Court Opinion

ID: 9913338
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-27 19:02:19.442919+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:08:42.518402
License: Public Domain

Filed 12/27/23 Estate of Parks CA4/2
                      NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
 California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for
publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication
                                     or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

           IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

                                   FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

                                                 DIVISION TWO

 Estate of BESSIE RUTH PARKS,
 Deceased.

 RUQAYYAH N. PARKS,
                                                                         E078074
          Petitioner and Respondent,
                                                                         (Super. Ct. No. PRRI2000883)
 v.
                                                                         OPINION
 REGINALD G. MICKENS,

          Objector and Appellant.

         APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Kenneth J. Fernandez,

Judge. Affirmed.

         Reginald G. Mickens, in pro. per. for Objector and Appellant.

         Law Offices of Amanda A. Stewart and Amanda A. Stewart, for Petitioner and

Respondent.

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                                              I.

                                     INTRODUCTION

       Appellant, Reginald Mickens, proceeding in pro. per., appeals the probate court’s

order appointing respondent, Ruqayyah Parks, as the administrator of the estate of his

deceased mother, Bessie Ruth Parks. Because of the many deficiencies in Mickens’s

opening brief, we affirm.

                                             II.
                                                                          1
                  FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

       Mickens filed a Petition for Probate of Lost Will seeking to be appointed
                          2
administrator of Bessie’s estate. Mickens alleged Bessie had a lost will that appointed

him and others the administrators of her estate. The case was assigned to the Honorable

Thomas Cahraman. After Mickens filed a peremptory challenge against Judge

Cahraman, the case was assigned to the Honorable Kenneth Fernandez. Ruqayyah filed a

competition petition for probate seeking to be appointed administrator of Bessie’s estate.

       After a number of continuances, Judge Fernandez held a hearing on the competing

petitions. By that point, Mickens still had not filed a copy of Bessie’s allegedly lost will.

Judge Fernandez denied Mickens’s petition, overruled his objections to Ruqayyah’s

petition, and found that Bessie died intestate. Judge Fernandez later granted Ruqayyah’s

       1
        Our recitation of the background of this case is truncated given the problems
with Mickens’s opening brief, which we discuss below.
       2
         We refer to Ruqayyah and Bessie by their first names because of their shared
last name. We mean no disrespect.

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petition and granted her “letters of administration” for Bessie’s estate, meaning that she

became administrator of the estate with full authority. Mickens timely appealed.

                                            III.

                                      DISCUSSION

       Mickens challenges the probate court’s order appointing Ruqayyah as the

administrator of Bessie’s estate. His opening brief has several deficiencies that require us
                    3
affirm the order.

       First, the opening brief’s statement of appealability reads in full, “Appeal From an

Order Before Trial of the Superior Court, County of Riverside. (1RT 56) Hon. Kenneth

Fernandez, Judge.” This fails to comply with California Rules of Court, rule

8.204(a)(2)(B), which requires an appellant to “[s]tate that the judgment appealed from is

final, or explain why the order appealed from is appealable.” As a result, we exercise our

discretion to disregard Mickens’s entire opening brief. (See Lester v. Lennane (2000) 84

Cal.App.4th 536, 557.)

       Ruqayyah does not argue the probate court’s order is nonappealable. But because

“the question of appealability goes to our jurisdiction, we are dutybound to consider it on

our own motion.” (Olson v. Cory (1983) 35 Cal.3d 390, 398.) We have jurisdiction

under Probate Code section 1303, subdivision (a), which makes an order “[g]ranting . . .

       3
         Mickens notified this court that he would not file a reply brief, and he did not do
so. However, after oral argument, Mickens attempted to file additional documents into
the record. We rejected the documents and decline to consider them. (See Cal. Rules of
Court, rule 8.256(d)(1).)

                                             3
letters [of administration] to a personal representative” appealable. (Code Civ. Proc.,

§ 904.1, subd. (a)(10) [“appeal may be taken ‘[f]rom an order made appealable by the

Probate Code’”]; Estate of Sapp (2019) 36 Cal.App.5th 86, 99; Estate of Jones (2004)

122 Cal.App.4th 326, 331.)

       Another problem with Mickens’s opening brief is that it does not identify the

applicable standard of review or tailor its arguments to that standard. We interpret this as

a concession that Mickens’s appeal lacks merit. (See Ewald v. Nationstar Mortgage,

LLC (2017) 13 Cal.App.5th 947, 948; Sonic Manufacturing Technologies, Inc. v. AAE

Systems, Inc. (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 456, 465; People v. Foss (2007) 155 Cal.App.4th

113, 126.)

