
¶ 67 10. Execution by lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. Rejected by State v. Van Adams, 194 Ariz. 408, 422, ¶ 55, 984 P.2d 16, 30 (1999).
¶ 68 11. A proportionality review of a death sentence is constitutionally required. Rejected by State v. Gulbrandson, 184 Ariz. 46, 73, 906 P.2d 579, 606 (1995).
¶ 69 12. Arizona’s death penalty statute violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Sections 4 and 15 of the Arizona Constitution because it does not require multiple mitigating facts to be considered cumulatively or require the trial court to make specific findings as to each mitigating factor. Rejected by State v. Van Adams, 194 Ariz. at 423, ¶ 55, 984 P.2d at 31.
¶ 70 13. Arizona’s death penalty statute is constitutionally defective because it requires defendants to prove that their lives should be spared. Rejected by State v. Fulminante, 161 Ariz. 237, 258, 778 P.2d 602, 623 (1988).
CONCLUSION
¶ 71 For the reasons stated, we affirm all of Cromwell’s convictions and sentences.
CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice, REBECCA WHITE BERCH, Vice Chief Justice, MICHAEL D. RYAN and ANDREW D. HURWITZ, Justices.
. We view the facts in a light most favorable to sustaining the jury’s verdict. State v. Tucker, 205 Ariz. 157, 160 n. 1, 68 P.3d 110, 113 n. 1 (2003); State v. Gallegos, 178 Ariz. 1, 9, 870 P.2d 1097, 1105 (1994).
. We refer to the current version of A.R.S. § 13— 703 which lists the "especially heinous, cruel or depraved" language as the (F)(6) aggravator.
. The Supreme Court overruled Walton in Ring II only to the extent that juries, rather than judges, must find the existence of aggravating factors. Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 588-89, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). The Court made no mention of the effect of a limiting jury instruction when determining the validity of those aggravators. In fact, the Supreme Court had previously stated the reason for overturning the sentences in Maynard v. Cartwright, 486 U.S. 356, 108 S.Ct. 1853, 100 L.Ed.2d 372 (1988), and Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 100 S.Ct. 1759, 64 L.Ed.2d 398 (1980), was because of the insufficiency of the limiting instruction, and not the fact that juries were deciding the existence of aggravating factors. Walton, 497 U.S. at 653-54, 110 S.Ct. 3047.
. For a full discussion of the effect of Walton on the (F)(6) aggravator in the jury context, see State v. Anderson, 210 Ariz. 327, 352-53, ¶¶ 109-14, 111 P.3d 369, 394-95 (2005).
. A.R.S. § 13-703.01 was renumbered as § 13-703.04 in 2002. Although the wording is unchanged, we cite to the current version here.
. The superior court in this case wisely employed the recommended procedure and asked the jury to return separate verdicts as to each prong of the (F)(6) aggravator. See State v. Anderson, 210 Ariz. 327, 356, ¶ 131, 111 P.3d 369, 398 (2005) (recommending this procedure). The jury found that each was satisfied: the murder was heinous, the murder was cruel, and the murder was depraved.
. Cromwell did not dispute the way in which Stephanie was killed, or her age. He simply maintained that he did not commit the crime.
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OPINION
PELANDER, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 In this workers’ compensation case, the employee/claimant Gary Sinclair and the employer/carrier Schuck & Sons Construction executed and filed with the Industrial Commission a compromise and settlement agreement - for a lump sum compensation payment, which the Commission later approved despite Sinclair’s intervening death and Schuck’s attempted withdrawal from the settlement on that basis. In this statutory special action, Schuck challenges the administrative law judge’s (ALJ) award approving the agreement. We affirm the award.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 The underlying facts are undisputed. Sinclair was injured while in the course of his employment on December 12, 1992. The injury required surgical repair of his right shoulder. The carrier accepted the claim for benefits, and the claim was later closed with a five percent unscheduled permanent partial disability. The Commission issued an award for unscheduled permanent partial disability in April 1994, finding a loss of earning capacity and awarding Sinclair $504.27 per month. The award became final.
¶ 3 Sinclair later sought a lump sum settlement. In July 1996, Sinclair and Schuck executed a Notice of Compromise and Settlement Agreement, which Schuck had drafted and which provided in part:
8. That there is currently a legitimate dispute as to whether Applicant’s injury on December 12, 1992 resulted in a loss of earning capacity____
9. That the parties ... have compromised the disputed issues relating to the existence or amount of any loss of earning capacity that he may have suffered referable to such injury, and in consideration of the sum of THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($30,000.00), they agree that the Applicant has not suffered a loss of earning capacity, and further, they hereby acknowledge, agree, covenant and promise as follows:
First, that the Applicant shall not question the validity of this compromise. Second, that the aforesaid sum may be treated by [Schuck] as an overpayment of disability compensation and that [Schuck] may, in accordance with this agreement, have a credit in the sum of $30,000.00 against any liability they might ever subsequently incur for permanent partial or permanent total disability compensation benefits, and [Schuck’s] credit against such a liability shall not commence exhaustion until and unless Applicant has established a new, additional or previously undiscovered disability warranting reopening ... or rearrangement----
¶ 4 Schuck filed the fully executed agreement with the Commission on July 23, 1996, and, by letter, requested an ALJ to approve it. Before the Commission approved the agreement and before Schuck disbursed any settlement proceeds, however, Sinclair died on August 4 from causes unrelated to the industrial injury. Schuck’s counsel notified the ALJ on August 9 that, in view of Sinclair’s death, Schuck no longer authorized the settlement and was withdrawing its settlement authority. Sinclair’s widow was appointed personal representative of his estate in September. After the parties submitted legal memoranda, the ALJ approved the settlement agreement in November and later affirmed the award on administrative review.
DISCUSSION
¶ 5 This case presents a dilemma. It is clear that, if the ALJ had approved the settlement agreement before Sinclair died, it would have been valid, binding, and enforceable by his estate against Schuck despite Sinclair’s subsequent death. Schuck does not contend otherwise. It is equally clear, however, that in the absence of a settlement agreement, Sinclair’s estate would not have been entitled to any future loss of earnings or disability compensation benefits after his death, except for any accrued compensation payable at the time of his death. See A.R.S. §§ 23-1044(C), 23-1068(B); Reed v. Industrial Comm’n, 104 Ariz. 412, 454 P.2d 157 (1969); Parker v. Walgreen Drug Co., 63 Ariz. 374, 162 P.2d 427 (1945).
¶ 6 The issue is whether a compromise and settlement agreement is valid and enforceable when all parties have signed it and it has been filed with the Commission, but, prior to the ALJ’s approval of it, the claimant dies and the employer/carrier withdraws its consent to settlement. The issue is one of law, which we review de novo. Jaimes v. Industrial Comm’n, 163 Ariz. 307, 787 P.2d 1103 (App.1990).
¶7 Parties to workers’ compensation cases may, “after compensability has been determined, ... settle bona fide disputes as to the degree of disability, the extent of impairment, and the amount of compensation payable.” Safeway Stores v. Industrial Comm’n, 152 Ariz. 42, 47, 730 P.2d 219, 224 (1986). Such settlement agreements, however, are “subject to Commission approval.” Id. at 48, 730 P.2d at 225. See also Rustin v. Industrial Comm’n, 184 Ariz. 476, 910 P.2d 627 (1996). In addition, a Commission rule provides that “[n]o settlement agreement, compromise, or waiver of rights of a work ers’ compensation claim, will be valid unless approved by the Commission.” Ariz.Admin.Code R20-5-120(A) (1996).
¶ 8 Relying on that rule, Schuck contends the settlement agreement “was not yet approved and therefore not yet valid when Sinclair died.” Thus, it asserts, “there was never a valid agreement under Arizona law[,] [w]hat the ALJ attempted to approve was a nullity, and therefore[,] he was without jurisdiction to do so.” We reject those contentions for several reasons.
¶ 9 First, although Rule 20-5-120(A) conditions a settlement agreement’s validity on Commission approval, that approval ultimately was given, albeit after Sinclair’s death. Schuck’s contention that a settlement agreement is invalid “until” the Commission has approved it is contrary to the rule’s actual language that no such agreement is valid “unless approved by the Commission.” The rule does not say that, when a settlement agreement has been fully executed and submitted to the Commission for approval and the employee then dies, the agreement is automatically and forever invalid unless the ALJ approved it before the employee’s death. Nor does the rule permit one of the contracting parties, like Schuck, to unilaterally withdraw from, or rescind, the settlement agreement prior to the Commission’s approval.
¶ 10 Second, “[t]he validity and enforceability of stipulations and settlement agreements in workers’ compensation cases must be determined according to contract principles.” Pacific Western Const. v. Industrial Comm’n, 166 Ariz. 16, 19, 800 P.2d 3, 6 (App.1990). See also Field v. Industrial Comm’n, 137 Ariz. 257, 669 P.2d 1034 (App.1983). Under those principles, “the scope and criteria of the commission’s review of a settlement is whether at the time of the settlement there was a genuine and bona fide dispute between the parties regarding the issue of lost earning capacity and whether good grounds existed to justify the settlement.” Pacific Western, 166 Ariz. at 17, 800 P.2d at 4. See also Employers Mut. Liab. Ins. Co. v. Industrial Comm’n, 121 Ariz. 558, 592 P.2d 392 (App.1979) (Commission should approve settlement once it determines that genuine and bona fide dispute exists and that settlement was fairly entered into and is free from fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, mistake and overreaching).
¶ 11 Indeed, the Commission’s resolution policies, adopted in 1987, curtail an ALJ’s discretion to disapprove a settlement agreement by providing that the ALJ will approve agreements if (1) a genuine dispute exists, (2) the applicant has read and understands the agreement’s terms, and (3) the ALJ finds no coercion, duress, fraud, misrepresentations, or undisclosed additional agreements were used to achieve the settlement. The ALJ had no grounds to disapprove the agreement on any of those bases and, in accordance with the Commission’s policies, made all pertinent findings required to approve the settlement agreement here.
¶ 12 Third, that Sinclair’s estate would not have been entitled to any future compensation benefits in the absence of the settlement neither invalidates the agreement nor precluded the ALJ’s approval of it. We do not find A.R.S. § 23-1068(B) prohibits enforcement of the agreement in this context. Neither it nor Parker and Sorenson v. Six Companies, Inc., 53 Ariz. 83, 85 P.2d 980 (1939), which Schuck also cites and which (like Parker) was decided under a differently-worded predecessor statute, addresses compromise and settlement agreements approved by the Commission.
¶ 13 Fourth, we find the out-of-state eases Schuck cites inapposite or unpersuasive. Although one court found the unpaid portion of a lump sum award “does not survive the employee’s death unless the award has been reduced to a final judgment or has otherwise been fully matured,” the amount of the award was completely unresolved when the claimant died, and the case did not involve a fully executed and approved settlement agreement. Carswell v. Aetna Cos. & Sur. Co., 598 S.W.2d 20, 21-22 (Tex.Civ.App.1980). More on point are Trahan v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 188 So.2d 435 (La.App.1966), and Sherlin v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 584 S.W.2d 455 (Tenn.1979). In Trahan, the court held that an agreement to compromise
did not vest any right in the claimant or his heirs to recover [the settlement] sum, for an agreement between an employer and his disabled employee to compromise or make a lump-sum payment of a workmen’s compensation claim is unenforceable unless the agreement is approved by the court as required by statute.
Trahan, 188 So.2d at 436. Based on a Tennessee statute “as it has been consistently interpreted by decisions of this Court over the past 55 years,” Sherlin, 584 S.W.2d at 459, the court in Sherlin concluded that a “lump sum settlement agreement never became binding on any of the parties because it was not approved by the court prior to the death of the employee.” Id. at 456.
¶ 14 Although it did not cite any cases, the court in Sherlin acknowledged “respectable authority from other jurisdictions which tend[s] to support” a contrary conclusion. Id. at 458. For example, based on facts analogous to this case, the New Mexico Supreme Court precluded an employer/carrier from repudiating a lump sum compensation settlement agreement after the employee/claimant had died and before the agreement had been approved. Rojo v. Loeper Landscaping, Inc., 107 N.M. 407, 759 P.2d 194 (1988). In so holding, the court stated:
The contention that a workers’ compensation agreement ... may be rescinded because the offeree died after acceptance but before payment had been approved is without support in any law to which we have been referred. By agreeing to the lump sum settlement, [the carrier] gambled that the claimant might live for the entire periodic payment period, and it thus took the risk that the lump sum settlement would reduce the total benefits that it would have had to pay if, instead, it were to continue making those periodic payments. Periodic payments admittedly, would have ceased upon the death of the claimant. But that death will not occur is also a risk taken by a carrier when it offers to settle long-term compensation payments for a lump sum in order to be released from liability for future payments. We assume that [the carrier] weighed those considerations in reaching its agreement with decedent. Although from [the carrier’s] perspective it is unfortunate that claimant died after the oral agreement had been formally executed by both parties, in the absence of mutual mistake of fact, fraud, failure to express the agreement of the parties, or material breach by the other' party, claimant’s death does not provide grounds to allow [the carrier’s] rescission of the contract.
Id. 759 P.2d at 197 (citations omitted).
¶ 15 We find that reasoning persuasive and adopt it. See also B. Frank Joy Co. v. Isaac, 333 Md. 628, 636 A.2d 1016 (1994) (upholding commission’s approval of settlement agreement on which employer attempted to unilaterally renege after claimant died and before agreement approved, even though agreement not binding on parties until commission approval). Contrary to Schuek’s suggestion, Commission approval of the settlement agreement, before Sinclair’s death and Schuck’s attempted repudiation, was not a “condition precedent required for enforcement of the agreement.” Had Schuck intended that, it could and should have so specified in the agreement that it drafted. Rather, “[t]he potential lack of approval by the [Commission], which would have relieved the parties of their obligations under the agreement but did not occur, is simply a ‘condition subsequent’ which ‘is not a valid basis for concluding that the contract is not presently binding and effective.’” Frankel v. Board of Dental Examiners, 46 Cal.App.4th 534, 54 Cal.Rptr.2d 128, 131 (1996), quoting Hoover Comm. Hotel Carp. v. Thomson, 167 Cal.App.3d 1130, 213 Cal.Rptr. 750, 756 (1985).
¶ 16 Finally, we find no bar to the ALJ’s exercise of jurisdiction in approving the settlement agreement after Sinclair’s death. The Commission “has full power, jurisdiction and authority to ... [p]romote the voluntary arbitration, mediation and conciliation of disputes between employers and employees.” A.R.S. § 23-107(A)(3). Schuck cites no pertinent authority, nor have we found any, suggesting that the ALJ exceeded his jurisdiction by approving the settlement agreement under the circumstances of this case.
DISPOSITION
¶ 17 We affirm the award of November 19,1996.
ESPINOSA and HOWARD, JJ., concur.
. The Commission is statutorily authorized to adopt rules and regulations to effect its purposes. A.R.S. §§ 23-107(A)(l), 23-92RB); McDuffee v. Industrial Comm’n, 15 Ariz.App. 541, 489 P.2d 1243 (1971).
. We also note that Rule 20-5-120, viewed in its entirety, generally is geared towards protecting employees. For example, acceptance of any settlement payments or signing of a settlement agreement, unless approved by the Commission, shall not release the employer or its carrier from any obligation imposed by the Workers’ Compensation Law. Ariz.Admin.Code R20-5-120(B) (1996). Similarly, neither the employer nor the carrier is entitled to a credit for any monies paid to an employee under a settlement agreement that has not been approved by the Commission. R20-5-120(C).
. Arizona Workers’ Compensation Handbook § 11.5 (1996), citing Procedures Manual, Claims Division, Industrial Commission of Arizona, subsection D (1st ed. 1990).
. Section 23-1068(B) reads in part: "Compensation ... shall not pass to another person by operation of law, except that the amount of compensation payable to a person at the time of death, whether payable in periodic payments or converted to a lump sum, ... shall, after his death, be paid to his personal representative____” Unlike prior versions of § 23-1068, which allowed lump sum payments to a personal representative of " 'the amount of compensation payable to a person at the time of his death pursuant to an award of the commission,' " Parker, 63 Ariz. at 376, 162 P.2d at 428, quoting Ariz.Code Ann. § 59-962 (1939) (emphasis added), the current version of the statute no longer limits compensation payable at death to that recoverable under an award of the Commission.
. Term.Code Ann. § 50-1006 provided in part that “all settlements, before the same are binding on either party, shall be reduced to writing and shall be [court] approved....” Sherlin, 584 S.W.2d at 457.
. The pertinent New Mexico statute provided that “amounts payable as workers’ compensation may be converted to a lump sum settlement by agreement of the parties and after the agreement is approved by the hearing officer.” Rojo v. Loeper Landscaping, Inc., 107 N.M. 407, 759 P.2d 194, 196 (1988), citing N.M.Stat.Ann. § 52-5-14(B) (1978).
. Contrary to Schuck’s suggestion, although the ALJ cited Oceanic Butler, Inc. v. Nordahl, 842 F.2d 773 (5th Cir.1988), in his award, he relied primarily on Arizona law to support his decision.
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OPINION
McGregor, judge.
This appeal turns on whether the business activities of Dunbar Furniture, Inc., an Indiana concern that built, delivered and installed custom workstations and other furniture for a customer in Phoenix, provided sufficient nexus between Dunbar and Arizona to permit Arizona to impose its retail transaction privilege tax consistently with the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The tax court found that Arizona could not constitutionally impose the tax on Dunbar and thus held the customer liable for use taxes. For the following reasons, we reverse.
I.
In the early 1980s, the law firm of O’Con-nor, Cavanagh, Anderson, Killingsworth & Beshears (the firm) determined to relocate its law offices within Phoenix. The firm decided to include custom secretarial workstations, attorney workstations, and library shelves in its new offices. The firm hired Dallas-based design firm Sheppard & Boyd to assist in designing the new offices, including the custom workstations.
The custom workstations the firm wanted were not manufactured in Arizona or available from any catalog. On the firm’s behalf, Sheppard & Boyd interviewed more than a dozen furniture manufacturers. The firm then put the custom furnishings contract out to bid. Dunbar Furniture, Inc., a high quality manufacturer of high-end custom furniture, submitted one of the lowest bids. Because our determination of whether Arizona could impose its transaction privilege tax depends upon the nexus between Dunbar and Arizona, we review in some detail the facts surrounding Dunbar’s contacts with Arizona and its transaction with the firm.
From 1985 to 1987, a few manufacturers dominated the furniture market in Arizona. Dunbar was not one of them. Dunbar never registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission as a foreign corporation authorized to do business in Arizona. No public records reflect that Dunbar ever owned any real or personal property in Arizona. The records in the offices of the Arizona Secretary of State and county recorders do not reveal that Dunbar ever filed or recorded a claim of lien or financing statement pertaining to any Arizona real or personal property.
At all relevant times Thomas C. Woodward, an Arizona resident and owner of a furniture retail store in Scottsdale, served as an independent manufacturer’s representative for Dunbar and ten to twelve other furniture manufacturers. To Woodward’s knowledge, Dunbar had no sales office, ordering center, furniture showroom or customer service office in Arizona at any time material to this litigation.
Before the firm accepted Dunbar’s bid, members of the firm’s relocation committee met a Dunbar representative in Dallas, and also inspected furniture that Dunbar had manufactured for a Fort Worth bank. Committee members later met in Dallas with Dunbar’s president to discuss design issues. Still later, committee members traveled to Berne, Indiana, to visit Dunbar’s manufacturing plant. All negotiations between the firm and Dunbar concerning the terms of the custom furnishings contract to which the two ultimately agreed took place in person or by telephone in Phoenix.
In mid-March 1984, the firm awarded the custom furnishings contract to Dunbar. Dunbar and the firm agreed orally that if Dunbar performed satisfactorily, it could use the firm’s offices as a showcase for marketing the workstations nationally.
In May 1984, Dunbar employees brought two prototype workstations to Phoenix. They assembled them in a mock-up office constructed at a Phoenix warehouse owned by Goodmans, Inc., a Phoenix furniture retailer. Dunbar’s corporate president oversaw the firm’s inspection of the prototypes. The parties formally executed a custom furnishings contract in August 1984.
The Dunbar contract required Dunbar to ship, deliver and install the custom furnishings at its own expense. Under the contract, title was to pass to the firm when Dunbar delivered the custom furnishings to the new offices. The risk of loss was to pass when Dunbar had installed the furnishings to the firm’s satisfaction.
The workstations and library shelves were sufficiently large that they had to be partially disassembled for shipping, then reassembled on arrival. Dunbar subcontracted its- installation obligation to Goodmans. Dunbar’s and Goodmans’ presidents negotiated the terms of the subcontract in Phoenix.
The custom furnishings contract required Dunbar to make delivery in Dunbar trucks staffed by Dunbar personnel. When a problem prevented Dunbar from complying with this requirement, the firm authorized Dunbar to hire substitute trucks from North American Van Lines. Four North American trucks made four trips each from Berne, Indiana, to Phoenix in February and March 1985 to deliver the first twelve shipments of custom furniture. Dunbar employees unloaded each truck on arrival at the firm’s new offices. Goodmans personnel then installed the custom furnishings under a Dunbar factory representative’s supervision.
