By judgment rendered 13 August 1993 and filed 20 August 1993, the trial court entered judgment in accordance with the verdict. On 23 August 1993, plaintiffs filed a motion pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. The record indicates that plaintiff Chee is of Chinese extraction and was a resident alien in the United States, rather than a naturalized citizen, at the time of trial. As support for the motion, plaintiffs submitted two affidavits from one of the jurors, Glenn Turner, in which Turner claimed that some of the other jurors had expressed prejudice against aliens residing in the United States and that such prejudice adversely affected the damages awarded. By order filed 9 December 1993, the trial court denied the motion.
Appeal is made against both defendants.
Plaintiffs' sole argument on appeal concerns the denial of their motion for new trial. The threshold issue presented by this appeal then is whether or not plaintiffs' notice of appeal is sufficient to confer jurisdiction on this Court over the 9 December 1993 order denying the motion for new trial. We conclude that it is not. Proper notice of appeal is a jurisdictional requirement that may not be waived. 99 N.C. App.