Opinion ID: 1692361
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appellant's Brief and Assignment of Errors

Text: The appellant's brief should, insofar as practical, be so prepared that all points presented by the assignment of error can be determined by an examination of the briefs without it being necessary to look to the record for the facts and occurrences which gave rise to the points. 3 Am.Jur. 332-333, Appeal and Error, pars. 770, 772. The new Rule of this Court in Rule 36(9), 30 F.S.A., has re-stated a well established rule of law of appellate review as follows:  Such assignments of error as are not argued in the briefs will be deemed abandoned   . The assignment of errors constitute the basis for reversal and appellant's brief serves the purpose of pointing out specific errors or points within the scope of some specific assignment of error. Except for fundamental errors, an appellate court will not reverse except for some well founded assignment of error that has been argued in the brief, and no point made in the brief will be considered unless it is found to be within the scope of an assignment of error. When the argument of the brief is not addressed to an assigned error, which has been stated or revised and re-stated according to the facts and circumstances of the cases as they occurred as shown by the record, with appropriate reference to the record, it may lead to a memorandum decision of affirmed, when otherwise, an explanatory opinion might have been rendered and possibly to the contrary. Our failure to enforce the rule or appellant's failure to comply with the rule may lead to a failure to present for the Court's review errors which may lurk in record, but which remain unrevealed   . When we confine our decisions to mere statements contained in the briefs as points which are in nowise correlated to issues of law as raised by an assignment of errors we are likely to pass on moot propositions. City of Coral Gables v. State ex. rel. Hassenteufel, Fla. 1948, 38 So.2d 467; Lynn v. City of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 1955, 81 So.2d 511. Assignments must relate to judicial acts; hence, in the review by appeal we should usually affirm when no assignment of error is stated and argued, or when we fail to find the act assigned and argued to have been prejudicially erroneous. And we should reverse for some specific erroneous judicial act which has been assigned and argued and which we find to have been prejudicial to the party complaining of it. Appeals come to this court with a presumption that the proceedings below were free of error. When the errors are not assigned, or if assigned, are not argued, then the parties in interest have not been adequately served by the attorneys or by this Court. Such conditions tend to lead to the needless expenditure of time of the Justices in searching for some judicial act giving rise to the argument presented for reversal, when such time might better have been used in giving consideration to the decision of the merits of the matter sought to have reviewed. It is essential that appellant address the argument of his brief to an assignment of error or a point contained in an assignment of error, and to do so the assignment should be copied into the brief at the place of the argument addressed to it. No point is complete without an assignment of error. If appellant conceives any assignment might have been stated more specifically or with greater clarity, then he may revise and re-state it in his brief. A point stated as being raised by assignment identified by a certain number is insufficient unless the assignment is quoted in the brief. When an assignment of error is stated or re-stated in the brief, appropriate page references to the subject matter of the assignment should be added. When an assignment relates to the admission or exclusion of evidence, or the giving or refusing to give specific charges to the jury then the assignment in order to be complete should identify the evidence objected to and admitted, or the proffer of evidence refused; or the charge erroneously given or refused. If the assignment is incomplete then the brief should quote the evidence, or a sufficient portion thereof, or the instruction, together with the objections and the rulings of the court with appropriate page references to the record to all such matters. If the assignment is incomplete, it should be revised and restated in the brief so as to make it complete in substance, but in briefing a mere substantial restatement by counsel of the subject matter of an erroneous admission or exclusion of evidence is not sufficient; the appellate court wants to be advised of the error vel non as it actually occurred. Points. A point made that is not based on, or shown by the brief to be within the scope of some quoted assignment is futile and will be considered as moot; and an assignment of error not argued will be treated as abandoned. When the assignment of error is sufficient within itself to state the point relied on for reversal, a further statement of it is not required. Of course one assignment may give rise to several points, and the assignment itself may be sufficient to state the point. Repetitious statements of the same assignment of error, or the same points, are not essential and are not favored. To state them once in the brief where argued is sufficient as well as essential. What are Points? For a discussion of points in appellate practice see 4 C.J.S., Appeal and Error, § 1324. But for a concise statement of points those stated by the Justices of Supreme Courts in their opinions might be taken as a guide  some of which are listed in the footnote. [1] The petition for rehearing is granted accordingly. DREW, C.J., and TERRELL and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.