The Dunbar contract included a three-year warranty. On four occasions Dunbar re-, sponded to warranty complaints from the firm. On the first occasion, Dunbar was unable to send a crew of employees to Phoenix to repair an electrical problem in time to accommodate the firm’s imminent move to its new offices. It authorized the firm to hire a local electrician at Dunbar’s expense instead. In response to the remaining three complaints, Dunbar dispatched crews of employees to the firm’s new offices. Twice Dunbar’s employees worked a week or more at the firm’s new offices to correct the complaints. On the third occasion the firm elected to take a credit against the purchase price in preference to losing the use of the affected workstations while Dunbar’s employees worked to bring them into compliance.
The Dunbar contract required Dunbar to produce additional custom furnishings as requested by the firm for eleven years following the contract’s formation. In addition to the first large purchase completed in early 1985, Dunbar and the firm engaged in roughly seventeen custom furnishings transactions between June 1985 and April 1989. In the early 1990s, Dunbar went out of business.
From 1985 to 1987, neither Dunbar nor the firm maintained Arizona transaction privilege tax licenses or filed Arizona transaction privilege or use tax returns. The invoices that Dunbar sent the firm during their five-year relationship contained lines for “sales tax” that were never filled in. The firm signed nothing and took no action that Dunbar could have interpreted to suggest that its transactions with the firm were exempt from Arizona transaction privilege or use taxation.
From 1985 to 1987, Dunbar made two smaller furniture sales to customers in Arizona. Both sales involved local retailers, who passed on their Arizona retail transaction privilege tax obligations to their buyers.
The Arizona Department of Revenue (DOR) audited the firm’s records for the period December 1,1984, through September 30,1990. It assessed use taxes, with interest and penalties, on the purchase price of all custom fmmshings the firm had purchased from Dunbar.- On the firm’s request for redetermiriation, the DOR Hearing Office sustained the Audit Division’s assessment. The firm appealed to the State Board of Tax Appeals, which reversed, holding that the firm’s purchases from Dunbar were exempt from Arizona use taxation pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (A.R.S.) section 42-1409.A.1 (Supp.1996).
DOR brought this action in the tax court challenging the Board’s ruling. See A.R.S. § 42-124.B (Supp.1996). On cross-motions for summary judgment, the tax court ruled that “Dunbar’s activities in Arizona did not create a ‘substantial nexus’ subjecting them to Arizona’s transaction privilege tax,” and accordingly, the use tax exemption of section 42-1409.A.1 was unavailable to the firm.
From formal judgment entered in accordance with the tax court’s ruling, the firm timely appeals. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. section 12-2101.B (1994).
II.
A.
Arizona imposes an excise tax on the storage, use or consumption of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer. A.R.S. § 42-1408 (Supp.1996). Considered in isolation, the statute obligated the firm to pay a “use tax” on the custom furnishings. However, the statutory scheme also provides a large number of exemptions from that use tax. One of the most significant is defined in section 42-1409.A.1, which states the use tax does not apply to property if receipts from the sale of that property were subject to Arizona’s retail transaction privilege tax. Arizona’s use tax thus functions primarily as a complement to the retail transaction privilege tax. See generally People of Faith v. Arizona Dep’t of Revenue, 161 Ariz. 514, 520, 779 P.2d 829, 835 (Tax Ct.1989) (“the measure of the,tax imposed by article 1 of this chapter” within A.R.S. § 42-1409.A.1 means all gross receipts on which seller is obligated to pay retail transaction privilege tax, whether or not actually paid, except where seller reasonably concludes from some action of the buyer at or around sale that sale is tax-exempt).
The dispositive question in this appeal, then, is whether Arizona could have imposed on Dunbar, consistent with the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, a duty to pay retail transaction privilege taxes on the proceeds of its custom furnishings sales to the firm in Phoenix. If so, the use tax exemption in A.R.S. section 42-1409.A.1.
B.
We derive the principles governing this appeal from Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 1076, 51 L.Ed.2d 326 (1977), and Tyler Pipe Industries, Inc. v. Washington State Department of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232, 107 S.Ct. 2810, 97 L.Ed.2d 199 (1987). In Complete Auto Transit, the Court upheld a Mississippi business privilege tax as applied to a company that transported GM vehicles by truck from the interstate railhead in Jackson, Mississippi, to GM dealers in Mississippi. The Court synthesized from prior case law the broad rule that a state tax is sustainable against challenge under the “negative” or “dormant” Commerce Clause only if “the tax is applied to an activity with a substantial nexus with the taxing State, is fairly apportioned, does not discriminate against interstate commerce, and is fairly related to the services provided by the State.” 430 U.S. at 279, 97 S.Ct. at 1079.
In the present case, the parties agree that Arizona’s retail transaction privilege tax, as applied to Dunbar, is fairly apportioned, nondiscriminatory, and fairly related to services provided by Arizona. The issue on which the firm and DOR disagree is whether Dunbar’s retail sales activities had a “substantial nexus” with the State of Arizona.
The Supreme Court squarely addressed the nature of the required “substantial nexus” in Tyler Pipe Industries, Inc. v. Washington Department of Revenue, 483 U.S. 232, 107 S.Ct. 2810, 97 L.Ed.2d 199 (1987). In Tyler Pipe, the Court considered a Washington business and occupations excise tax that applied to the in-state business activities of extracting raw materials, manufacturing, selling at wholesale, and selling at retail. In 1950, the Washington legislature adopted an exemption from the manufacturing tax for the portion of a manufacturer’s output that was subject to the wholesale tax. As a result, local manufacturers paid the manufacturing tax on their interstate sales, while out-of-state manufacturers paid the wholesale tax on their sales in Washington. The Washington Supreme Court invalidated the exemption from the manufacturing tax on the ground that it discriminated against interstate commerce. The United States Supreme Court agreed. 483 U.S. at 240-48, 107 S.Ct. at 2816-20.
Because the Court found that the prohibited discrimination could be readily corrected, it also addressed Tyler Pipe’s contention that Washington’s wholesale tax could not in any event be applied constitutionally to its wholesale sales in Washington because Tyler Pipe lacked a “sufficient nexus” with the state to justify imposition of a gross receipts tax on the proceeds of its sales. The Court held to the contrary. Id. at 248-51, 107 S.Ct. at 2820-22. Although the taxpayer had no office, property, or employees in Washington, the Court found that in-state activities of the taxpayer’s independently contracted sales representatives provided the “substantial nexus” sufficient to justify the tax. The Court quoted with approval the state court’s test for substantial nexus: “[T]he crucial factor governing nexus is whether the activities performed in this state on behalf of the taxpayer are significantly associated with the taxpayer’s ability to establish and maintain a market in this state for the sales.” Id. at 250, 107 S.Ct. at 2821 (quoting Tyler Pipe Indus., Inc. v. State Dep’t of Revenue, 105 Wash.2d 318, 323, 715 P.2d 123, 126 (1986)). See also Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298, 312-13, 112 S.Ct. 1904, 1913, 119 L.Ed.2d 91 (1992).
C.
To determine whether Dunbar’s activities in Arizona bring it within the test defined by Tyler Pipe and Complete Auto, we must first define the “activity” and the “market” involved. As noted above, the question before us is whether Dunbar was obligated to pay retail transaction privilege taxes on its sales of custom workstations and library shelves to the firm. Accordingly, the “activity” whose nexus with Arizona is in question involves Dunbar’s retail sales to the firm, as well as the supplemental activities of Dunbar and others on its behalf that were necessary to accomplish and continue the sales.
Dunbar’s “market” in Arizona was limited. In contrast to cases such as Tyler Pipe, in which the out-of-state taxpayer made sales to a large number of in-state customers, Dun bar had only one retail customer in Arizona. Dunbar directed virtually all its activities in Arizona to complying with the Dunbar contract and the eleven-year post-contract deal, Dunbar’s sole Arizona “market.”
Many of the activities associated with Dunbar’s ability to establish and maintain a market in Arizona were performed in this state. Dunbar’s retail sales themselves took place in Phoenix, where title to the goods and the risk of their loss passed to the firm. Many of the activities that were essential to completing these sales occurred in Phoenix through employees and independent agents of Dunbar acting on Dunbar’s behalf. Most took place through not only the physical presence of Dunbar employees or agents, but also the presence of tangible personal property owned by Dunbar, brought to Arizona on its behalf, and used in Arizona to fulfill Dunbar’s contract. For example, before Dunbar manufactured the custom workstations, Dunbar employees brought workstation prototypes to Phoenix, assembled them, and used them to gain the firm’s approval.' Later, contract drivers acting for Dunbar trucked the first twelve custom workstations into Arizona to the firm’s Phoenix offices. There, Dunbar employees were waiting to unload and unpack the custom workstations, still owned by Dunbar. Thereafter, employees of a local concern engaged by Dunbar installed the custom workstations, on which Dunbar still bore the risk of loss, under the supervision of a Dunbar employee.
Dunbar employees and agents continued to perform under the Dunbar contract after the firm’s acceptance of the initial twelve workstations. Additional workstations were ordered, manufactured, shipped, unloaded, and installed. Further, as required by the contract, Dunbar employees traveled to Phoenix as necessary to remedy conditions claimed to be in breach of Dunbar’s contractual warranty. Moreover, from 1985 through 1987, Dunbar employed an independent manufacturer’s representative in Phoenix who rendered services on the firm’s furniture order and solicited additional orders on Dunbar’s behalf.
Under those circumstances, unless some principle prevents us from considering the activities described above, it is plain that retail transaction privilege taxation of Dunbar’s contract proceeds complies with the requirement that “the activities performed in this state on behalf of the taxpayer are significantly associated with the taxpayer’s ability to establish and maintain a market in this state for the sales.” Tyler Pipe, 483 U.S. at 250, 107 S.Ct. at 2821.
D.
DOR argues that several factors prevent us from finding the required substantial nexus between Dunbar and Arizona. The core bases for DOR’s contention are that Dunbar had no office, warehouse, or property in Arizona; none of its employees resided in Arizona; most of the delivery and installation work under the contract between Dunbar and the firm was physically accomplished by employees of a third-party independent contractor and a common carrier; and Dunbar employees’ presence in Arizona was almost exclusively connected with the contract.
DOR first argues that under the governing case law, no substantial nexus exists on which a taxing state can impose a gross receipts tax on an out-of-state taxpayer unless, at a minimum, the taxpayer has in-resident employees and a permanent in-state facility, such as an office or other real property. Moreover, DOR asserts, these contacts must be related to the activity sought to be taxed. In support of this proposition, DOR states that it has found not a single case in which a court has sustained a gross receipts tax on an out-of-state taxpayer when one or more of these factors was not present. It then lists eleven cases, all of which were decided before Tyler Pipe, to support its theory.
DOR’s theory does not withstand scrutiny under Supreme Court precedent. Although it is clear that the Supreme Court requires a “physical presence” as the sine qua non of “substantial nexus,” see Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298, 309-17, 112 S.Ct. 1904, 1911-16, 119 L.Ed.2d 91 (1992), the Court has never held that the physical presence must include both resident employees and permanent facilities. Indeed, Tyler Pipe provides a clear counterexample. There, the Court found the requisite nexus for imposition of a gross receipts tax on a taxpayer who “maintains no office, owns no property, and has no employees residing” in the taxing state, and whose solicitation of business in that state “is directed by executives who maintain their offices out-of-state and by an independent contractor located” in the taxing state. 483 U.S. at 248-51, 107 S.Ct. at 2820-22.
DOR also contends that the court cannot consider the in-state activities on Dunbar’s behalf by third parties such as Goodmans, Inc., North American Van Lines, and manufacturer’s representative Thomas C. Woodward, as links contributing toward a substantial nexus between Dunbar’s business activities and Arizona. DOR acknowledges that under Tyler Pipe, National Geographic Society v. California Equalization Board, 430 U.S. 551, 97 S.Ct. 1386, 51 L.Ed.2d 631 (1977), and Scripto, Inc. v. Carson, 362 U.S. 207, 80 S.Ct. 619, 4 L.Ed.2d 660 (1960), the in-state activities of salespeople may be attributed to an out-of-state taxpayer in evaluating its nexus to the taxing state, and that this is so whether the salespeople are employees or independent contractors.
DOR asserts that Goodmans and North American Van Lines are “independent third party contractors” and then asks us to distinguish between “independent contractors,” whose local efforts on behalf of a taxpayer may be considered on the nexus issue, and “independent third party contractors,” whose similar efforts we should regard as of no consequence. We have some difficulty understanding that distinction, and find in any event that neither Tyler Pipe nor Scripto contains any discussion of or support for DOR’s point. In Tyler Pipe the Court explicitly reaffirmed its determination in Scrip-to that no constitutional significance attached to the fact that in-state jobbers who solicited orders on behalf of an out-of-state taxpayer were independent contractors rather than employees. 483 U.S. at 250, 107 S.Ct. at 2821. The Court observed that this conclusion was consistent with its more recent decision in National Geographic. Id.
DOR also urges us not to consider the Arizona-based efforts of Goodmans, North American Van Lines, and manufacturer’s representative Thomas Woodward in deciding whether Dunbar had a “substantial nexus” with Arizona. DOR argues that under Tyler Pipe and Scripto, only the in-state efforts of “full-time salesmen” are material to the inquiry. Contrary to DOR’s implication, neither Tyler Pipe nor Scripto suggests that an independent contractor’s local activity on behalf of the out-of-state taxpayer must occur full-time, or daily, before it may be considered on the nexus question. Indeed, National Geographic’s summary of Standard Pressed Steel Co. v. Department of Revenue of Washington, 419 U.S. 560, 95 S.Ct. 706, 42 L.Ed.2d 719 (1975) is wholly inconsistent with that view:
[Standard Pressed Steel ] involved a direct tax upon the gross receipts of a foreign corporation resulting from sales to a State of Washington customer____ [It] held that maintenance in the taxing State of a single employee, an engineer whose office was in his Washington home and whose primary responsibility was to consult with the Washington-based customer regarding its anticipated needs for the out-of-state supplier’s product, established a sufficient relation to activities within the State producing the gross receipts as to support imposition of the tax. It is particularly significant for our purposes in this case that the Court characterized as “frivolous” the argument that the seller’s instate activities were so thin and inconsequential that the tax had no reasonable relation to the protection and benefits conferred by the taxing State, for the employee “made possible the realization and continuance of valuable contractual relations between [the seller and its Washington customer].” 419 U.S., at 562, 95 S.Ct. at 708.
430 U.S. at 557-58, 97 S.Ct. at 1390-91. This language indicates that for the purpose of establishing nexus, the volume of local activity is less significant than the nature of its function on the out-of-state taxpayer’s behalf. As the Tyler Pipe Court stated, “the crucial factor governing nexus is whether the activities performed in this state on behalf of the taxpayer are significantly associated with the taxpayer’s ability to establish and maintain a market in this state for the sales.” 483 U.S. at 250, 107 S.Ct. at 2821.
III.
DOR finally argues in the alternative that the firm is liable for Arizona use taxes on its custom furnishings purchases regardless of whether Dunbar was obligated to pay retail transaction privilege taxes on the corresponding sales. DOR reasons that because Dunbar never paid those taxes, its receipts from the sales were never “included in the measure” of the transaction privilege tax within the use tax exemption provided by A.R.S. section 42-1409.A.1.
We decline to address this contention. DOR expressly waived the argument in its motion for summary judgment:
While the Department here has taken the position that the buyer is relieved of its responsibility for the payment of Use Tax should the seller be responsible for Transaction Privilege Tax, the Department reserves the right in the future, in another case, to argue that the buyer is responsible for the Use Tax irrespective of whether the seller has paid the Transaction Privilege Tax unless the buyer can show a receipt indicating that it was charged, and did pay, tax. The Department did not assert this position at the Board of Tax Appeals and is therefore not asserting it here. The resolution of that question will await another day.
(Emphasis in original.)
DOR offers no reason that the scruple it observed in the tax court'does not also apply here. Absent a good reason, we do not consider arguments first articulated in an appellate brief. See Jimenez v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., 183 Ariz. 399, 406, 904 P.2d 861, 868 (1995); Stewart v. Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co., 169 Ariz. 99, 108, 817 P.2d 44, 53 (App.1991).
IV.
We reverse the judgment for plaintiff-appellee DOR and remand with directions to enter judgment for the firm.
GRANT, P. J., and WEISBERG, J., concur.
. A.R.S. § 42-1408 (Supp.1996) provides:
A. There is levied and imposed an excise tax on the storage, use or consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer, as a percentage of the sales price.
C. The tax rate shall equal the rate of tax applied to retailers according to the respective classification under article 1 of this chapter for the same type of transaction or business activity [retail classification — A.R.S. § 42-1310.01 (Supp.1996)].
D. Every person storing, using or consuming in this state tangible personal property purchased from a retailer is liable for the tax. The person’s liability is not extinguished until the tax has been paid to this state.
. A.R.S. § 42-1409.A provides in part:
A. The tax levied by this article does not apply to the storage, use or consumption in this state of the following described tangible personal property:
1. Tangible personal property sold in this state, the gross receipts from the sale of which are included in the measure of the tax imposed by article 1 of this chapter [retail transaction privilege tax — A.R.S. § 42-1310.01 (Supp. 1996)].
. The Commerce Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3, is more than an affirmative grant of power to Congress to regulate commerce "among the several States.” It also has a negative sweep, prohibiting "by its own force” certain state interference with interstate commerce. Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298, 309, 112 S.Ct. 1904, 1911, 119 L.Ed.2d 91 (1992) (quoting in Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 231-32, 239, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824) (Johnson, J., concurring); South Carolina State Highway Dep’t v. Barnwell Bros., Inc., 303 U.S. 177, 185, 58 S.Ct. 510, 513-14, 82 L.Ed. 734 (1938)).
. In Complete Auto Transit the taxpayer made no claim that the challenged tax failed to meet any of the four prongs of the Court’s newly-synthesized rule. 430 U.S. at 277-78, 97 S.Ct. at 1078. Accordingly, the Court did not discuss the meaning of "substantial nexus."
. The Court quoted the Washington Supreme Court’s summary of the evidence concerning the activities of Tyler Pipe’s in-state sales representatives:
The sales representatives acted daily on behalf of Tyler Pipe in calling on its customers and soliciting orders. They have long-established and valuable relationships with Tyler Pipe’s customers. Through sales contacts, the representatives maintain and improve the name recognition, market share, goodwill, and individual customer relations of Tyler Pipe.
' Tyler Pipe sells in a very competitive market in Washington. The sales representatives provide Tyler Pipe with virtually all their information regarding the Washington market, including: product performance; competing products; pricing, market conditions and trends; existing and upcoming construction products; customer financial liability; and other critical information of a local nature concerning Tyler Pipe’s Washington market. The sales representatives in Washington have helped Tyler Pipe and have a special relationship to that corporation. The activities of Tyler Pipe’s agents in Washington have been substantial.
483 U.S. at 249-50, 107 S.Ct. at 2821 (quoting Tyler Pipe Indus., Inc. v. State Dep’t of Revenue, 105 Wash.2d at 318, 325, 715 P.2d 123, 127 (1986)).
. DOR argues that "the nexus requirements for transaction privilege, sales and use taxes are different, and ... a use tax may be imposed at a lower nexus threshold than that required for a sales tax, which in turn may be imposed at a lower nexus threshold than that required for a transaction privilege tax.” Answering Brief at 9-10.
We do not address this argument because the nexus is at issue here only with respect to the transaction privilege tax. This case does not require us to decide whether a sales or use tax would withstand scrutiny under a lower nexus threshold than the one we apply today.
. Unlike DOR, we do not regard this as a factor demonstrating that Dunbar’s sales to appellant lacked a substantial nexus to Arizona. The taxpayer in Standard Pressed Steel Co. v. Department of Revenue of Washington, 419 U.S. 560, 95 S.Ct. 706, 42 L.Ed.2d 719 (1975), likewise had only one customer in the taxing state. As interpreted by National Geographic Society v. California Equalization Board, 430 U.S. 551, 557-58, 97 S.Ct. 1386, 1391, 51 L.Ed.2d 631 (1977), this fact did not preclude taxation of its gross receipts.
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OPINION
GRANT, Judge.
This appeal concerns the validity of a provision in an underinsured motorist (“UIM”) policy that permits either the insurer or the insured to appeal an arbitration award if the arbitrators set damages at, or in excess of, Arizona’s statutory minimum financial responsibility requirement of $15,000. See Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (“A.R.S.”) § 28-1102(6) (1989). We hold such a provision is not violative of public policy. We therefore affirm the trial court’s denial of the insureds’ Motion for Summary Judgment concerning the arbitration appeal provision. We affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the insureds with regard to the notice provision in the policy. We remand the case to the trial court in accordance with Liberty Mutual’s appeal for trial de novo.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
On January 7, 1986, the insureds’ five-year-old son, Joshua, was struck by a pick-up truck while he was riding his bicycle. The driver of the truck had an automobile insurance policy providing $100,000 in liability insurance. On the date of the accident, the insureds had an automobile policy through Liberty Mutual which provided $300,000 of UIM coverage.
