Oregon Court of Appeals Confirms its own Existence

In this interesting opinion issued this morning by the Court of Appeals (Brewer, J.), the court concluded that it legally exists.  In Carey v. Lincoln Loan Co., the defendant challenged the Court of Appeals' jurisdiction by contending that the legislature lacked the authority to create the Court of Appeals and, thus, the Court of Appeals was legally non-existent.  The predicate of the defendant's argument was that amended Article VII of the Oregon Constitution had not been validly enacted for three reasons: (1) there was never a legal proclamation of the passage of amended Article VII; (2) amended Article VII violated the full text provision of Article IV of the Constitution; and (3) amended Article VII violated the separate vote requirement of Article XVII of the Constitution.  The Court of Appeals rejected each argument and ultimately ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on their claim that provisions of the land sale contract between them and defendant were unconscionable.