Opinion ID: 53142
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sufficiency of Appellant’s Brief

Text: The Postal Service argues that the court should dismiss Merriman’s appeal for failing to specifically brief points of error or provide citations to the record or relevant legal authority. We must construe Merriman’s pro se complaint liberally, and we should be mindful that “a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 127 S. Ct. 2197, 2200 (2007) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks omitted). However, even a pro se appellant must brief the reasons for the requested relief, including “citation to the authorities, statutes and parts of the record relied on.” FED. R. APP. P. 28(a)(4); Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222, 225 (5th Cir. 1993). When an appellant 9 No. 06-41400 does not argue that the district court erred in any way, the court may dismiss the appeal for failure to comply with Rule 28. See, e.g., Grant v. Cuellar, 59 F.3d 523, 524 (5th Cir. 1995) (dismissing an appeal in which the “appellate brief does little more than restate the relevant factual events leading to his original complaint”). Issues not properly briefed under Rule 28 are deemed abandoned, and this court “will not raise and discuss legal issues that [the appellant] has failed to assert.” Brinkmann v. Dallas County Deputy Sheriff Abner, 813 F.2d 744, 748 (5th Cir. 1987). On occasion, this court has accepted appeals despite technical deficiencies in pro se briefs as long as the appellant alleged at least some error on the part of the district court. See, e.g., United States v. Wilkes, 20 F.3d 651, 653 (5th Cir. 1995) (considering appellant’s claims despite his failure to cite relevant portions of the record); Abdul-Alim Amin v. Universal Life Ins. Co., 706 F.2d 638, 640 n.1 (5th Cir. 1983) (considering a brief because it contained an assertion of trial court error). We generally only accept a noncompliant brief if it does not prejudice the opposing party. Grant, 59 F.3d at 525. Prejudice exists when an appellant’s brief’s deficiencies force the appellee to “speculate as to the relevant issues” on appeal. Id. (“[Appellant’s] failure to articulate any appellate argument therefore deprived the [appellee] of [its] opportunity to address fully all the issues and prejudiced [its] ability to prepare and present arguments to this Court”). Prejudice does not exist, however, when the disputed issues are obvious and the opposing party has the opportunity to address all relevant issues in the case. Price v. Digital Equip. Corp., 846 F.2d 1026, 1028 (5th Cir. 1988) (allowing a technically noncompliant pro se appeal to go forward when there was only one issue on appeal); see also Fed. Sav. & Loan Ins. Co. v. Haralson, 813 F.2d 370, 373 n.3 (11th Cir. 1987) (allowing a pro se appellant to proceed where the opponent could not claim that “it was not aware of the issues in this appeal or that it was hampered in its ability to respond”). 10 No. 06-41400 Merriman’s brief states a series of factual allegations, some not previously briefed, and recounts in detail the history of the administrative proceedings and federal court litigation in this case. Although her brief fails to identify any specific error committed by the district court or any legal basis for reversal of its summary judgment order or the jury verdict, it is apparent which issues she is challenging. In its brief, the Postal Service surmised that the following issues were central to Merriman’s appeal: (1) whether the district court properly granted summary judgment on Merriman’s back pay claim; (2) whether limitation of the suit to cover only the April 13, 2000 incident was proper; and (3) whether the jury verdict was adequately supported by the evidence. It is a close question as to whether Merriman adequately briefed any of these points on appeal. Because, however, each argument is easily dispatched on other grounds, we need not decide whether the brief’s technical shortcomings might prejudice the Postal Service.