The insureds filed a complaint against the driver within six months of the accident. The insureds were represented by counsel in that litigation. The complaint was ultimately dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute. However, in October 1991, the insureds settled with the driver’s insurance company for the $100,000 policy limit.
A. The First Declaratory Judgment Action and the Arbitration
On November 5, 1991, one month after settling with the driver, and more than five- and-one-half years after the accident, the insureds submitted their UIM claim to Liberty Mutual. In December 1991, one month after the insureds submitted their UIM claim, Liberty Mutual filed a declaratory judgment action pursuant to A.R.S. section 12-1831 (1994), asking for a judgment declaring that the insureds failed to comply with the prompt notification requirement of their policy. On February 28,1995, the trial court rejected a stipulation between the parties to continue the action on the inactive calendar through May 1995, pending resolution of the arbitration, because the matter had been on the court’s calendar for more than two years. The trial court dismissed the declaratory judgment action for lack of prosecution pursuant to Rule 41(b) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure.
The underlying liability claim proceeded to arbitration. The late notice issue was not litigated in the arbitration proceedings. The driver’s liability was not contested at the arbitration because the driver admitted: (1) he was speeding when the accident occurred; (2) he was familiar with the street where the accident occurred; and (3) he was aware that children were often in the street. The only issue at arbitration was causation. Joshua had manifested some speech impairment pri- or to the accident, and Liberty Mutual maintained that some or all of his problems constituted pre-existing conditions.
On May 12, 1995, a three-member arbitration panel awarded the insureds the policy limit of $300,000. Liberty Mutual appealed the arbitration award to superior court and sought a new trial, contending it was not bound by the award under the terms of the policy.
B. The Appeal
This appeal arises from a second declaratory judgment action filed by Liberty Mutual in April 1995. Liberty Mutual sought a ruling that it had no duty to pay UIM benefits under the policy because the insureds did not give it timely notice of the claim. The insureds counterclaimed, arguing the arbitration appeal provision of the policy was unenforceable as adhesive, unconscionable and violative of Arizona’s strong public policy favoring arbitration.
On May 23, 1996, the trial court granted summary judgment to the insureds regarding the timeliness of notice of its claim against Liberty Mutual, finding that under the circumstances of this case, the insureds were not dilatory and that Liberty Mutual had not established prejudice from the delayed notice. The court also granted Liberty Mutual’s Motion for Summary Judgment concerning the arbitration appeal provision, finding such provisions enforceable and not violative of public policy.
After subsequent pleadings, and pursuant to A.R.S.. section 12-341.01 (1992), the insureds were awarded costs and attorneys’ fees incurred both in the underlying action and in the virtually identical declaratory judgment action. Both parties timely cross-appealed, and both seek attorneys’ fees and costs on appeal. The insureds appeal the denial of summary judgment on their counterclaim involving the arbitration appeal provision. Liberty Mutual cross-appeals the grant of summary judgment to the insureds on the notice issue, as well as the trial court’s award of costs and attorneys’ fees to the insureds.
We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. section 12-2101(B) (1994). For the reasons that follow, we affirm. We also affirm the trial court’s award of attorneys’ fees and costs to the insureds.
ISSUES
The following issue is presented on appeal:
I. Did the trial court improperly grant summary judgment in Liberty Mutual’s favor on the insureds’ counterclaim by finding Liberty Mutual’s arbitration appeal provision enforceable in Arizona?
The issues presented in the cross-appeal are:
II. Did the trial court improperly grant summary judgment to the insureds by holding that the insureds’ notice was timely and by not absolving the insurer from its responsibilities under the UIM policy?
III. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in awarding attorneys’ fees and costs to the insureds?
DISCUSSION
THE APPEAL
I. The Arbitration Appeal Provision
The arbitration appeal provision in the Liberty Mutual policy provides:
If we and a covered person do not agree:
1. Whether that person is legally entitled to recover damages under this endorsement or
2. As to the amount of damages; either party may make a written demand for arbitration.
Unless both parties agree otherwise, arbitration -will take place____ Local rules of law as to procedure and evidence will ap ply. A decision agreed to by two of the arbitrators will be binding as to:
1. Whether the covered person is legally entitled to recover damages; and
2. The amount of damages. This applies only if the amount does not exceed the minimum limit for bodily injury liability specified by the financial responsibility law of the state in which your covered auto is principally garaged. If the amount exceeds that limit, either party may demand the right to a trial. This demand must be made within 60 days of the arbitrator’s decision. If this demand is not made, the amount of damages agreed to by the arbitrators will be binding.
According to the above provision, the arbitrators’ decision is binding only if the award is less than the statutory financial responsibility requirement in Arizona ($15,000), regardless of the amount of UIM coverage purchased by the insured. Either party may appeal an award in excess of the amount required by statute. The validity of a de novo trial provision in an automobile policy presents a question of first impression in this state.
The trial court relied upon Krizanich v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 181 Ariz. 108, 887 P.2d 989 (App.1994), in ruling that arbitration appeal provisions are enforceable. In Krizanich, the plaintiff was injured in a motor vehicle accident and received $40,000 from the insurer of the liable driver. The liable driver’s policy limits were $50,000. Krizanich then sought his full UIM policy coverage of $100,000 from his own carrier, Liberty Mutual, arguing his injuries exceeded the liable driver’s policy limit. Liberty Mutual disagreed and submitted the matter to arbitration. In Krizanich, however, the trial court merely addressed the de novo provision in Liberty Mutual’s policy. Because neither party challenged the enforceability of the appeal provision itself, the court limited its analysis solely to interpretation of “the amount of damages” phrase in the appeal provision.
The arbitration provision in this case is identical to the one in Krizanich. The sole issue submitted to arbitration in Krizanich was whether, and to what extent, Krizanich’s damages exceeded the $50,000 policy limits of the liable driver. The arbitrators found Krizanich’s settlement with the liable driver had fully compensated him for his injuries, and they denied him any award. Krizanich then reasserted his claim against Liberty Mutual in superior court. Liberty Mutual moved for confirmation of the arbitration award and dismissal of the plaintiffs complaint. Liberty Mutual argued the arbitration was binding and the legal validity of the award was not subject to attack.
Neither party in Krizanich challenged the enforceability of the arbitration appeal provision. Instead, the parties sought an interpretation of the “amount of damages” phrase. Krizanich argued the phrase referred to the total amount of damages suffered by the insured. He further argued his damages were determined by his $40,000 settlement, which exceeded Arizona’s Financial Responsibility statutory minimum of $15,000; thus, he was entitled to reject the arbitration award and demand a new trial under the arbitration provision of the policy. In contrast, Liberty Mutual interpreted the provision to refer only to that amount of the insured’s damages uncompensated by the liable driver’s insurance and awarded by the arbitrators against the UIM carrier. Both the trial court and appellate court agreed with Liberty Mutual, ruling that, because the arbitrators had entered an award of less than $15,000 against Liberty Mutual, the arbitration bound the parties. The appellate court held that “amount of damages” referred not to. the claimant’s damages as a whole, but only to “the claimant’s arbitrable damages— the only damages the arbitrators must resolve — the damages, if any, recoverable against Liberty Mutual under its underinsured endorsement.” Id.
The trial court ruled Krizanich controlled the enforceability of the arbitration appeal provision. However, the trial court construed Krizanich too broadly. Although Krizanich states that arbitration binds the parties, as we have indicated, the Krizanich court did not address or decide the question whether an arbitration appeal provision would be consistent with public policy.
The enforceability of the arbitration appeal provision is strictly a legal issue; interpretation of an insurance contract is a question of law we review de novo. University Mechanical Contractors of Ariz., Inc. v. Puritan Ins. Co., 150 Ariz. 299, 301, 723 P.2d 648, 650 (1986). Arizona has enacted the Uniform Arbitration Act, A.R.S. sections 12-1501 to - 1518 (1994). Our public policy strongly favors arbitration as an expeditious and relatively inexpensive method of resolving disputes. Meineke v. Twin City Fire Ins. Co., 181 Ariz. 576, 581, 892 P.2d 1365, 1370 (App.1994).
Most jurisdictions addressing the question have ruled that insurance contracts providing for de novo trials are void as contrary to the strong public policy favoring arbitration. O’Neill v. Berkshire Mut. Ins. Co., 786 F.Supp. 397 (D.Vt.1992); Field v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 769 F.Supp. 1135 (D.Haw.1991); Mendes v. Automobile Ins. Co., 212 Conn. 652, 563 A.2d 695 (1989); Schmidt v. Midwest Family Mut. Ins. Co., 426 N.W.2d 870 (Minn.1988); Schaefer v. Allstate Ins. Co., 63 Ohio St.3d 708, 590 N.E.2d 1242 (1992); Pepin v. American Universal Ins. Co., 540 A.2d 21 (R.I.1988).
In Schmidt v. Midwest Family, the Minnesota Supreme Court, interpreting an arbitration appeal provision essentially identical to the one at issue, stated its rationale for finding the provision contrary to public policy:
The policy’s arbitration provision, instead of providing a speedy, informal, and relatively inexpensive procedure for resolving controversies between the parties — the raison d’etre of arbitration — instead substantially thwarts those policy goals. By permitting resort to the court system for a trial de novo notwithstanding the absence of any claimed impropriety in the arbitration process itself, by fostering multiple hearings in multiple forums, by increasing the costs to the contracting parties, and by unnecessarily, and without real cause, extending the time consumed in resolving the controversy it likewise operates to defeat goals designed to promote judicial economy and respect for the judicial system.
426 N.W.2d at 874. In Schaefer v. Allstate, 63 Ohio St.3d 708, 590 N.E.2d 1242 (1992), an Ohio court characterized the arbitration appeal provision as an “escape hatch” which frustrates the purposes of arbitration and the public policy favoring arbitration. Id. Therefore, the court refused to enforce the provision.
By contrast, in Worldwide Ins. Group v. Klopp, 603 A.2d 788 (Del.1992), the court held that a de novo trial provision in an automobile policy permits either party to demand trial de novo only if the amount of the arbitrator’s award exceeds the minimum amount required by that state’s financial responsibility laws. The Delaware court denied review for smaller awards on the theory that such review is void as against public policy and unenforceable because it promotes litigation, circumvents arbitration, and provides an escape device that favors insurers. Id. at 791.
The insureds argue that, as applied, the “escape hatch” language in the provision, even if apparently neutral, unfairly and unequivocally favors the insurer. They base this argument on the fact that such a clause permits an appeal of high awards, while precluding appeals of low awards, thereby potentially enabling the insurer to avoid a high award while binding the insured to a low award. O’Neill, 786 F.Supp. at 398-99.
The requirement that parties arbitrate uninsured (“UM”) and UIM claims is designed, in significant part, to limit the insurer’s exposure by precluding the risks of a jury trial. Huizar v. Allstate Ins. Co., 932 P.2d 839, 841 (Colo.App.1996). While the de novo trial provision permits either party to escape the arbitration award, most courts conclude that, as a practical matter, the insurer is much more likely to make such an election. See, e.g., O’Neill, 786 F.Supp. at 398.
A minority of jurisdictions has found no violation of public policy and enforces de novo trial provisions. Mayflower Ins. Co. v. Mahan, 180 Ill.App.3d 213, 129 Ill.Dec. 159, 535 N.E.2d 924 (1988); Cohen v. Allstate Ins. Co., 231 N.J.Super. 97, 555 A.2d 21 (1989); Bruch v. CNA Ins. Co., 117 N.M. 211, 870 P.2d 749 (1994); Allstate Ins. Co. v. Jacobs, 208 A.D.2d 578, 617 N.Y.S.2d 360 (N.Y.App.Div.1994); Lind v. Allstate Ins. Co., 134 Or.App. 395, 895 P.2d 327, modified, 136 Or.App. 532, 902 P.2d 603 (1995); Huizar. Those cases have either centered on the fact that the parties contracted for the provision and therefore are entitled to the benefit of their bargain, or have upheld the provision for statutory reasons. For instance, in New Jersey and Florida, where the respective legislatures have adopted statutes specifically providing for the restricted appeal of UIM arbitration awards, arbitration clauses with “escape hatch” provisions have been upheld. See Cohen, 555 A.2d at 21; Roe v. Amica Mut. Ins. Co., 533 So.2d 279 (Fla.1988).
Arbitration provisions in auto insurance policies ostensibly resolve disputes between the insurer and its insureds on UM and UIM claims in an expeditious manner at a minimum cost. However, we do not believe that appeals and de novo trial provisions subvert such benefits. Our legislature has provided for statewide compulsory arbitration of civil claims worth $50,000 or less. See A.R.S. § 12-133 and the Uniform Rules of Procedure for Arbitration.. De novo appeals are an integral part of that arbitration system, and are expressly provided for in A.R.S. section 12-133(H) and in Arbitration Rule 7(c). Even though this ease concerns contractual, not compulsory, arbitration, the public policy of this state clearly adopts appeal and trial de novo as part and parcel of the arbitration system. Arbitration resolves some cases relatively quickly and cheaply and induces settlements in others, but it also permits parties, who wish to do so, to proceed to a trial in the superior court. See Huizar, 932 P.2d at 839.
States that have struck down de novo trial provisions have concluded that the financial responsibility limit provision makes UM/UIM contractual arbitration too one-sided to be enforced. We believe those states are incorrect insofar as they have assumed that most cases will fall near the $15,000 value line, and that the battle is to get arbitrators above or below that line. This characterization describes only a small section of cases. When a plaintiff who thinks his case is worth $300,-000 gets only $50,000 from the arbitrators, that plaintiff will want the option of an appeal (and may use that option as a leverage point in settlement discussions). Conversely, an insurance company that thinks a case is defensible, and is ordered to pay $14,999, may wish it could appeal but will lack the right to do so. The de novo appeal right, overall, is probably as important to plaintiffs as to defendants.
Were we to hold the contract adhesive, our holding would be directly contrary to Krizanich. There, the court considered and rejected the argument that the de novo arbitration provisions were confusing or contrary to the reasonable expectations of an insured. The Krizanich court said instead that they were “neither remote nor submerged in boilerplate nor textually obscure,” and were rather “textually prominent” and “reasonably clearly phrased.” 181 Ariz. at 111, 887 P.2d at 992.
We next address the coverage issue. We must determine whether the trial court correctly granted summary judgment to the insureds or whether the UIM coverage should have been extinguished because of the' insureds’ allegedly untimely notice to Liberty Mutual of the claim.
THE CROSS-APPEAL
II. The Notice Provision Is Unenforceable in the Absence of a Showing of Actual Prejudice to the Insurer
Liberty Mutual appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insureds on the issue of prompt notice. The policy provides, in pertinent part:
Part E — Duties After an Accident or Loss: General Duties:
We must be notified promptly of how, when and where the accident or loss happened. Notice should also include the names and addresses of any injured persons and pf any witness.
To grant a motion for summary judgment, the trial court must find no genuine issue of material fact exists in the record and the moving party is entitled to judgment on the merits as a matter of law. Orme Sch. v. Reeves, 166 Ariz. 301, 303, 802 P.2d 1000, 1002 (1990); Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(c). In reviewing the trial court’s ruling on a motion for summary judgment, this court must view the facts in the light most favorable to the party opposing the judgment. Grain Dealers Mut. Ins. Co. v. James, 118 Ariz. 116, 118, 575 P.2d 315, 317 (1978). This court determines de novo whether any genuine issues of material fact exist, and we reverse the summary judgment if our review reveals that reasonable inferences concerning material facts could be resolved in favor of the opposing party. United Bank v. Allyn, 167 Ariz. 191, 194, 805 P.2d 1012, 1015 (App.1990).
Liberty Mutual maintains the insureds’ allegedly untimely notice breached the insureds’ duty to provide Liberty Mutual prompt notice of the accident and their UIM claim. Thus, Liberty Mutual claims it need not pay on the claim. The trial court held, as a matter of law, that the insureds’ notice was timely under the circumstances of this case; therefore, the insureds were not in breach of the notice clause.
UIM coverage is similar to excess coverage in that both are triggered only upon the payment of another’s coverage limits. In Atlanta International Ins. Co. v. Checker Taxi Co., 214 Ill.App.3d 440, 158 Ill.Dec. 228, 574 N.E.2d 22 (1991), the court determined whether notice under an excess insurance policy was unreasonable as a matter of law. The appellate court held excess coverage is contingent upon the exhaustion of the underlying insurance policy and therefore, Checker’s duty to give notice to its excess carrier did not ripen until Checker believed it reasonably likely that it would make a claim under its excess carrier policies. Id., 158 Ill.Dec. at 232, 574 N.E.2d at 26.
We hold UIM coverage is similar to excess coverage because a UIM claim ripens only upon determination that the damages sustained exceed available liability policy limits. The driver’s $100,000 policy limit was initially believed sufficient to compensate for Joshua’s injuries. The full extent of Joshua’s neurological injuries took years to manifest. Once the driver paid the policy limits and that amount was found inadequate for Joshua’s extensive injuries, the insureds timely notified Liberty Mutual of the UIM claim.
Additionally, the trial court found that Liberty Mutual failed to show it was prejudiced:
THE COURT FINDS the accident happened in 1986, notice was given in 1991, and the expert work was conducted in 1994. It is unknown whether information dissipated between 1986 and 199T or 1991 and 1994. It is also unknown why the initial accident data could not be utilized.
Liberty Mutual has not demonstrated prejudice due to any delay in receiving notice of the insureds’ UIM claim. It is undisputed that the insureds gave Liberty Mutual notice of the UIM claim five years, ten months after the accident and one month after the insureds settled with the driver. It is also undisputed that Liberty Mutual did not subpoena or obtain the claims investigation file of the driver’s insurance carrier.
Liberty Mutual cites State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Tarantino, 114 Ariz. 420, 561 P.2d 744 (1977), to support its claim that notice was so untimely as to vitiate coverage. Tarantino is inapposite. That case involved a claim for UM benefits by a police officer, Tarantino, who was injured in a motor vehicle accident while on duty. Neither the liable driver nor the owner of the involved vehicle had insurance. Tarantino filed a worker’s compensation claim. Four-and-one-half years after the accident, Tarantino submitted a claim to his insurance company for UM benefits. The insurance company refused to pay, alleging Tarantino’s failure to notify it of the loss “as soon as practicable” absolved it of any duty to pay benefits.
However, on appeal Tarantino did not controvert the insurance company on the issue of breach based on failure to provide timely notice. Therefore, the appellate court as sumed that Tarantino had conceded the notice issue. Id. at 422, 561 P.2d at 746. In the instant ease, Liberty Mutual maintains the insureds did not comply with the notice provision in the policy. The insureds, in contrast, strongly maintain they complied with the provision by giving notice to Liberty Mutual almost immediately after settling their claim with the driver-at-fault. See Washington v. Milbank Ins. Co., 562 N.W.2d 801 (Minn.1997). Therefore, in contrast to Tarantino, notice is a disputed legal question on appeal here.
Furthermore, the Tarantino court merely held the policy’s requirement that notice be given “as soon as possible” was not void as against Arizona’s statutory policy allowing claimants up to six years-to sue on a UIM claim. The court held the notice requirement was intended to afford an insurance company the opportunity to investigate promptly the facts surrounding an accident and to determine whether to settle or litigate the claim. Id. at 423, 561 P.2d at 747. Therefore, Tarantino does not support Liberty Mutual’s position.
Instead, we look to Lindus v. Northern Insurance Co., 103 Ariz. 160, 438 P.2d 311 (1968), wherein the court held that an insured’s failure to give notice does not relieve an insurer of its contractual liability when an insured fails to give notice unless the insurer can demonstrate prejudice due to the delay. See also Globe Indem. Co. v. Blomfield, 115 Ariz. 5, 562 P.2d 1372 (App.1977). Lindus is the seminal case in Arizona on the enforceability of a notice of loss clause when notice is a condition precedent to payment of benefits. In Lindus, an injured plaintiff sued the tortfeasor and obtained a judgment. The tortfeasor’s insurance carriers — a comprehensive homeowners’ policy carrier and an automobile liability policy carrier — failed to defend and later refused to pay the judgment. The plaintiff sued for declaratory judgment, and the carriers defended on lack of notice. The plaintiff in Lindus provided one carrier with notice seventeen months after the accident and the other carrier with notice two years after the accident. The trial court held the insured failed to notify the carriers as soon as practicable as required by the policies. Lindus, 103 Ariz. at 164, 438 P.2d at 315.
On appeal, the Arizona Supreme Court held the lack of notice did not defeat the claim because the insurers had failed to show any actual prejudice resulting from the delay. Id. Similarly, in Blomfield, the court held that mere delay is not sufficient to show prejudice to an insurance carrier. 115 Ariz. at 7, 562 P.2d at 1374. In Zuckerman v. Transamerica Insurance Co., 133 Ariz. 139, 650 P.2d 441 (1982), the court held that it would not enforce a notice clause when to do so would defeat the basic intent of the parties to the insurance transaction. In considering the enforceability of such provisions, a court must look at whether the insurer has shown prejudice caused by the delay. Id. at 145, 650 P.2d at 448. Liberty Mutual bears the burden of establishing prejudice. Maryland Casualty Co. v. Clements, 15 Ariz.App. 216, 222, 487 P.2d 437, 443 (1971). Delay alone does not establish prejudice. Blomfield, 115 Ariz. at 7, 562 P.2d at 1374.
The driver’s insurance carrier investigated the accident. The driver’s deposition was taken three years after the accident. He admitted he was speeding and was aware children would be in the residential area where the accident occurred. Therefore, liability was not contested at arbitration. While the record reflects that the investigation conducted by the police officer was not comprehensive, Liberty Mutual has failed to demonstrate that a more complete investigation would have resulted in a liability defense.
Additionally, Liberty Mutual’s claim of prejudice focuses on the argument that, when it hired an accident reconstructionist three years after receiving notice of the UIM claim, he could not reconstruct the accident adequately. However, Liberty Mutual has failed to demonstrate it would have undertaken a timely investigation if immediately informed of the accident. Moreover, Liberty Mutual has not shown that a reconstruction of the accident would have been feasible. The child’s bicycle was removed to the child’s home before the investigating officer arrived at the scene of the accident. The only non-party witness to the accident was Joshua’s nine-year-old sibling, whom the investigating officer interviewed at the time of the accident.
Further, Joshua’s injuries seemed relatively minor at first. He was treated overnight in a hospital for a head injury and released the next day. Joshua’s significant brain damage and resultant learning disabilities only became manifest when he matured and began attending school.
We hold that Liberty Mutual, as the UIM carrier, is the functional equivalent of an excess carrier. Liberty Mutual had the burden to demonstrate prejudice due to lack of notice. Nevertheless, Liberty Mutual did not present any evidence that, had it immediately been informed of the accident by the insureds, it then would have undertaken an investigation of the accident. No evidence demonstrates a policy or practice by Liberty Mutual of conducting detailed claims investigations, hiring accident reconstruetionists, interviewing witnesses or requiring injured claimants to submit to medical examinations in cases such as this. Liberty Mutual did not even subpoena the liability carrier’s investigation file. Although Liberty Mutual hired an expert accident reconstructionist eight years after the accident, and three years after receiving notice of the accident, this fact alone does not establish prejudice.
Liberty Mutual has not made a sufficient showing of prejudice due to the delay in receiving notice. See Blomfield, 115 Ariz. at 7, 562 P.2d at 1374 (when insurer did not adequately demonstrate existence of disputed facts as to prejudice, trial court’s ruling that delayed notice of an accident did not extinguish coverage was upheld). Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on notice.
ATTORNEYS’ FEES
The trial court awarded attorneys’ fees and costs incurred during the arbitration and both declaratory judgment actions to the insureds. Both parties now request attorneys’ fees on appeal. Because the litigation has been so extensive, this court affirms the trial court’s award of attorneys’ fees to the insureds for all proceedings below. The insureds request attorneys’ fees and costs on appeal pursuant to A.R.S. section 12-341.01 and the insurance contract. Because the insureds prevailed as cross-appellees, not as appellants, we hold that the parties must bear their own fees and costs on appeal.
CONCLUSION
An arbitration appeal clause is enforceable in an automobile UIM policy because such provisions are in accord with the goals of arbitration and this'state’s strong public policy- favoring arbitration. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s denial of the insureds’ Motion for Summary Judgment on the arbitration appeal provision. We affirm the trial court’s ruling that the insureds did not breach the notice provision in the UIM policy. We also affirm the trial cqurt’s award to the insureds of all attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in the two declaratory judgment actions and in the arbitration. We remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
EHRLICH, P.J., and WEISBERG, J., concur.
. The scope of a trial following an arbitration appeal was the subject of a special action, 1 CA-SA 97-0008, filed by Liberty Mutual with this court. On February 19, 1997, we denied the insureds’ Motion to Consolidate this appeal with that special action and also declined to accept jurisdiction over the special action.
. Because we hold the insureds provided Liberty Mutual notice of the UIM claim within one month of their settlement with the driver-at-fault, we do not address the issue of whether Joshua’s minority tolls the requirement for notice to Liberty Mutual. Determination of that issue must await another day.
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OPINION
THOMPSON, Judge.
¶ 1 James Cornish (defendant) petitions this court to review the trial court’s summary' dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. Because the facts in this matter establish that the crime of attempted aggravated assault is a dangerous offense, and because consecutive sentences are appropriate, the petition is without merit.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 Defendant forcibly entered the home of his victim and intentionally strangled her, causing a life-threatening injury. Rendered unconscious by the attack, the victim later regained consciousness and found that her pants were unzipped and pulled down. She also noticed moisture between her legs. Defendant was charged by indictment with second-degree burglary, a class 3 felony; kidnapping, a class 2 felony; attempted sexual assault, a class 3 felony; and attempted second-degree murder, a class 2 felony, or alternatively, aggravated assault, a class 3 felony. He pled guilty to burglary, a class 3 non-dangerous felony and attempted aggravated assault, a class 4 dangerous felony. The parties stipulated that defendant would be sentenced to prison for not less than the presumptive term for the attempted aggravated assault, and five years supervised probation, consecutive to the prison term, on the burglary conviction. The trial court accepted the plea agreement and sentenced defendant to the presumptive term of six years for attempted aggravated assault, a dangerous felony, and five years supervised probation, to be served consecutively to the prison sentence, for the crime of burglary.
¶ 3 Defendant then timely filed a petition for post-conviction relief. ' In the petition, defendant argued that the convictions and sentences were invalid because defendant was illegally sentenced. The state filed a response and, after considering the pleadings, the trial court summarily dismissed the petition.
PETITION FOR REVIEW
¶ 4 Defendant timely petitions this court to review the trial court’s summary dismissal of the petition for post-conviction relief. In the petition for review, defendant argues the same two issues raised below:
1) Attempted aggravated assault is a preparatory offense and therefore cannot be dangerous pursuant to Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. (A.R.S.) § 13-604(F) (Supp.1996); and
2) The imposition of consecutive sentences was improper.
1. Is Attempted Aggravated Assault a Dangerous Felong Pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-604(F)?
¶ 5 A.R.S. § 13-604(F) reads as follows:
Except as provided in § 13-604.01, a person who is at least eighteen years of age or who has been tried as an adult and who stands convicted of a class 4, 5 or 6 felony involving the intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury or the discharge, use or threatening exhibition of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument without having previously been convicted of any felony shall be sentenced to imprisonment as prescribed in this subsection and shall not be eligible for suspension of sentence, probation, pardon or release from confinement on any basis except as specifically authorized by § 31-233, subsection A or B until the sentence imposed by the court has been served, the person is eligible for release pursuant to § 41-1604.07 or the sentence is commuted. The presumptive term may be mitigated or aggravated within the range prescribed under this subsection pursuant to the terms of § 13-702, subsections B, C and D. The terms are as follows:
Felony Minimum Presumptive Maximum
Class 4 4 years 6 years 8 years
Class 5 2 years 3 years 4 years
Class 6 1.5 years 2.25 years 3 years
¶ 6 Defendant argues that this statute does not authorize treatment of preparatory offenses as dangerous felonies. He argues that it only applies to completed offenses. To support his argument, he notes that other subsections of A.R.S. § 13-604 specifically mention preparatory offenses. For example, subsections (A), (B), (C), and (S), of A.R.S. § 13-604 state that the terms of the particular subsection apply to a felony, “whether a completed or preparatory offense____” Because certain subsections specifically state that a felony qualifies as dangerous or repetitive whether it is preparatory or completed, and because that language is absent from subsection (F), defendant argues that preparatory offenses cannot be treated as dangerous pursuant to subsection (F).
¶ 7 Defendant’s construction of the statute would lead to untenable results. Chapter 6 of Title 13 deals with dangerous and repetitive offenders and sets forth applicable sentence ranges. Subsections (A) — (D) set forth the minimum, presumptive, and maximum sentences for offenders with one or two historical prior felony convictions. As noted, subsections (A) — (C) include the language that any otherwise qualifying felony qualifies whether it is a “preparatory or completed” offense. The language does not appear in subsection (D). There does not appear to be any rational basis for exclusion of this language. The failure to include this language in subsection (D) was likely a legislative oversight.
¶ 8 Subsections (F) through (K) set forth the minimum, presumptive, and maximum sentences for offenders with a dangerous conviction, and a dangerous conviction with one or two prior dangerous convictions. None of these subsections includes the “whether preparatory or completed” offense language. However, none of these subsections purports to limit application only to completed offenses.
¶9 The language of subsection (F) is plain and unambiguous. Enhanced punishment applies to any person at least 18 years of age “who has been tried as an adult and who stands convicted of a class 4, 5 or 6 felony involving the intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury____” By its own terms, this statute applies to any felony, whether preparatory or completed. As such, this court normally would not need to resort to statutory rules of construction. However, because the “whether preparatory or completed” offense language appears in four subsections and not in others, the disparity among subsections is confusing and consequently subject to interpretation. See Gibbons v. Superior Court, 178 Ariz. 362, 364, 873 P.2d 700, 702 (App.1994) (noting that although the words of the statute are plain and unambiguous, the construction of sen tenees was confusing and therefore the statute was open to interpretation).
¶ 10 Additionally, case law dealing with other enhanced penalty statutes has arrived at conclusions highly dependent on the text of the statutes that the court was interpreting. Attempt is a preparatory offense. State v. Tellez, 165 Ariz. 381, 383, 799 P.2d 1, 3 (App.1989). “Preparatory offenses are separate and distinct from substantive offenses.” Id. (citing 2 Wayne R. LaFave & Austin W. Scott, Jr., Substantive Criminal Law, § 6.1 (1986)). Because preparatory offenses are separate and distinct from substantive crimes, it has been held, under certain circumstances, that mandatory sentencing provisions for substantive offenses do not apply for a conviction of attempt to commit the underlying substantive offense. For example, in State v. Wise, 164 Ariz. 574, 578, 795 P.2d 217, 221 (App.1990), this court held that a mandatory fíne should not have been imposed on a defendant who pleaded guilty to attempt to possess a narcotic drug. We held that the statutory fine only applied to the underlying substantive offense of possession of a narcotic drug. Id. The court reached this conclusion based upon the fact that the applicable statute, A.R.S. § 13-3408(E), provided the following:
In addition to any other penalty prescribed by this title, the court shall order a person who is convicted of a violation of any provision of this section to pay a fine of not less than two thousand dollars or three times the value as determined by the court of the narcotic drugs involved in or giving rise to the charge, whichever is greater____
Id. (first emphasis added) (alteration in original). In Wise, the defendant was not convicted under A.R.S. § 13-3408. Id. Thus, the court held that although that provision defined some of the elements of the preparatory offense of attempt to possess narcotic drugs, the defendant pled guilty to a violation of A.R.S. § 13-1001 (attempt). Id.
¶ 11 Similarly, in State v. Tellez, the court held that the mandatory fine for sale of narcotics did not apply to a solicitation to sell narcotics. 165 Ariz. at 384, 799 P.2d at 4. Again, the court based its result on the fact that the limiting language of A.R.S. § 13-3408 unambiguously limited the mandatory fine to violations of that specific section:
In addition to any other penalty prescribed by this title, the court shall order a person who is convicted of a violation of any provision of this section to pay a fine of not less than two thousand dollars or three times the value as determined by the court of the narcotic drugs involved in or giving rise to the charge____
Id. at 382, 799 P.2d at 2 (emphasis added) (alteration in original). Although solicitation involves the underlying crime of sale of narcotics, solicitation was punishable under a different section of Title 13, A.R.S. § 13-1002.
¶ 12 In contrast, in State v. Lammie, 164 Ariz. 377, 793 P.2d 134 (App.1990), this court held that a statute requiring convicted sex offenders to register also applied to defendants convicted of attempted sexual offenses. In Lammie, we noted that although A.R.S. § 13-3821 required registration of “ ‘[a] person who has been convicted of a violation of chapter 14 or 35.1 of this title,,’ ” we concluded that the legislative history evidenced a clear legislative intent that for certain sexual offenses, anyone convicted of any sex-related offense was required to register with the county sheriff. Id. at 378-79, 793 P.2d at 135-36. The court noted the following:
In former A.R.S. § 13-3821, the legislature expressly listed every sex crime requiring registration. In adopting A.R.S. § 13-3821 in 1983, the legislature did not list any specific crime or crimes. We conclude that the legislature, by adopting the broad language of A.R.S. § 13-3821, did not intend to exclude attempted sexual offenses.
Id. Additionally, the court relied on State v. Cory, 156 Ariz. 27, 749 P.2d 936 (App.1988), a Division Two case:
However, appellant overlooks the fact that he was convicted of a violation of Chapter 14. Pursuant to the plea agreement, appellant agreed to plead guilty to a violation of A.R.S. § 13-1001, as well as §§ 13-1406, 13-1401, 13-3821, 13-701, 13-801 and 13-808. It would have been im possible for appellant to plead guilty to solely a violation of A.R.S. § 13-1001 since that chapter must always be viewed together with a substantive offense. In this case, the Chapter 10 violation must be viewed in conjunction with the Chapter 14 violation. The purpose of the registration requirement for defendants convicted of the substantive offenses certainly is served by the registration of persons convicted of preparatory offenses.
Id.
¶ 13 The Lammie court then noted that an attempted offense could not be committed in isolation from the substantive offense:
The unambiguous meaning of A.R.S. § 13-3821, interpreted in light of the historical and legal precedents relating to the offense of “attempt,” requires that it be read to include substantive sex offenses and attempts to commit those offenses. The requirement to register as a sex offender applies to attempted sexual offenses.
Lammie, 164 Ariz. at 381, 793 P.2d at 138.
¶ 14 In this ease, A.R.S. § 13-604(F) does not contain any limiting language. It does not purport to apply only to offenses committed “in this subsection.” It unambiguously applies to any class 4, 5, or 6 felony.
¶ 15 However, as noted, because the legislature did include the “preparatory or completed” offense language in the first three subsections of that statute, an ambiguity is created.
¶ 16 When statutory interpretation is ambiguous, it is necessary for the court to determine the legislative intent of the statute. State v. Sweet, 143 Ariz. 266, 270, 693 P.2d 921, 925 (1985). In construing the statute, the court considers the policy behind the statute and the evil it was designed to remedy. State v. Korzep, 165 Ariz. 490, 493, 799 P.2d 831, 834 (1990) (citing Calvert v. Farmers Ins. Co., 144 Ariz. 291, 294, 697 P.2d 684, 687 (1985)). Furthermore,' courts are to construe criminal statutes according to the “fair meaning of their terms promoting justice and effecting the object of the law.” A.R.S. § 13-104; State v. Tramble, 144 Ariz. 48, 51, 695 P.2d 737, 740 (1985). To find legislative intent, the' court must consider the content of the statute, the language used, its subject matter, historical background, the effects and consequences and the spirit and purpose of the law. State v. Wedding, 171 Ariz. 399, 406, 831 P.2d 398, 405 (App.1992) (citations omitted). Courts will apply constructions that make practical sense rather than hypertechnieal constructions that frustrate legislative intent. See State v. LeMatty, 121 Ariz. 333, 337, 590 P.2d 449, 453 (1979).
¶ 17 Clearly, the legislature intended to sentence more harshly repetitive offenders or those offenders whose crimes involve the infliction of serious physical injury or the use of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. State v. Hannah, 126 Ariz. 575, 576, 617 P.2d 527, 528 (1980); State v. Superior Court in and for Maricopa County, 142 Ariz. 280, 281-82, 689 P.2d 539, 540-41 (1984); but see State v. Allison, 143 Or.App. 241, 923 P.2d 1224, 1229 (1996). Given the purpose of the repetitive and dangerous offense sentence enhancement scheme, penalties logically become progressively more severe based upon the degree of felony and the number of prior convictions, either dangerous or nondangerous. To interpret A.R.S. § 13-604 as defendant does would create a situation where a defendant who had committed an attempted class 2 or 3 felony, with two historical priors, would be subjected to a less severe sentence than a person who was convicted of an attempted class 2 or 3 felony with only one historical prior felony. The legislature clearly intended subsection (F) to apply to any felony — whether preparatory or completed. Consequently, defendant’s sentence is not illegal.
¶ 18 We recognize an apparent anomaly here. Defendant, charged with aggravated assault by intentionally causing serious physical injury, was convicted only of attempting to cause serious physical injury. The finding of dangerousness, however, establishes that defendant accomplished the intended injury. The apparent incompatibility of these findings vanishes, however, upon consideration of A.R.S. § 13-110, which provides that a person may be convicted of an attempt to commit a crime although the crime was completed. “This statute authorizes the reduction, via plea bargain, of a completed offense to an attempted offense.” State v. Sanchez, 174 Ariz. 44, 45, 846 P.2d 857, 858 (App.1993). See also State v. Rainwater, 187 Ariz. 603, 931 P.2d 1113 (App.1996) (attempt is lesser-included offense of intended crime; judgment properly entered on bargained-for, lesser, attempt charge). The trial court’s acceptance of defendant’s guilty plea to attempted aggravated assault did not mean that defendant failed to accomplish his goal of seriously injuring his victim; proof of the victim’s serious injury at defendant’s hands provided the factual basis for defendant’s plea of guilty to attempted aggravated assault. There is no inconsistency in the trial court’s acceptance of the plea to attempted aggravated assault and its finding of dangerousness, and there is nothing anomalous in defendant’s conviction for attempted aggravated assault, dangerous.
2. Were Consecutive Sentences Improperly Imposed?
¶ 19 Relying on A.R.S. § 13-116 and State v. Gordon, 161 Ariz. 308, 778 P.2d 1204 (1989), defendant argues that consecutive sentences were improperly ordered. Defendant argues that the attempted aggravated assault could not have been committed without also committing the burglary. Consequently, he argues that A.R.S. § 13-116 precludes consecutive sentences. This argument is without merit. The state’s response to defendant’s petition for post-conviction relief completely and correctly addresses this argument. The state points out that, pursuant to Runningeagle, 176 Ariz. at 66, 67, 859 P.2d at 176, 177, burglary is factually separate from a crime of violence that is committed within the residence after a forced entry. When the elements of attempted aggravated assault are subtracted from the whole factual scenario, there remains evidence to support the crime of burglary.
¶ 20 Further, the state correctly notes that it was' possible for defendant to commit the burglary without committing attempted aggravated assault, as it was possible to commit attempted aggravated assault without committing burglary, and that the victim did indeed suffer an additional risk of harm due to defendant’s invasion of her home, above and beyond that occasioned solely by the violent attack. The harm done by an unwanted intrusion into the sanctity of the home presents a risk to property and is separately cognizable, and separately punishable, from the harm inflicted in a violent attack inside the home which presents a risk to life. Id.
CONCLUSION
¶ 21 For all of the above reasons, defendant failed to state a colorable claim for relief and the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it summarily dismissed the petition. We deny relief.
FIDEL, P.J., and GERBER, J., concur.
. Subsequent laboratory testing did not establish that the moisture was due to the presence of semen.
. Defendant also cites to State v. Alexander, 175 Ariz. 535, 858 P.2d 680 (App.1993). In Alexander, an elderly man was robbed after the robbers had forced their way into his home. Id. at 536, 858 P.2d at 681. We noted that "[t]he invasion of the sanctity of the home, in and of itself, might well be the added harm that justifies a separate and additional penalty,” but concluded that we were constrained by Gordon from authorizing separate punishments for the burglary and the robbery, because the burglary and the robbery were simultaneous. Id. at 538, 858 P.2d at 683,. We now consider that the supreme court has not so constrained us, in light of the holding in State v. Runningeagle, 176 Ariz. 59, 859 P.2d 169 (1993).
. Here we note an important distinction between the facts in Gordon, 161 Ariz. at 309, 778 P.2d at 1205, which involved an initial entry into the residence with permission, and the facts in this case, in which, as in Runningeagle, 176 Ariz. at 62, 859 P.2d at 172, a forced non-consensual entry preceded the ultimate crime of violence. Notwithstanding that Gordon had initially entered his victim’s residence with her permission, his presence in the apartment was deemed a burglary because, when he restrained and sexually assaulted her, he was found to have “remained” in the residence with a felonious intent. See State v. Altamirano, 166 Ariz. 432, 435, 803 P.2d 425, 428 (App.1990) ("It is clear that although a person enters another’s premises lawfully and with consent, his presence can become unauthorized, unlicensed, or unprivileged if he remains there with the intent to commit a felony.”); State v. Embree, 130 Ariz. 64, 633 P.2d 1057 (App.1981). Thus, Gordon "could not have committed the kidnapping and sexual assault without also committing the burglary,” because it was only the commission of crimes of violence in the residence that made his presence there unlawful. Similarly, in Gordon, "the manner in which defendant committed the burglary exposed the victim to no additional risk of harm than that inherent in the ultimate crime of sexual assault” because he did not invade the victim’s home, but was freely admitted into it. 161 Ariz. at 315, 778 P.2d at 1211. By contrast, defendant here violently forced his way in, invading the sanctity of the victim’s home, constituting a risk to her property.
|
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OPINION.
MARTONE, Justice.
¶ 1 We are asked to decide how the superior court should assess attorneys’ fees on appeals from arbitration awards under Rule 7(f), Uniform Rules of Procedure for Arbitration, when the arbitrator has awarded one or both parties $0. We hold that in order to avoid paying the appellee’s attorneys’ fees, one who appeals an arbitration award of $0 must obtain a judgment in an amount greater than $0.
I.
¶ 2 Cars driven by Brian Tallsalt and Michael Larson collided at an intersection in Flagstaff. Tallsalt was an uninsured motorist, and Larson carried uninsured motorist and property damage coverage with Farmers Insurance Company. Farmers paid Larson $30,392 for personal injuries and property damage, and filed a subrogation action against Tallsalt. Tallsalt counterclaimed for personal injuries and property damage. In compulsory arbitration, the arbitrator awarded no damages to either party. Farmers appealed and Tallsalt cross-appealed.
¶3 On trial de novo, a jury awarded Farmers $2,500, and awarded Tallsalt nothing. Both parties sought attorneys’ fees under Rule 7(f), each arguing that their opponent had failed to obtain a judgment 10% more favorable than the arbitrator’s award. The court awarded Farmers reduced attorneys’ fees, but did not award Tallsalt his attorneys’ fees. • Both parties appealed.
¶ 4 The court of appeals held that there is a gap in Rule 7(f) whenever there is a successful appeal from an arbitration award of $0, because an award of $0 cannot be characterized as monetary relief within the meaning of the rule. The court also thought it was meaningless to describe any amount as more or less than 10% of zero. Believing it important to fill the gap, we granted review.
II.
¶ 5 Rule 7(f), Uniform Rules of Procedure for Arbitration, which permits de novo appeal of arbitration awards to the superior court, provides in relevant part:
If the judgment on the trial de novo is not more favorable by at least 10% than the monetary relief, or more favorable than the other relief, granted by the arbitration award, the court shall order ... that the appellant pay ... the following costs and fees unless the Court finds on motion that the imposition of the costs and fees would create such a substantial economic hardship as not to be in the interests of justice:
(ii) To the appellee, those costs taxable in civil actions together with reasonable attorneys’ fees as determined by the trial judge for services necessitated by the appeal ____
(emphasis added). Here, the arbitrator awarded each party $0. The court of appeals held that no fees could be assessed under Rule 7(f) because, in part, it believed that it is mathematically impossible to determine the percent by which an amount exceeds zero.
¶ 6 While “monetary relief’ may suggest a number in excess of zero, zero is a number, too. And if the purpose of the rule is to discourage appeals from reasonable arbitration awards, we serve that purpose better by not excluding zero from the definition of “monetary relief.” We believe that the language “monetary relief ... granted by the arbitration award” is no different than the language “arbitration award,” so that as long as the judgment exceeds the award by at least 10%, costs and fees are avoided.
¶ 7 If an award of $0 is monetary relief in the amount of $0, then Rule 7(f) provides the necessary guidance. If “A” represents the arbitration award being appealed, and “J” represents the judgment on appeal, then in order for the appellant not to pay the appellee’s attorneys’ fees under Rule 7(f), the following must be true when J does not equal A
J a A + .1(A)
In other words, the judgment on appeal must exceed the arbitration award by at least 10%, or else the appellant must pay the appellee’s attorneys’ fees. In the present case, then, Farmers’ responsibility for Tallsalt’s attorneys’ fees may be expressed as follows:
$2,500 > $0 + .1($0).
$2,500 > $0.
Thus, Farmers obtained a judgment that satisfied Rule 7(f), and is not responsible for Tallsalt’s attorneys’ fees. Tallsalt, however, is responsible for Farmers’ fees arising from his cross-appeal because he failed to improve his position at all, and J equals A
¶ 8 Put more simply, in order for the appellant of an arbitration award of $0 to avoid paying the appellee’s attorneys’ fees, the appellant must obtain a judgment of more than $0. Any judgment in excess of a zero award will always be more than 10% of the award, because the judgment exceeds the award by an infinite percentage. While the language of Rule 7(f) does not make this entirely obvious, we believe it is in harmony with the purpose of the rule: to discourage appeals of reasonable arbitration awards. We realize that under this approach even one dollar over a zero award will satisfy the rule. But this difficulty is inherent in a rule that uses a percentage rather than an absolute figure, wholly apart from our holding here. Rule 7(f) already provides little or no disincentive to appeal very small arbitration awards. For example, it is undisputed that one who appeals an arbitration award of $5 must obtain a judgment of only $5.50 in order to satisfy the rule. It makes little sense to reward a party that obtains a judgment fifty cents more favorable than $5, yet punish a party that obtains a judgment $2,500 more favorable than $0. Moreover, the court of appeals’ approach denies application of the rule whenever an arbitration award is $0, no matter what happens at the trial de novo. Our resolution, while not perfect, at least gives effect to the rule in the one situation where an appellant clearly has not obtained a “more favorable” outcome — a $0 arbitration award followed by a $0 jury verdict.
¶ 9 We realize that not excluding zero from the definition of monetary relief does not entirely resolve problems associated with Rule 7(f). As noted, a problem arises with small awards as well as zero awards, and thus a wholesale review of Rule 7(f) is in order.
III.
¶ 10 We hold that one who appeals an arbitration award of $0 and obtains a judgment in an amount greater than $0 avoids costs and fees under Rule 7(f). We vacate the opinion of the court of appeals to the extent it conflicts with this opinion, and remand to the court of appeals for resolution of any remaining issues properly raised on appeal.
ZLAKET, C.J., and JONES, V.C.J., and McGREGOR, J., concur.
FELDMAN, J., concurs in the result.
. Let x = the percentage by which J exceeds A.
Then
J = A + x (A).
J - A = x (A).
J - A - x.
A
As A approaches 0, x approaches infinity. When A = 0, x = a.
|
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GARBARINO, Judge.
¶ 1 The attorneys for the plaintiffs and a defendant in the underlying medical malpractice action appeal from sanctions imposed against them for conducting what the trial court characterized as a secret “sham” trial. We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion and affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 2 This appeal arises out of a medical malpractice action. Cheryl Anne Newcomb was admitted to Scottsdale- Memorial Hospital for inducement of labor to deliver her first child. Mrs. Newcomb suffered complications, including massive bleeding, from which she died following the birth of the child. The child, Caroline, was born with severe brain damage.
¶3 Cheryl’s husband, Thomas W. New-comb, and Caroline (the Newcombs) sued Scottsdale Memorial Health Services, Inc. d/b/a Scottsdale Memorial Hospital-Osborn (SMH), Dr. James R. Bair, Cheryl’s obstetrician, and his professional corporation. They alleged that because of the position of the placenta and large fibroids in the womb, defendants should have performed a Cesarean section (C-section) instead of inducing labor. Defendants took the position that both the placenta and fibroids were near the top of the uterus so there was no reason to plan to deliver by C-section. They maintain that Mrs. Newcomb died as the result of an amniotic fluid embolism, a very rare and natural consequence of the birth process. The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was amniotic fluid embolism.
¶ 4 The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of SMH. The remaining defendants, Dr. Bair and his professional corporation, proceeded to trial defending against allegations of fraud, falsification of medical records, and negligence.
¶ 5 Rodney G. Johnson of Phoenix and Timothy J. Hmielewski, a Florida attorney who was granted permission to practice pro hac vice in the Maricopa County Superior Court, represented the Newcombs. Prior to the grant of summary judgment but after the discovery deadline, they discovered evidence which led them to believe they could prove SMH' falsified records to avoid liability for Mrs. Newcomb’s death and Caroline’s injury. However, because the court had granted summary judgment in favor of SMH, they were unable to use the evidence.
¶ 6 While a motion for new trial concerning the summary judgment was pending, the case against Dr. Bair went to trial. Dr. Bair did not have professional liability insurance coverage for the lawsuit because his insurance carrier had become insolvent shortly before the occurrence involving the New-combs.
V7 Prior to the trial, the attorneys for the Newcombs and for Dr. Bair entered into an agreement proposed initially by Hmielewski. Because Dr. Bair did not have malpractice insurance nor the financial assets to compensate the Newcombs for their catastrophic damages, the Newcombs agreed not to levy or execute against Dr. Bair or his professional corporation. In exchange, Dr. Bair’s attorneys agreed not to object to the scope or form of any inquiry the Newcombs’ attorneys conducted at trial, the evidence or the witnesses. The agreement was to be effective only if it remained confidential.
¶ 8 The final agreement was contained in a letter from Richard A. Alcorn, an attorney for Dr. Bair, to Hmielewski which was signed by both of them. Pursuant to the agreement, the Newcombs agreed to provide a covenant not to levy or execute against the assets of Dr. Bair or his professional corporation. It was further agreed that, at the close of the Newcombs’ case, the Newcombs would voluntarily dismiss with prejudice the action against Dr. Bair and his corporation.
¶ 9 The parties did not inform the trial court of their agreement, and the case proceeded to trial. In addition to Alcorn, attorney Steven Feola appeared for Dr. Bair. On January 4, 1996, the jury was chosen and counsel made their opening statements. During the next eight days, Hmielewski and Johnson presented the Newcombs’ case to the jury. Dr. Bair’s attorneys cross-examined the Newcombs’ witnesses and called one expert witness of their own out of order.
¶10 At trial on January 22, 1996, the Newcombs’ attorneys moved for a mistrial. They argued that testimony showed that false statements had been made by witnesses in depositions and at trial and that if the trial proceeded to judgment, the Newcombs might be barred by collateral estoppel from further proceedings and actions against SMH and others. When the court indicated that it would deny the motion for a mistrial, Hmielewski stated that his clients would dismiss their case against Dr. Bair. The court allowed the attorneys time to reach an agreement, the case against Dr. Bair and his professional corporation was dismissed, and the court announced to the jury that the case had been settled.
¶ 11 The trial court first learned of the attorneys’ pretrial agreement on February 12,1996, during oral argument on the motion for new trial on the summary judgment it had granted in favor of SMH. An attorney for SMH had heard of the agreement from another lawyer and revealed it to the court. The trial court ordered the four attorneys involved to provide the court with statements concerning the terms and implementation of the agreement. After receiving the written statements, the court held a sanctions hearing during which the attorneys were allowed to make oral statements concerning their justification for the pretrial agreement. The court found:
The lawyers involved duped the Court into conducting a mock trial at the taxpayers expense to serve their own ends. Because of that fraud on the Court at least the following wrongful acts occurred. Nine citizens of this county were ordered by the Court to set aside nine working days of their lives at $12.00 a day, minus parking, so that they could serve as props in a charade. This judge, the Court staff, and the facilities of this division, were occupied for over two weeks to further a devious private purpose, thus robbing legitimate litigants of what it is this Court is here to do. Lawyers, as officers of the Court, abused their licenses and ordered persons to be witnesses, coercing their presence by the illegitimate invocation of the contempt power of this Court. This judge was even induced to order that a non party produce a witness who did not wish to play in the game.
The court ruled that the conduct of the attorneys was contrary to Rule 41(c), the preamble to Rule 42, and E.R. 3.3, E.R. 8.4(c), and E.R. 8.4(d) of Rule 42, Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court.
¶ 12 Hmielewski, Johnson, Alcorn, and Feola were each ordered to pay $15,000 to the clerk of the superior court as sanctions “for wrongfully expropriating for their own aims the resources of the Court.” The court also revoked the order granting permission for Hmielewski to practice pro hoc vice in the court. Hmielewski, Alcorn, and Feola appealed from the order imposing sanctions.
DISCUSSION
I. Authority to Impose Sanctions
¶ 13 Like a review of sanctions imposed under Rule 11, Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, we review sanctions levied under other authority using an abuse of discretion standard. See Precision Components, Inc. v. Harrison, Harper, Christian & Dichter, P.C., 179 Ariz. 552, 557, 880 P.2d 1098, 1103 (App.1993) (imposition of sanctions under disciplinary rule and court’s inherent powers to sanction attorney misconduct was within sound judicial discretion of trial court); James, Cooke & Hobson, Inc. v. Lake Havasu Plumbing & Fire Protection, 177 Ariz. 316, 319, 868 P.2d 329, 332 (App.1993) (appellate court should review all aspects of Rule 11 sanctions under abuse of discretion standard).
¶ 14 The trial court has the inherent power to sanction bad faith conduct during litigation independent of the authority granted by Rule 11. Precision Components, 179 Ariz. at 555, 880 P.2d at 1101, (citing Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 43, 49, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 115 L.Ed.2d 27 (1991)). These powers are governed by “ ‘the control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases.’ ” Id. (quoting Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630-31, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962)). The rules of conduct for attorneys contained in the Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court also provide a legal basis for imposition of sanctions against attorneys. See id. The trial court had the legal authority to impose sanctions for attorney misconduct.
II. Sanctions Against Hmielewski
¶ 15 Hmielewski argues on appeal that the sanctions against him are unjustified because he. took what he believed was the best course of action to reduce trial time, while enhancing the primary goal of establishing the truth of why Cheryl Newcomb died and how her baby suffered brain damage. He maintains that he properly balanced his duty as an advocate to zealously assert his client’s position against the need for full and frank disclosure to the court. Hmielewski does not challenge the amount of the sanction.
¶ 16 Citing Damron v. Sledge, 105 Ariz. 151, 460 P.2d 997 (1969), and State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Paynter, 122 Ariz. 198, 593 P.2d 948 (App.1979), Hmielewski argues that because only one defendant remained at trial, the pretrial agreement did not have to be disclosed to the court. Although in some cases nondisclosure of an agreement to the court may be excused, we find no hard and fast rule permitting nondisclosure because only one defendant is involved in the trial.
¶ 17 In Damron, 105 Ariz. at 152, 154, 460 P.2d at 998, 1000, the parties agreed that the plaintiff would not execute against the defendant and in return the defendant allowed judgment to be entered against him. The defendant then assigned to the plaintiffs his claim against the insurance company for bad faith in failing to defend him. Id. at 153, 460 P.2d at 999. The plaintiffs attempted to dismiss their complaint against the other defendant. Id. The agreement was disclosed to the court. Id. at 154, 460 P.2d at 1000. Damron does not support Hmielewski’s contention that he did not have to disclose the pretrial agreement to the court.
¶ 18 In Paynter, 122 Ariz. at 202, 593 P.2d at 952, neither the plaintiff nor the sole defendant revealed to the trial court that they had a Damron agreement. A brief trial was held on damages. Id. at 200, 593 P.2d at 950. The Paynter court posited that it would have been the better practice to advise the trial court of the existence of the agreement. Id. at 202, 593 P.2d at 952. However, because the insurer who had to pay policy limits was not prejudiced by the trial court’s determination of damages, the Paynter court found no reversible error in the failure to disclose the agreement. Id. at 203, 593 P.2d at 953.
¶ 19 However, Mustang Equipment, Inc. v. Welch, 115 Ariz. 206, 564 P.2d 895 (1977), is more instructive. In Mustang, the court held that a Gallagher agreement entered into between the plaintiff and one of two defendants was unenforceable due to the failure of the parties to disclose the agreement to the second defendant’s counsel and the court. Id. at 211, 564 P.2d at 900. The Mustang court noted that the failure to disclose the agreement did not upset the adversarial conduct of the parties at trial, nor did it encourage fraud or collusion. Id. at 210-11, 564 P.2d at 899-900. Although the court on appeal found that nondisclosure did not upset the adversarial conduct of the parties, it still could not “condone secret agreements between a plaintiff and defendant which, by their very secretiveness, may tend to encourage wrongdoing and which, at the least, may tend to lessen the public’s confidence in our adversary system.” Id. at 211, 564 P.2d at 900.
¶ 20 In light of our supreme court’s expression of' disapproval of secret agreements between plaintiffs and defendants, the trial court’s displeasure with the undisclosed agreement between the New-combs and Dr. Bair was justified. Moreover, here, unlike Mustang, the agreement may well have affected the nature of the trial. At a minimum, Dr. Bair’s attorney agreed not to object to any evidence or to the witnesses produced by the Newcombs at trial. In cases such as Damron, Paynter, and Mustang, the trials were necessary to reach verdicts on damages so that the plaintiffs could then assert bad faith actions against insurers or seek apportioned damages from the defendants. Even at the outset of this trial, Hmielewski did not intend to see it through to a verdict. He intended only to use the trial as a vehicle for presenting evidence to the court that may have been inadmissible in his attempt to reopen the case against SMH. We believe the trial court correctly concluded that this was an improper use of the trial process.
¶ 21 Although Hmielewski argues that he had no other viable alternatives to protect the interests of his clients, we believe the judicial process did afford him the means of advancing the interests of his clients other than misleading the trial court into conducting a sham trial. His secret end-run around available judicial processes was an affront to the trial court and a violation of the rules requiring attorneys to respect and exercise candor with courts and judicial officers. See Buies of the Ariz. Supreme Court 41(c), 42 E.B. 3.3, 8.4(c) and (d). Therefore, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sanctioning Hmielewski.
III. Sanctions Against Alcorn and Feola
¶ 22 Attorneys Alcorn and Feola (defense counsel) present a number of reasons to excuse their participation: (1) they did not know the reasons for the agreement; (2) they did not know whether the Newcombs would live up to their agreement and dismiss Dr. Bair; (3) trial was going to proceed regardless of whether Dr. Bair entered into the agreement; (4) they offered a vigorous defense to the Newcombs’ evidence; (5) as advocates of Dr. Bair, their ultimate aim was to procure a dismissal with prejudice or a favorable verdict; (6) their conduct was not motivated by bad faith; (7) Dr. Bair had previously instructed his attorneys not to object to the Newcombs’ evidence, so their conduct at trial concerning admission of evidence was not changed by the agreement; (8) Dr. Bair was the only defendant at trial; and (9) there was no preordained result.
¶ 23 Defense counsel have compelling arguments for disparate treatment from that of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. It does not appear that their conduct was motivated by bad faith. According to the affidavit of Dr. Bair, he had told them, even during the discovery phase of the case, not to object to any of the Newcombs’ evidence.
¶24 As defense counsel point out, the court in Damron stated:
Any time a plaintiff offers to dismiss with prejudice, the attorney for the party against whom the dismissal is sought has no grounds for objecting when his client’s rights are protected. In fact, when a lawyer is retained by a client to defend a lawsuit, his ultimate aim is to procure a dismissal with prejudice or a favorable ver diet. We therefore hold a plaintiff has an absolute right to a voluntary dismissal of his complaint with prejudice.
105 Ariz. at 153-54, 460 P.2d at 999-1000. We do not believe, however, that the Damron court meant to condone a dismissal that involves misleading the trial court about the motives for participating in a trial. While defense counsel may have faced a dilemma concerning the proper course to take to protect their client, their obligation to exercise candor with the trial court supersedes their obligation to their client.
¶25 Furthermore, even if motivated by good intentions, the means for achieving dismissal was a misuse of the judicial process. The agreement between the attorneys preordained that the case against Dr. Bair and his professional corporation would be dismissed and the trial would be over once the plaintiffs presented their evidence without objection. Although defense counsel contend that they did not know if the plaintiffs would abide by their agreement, they provide us with no reason to believe that plaintiffs intended to breach the agreement.
¶ 26 During the trial, the judge expressed the following concerns:
I just want to mention some things that are beginning to concern me. Based on the testimony or examination of Dr. Crowe, I’ve almost come to the conclusion that there has been some sort of agreement to throw out the rules of procedure for medical malpractice cases, not to mention good chunks of the rules of evidence. And I don’t mind that. If you want to do that, that’s fine. It’s not my province to tell lawyers how to try their cases.
But I am very concerned that we’re going to be running over, and that is something that is my problem.
In spite of the trial judge’s observation that the trial was proceeding in an unusual manner, Hmielewski assured him that the trial was proceeding as expected, allaying his concerns. Of course, he and the other attorneys knew that only the plaintiffs’ case would be presented, while the court did not have that information. It appears the trial court noticed that something was askew and that whatever it was, it was affecting the trial. The judge’s statement shows that the agreement was having a noticeable effect on the evidence and the length of the trial.
¶27 Although defense counsel’s involvement in the agreement may have been motivated by some supportable reasons, we cannot say that it was an abuse of discretion to impose sanctions on counsel for failing to disclose the agreement to the court and misusing the trial process. We affirm the sanctions against Alcorn and Feola.
RYAN, P.J., and VOSS, J., concur.
. See City of Tucson v. Gallagher, 108 Ariz. 140, 493 P.2d 1197 (1972).
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OPINION
WEISBERG, Judge.
¶ 1 Gary and Elizabeth Loveness (“taxpayers”) appeal from a summary judgment granted in favor of the Arizona Department of Revenue (“DOR”) on taxpayers’ claim for a partial refund of their Arizona income taxes. The taxes at issue arose out of services performed by taxpayers on an Indian reservation in Arizona. They argue that DOR’s assessment of a tax on their personal net income, which arose out of on-reservation logging services, was invalid under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution because it:
1. was preempted by the comprehensive federal regulation of on-reservation logging, see White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 448 U.S. 136, 100 S.Ct. 2578, 65 L.Ed.2d 665 (1980); or
2. infringed on the right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them, see Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217, 79 S.Ct. 269, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959).
We disagree with taxpayers and affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
¶2 The taxpayers are non-Indians who lived in Arizona outside the boundaries of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation (“Reservation”) during the relevant period. They were the sole shareholders of Basin Building Materials, Inc., which did business as Pinetop Logging Company (“Pinetop”) during 1987 and 1988.
¶ 3 The Reservation is the preserve of the White Mountain Apache Tribe (“the tribe”) and consists of approximately 1.64 million acres in the White Mountains. This area includes about 720,000 acres of commercial forest, of which about 300,000 acres are managed with selective cutting on a sustained yield basis.
¶ 4 The tribe manages, harvests, mills and sells timber as the Fort Apache Timber Company (“FATCO”). The tribe’s timber operation is its most important economic activity. Subject to U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”) supervision, FATCO is responsible for the tribe’s timber operation.
¶ 5 BIA representatives designate the trees that are to be cut on the Reservation. The tribe’s contractors cut the trees and transport the logs to FATCO’s sawmill. FATCO employees then sort the logs and process them into lumber and pulpwood. Although the tribal government owns and manages the timbering operation on the Reservátion, it cannot disburse any profits without first satisfying outstanding obligations to the United States government and obtaining BIA’s approval.
¶ 6 BIA’s supervision and control over timbering practices on Indian reservations extended to all activities of FATCO and its contractors during the relevant period. See generally 25 U.S.C. §§ 405-07; 25 C.F.R. § 163; 36 C.F.R. § 200; Bracker, 448 U.S. at 138-39, 145-49, 100 S.Ct. at 2581, 2584-87. The BIA head forester in charge of the Reservation described BIA’s supervision as “encompassing all aspects of forest utilization and management, including extensive rules and regulations governing in detail the planning, engineering, construction, maintenance and general regulation of all roads used by loggers.”
¶ 7 FATCO delegates certain portions of the tribe’s timber operation to companies like Pinetop. From 1969 through 1988, Pinetop conducted logging operations on the Reservation under contract with the tribe. Pine-top maintained its business office, assets, and business operations on the Reservation. Pinetop owned the trucks and equipment it used in the FATCO logging operation. Over half its employees were members of the tribe. Before Pinetop contracted with the tribe to do this work, it was advised by a representative of DOR’s predecessor agency that the agency had no jurisdiction over its proposed transactions, either as to sales tax on timbering or use tax on equipment brought onto the Reservation.
¶8 In 1971, the Arizona Highway Department and Arizona Highway Commission assessed delinquent motor carrier license and fuel taxes against Pinetop. Pinetop disputed their authority to do so. Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court resolved the controversy, finding that the state taxes were preempted. The Court said:
Where, as here, the Federal Government has undertaken comprehensive regulation of the harvesting and sale of tribal timber, where a number of the policies underlying the federal regulatory scheme are threatened by the taxes respondents seek to impose, and where respondents are unable to justify the taxes except in terms of a generalized interest in raising revenue, we believe that the proposed exercise of state authority is impermissible.
Bracker, 448 U.S. at 151, 100 S.Ct. at 2588.
¶ 9 In December 1986, taxpayers converted Pinetop into a Subchapter S corporation for federal and state tax purposes. The ef feet of a “Sub S” election is to end taxation of corporate net income and tax it as the personal net income of shareholders. ■ See I.R.C. § 1361 (1994). Pinetop’s activities on the reservation continued through 1988, when taxpayers retired.
¶ 10 For tax years 1987 and 1988, taxpayers received salaries from Pinetop on which they reported and paid federal and Arizona income taxes. They also reported and paid federal income taxes on Pinetop’s net income, which included ordinary income, interest income, and recapture of accelerated depreciation. See I.R.C. § 1231. However, in their Arizona resident income tax returns for both years they subtracted Pinetop’s net income, which had flowed through to them, in arriving at Arizona taxable income, stating that those sums were immune from Arizona income taxation “by virtue of preemptive federal regulations of harvest of Indian timber,” citing Bracker.
¶ 11 DOR audited taxpayers’ individual Arizona income tax returns for 1987 and 1988. In 1990, DOR determined that taxpayers had incorrectly subtracted Pinetop’s net income in calculating their Arizona taxable income and proposed to assess corresponding income tax deficiencies against them. After exhausting their administrative remedies, taxpayers commenced this action in the tax court under A.R.S. sections 42-124(C) and (D).
¶ 12 On cross-motions for summary judgment the tax court distinguished the instant case from Bracker. It found that the motor vehicle registration and use fuel excise taxes were different from the general income tax applied here because the former had taxed on-reservation activity and reduced both tribal revenues from timber sales and tribal contractors’ potential profits.
¶ 13 The tax- court found that, in this case, the individual income tax did not tax on-reservation activity, did not burden the tribe or its members, and did not reduce either tribal revenues from timber sales or potential profits of tribal contractors. It also found that taxpayers had not explained how imposing the Arizona individual income taxes on non-Indian, non-residents who earned the income on an Indian reservation infringed upon the right of tribal self-government. It therefore granted summary judgment for DOR.
¶ 14 Taxpayers bring this timely appeal, which is assigned to Department T of this court pursuant to A.R.S. sections 12-120.04(G) and 12-170(C).
DISCUSSION
Applicability and Effect of Bracker
¶ 15 Both sides agree that the relevant facts are identical to those in Bracker except for one: the tax challenged here is Arizona’s resident individual income tax, not its motor carrier registration or use fuel tax. We must decide whether this difference changes the Bracker analysis and compels a different result. We conclude that it does.
¶ 16 The motor carrier registration tax and use fuel tax that were challenged in Bracker were activity taxes (i.e. taxes that are assessed for conducting an activity). Id. at 139-40, 100 S.Ct. at 2581. The motor carrier license tax was imposed on all common motor carriers of property and the use fuel tax was assessed for using a motor vehicle on Arizona highways. See id. Both taxes are assessed regardless of the ineome/profit related to the activity and are a cost of doing business. See id.
¶ 17 By contrast, Arizona’s resident income tax is an undifferentiated tax not identified with, of a function of, any particular source of gross income. See A.R.S. §§ 43-1001(1) & (2). This type of tax is an equitable way of distributing the burdens of government and is directly related to the ability of the taxpayer to pay it. See New York ex rel. Cohn v. Graves, 300 U.S. 308, 313, 57 S.Ct. 466, 467, 81 L.Ed. 666 (1937). Related and unrelated exemptions and deductions covering the entire taxable year affect the determination of taxable income for that year, and the resident’s income tax liability does not vary with the source of the gross income. See A.R.S. §§ 43-1001(1) & (2).
¶ 18 Taxpayers argue that the activity taxes at issue in Bracker, in Central Machinery Co. v. Arizona State Tax Commission, 448 U.S. 160, 100 S.Ct. 2592, 65 L.Ed.2d 684 (1980), and in a number of lower court decisions are conceptually the same as the income tax at issue here. They contend that, because these cases all involved a tax on the taxpayers’ “gross income,” the fact that taxpayers resided off-reservation is immaterial to the preemption analysis.
¶ 19 We disagree. The taxes in Bracker, and in all of the lower court cases upon which taxpayers rely, were taxes assessed on activities that occurred in Indian country. The character of these taxes was central to the Bracker Court’s analysis. See 448 U.S. at 148, 150-51, 100 S.Ct. at 2586, 2587. They affected the cost of logging, impacted the federal regulatory scheme, and eventually took money away from the tribe in circumvention of Congress’ intent. Id. at 148, 151, 100 S.Ct. at 2586, 2587. See also Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Chickasaw Nation, 515 U.S. 450, 458, 115 S.Ct. 2214, 2220, 132 L.Ed.2d 400 (1995) (“The initial and frequently dis-positive question in Indian tax cases ... is who bears the legal incidence of the tax.”) These activity taxes had direct negative financial effects on the Tribe which were critical to the Court’s conclusion that they constituted an assertion of state authority on the reservation and were therefore preempted by federal law. See 448 U.S. at 151, 100 S.Ct. at 2587; see also Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe v. Scott, 117 F.3d 1107, 1112 (9th Cir.1997) (Arizona business transaction privilege taxes are enforceable on hotel restaurant and room rental receipts for on-reservation facility because tribe does not have an “active role” in contributing to the business).
¶20 Moreover, since Bracker, the Supreme Court has modified the way it analyzes possible negative financial effects on individual Indians or their tribe when a tax is challenged by non-Indians conducting on-reservati'on activities. See Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico, 490 U.S. 163, 186-87, 109 S.Ct. 1698, 1713, 104 L.Ed.2d 209 (1989); Blaze Constr. Co. v. Taxation and Revenue Dep’t, 118 N.M. 647, 884 P.2d 803, 807 (1994). In Cotton, the Court faced the question of whether a state could impose a severance tax on the on-reservation production of oil and gas. by non-Indian lessees who were also subject to severance taxation by the tribe. The Court held that it could.
¶ 21 The Court distinguished Bracker by holding that typical indirect effects on federal or tribal interests cannot by themselves require preemption of a state tax. See Cotton, 490 U.S. at 186-87, 109 S.Ct. at 1713. The Court stated:
It is, of course, reasonable to infer that the New Mexico taxes have at least a marginal effect on the demand for on-reservation leases, the value to the Tribe of those leases, and the ability of the Tribe to increase its tax rate. Any impairment to the federal policy favoring the exploitation of on-reservation oil and gas resources by Indian tribes that might be caused by these effects, however, is simply too indi rect and too insubstantial to support Cotton’s claim of pre-emption. To find preemption of state .taxation in such indirect burdens on this broad congressional purpose, absent some special factor such as those present in Bracker ..., would be to return to the pre-1937 doctrine of intergovernmental tax immunity.
Id. Thus, for a state tax to be preempted by federal or tribal law it must have more than an indirect effect on the federal regulatory scheme. See id.
¶ 22 No support beyond speculation exists for the view that any part of the income taxes assessed here imposed a direct economic effect on the tribe, undermined the tribe’s interests, or limited federal policies advancing the comprehensive regulatory scheme pertaining to tribal timber harvesting and management. Cf. State v. Blaze Constr. Co., 190 Ariz. 262, 266, 947 P.2d 836, 840 (App.1997) (holding Arizona contracting transaction privilege tax preempted by comprehensive federal regulatory scheme identified in Bracker as applied to taxpayer who contracted with BIA to construct on-reservation roads used by tribal members). Thus, the difference in the tax assessed is significant enough to distinguish this case from Bracker.
Arizona’s Authority to Tax Resident Income
¶23 In the instant case, the State assessed a general income tax on the income of non-tribal members residing off the reservation. The Supreme Court recently held that a tax on the income of tribal members working for a tribe, but residing within the State outside Indian country, is not federally preempted. See Chickasaw Nation, 515 U.S. at 453, 115 S.Ct. at 2217.
¶24 In Chickasaw Nation, the Chickasaw tribe had argued that the imposition of Oklahoma’s income tax on tribal members employed by that tribe was a law “for the government of the [Chickasaw] Nation ... and their descendants” that was preempted by the federal treaty with the Chickasaw Nation. Id. at 455, 115 S.Ct. at 2218. The Supreme Court disagreed. It relied on the well established principle that a jurisdiction “may tax all the income of its residents, even that earned outside the taxing jurisdiction,” and that this principle was not preempted by the rights granted or reserved by federal law. Id. at 462-63, 115 S.Ct. at 2222 (emphasis added). It further held that:
[T]he receipt of income by a resident of the territory of a taxing sovereignty is a taxable event.... Domicil itself affords a basis for such taxation. Enjoyment of the privileges of residence in the state and the attendant right to invoke the protection of its laws are inseparable from responsibility for sharing the costs of government---These are rights and privileges which attach to domicil within the state---- Neither the privilege nor the burden is affected by the character of the source from which the income is derived.
Id. at 463, 115 S.Ct. at 2222 (citations omitted)(emphasis added). See also Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Sac & Fox Nation, 508 U.S. 114, 124, 113 S.Ct. 1985, 1991, 124 L.Ed.2d 30 (1993) (tribal members’ liability for state income taxes depended on whether they resided inside or outside Indian country); Graves, 300 U.S. at 312-313, 57 S.Ct. at 467 (state may tax income from rents received by a state resident from property located outside of that state).
¶ 25 In this case, Arizona assessed a tax on taxpayers’ net income for the taxable years of 1987 and 1988. It was not assessed on a member of the tribe who resided on the reservation. Compare Chickasaw Nation, 515 U.S. at 464, 115 S.Ct. at 2223 (principle that “Indians and Indian tribes are generally immune from state taxation” does not operate outside of Indian country or for non-tribal members.) It was assessed on the income of Arizona residents who were not members of the tribe and were within the State’s taxing authority and is therefore a proper assessment. See id. at 463, 466, 115 S.Ct. at 2222, 2224; A.R.S. §§ 43-1001(1), (2), and § 43-1011.
¶26 Further, Congress has had the authority to change the taxability of this income if desired. See generally Cotton, 490 U.S. at 175, 109 S.Ct. at 1707; Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 148-49, 93 S.Ct. 1267, 1270, 36 L.Ed.2d 114 (1973) (Congress can grant immunity to an Indian Tribe for all income derived from activities on the reservation). It has not done so. As a result, there is no exception from the general principle permitting taxation of those who reside within a State’s jurisdiction. See Chickasaw Nation, 515 U.S. at 463, 115 S.Ct. at 2222.
Infringement on Right of Tribal Self-Government
¶ 27 The opinion in Bracker did not explore whether those taxes were invalidly imposed on the independent ground that they infringed the right of Indian nations to make their own laws and be ruled by them. See 448 U.S. at 143-44, 100 S.Ct. at 2583-84. In this case, however, taxpayers make that argument.
¶ 28 Taxpayers correctly observe that assertions of state jurisdiction on Indian reservations may improperly infringe “on the right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them.” Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217, 220, 79 S.Ct. 269, 271, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959); cf. Bracker, 448 U.S. at 143-44, 100 S.Ct. at 2583-84. They argue that the reason that the tribe was contracting out logging operations was to avoid the significant capital cost of doing its own logging and that these taxes could force the tribe to undertake that cost. Doing so, they argue, would drastically interfere with the tribe’s judgments about the management of tribal economic affairs and business enterprises and its choices of how to invest tribal funds. See Santa Rosa Band of Indians v. Kings County, 532 F.2d 655, 664 (9th Cir.1975).
¶ 29 Taxpayers cite McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm’n, 411 U.S. 164, 179, 93 S.Ct. 1257, 1266, 36 L.Ed.2d 129 (1973), for the proposition that the infringement rule is intended to test the permissible scope of state power over non-Indian aspects of transactions on reservations involving Indians and non-Indians. They rely on McClanahan for the proposition that the assessment of a state tax on a non-Indian related to on-reservation activity may be held infirm under the infringement doctrine when the financial burden of the tax falls on Indians. Id. at 170 n. 6, 93 S.Ct. at 1261 n. 6.
¶30 We acknowledge that McClanahan’s somewhat puzzling interpretation of Warren Trading Post Co. v. Arizona Tax Comm’n, 380 U.S. 685, 85 S.Ct. 1242, 14 L.Ed.2d 165 (1965), was based in part on the infringement doctrine. But, the infringement doctrine as now conceived by the United States Supreme Court does not apply in eases testing the legality of state taxation of non-Indians arising out of on-reservation transactions, regardless of whether the economic burden of the tax is passed along to reservation Indians. See Duro v. Reina, 495 U.S. 676, 686-87, 110 S.Ct. 2053, 2060, 109 L.Ed.2d 693 (1990) (‘We have held that States may not impose certain taxes on transactions of tribal members on the reservation because this would interfere with internal governance and self-determination ... [b]ut this rationale does not apply to taxation of nonmembers, even where they are Indians.”)(emphasis added) (citations omitted).
¶31 We therefore conclude that taxpayers’ infringement challenge is incorrect on its merits, as it principally repeats their arguments on the preemption issue, which we have already rejected.
Attorneys Fees
¶ 32 Because taxpayers are not the prevailing party, we deny their request for an award of attorney’s fees.
CONCLUSION
¶ 33 For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the tax court is affirmed.
GRANT, P.J., and McGREGOR, J., concur.
. In 1987 and 1988, as now, Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated ("A.R.S.”) section 43-1001(2) (1980 and Supp.1997) defined "Arizona gross income” of a resident individual as his/her federal adjusted gross income for the taxable year. All sums reported as gross income of the taxpayer for federal income tax purposes would therefore be reflected, as adjusted by other additions and subtractions provided by federal law, in his/ her Arizona gross income for the same taxable year.
. The income tax deficiencies DOR sought against taxpayers were based on the addition of $567,039 to the taxpayers’ 1987 taxable income and $1,196,838 to that for 1988.
. The four factors cited in concluding that the application of the taxes in Bracker were preempted all related to the negative effect the taxes would have on the tribe. They were:
(1) the additional cost burdens the tax would interpose in the pervasive federal regulatory scheme for the management of tribal timber;
(2) the thwarting of the federal policy that all tribal timber sales profits benefit the tribe;
(3) the complicating and undermining of the Interior Secretary’s ability to set fees and rates for harvesting and selling tribal timber as federal law required him to do; and
(4) the hindering of the tribe’s ability to comply with federal sustained-yield management policies.
448 U.S. at 148-49, 100 S.Ct. at 2586-87.
. See also Ramah Navajo School Bd., Inc. v. Bureau of Revenue, 458 U.S. 832, 102 S.Ct. 3394, 73 L.Ed.2d 1174 (1982).
. Limited by Department of Taxation and Finance v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., Inc., 512 U.S. 61, 114 S.Ct. 2028, 129 L.Ed.2d 52 (1994).
. Compare McClanahan, 411 U.S. at 170, 93 S.Ct. at 1261 (last full sentence) with Warren Trading Post, 380 U.S. at 686, 85 S.Ct. at 1243 (last sentence beginning on page). Warren Trading Post concerned Arizona retail transaction privilege taxation of a non-Indian's on-reservation sales of goods to reservation Indians.
. See also Washington v. Confederated Tribes, 447 U.S. 134, 161, 100 S.Ct. 2069, 2085, 65 L.Ed.2d 10 (1980) (“Nor would the imposition of Washington's tax on these purchasers contravene the principle of tribal self-government, for the simple reason that nonmembers are not constituents of the governing Tribe.”); Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, 425 U.S. 463, 483, 96 S.Ct. 1634, 1646, 48 L.Ed.2d 96 (1976). Accord Sac & Fox Nation, 508 U.S. at 123, 113 S.Ct. at 1990 (McClanahan immunity from state taxation extends to Indian tribal members who reside on reservation or tribal trust lands); Pimalco, Inc. v. Maricopa County, 188 Ariz. 550, 558, 937 P.2d 1198, 1206 (App.1997) (rejecting non-Indians’ infringement doctrine challenge to ad valorem taxes on their possessory interests in Indian land). Cf. State v. Zaman, 190 Ariz. 208, 211, 946 P.2d 459, 462 (1997) (in infringement cases question is whether state action has infringed self-governance rights of individual Indians).
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OPINION
NOYES, Judge.
¶ 1 Ruben Chabolla-Hinojosa (“Appellant”) and another man delivered a car that was loaded with marijuana. For this conduct, Appellant was convicted of transporting marijuana for sale, importing marijuana, and possessing marijuana for sale. In answer to an issue that arose during fundamental error review, we conclude that, when the possession for sale charge is incidental to the transportation for sale charge, the former is a lesser-included offense and the defendant cannot be convicted of both offenses. Accordingly, we affirm, as modified by vacating the conviction and sentence on the possession for sale charge.
I.
¶2 On July 31, 1997, a Yuma County Grand Jury indicted Appellant on a conspiracy count and the following three substantive counts: (1) importation of marijuana, having a weight of two pounds or more, a class 2 felony in violation of Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (“A.R.S.”) section 13-3405(A)(4) (Supp.1997); (2) transportation of marijuana for sale, having a weight of two pounds or more, a class 2 felony in violation of A.R.S. section 13 — 3405(A)(4); and (3) possession of marijuana for sale, having a weight of more than four pounds, a class 2 felony in violation of A.R.S. section 13-3405(A)(2). The State later dismissed the conspiracy count, the court later severed Appellant’s trial from those of the other defendants, and Appellant had a jury trial in December 1997.
¶ 3 The facts are not much in dispute. A nervous young man driving a white Thunderbird entered the United States at the San Luis Port of Entry. After a narcotics-detecting dog alerted on a compartment behind the back seat, inspectors tried to open it and could not. They then decided to do a “controlled delivery,” meaning that the young man was allowed to drive off in the vehicle, but the vehicle was under law enforcement surveillance.
¶4 The young man drove the Thunderbird to a nearby fast food business, parked the vehicle, and walked back to Mexico. A while later, “Ivan” walked up and got into the vehicle, drove it to another fast food business, parked it there, and walked away. Ivan later returned in another vehiclé, accompanied by Appellant. Ivan helped Appellant get into his wheelchair, and from his wheelchair into the Thunderbird, and they then drove off in the Thunderbird, with Ivan driving. After Ivan and Appellant delivered the Thunderbird to a mobile home in San Luis, officers saw two other men carry a large trash bag from the Thunderbird to the mobile home. Officers then obtained a search warrant and found about 400 pounds of marijuana inside the.mobile home.
¶ 5 The officer who took Appellant to the police station testified that he read Miranda rights to Appellant in Spanish, that Appellant indicated he understood his rights and agreed to talk, and that he then gave several stories. In the final version, Appellant said that “Jesse” asked him to deliver the car and that Appellant knew there was marijuana in it but did not know how much. He said that Ivan agreed to go with him, and that Ivan knew what was in the car, too. Although Appellant said that Jesse never said how much he was going to pay, Appellant told the officer that he was going to give Ivan some of the money he would get from Jesse.
¶6 Appellant testified that, the day before his arrest, he and Ivan were at Jesse’s place in Mexico when another man invited them to a barbecue the next day in San Luis. Jesse then said that, if Appellant was going to the barbecue, he could deliver a car and Jesse would pay him some money. The next day, Jesse gave Appellant and Ivan a key to the car and instructions on where to find it and where to deliver it. Appellant said that he did not know what was in the car until others unloaded the marijuana. Appellant said that he told the officer that he suspected the car might contain marijuana, but he did not know this until he saw the marijuana being unloaded.
¶ 7 The jury found Appellant guilty as charged. The trial court sentenced him to the presumptive terms of five years on each count, to be served concurrently, with credit for 186 days of pre-sentence incarceration. The court also imposed an attorney assessment of $375, a fine of $240,000, and a payment fee of $20.
H.
¶ 8 Appellant’s opening brief advised that counsel was unable to find any meritorious issue and requested that this court search the record for fundamental error. After doing so, we issued an order pursuant to Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 109 S.Ct. 346, 102 L.Ed.2d 300 (1988), and asked for supplemental briefs on the lesser-included offense issue. The supplemental briefs each asserted that possession for sale is not a lesser-included offense of transportation for sale. We disagree, and we conclude that a conviction of possessing for sale the same marijuana one is convicted of transporting for sale violates the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article 2, section 10 of the Arizona Constitution.
¶ 9 Freedom from double jeopardy is “fundamental to the American scheme of justice” and “must be enforced whenever a violation is determined to exist.” State v. Millanes, 180 Ariz. 418, 421, 885 P.2d 106, 109 (App.1994) (citing Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 796, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969)). Any waiver of the right not to be twice placed in jeopardy must be express, See id. at 420, 885 P.2d at 108 (citing Quinton v. Superior Ct., 168 Ariz. 545, 549, 815 P.2d 914, 918 (App.1991)). Appellant did not expressly waive this right, and we therefore decide the issue.
¶ 10 Appellant was convicted of violating A.R.S. section 13-3405(A)(2) and (4), which provide, “A person shall not knowingly: ... (2) Possess marijuana for sale____ (4) Transport for sale ... marijuana.” Whether the latter offense includes the former must be resolved because, when a person is convicted of an offense, the prohibition against double jeopardy protects against fur ther prosecution for that tor any lesser-included offense. See Fitzgerald, v. Superior Ct., 173 Ariz. 539, 544, 845 P.2d 465, 470 (App.1992) (citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932)).
¶ 11 A lesser-included offense is one “composed solely of some but not all of the elements of the greater crime so that it is impossible to have committed the crime charged without having committed the lesser one.” State v. Woods, 168 Ariz. 543, 544, 815 P.2d 912, 913 (App.1991) (citation omitted). The charges here are possession of marijuana for sale having a weight of more than four pounds, and transportation of marijuana for sale having a weight of two pounds or more. Although the alleged weight is an essential element on which defendant has the right to be tried by a jury, State v. Virgo, 190 Ariz. 349, 352-53, 947 P.2d 923, 926 (App.1997), the alleged weight is not essential to defendant’s guilt or innocence of either charge. The weight merely determines the classification and penalty range of the charges. See A.R.S. § lS-SlOSIB). If the State alleges no weight, possession for sale is a class 4 felony and transportation for sale is a class 3 felony. See id. If the State alleges maximum weight as it did here, both charges are class 2 felonies. See id. But where a possession for sale charge is incidental to a transportation for sale charge, by definition, the charges are based on the same “weight,” even though that element is phrased as it is in this case, “more than four pounds” in one charge and “two pounds or more” in the other.
¶ 12 A lesser-included offense can have the same or lesser penalty as the greater offense. See State v. Patton, 136 Ariz. 243, 245, 665 P.2d 587, 589 (App.1983). The test for whether an offense is “lesser-included” is whether it is, by its very nature, always a constituent part of the greater offense, or whether the charging document describes the lesser offense even though it does not always make up a constituent part of the greater offense. See State v. Ennis, 142 Ariz. 311, 314, 689 P.2d 570, 573 (App.1984). Stated another way, “a court may inquire as to whether the greater offense, as described by a statute or as charged, can be committed without necessarily committing the lesser offense.” Id. We hold that, when the charged possession for sale is incidental to the charged transportation for sale, it is a lesser-included offense, for a person cannot commit the transportation offense without necessarily committing the possession offense.
¶ 13 Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated section 13-105(30) (Supp.1997) provides, “ ‘Possess’ means knowingly to have physical possession or otherwise to exercise dominion or control over property.” Section 13-105(31) provides, “ ‘Possession’ means a voluntary act if the defendant knowingly exercised dominion or control over property.” One who exercises dominion or control over property has constructive possession of it even if it is not in his physical possession. See State v. Villalobos Alvarez, 155 Ariz. 244, 245, 745 P.2d 991, 992 (App.1987). Given the broad definition of “possess,” when a possession for sale charge is incidental to a transportation for sale charge, the former is a lesser-included offense, for one cannot possibly be guilty of the transportation for sale charge without also being guilty of the possession for sale charge.
¶ 14 We agree with the State that a person can be guilty of transportation for sale without having personal possession. For example, if defendant loaned his car to Joe, knowing that Joe was going to use it to transport marijuana for sale, then defendant is an accomplice to Joe’s transportation for sale. But if that is true, defendant is necessarily an accomplice to Joe’s possession for sale as well, as we explained in Pima County Juvenile Delinquency Action No. 12744101, 187 Ariz. 100, 927 P.2d 366 (App.1996). There, defendant argued that a person could sell marijuana without possessing it, and he gave an example. See id. at 101, 927 P.2d at 367. The court noted that defendant’s argument “ignores the reality that the seller would have to constructively possess it at some time to complete the sale,” and that, “[e]ven if the seller directed the buyer to another person who held the marijuana and transferred it to the buyer, the seller would still be criminally liable as an accomplice of the person who actually possessed the marijuana. A.R.S. § 13-303.” Id. The same logic applies in a transportation for sale ease. If defendant has accomplice liability for another’s transportation for sale, he necessarily has accomplice, liability for that other’s possession for sale.
¶ 15 In Arizona, it is settled that possession of marijuana is a lesser-included offense of both transportation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale because “neither one of these greater offenses can be committed without being in possession of marijuana.” State v. Moroyoqui, 125 Ariz. 562, 564, 611 P.2d 566, 568 (App.1980); see also Juvenile Action No. 12744101, 187 Ariz. at 101, 927 P.2d at 367 (holding that “it is not possible to complete a sale of marijuana without also possessing it”). That rationale applies to drugs other than marijuana, too. See State v. Goldson, 178 Conn. 422, 423 A.2d 114, 117 (Conn.1979) (finding possession of heroin a lesser-included offense of transportation of heroin because “we cannot imagine, nor does the state suggest, how this defendant could be said to have been charged with transportation of heroin that he did not possess”).
¶ 16 It is also settled in Arizona that possession of marijuana for sale is not a lesser-included offense of transportation of marijuana, for the latter has no “for sale” element and the former has no “transportation” element. See State v. McInelly, 146 Ariz. 161, 163-64, 704 P.2d 291, 293-94 (App.1985). The supplemental brief by Appellant’s counsel expresses the belief that the lesser-included issue is settled by McInelly. We do agree with McInelly, but we distinguish that case because each statute in McInelly had a unique element; only the possession charge had a “for sale” element, and only the transportation charge had a “transportation” element. The legislature then added “for sale” to the transportation section of section 13-3405(A)(4). In this case, therefore, both the possession and the transportation charges have a “for sale” element, and the only essential element they do not share is the “transportation” element. (Appellant was also convicted of importation. Because an importation charge has no “for sale” element and a possession for sale charge has no “importation” element, McInelly does explain why possession for sale is not a lesser-included offense of importation.)
¶ 17 Some jurisdictions have held that transportation and possession are separate and distinct offenses. See State v. Villa-Perez, 835 S.W.2d 897, 904 (Mo.1992) (rejecting argument that possession is lesser-included offense of transportation); State v. Perry, 316 N.C. 87, 340 S.E.2d 450, 461 (N.C.1986) (holding that possessing, manufacturing, and transporting heroin are separate and distinct offenses); People v. Rogers, 5 Cal.3d 129, 95 Cal.Rptr. 601, 486 P.2d 129, 131-32 (Cal.1971) (holding that possession is not an essential element of transportation). We will briefly discuss these eases, for they do not persuade us to reject Arizona’s Moroyoqui line of eases.
¶ 18 In Villa-Perez, defendant was stopped while driving a truck with a locked back door; he claimed he could not open the lock; and the officer broke the lock, opened the door, and found a load of marijuana. 835 S.W.2d at 899. In rejecting the argument that possession was a lesser-included offense of transportation, the Missouri court reasoned, “[I]t is entirely possible defendant could have been found guilty of transportation and not of possession as the trial court could have believed defendant did not have access to the cargo compartment but knew full well its contents.” Id. at 904. We do not follow this reasoning, for a person can exercise dominion and control over property without having “access” to it. That defendant has no “access” is relevant, maybe, but it is no more a defense to a possession charge than it is to a transportation charge. For example, in State v. Carroll, 111 Ariz. 216, 526 P.2d 1238 (1974), the court upheld a transportation conviction where the only evidence of possession was a claim check stub held by the defendant that matched the claim ticket on the suitcase containing marijuana. Id. at 218, 526 P.2d at 1240. The court stated, “Exclusive, immediate and personal possession is not necessary to establish constructive possession.” Id. The only conviction at issue in Carroll was transportation. Id. at 217-18, 526 P.2d at 1239-40. By engaging in a possession analysis, the court implicitly recognized that possession is a necessary element of transportation. See id.
¶ 19 In Perry, the court relied on legislative intent, 340 S.E.2d at 460, and we do not, because the lesser-included offense analysis focuses on the elements of the offenses.
¶20 In Rogers, defendant was charged with transportation of marijuana and possession of marijuana based on the fact that he drove a car while his passengers smoked marijuana. 95 Cal.Rptr. 601, 486 P.2d at 131. He was convicted of the transportation charge and acquitted of the possession charge. See id. In deciding that acquittal on the possession charge did not preclude conviction on the transportation charge, the court held that while “possession is commonly a circumstance tending to prove transportation; it is not an essential element of that offense and one may ‘transport’ marijuana or other drugs even though they are in the exclusive possession of another.” Id. We do not agree that one can knowingly transport an item without knowingly exercising some form of dominion and control over the item. (The split verdict in Rogers may be explained by the error that caused the supreme court to reverse and remand for new trial on the transportation charge: The trial court’s jury instructions had erroneously implied that the possession charge had a “knowledge” element but the transportation charge did not. Id. 95 Cal.Rptr. 601, 486 P.2d at 130-31.)
¶ 21 In this case, the possession for sale charge was incidental to the transportation for sale charge, it was therefore a lesser-included offense, and the conviction on the lesser offense should therefore be vacated. See State v. Jones, 185 Ariz. 403, 407, 916 P.2d 1119,1123 (App.1995) (stating that when two convictions are improperly based on one act, the “lesser” conviction is the one to vacate); see also State v. Duplain, 102 Ariz. 100, 101-02, 425 P.2d 570, 571-72 (1967) (holding that, where marijuana was possessed for only one sale, the possession conviction must be vacated because “there is only one transaction involved and only one offense committed”).
III.
¶22 The convictions and sentences are affirmed, as modified by vacating the conviction and sentence on the possession for sale charge.
KLEINSCHMIDT and TOCI, JJ., concur.
. A.R.S. section 13-3405(B) provides:
B. A person who violates:
4. Subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section involving [possession for sale of] an amount of marijuana having a weight of less than two pounds is guilty of a class 4 felony.
5. Subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section involving [possession for sale of] an amount of marijuana having a weight of at least two pounds but not more than four pounds is guilty of a class 3 felony.
6. Subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section involving [possession for sale of] an amount of marijuana having a weight of more than four pounds is guilty of a class 2 felony.
10. Subsection A, paragraph 4 of this section involving [transportation of] an amount of marijuana having a weight of less than two pounds is guilty of a class 3 felony.
11. Subsection A, paragraph 4 of this section involving [transportation of] an amount of marijuana having a weight of two pounds or more is guilty of a class 2 felony.
. The crime of transportation of marijuana no longer exists in Arizona. Former A.R.S. section 13-3405, added by 1981 Ariz. Sess. Laws, Ch. 264, § 8, which made it unlawful to transport marijuana, was repealed by 1987 Ariz. Sess. Laws, Ch. 307, § 17. The new section 13-3405 that was added by 1987 Ariz. Sess. Laws, Ch. 307, § 18 changed the crime from "transporting” to "transporting for sale.” A similar history exists for the narcotic drug statute. See A.R.S. § 13-3408 (historical note 1989).
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OPINION
McGREGOR, Justice.
¶ 1 This case raises the question whether Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) § 41-1604.10, which governs earned release credits, applies to inmates who, like appellant, committed crimes before the effective date of amendments to the statute. We hold that the statute applies and remand to the court of appeals to consider appellant’s challenges to it.
I.
¶2 Appellant filed a complaint against several officials and staff members of the Arizona Department of Corrections, alleging they had lost some of his personal property. The state moved to dismiss, arguing that A.R.S. § 31-201.01.L barred appellant’s suit because appellant alleged neither serious physical injuries nor a claim authorized by a federal statute. The trial court agreed and granted the motion to dismiss. The court also ordered that appellant forfeit five days’ earned release credits because he brought his claim without substantial justification. See A.R.S. § 41-1604.10.E.1.
¶ 8 On appeal, appellant argued that section 41-1604.10.E.1 violates the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws because the legislature enacted it after his conviction. The court of appeals concluded that the statute does not apply to appellant because his crimes occurred before the section’s effective date, January 1, 1994. Merrick v. Lewis, 191 Ariz. 71, 952 P.2d 309 (App.1997). Accordingly, the court, without considering appellant’s ex post facto argument, reversed the order forfeiting appellant’s earned release credits:
¶4 This Court granted the state’s petition for review to consider whether section 41-1604.10.E.1 applies to inmates imprisoned for crimes committed before January 1,1994. We have jurisdiction under Arizona Constitution article VI, section 5(3).
II.
A.
¶ 5 On its face, A.R.S. § 41-1604.10 applies to appellant. Subsection E.l, as amended in 1994, allows the court to deduct earned release credits if it finds an inmate has brought “a claim without substantial justification.” See 1994 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 358, § 5. The trial court made that finding in appellant’s action. Subsection G (originally subsection E) expressly provides that the statute “applies only to persons who commit felonies before January 1, 1994.” Appellant committed his crimes before that date. Thus, under the clear language of the statute, section 41-1604.10 applies to appellant.
¶ 6 The court of appeals, however, reached a contrary conclusion because it found a significant inconsistency between section 41-1604.10 and the “intent provision” of its enacting legislation. See Merrick, 191 Ariz. at 74, 952 P.2d at 312. The legislature enacted section 41-1604.10 as part of a substantial revision of Arizona’s earned release provisions. See 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 255, § 88. Section 101, the “Legislative Intent” provision of chapter 255, states:
It is the intent of the legislature that the provisions of this act relating to parole, work furlough, home arrest, earned release credits and other early release programs have only prospective effect. For any person convicted for an offense committed before the effective date of this act [January 1, 1994; see 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 255, § 98] the provisions of this act shall have no effect and such person shall be eligible for and may participate in such programs as though this act has not passed.
1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws eh. 255, § 101 (emphasis added). The court of appeals interpreted section 101 as “clearly and unambiguously” stating that section 41-1604.10 does not apply to inmates who committed crimes before January 1, 1994. Merrick, 191 Ariz. at 74, 952 P.2d at 312. Subsection G of section 41-1604.10, in contrast, states that the statute applies only to inmates who committed crimes before that date.
¶ 7 The court of appeals resolved the conflict in favor of section 101. The court reasoned that if subsection G controlled, an “absurd result” would obtain: section 41-1604.10 would apply to inmates who committed crimes before, but not after, its effective date. Id.
¶ 8 Upon examination of the statute, we conclude that the outcome eschewed by the court of appeals does not lead to an absurd result, but rather to one essential to this complex statutory scheme. Moreover, section 101, considered in context, is consistent with the clear language of section 41-1604.10. G. Accordingly, we hold that section 41-1604.10 applies to appellant because his crimes occurred before January 1,1994.
B.
¶ 9 . In seeking to reconcile the seemingly contradictory language of A.R.S. § 41-1604.10 and section 101, we consider the context and purpose of the statute and its enacting legislation. See Lemons v. Superior Court, 141 Ariz. 502, 505, 687 P.2d 1257,1260 (1984) (court must interpret apparently conflicting statutes harmoniously if possible); Zamora v. Reinstein, 185 Ariz. 272, 275, 915 P.2d 1227, 1230 (1996) (when statutory language is not clear, court will consider the statute’s context, subject matter, historical background, effects and consequences, and spirit and purpose).
¶ 10 The confusion engendered by the contradictory language of the statute and section 101 disappears when we analyze their purpose. Chapter 255, 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws, replaced a single statutory scheme related to earned release credit with two separate schemes: one scheme applies to inmates convicted of crimes that occurred before January 1, 1994, and the other to inmates whose crimes occurred after that date. Compare A.R.S. §§ 41-1604.09 & - 1604.10 with §§ 41-1604.06 & -1604.07.
¶ 11 Several sections of chapter 255 work together to create the dual schemes. Before the legislature adopted chapter 255, A.R.S. §§ 41-1604.06 and 41-1604.07 governed earned release credits, and thus necessarily applied to all inmates. Section 88 of chapter 255 created new sections 41-1604.09 and 41-1604.10. With one important addition, the new sections repeated verbatim the text formerly codified at sections 41-1604.06 and 41-1604.07. To each new section, the legislature added language that limits the new sections’ applicability to inmates who committed felonies prior to January 1, 1994. See A.R.S. §§ 41-1604.09.1 & -1604.10.G. Concurrently, using sections 86 and 87 of chapter 255, the legislature substantially rewrote “old” sections 41-1604.06 and 41-1604.07, thereby creating a new earned release credit scheme effective January 1,1994. Thus, by adopting chapter 255, the legislature (1) retained, but renumbered, the pre-1994 earned release credit provisions, leaving them applicable only to inmates whose crimes occurred before January 1, 1994; and (2) created a revised earned release credit scheme applicable only to inmates whose crimes occurred after January 1, 1994, using the section numbers that formerly applied to the newly renumbered provisions.
¶ 12 Section 101 of chapter 255, the “intent” provision that troubled the court of appeals, explains the effect of the change in the earned release credit scheme: the statutes in place prior to chapter 255’s effective date of January 1, 1994, although renumbered, continue to govern inmates whose crimes occurred before that date, “as though [chapter 255 had] not passed.” In contrast, as section 101 explains, the revised scheme, set out in the rewritten statutes, has only “prospective effect.” Interpreted this way, section 101 is not inconsistent with section 41-1604.10. G, which governs inmates who committed crimes before 1994, as though chapter 255 had not passed. Accordingly, we can apply the clear language of subsection G to conclude that section 41-1604.10.G applies to appellant.
¶ 13 Even if section 101 were irreconcilably inconsistent with section 41-1604.10. G, we would not ignore the language of subsection G in favor of section 101. Subsection G expresses the legislature’s particular intent to apply section 41-1604.10 to inmates whose crimes occurred before January 1,1994. Section 101, in contrast, expresses a general intent regarding all of chapter 255. We ordinarily agree, in the absence of other compelling factors, that when “a statute expresses first a general intent, and afterwards an inconsistent particular intent, the latter will be taken as an exception from the former and both will stand.” Sakrison v. Pierce, 66 Ariz. 162,173,185 P.2d 528, 535 (1947) (quoting 1 Lewis’ Sutherland on Statutory Construction ¶ 268 (2d ed.1904)). Accordingly, even if we were to interpret section 101 as being inconsistent with subsection G, the latter specific provision controls as an exception to the general prospective effect of chapter 255.
C.
¶ 14 Several other factors support our conclusion that A.R.S. § 41-1604.10 applies to inmates, like appellant, convicted of crimes occurring before January 1, 1994. First, a contrary reading would entirely exclude that group of inmates from the earned release credit system, a result clearly contrary to legislative intent.
¶ 15 When the legislature created the new earned release credit scheme at A.R.S. §§ 41-1604.06 and 41-1604.07, it stated that those sections apply only prospectively to inmates whose crimes occur after January 1, 1994. See 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 255, §§ 99 & 101. Thus, unless the renumbered statutes, sections 41-1604.09 and 41-1604.10, continue to apply to inmates whose crimes occurred before January 1,1994, no provision governs earned release credits for those inmates. However, the language of the statute informs us that the legislature did not intend this result. In chapter 255’s intent provision, the legislature directed that persons convicted of offenses committed before the effective date of chapter 255 may participate in early release programs “as though this act has not passed.” See 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 255, § 101.
¶ 16 Second, interpreting section 41-1604.10 as applying only prospectively would produce uncertainty about which inmates, if any, the statute covers. If we held, contrary to our conclusion, that section 41-1604.10 applies to inmates whose crimes occurred after January 1, 1994, we would engender a direct conflict with the new scheme, which expressly covers inmates whose crimes occurred after January 1, 1994. As a result, those inmates would fall under two schemes that invoke different standards. For example, the new scheme allows inmates to earn one day’s earned release credit for no less than six days served, whereas the renumbered scheme allows some inmates to earn one day’s credit for every two days served. Compare A.R.S. § 41-1604.07.A with A.R.S. § 41-1604.10A. We seek to avoid interpreting two statutes in a manner that results in one contradicting another, and we follow that general rule here. See Vega v. Morris, 184 Ariz. 461, 463, 910 P.2d 6, 8 (1996) (general rule of interpretation is that legislature does not include redundant, superfluous, or contradictory provisions in statutes).
¶ 17 Finally, amendments to chapter 255, 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws, verify that the legislature intended section 41-1604.10 to apply to inmates whose crimes occurred before January 1, 1994. As we noted above, the legislature enacted section 41-1604.10 as section 88 of chapter 255, including the' language of subsection G (then subsection I) that limits the section’s applicability to inmates convicted before January 1, 1994. Originally, section 99 of chapter 255 provided that “sections 88 through 95 of this act apply only to persons who commit a felony offense after the effective date of this act [January 1, 1994].” (Emphasis added.) Thus, as passed, chapter 255 included a facial contradiction between sections 88 and 99. But in its next session, the legislature amended section 99 to remove the reference to section 88. See 1994 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 236, § 17. The amendment thus resolved the conflict between sections 88 and 99 and clarified the legislature’s intention that section 41-1604.10, a part of section 88, should apply to inmates who, like appellant, committed crimes before January 1, 1994.
III.
¶ 18 Because A.R.S. § 41-1604.10 applies to appellant, the question becomes whether appellant is subject to subsequent amendments to the statutes. In 1994, the legislature added subsection E, and a parallel provision to section 41-1604.07, directing that inmates must forfeit earned release credits under specified circumstances. See 1994 Ariz. Sess. Laws eh. 358, §§ 5 & 6. Appellant asserts that applying the amendment to him violates the prohibition against ex post facto laws. Because the court of appeals did not consider that question, we vacate the opinion of the court of appeals and remand for consideration of the remaining issues.
ZLAKET, C.J., JONES, V.C.J., and FELDMAN, and MARTONE, JJ., concur.
. A.R.S. section 31-201.01 .L provides:
L. A person who is convicted of a felony offense and who is incarcerated while awaiting sentence or while serving a sentence imposed by a court of law may not bring a cause of action seeking damages or equitable relief from the state or its political subdivisions, agencies, officers or employees for injuries suffered while in the custody of the state or its political subdivisions or agencies unless the complaint alleges specific facts from which the court may conclude that the plaintiff suffered serious physical injury or the claim is authorized by a federal statute.
. A.R.S. § 41-1604.10.E provides, in relevant part:
E. A prisoner shall forfeit five days of the prisoner’s earned release credits if the court finds or a disciplinary hearing held after a review by and recommendations from the attorney general’s office determines that the prisoner does any of the following:
1. Brings a claim without substantial justification.
. See U.S. Const, art. I, § 9, cl. 3; Ariz. Const, art. II, § 25.
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OPINION
FIDEL, Presiding Judge.
¶ 1 When Adolph J. Wesolowski died, Robert G. Clem, an existing household employee, was retained in employment by Wesolowski’s estate to maintain the residence .and put it in condition to be sold. During the time Clem performed household maintenance for Wesolowski, Wesolowski was not obliged to provide him workers’ compensation coverage; employers of “domestic servants” are exempt from the obligation faced by most employers to provide workers’ compensation coverage for their employees. See Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. (“A.R.S.”) § 23-902(A) (1995 & Supp.1997). The dispositive question in this proceeding is whether the estate was entitled to the “domestic servant” exemption when it employed Clem to continue to maintain the residence and prepare it for sale.
I. History
¶ 2 On July 19, 1994, Claimant Robert G. Clem was engaged in maintenance on the roof of a house when he descended to answer a telephone call, slipped from the ladder to the ground, and sustained the injury that gives rise to these proceedings. From September 1992 until March 1994, Clem had been employed by Adolph J. Wesolowski, the owner, to maintain and repair the house in exchange for lodging and an hourly wage. Clem also provided occasional services for Worldwide Artifacts, a business that Adolph Wesolowski operated from the house; these services included answering business telephone calls.
¶ 3 Adolph J. Wesolowski died on March 14, 1994. Barbara Wesolowski, his widow, testified that she had been married to Adolph less than three years, that they had a prenuptial agreement, and that she had “no interest in any of the estate or [in] Worldwide Artifacts.” She believed that all of Adolph’s assets went into the estate after his death.
¶ 4 The house needed considerable work before it could be sold. Accordingly, in April 1994, Adolph’s “heirs” and Barbara engaged Clem in a written agreement providing that he would paint the house for a specified sum, payable “when there is an account established from which to pay the estate’s obligations,” and that, in exchange for performing maintenance and security services, Clem could continue to live at the house until it was sold. Clem was performing this agreement when he fell.
¶ 5 In a timely Workman’s Report of Injury, Clem claimed that he was injured while working for either the Wesolowski estate or Worldwide Artifacts. Because both were uninsured, the Special Fund Division of the Industrial Commission processed the claim. See generally A.R.S. § 23-907(B) (1995 & Supp.1997).
¶ 6 The Special Fund denied compensability on behalf of the estate, Mary DowningMollere, personal representative, and on behalf of an entity that it designated as Adolph and Barbara Wesolowski, husband and wife, dba Worldwide Artifacts. Clem protested these denials, and the Industrial Commission, after conducting hearings, accepted Clem’s claim against the estate and dismissed his claim against Adolph Wesolowski, dba Worldwide Artifacts, and Barbara Wesolowski. After exhausting the administrative review process, the Special Fund and the estate petitioned for appellate review.
II. Preemptive Suit
¶7 We first consider the Special Fund’s assertion that, because Clem filed a probate claim in superior court against the estate, his workers’ compensation claim is jurisdictionally barred by A.R.S. § 23-1024(B) (1995). We find instead that the Special Fund has waived this non-jurisdictional affirmative defense by failing to assert it at a timely stage of Commission proceedings.
¶ 8 In the course of the hearings before the Commission, the Special Fund’s counsel elicited testimony from Mary Downing-Mollere, the estate’s personal representative, to the effect that Clem had “filed a homeowner’s claim for his injuries against the estate.” An injured employee of an uninsured employer may sue the employer or file a workers’ compensation claim. See A.R.S. § 23-907(A)-(B). But if the employee “exercises any option to institute a proceeding in court against his employer,” the employee “waives any right to compensation.” A.R.S. § 23-1024(B).
¶ 9 When the Special Fund’s counsel presented evidence about Clem’s probate claim, he was not asserting the defense of preemption pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-1024(B). Instead, counsel represented that his purpose was to establish Clem’s bias towards Ms. Downing-Mollere. At no time before the hearings concluded did the Special Fund assert that Clem’s probate claim had triggered a preemption pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-1024(B). Indeed, though twice during the hearings the ALJ reviewed the scope of the issues with all counsel, on neither occasion did the Special Fund assert the issue of preemption. Preemption was not asserted until after the ALJ had issued her post-hearing award. Then, in requesting administrative review, the Special Fund moved to dismiss, invoking A.R.S. § 23-1024(B) and attaching exhibits to document Clem’s probate claim against the estate. Clem objected to the introduction of post-hearing evidence, and the ALJ sustained the objection and affirmed the award.
¶ 10 This ruling was correct. Section 23-1024(B) provides an “election of remedies defense.” See Spear v. Industrial Comm’n, 114 Ariz. 601, 603-05, 562 P.2d 1099, 1101-03 (App.1977). The defense is lost if not asserted before an award for a compensable claim is entered. Id. at 603, 562 P.2d at 1101. Election of remedies is similarly treated in other areas of law. See 28A C.J.S. Election of Remedies § 31, at 670 (1996) (characterizing election of remedies as an affirmative defense that is waived unless timely asserted).
¶ 11 The Special Fund waived § 23-1024(B) as an affirmative defense by neglecting to raise it during the hearing process. See Spear, 114 Ariz. at 603-05, 562 P.2d at 1101-03; cf. Magma Copper Co. v. Industrial Comm’n, 139 Ariz. 38, 45-49, 676 P.2d 1096, 1103-07 (1983) (generally requiring affirmative defense to be raised during hearing process).
III. Contract with Estate
¶ 12 The Special Fund asserts that, ■ because Ms. Downing-Mollere signed the April 1994 employment contract as an heir rather than as personal representative of the estate, the estate was not a party to the contract. We disagree. Although Ms. Downing-Mollere testified that she signed the contract only as an heir and denied that she held herself out to be the personal representative, her testimony was contradicted by Clem. Clem’s testimony was corroborated by the testimony of Barbara Wesolowski, who was present for the signing. Clem’s testimony was also bolstered by the contract’s identification of the house as an asset of the estate and by the contract’s promise to pay Clem from the assets of the estate. The ALJ had discretion to resolve credibility issues, and expressly did so in Clem’s favor. We defer to the ALJ’s credibility finding.
¶ 13 The Special Fund points out that Ms. Downing-Mollere’s appointment as personal representative had not yet been accomplished when she signed the April 1994 agreement; she was not formally appointed personal representative until June 1994. By statute, however, a personal representative’s powers
relate back in time to give acts by the person appointed which are beneficial to the estate occurring prior to appointment the same effect as those occurring thereafter____ A personal representative may ratify and accept acts on behalf of the estate done by others where the acts would have been proper for a personal representative.
A.R.S. § 14-3701 (1995). Clem’s maintenance of the house was clearly intended at the time of signing to benefit the estate, Ms. Downing-Mollere’s appointment as personal representative was pending, and Ms. Downing-Mollere held herself out to be signing as the personal representative of the estate. We conclude that, even though Ms. Downing-Mollere had not yet achieved that formal status in April 1994, she bound the estate as a party to the April 1994 agreement with Mr. Clem.
IY. Did the Estate Employ Clem in the Usual Course of Business?
¶ 14 We next consider the argument that Clem’s employment by the estate was not subject to the Workers’ Compensation Act because Clem was a casual employee and because the estate was a nonbusiness entity incapable of employing anyone “in the usual course of business.” The Special Fund derives this argument from A.R.S. § 23-901(5), which defines a covered “employee” as
(b) Every person in the service of any employer subject to the provisions of this chapter, including aliens and minors legally or illegally permitted to work for hire, but not including a person whose employment is both:
(i) Casual.
(ii) Not in the usual course of the trade, business or occupation of the employer.
¶ 15 Also germane is A.R.S. § 23-902(A), which provides:
Employers subject to the provisions of this chapter are ... every person who has in his employ any workers or operatives regularly employed in the same business or establishment under contract of hire, except domestic servants____ For the purposes of this section “regularly employed” includes all employments, whether continuous throughout the year, or for only a portion of the year, in the usual trade, business, profession or occupation of an employer.
¶ 16 We begin by summarily rejecting the argument that Clem was only a “casual employee.” Casual employment is both irregular and brief. “Ordinarily, very short employments, of a few hours or days, are considered casual, while duration for several weeks or months is usually in itself enough to remove a job from that category.” 4 Arthur Larson & Lex K. Larson, Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law § 51.12, at 9-170 to 9-172 (1997) (“Larson”). Here the estate contemplated employing Clem for weeks or months. Clem was not a casual employee.
¶ 17 We turn to the argument that Clem was not employed in the usual course of business of the estate. According to the Special Fund, an estate — a statutory entity consisting of the property of a decedent — is operated by a statutory officer — a court-appointed personal representative — solely for the purpose of disposing of property. See A.R.S. § 14-1201(16). Such an entity, the Special Fund argues, has no usual course of business that would subject it as an employer to the Workers’ Compensation Act.
¶ 18 We disagree. The Special Fund’s argument proves too much. A.R.S. § 14-3715 includes among the enumerated powers of a personal representative the power to:
(24) Continue any unincorporated business or venture in which the decedent was engaged at the time of his death.
At times, when continuing a decedent’s business, a personal representative will maintain in employment persons the decedent had employed under contract of hire in the usual course of the business. Because such employees would have been entitled to workers’ compensation coverage pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-902(A) when the business was operated by the decedent, they surely do not forfeit their entitlement to such coverage when the operation of the business falls to the estate. See Jimenez v. Estate of Jimenez, 79 A.D.2d 798, 435 N.Y.S.2d 113, 114 (N.Y.App.Div.1980); King v. Koenig, 245 A.D. 886, 282 N.Y.S. 315, 316-17 (1935) (an estate must continue to provide workers’ compensation coverage for employees of the business when it continues to operate a business of the deceased). In short, an estate can constitute a covered employer for the purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act.
¶ 19 This general conclusion does not mean, however, that A.R.S. § 14-3715(24) supports a finding of compensability in this case. We cite that subsection only to demonstrate the overbreadth and invalidity of the argument that an estate can never serve as an employer subject to the Workers’ Compensation Act. Subsection 24 is inapplicable to this ease because Clem does not argue on appeal, nor did the ALJ find, that he was engaged on behalf of the estate in the business of Worldwide Artifacts when he fell; nor does Clem argue on appeal, nor did the ALJ find, that the estate continued to operate Worldwide Artifacts or any other business after Adolph Wesolowski died. The only employment that Clem identifies on appeal as his compensable employment for the estate was his paid endeavor to renovate the residence in anticipation of its sale in order to “maximize [the return] ... for the benefit of the beneficiaries [of the estate].” Clem does not argue, nor does the evidence suggest, that Adolph Wesolowski operated, or the estate continued, a business of residential rehabilitation and resale. Thus, Clem’s employment at the Wesolowski residence falls outside the scope of A.R.S. § 14-3715(24).
¶ 20 We come then to the question whether any statute supports the conclusion that the estate was subject to the Workers’ Compensation Act when it employed Claimant to improve the house for sale. The ALJ correctly identified the relevant statute as A.R.S. § 23-902(A). That section defines as employers subject to the Act those who have “regularly employed” at least one worker “in the usual trade, business, profession or occupation of an employer.” A.R.S. § 23-902(A). Employers of “domestic servants” are specifically exempted. Id.
¶21 A “business” in this context need not be entrepreneurial. See Greenway Baptist Church v. Industrial Comm’n, 130 Ariz. 482, 484, 636 P.2d 1264, 1266 (App.1981). According to Larson, the purpose of requiring a covered employer to have a trade, business, profession, or occupation is to insulate “householders” from liability for workers’ compensation. See 4 Larson § 50.21, at 9-129 to 9-134. Arizona case law is consistent with this interpretation. In every case that has applied § 23-902(A) to exclude an employer from the Act, the employer was a householder. See Lewis v. Industrial Comm’n, 93 Ariz. 324, 380 P.2d 782 (1963) (householder employing worker to remodel home is not employer subject to Act); Cooper v. Industrial Comm’n, 74 Ariz. 351, 354-56, 249 P.2d 142, 144-45 (1952) (householder employing carpenter to remodel private residence not employer subject to Act); Griebel v. Industrial Comm’n, 133 Ariz. 270, 650 P.2d 1252 (App.1982) (defining “domestic servants” to include workers engaged in construction, maintenance, or repair of householder’s home); Stephens v. Industrial Comm’n, 26 Ariz.App. 192, 193-94, 547 P.2d 44, 45-46 (1976) (householder constructing personal residence not employer subject to Act).
¶ 22 Was Clem the estate’s business employee or its “domestic servant”? We find it helpful in approaching this question to consider (1) the nature of the estate’s endeavor and (2) the employee’s status when he engaged in similar employment for the decedent. We have indicated that, when an estate takes over and manages a decedent’s business, retaining business employees, the estate is a covered employer and is subject to the Act. But in this case, as we have also indicated, there is no evidence that the estate took over or managed any business of the decedent. The estate instead engaged only in the routine administrative act of preserving an asset — the house — and preparing it for sale. As for the nature of Clem’s employment, the estate retained Clem at the residence to perform maintenance and repairs comparable to those he had performed as Wesolowski’s household employee. Just as Clem was not entitled under A.R.S. § 23-902(A) to receive workers’ compensation coverage for those services when the household was maintained by the decedent, we conclude that he was similarly unentitled to such coverage when the maintenance of the household passed to the estate. That the estate intended to sell the house did not, in our view, transform Clem from a household employee to a business employee; nor did it turn residential maintenance and repair into a “usual trade, business, profession, or occupation” of the estate. A.R.S. § 23-902(A). We therefore conclude that the Industrial Commission erred in finding that the estate was a covered employer under the Act, and we set aside that portion of the award.
Y. The Claim Against Worldwide Artifacts
¶ 23 Clem argues that, if he was not an employee of the estate, “then the court must find, based upon the transcript of testimony, that [he] was an employee of Mary DowningMollere and Barbara Wesolowski and/or Worldwide Artifacts.”
¶ 24 We find no merit to this argument. First, we find that Clem was an employee of the estate, but not an employee entitled to workers’ compensation. Thus, it is not clear that Clem’s argument even applies. Second, Clem does not support his argument by citing to any facts of record that establish his employment by Worldwide Artifacts or its owners at the time of his injury. Third, the ALJ specifically found that Barbara Wesolowski was not Clem’s employer, and that Clem was not performing a job for Adolph Wesolowski, dba Worldwide Artifacts, at the time of his injury. The ALJ dismissed both claims, and Clem has neither asserted nor demonstrated that the ALJ abused her discretion in so doing. As for Clem’s passing assertion on appeal that he may have been employed by Ms. Downing-Mollere, Clem never made this claim to the Industrial Commission, and it is too late to do so here.
¶25 Ordinarily, when we set aside an award for any reason, we set the award aside in its entirety and do not search for affirmable parts. See A.R.S. § 23-951(D) (1995); Magma Copper Co. v. Naglich, 60 Ariz. 43, 57, 131 P.2d 357, 363 (1942). When, however, a consolidated decision separately disposes of severable claims, this court may severably dispose of them upon review. Professional Furniture Serv. v. Industrial Comm’n, 133 Ariz. 206, 209, 650 P.2d 508, 511 (App.1982). This is such a ease.
¶26 For the foregoing reasons, we set aside the Industrial Commission award finding a compensable claim against the estate, but affirm the Industrial Commission’s dismissals of the claim against Adolph J. Wesolowski, dba Worldwide Artifacts, and the claim against Barbara Wesolowski.
GERBER and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
. Because Adolph Wesolowski died testate, the statutory term for his heirs is “devisees.” See A.R.S. § 14-1201(13), (23) (1995). The term “heirs,” a more inclusive term in general usage, was used throughout the underlying proceedings.
. Based on Barbara Wesolowski’s testimony that she did not retain any interest in Worldwide Artifacts and that that entity had passed to the estate, the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ”) modified the caption to delete her as an employer in the claim against Worldwide Artifacts. The Special Fund, however, asserted that she should remain a party in her individual capacity, and as she did not object, the ALJ modified the caption accordingly.
. As the estate has relied upon the briefs presented by the Special Fund, we will refer to the arguments of the Special Fund for the remainder of this opinion.
. Clem contends that the Special Fund waived this assertion by failing to present it below. We disagree. Although the Special Fund Division could have articulated its position more clearly, it did assert that an estate was not an employer under A.R.S. § 23-902(A). The AU addressed that argument and quoted that statute in her findings. Curiously, the Special Fund cites only § 23-90 l(5)(b) and ignores § 23-902(A) in its appellate briefs. The two are interrelated, however, and we address them both.
. We note that the applicable New York statute defines covered employers to include legal representatives of deceased employers. See N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Law § 2(3) (McKinney 1992). In King, the court relied upon this definition to support the conclusion that an executrix was a covered employer. See King, 282 N.Y.S. at 316-17.
. A.R.S. § 14-3715 permits a personal representative to:
(7) Make ordinary or extraordinary repairs or alterations in buildings or other structures, demolish any improvements, raze existing or erect new party walls or buildings[;] and
(21) Employ persons, including attorneys, auditors, investment advisors or agents ... to advise or assist the personal representative in the performance of his administrative duties, act without independent investigation upon their recommendations and instead of acting personally, employ one or more agents to perform any act of administration, whether or not discretionary.
. Barbara Wesolowski testified, as we have indicated, that she had no interest in Worldwide Artifacts after Adolph’s death. Ms. Downing-Moliere testified that Worldwide Artifacts was a partnership between herself and Adolph Wesolowski that terminated upon Adolph's death.
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