       Third, and most importantly, the argument section of Mickens’s opening brief

contains no coherent argument or citations to authority or the record. Instead, it reads in

full: “On July 6th, 2020, Reginald Mickens filed a peremptory challenge 170.6, case

RIP1501062, on Thomas H. Cahraman, the judge in Department 8. On July 8th, 2020, it

was granted. Case reassigned to Judge Kenneth Fernandez and Superior Court California

county Riverside historic courthouse department 11th for all purposes. During this time

frame, the only case active was conservator case RIP1501062. On July 28th, 2020, A

Nunc Pro Tunc Hearing was held at 8:18 am in Dept 11, Judge Thomas H. Cahraman. It

appears that Judge Thomas went into court 11 and separated the conservator case and the

probate case from one another. The purpose of filing the 170.6 W hill remove Judge

Thomas H. Cahraman from the case completely. Judge Kenneth Fernandez takes notice

                                             4
of the Riverside Superior Probate Conservatorship case RIP1501062. It appears that

Judge William Berry and Judge Kenneth Fernandez did not read the conservatorship case

RIP1501062 and issued letters of administration to Ruqayyah [N.] Parks. After she was

removed as the conservator of the Estate in the conservatorship case RIP1501062.”

       Simply put, Mickens has failed to articulate an intelligible argument supported by

appropriate authority and citations to the record in the argument section of his opening

brief. We therefore need not consider it. (See Wright v. City of Los Angeles (2001) 93

Cal.App.4th 683, 689 [“Generally, asserted grounds for appeal that are unsupported by

any citation to authority and that merely complain of error without presenting a coherent

legal argument are deemed abandoned and unworthy of discussion.”]; 300 DeHaro Street

Investors v. Department of Housing & Community Development (2008) 161 Cal.App.4th

1240, 1257 [appellant forfeited argument “by failing to brief it properly under a separate

heading . . . and . . . failing to provide adequate legal analysis”]; Cal. Rules of Court, rule

8.204(a)(1)(B) [each brief must “[s]tate each point under a separate heading or

subheading summarizing the point, and support each point by argument and, if possible,

by citation of authority”].)

       We recognize Mickens is representing himself without an attorney. But he still

must “‘be treated like any other party and is entitled to the same, but no greater

consideration than other litigants and attorneys.’” (First American Title Co. v. Mirzaian

(2003) 108 Cal.App.4th 956, 958, fn. 1.) His opening brief violates several rules,

                                               5
contains no reasoned argument supported by legal authority and the record, and is

essentially unintelligible.

       In other words, we can glean no coherent argument from Mickens’s opening brief.

As a reviewing court, “[w]e are not required to examine undeveloped claims or to supply

arguments for the litigants.” (Allen v. City of Sacramento (2015) 234 Cal.App.4th 41,

52.) We therefore deem “all points asserted in this appeal to be forfeited as unsupported

by ‘adequate factual or legal analysis.’” (Singh v. Lipworth (2014) 227 Cal.App.4th 813,

817.) As a result, we affirm the order appealed from without discussing the merits.

(Ewald v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, supra, 13 Cal.App.5th at p. 948.)

       We affirm the order for the additional reason that Mickens’s record is inadequate.

The appellant bears the burden of proving an adequate record on appeal, and an

appellant’s failure to do so “‘requires that the issue be resolved against [appellant].’”

(Foust v. San Jose Construction Co., Inc. (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 181, 187.) The only

filing in Mickens’s record is the probate court’s order appointing Ruqayyah the estate

administrator. We cannot properly review that order without at least reviewing

Mickens’s and Ruqayyah’s petitions to be appointed administrator. Because Mickens has

not provided us an adequate record on appeal, we must affirm. (Ibid.)

       Finally, we acknowledge and appreciate Mickens’s vigorous and respectful

argument at oral argument. However, for the reasons explained above, the law requires

us to affirm probate court’s order.

                                              6
                                          IV.

                                    DISPOSITION

      The probate court’s order appointing Ruqayyah administrator of Bessie’s estate is

affirmed. Ruqayyah may recover her costs on appeal.

      NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

                                                            CODRINGTON
                                                                                      J.

We concur:

RAMIREZ
                      P. J.

RAPHAEL
                         J.

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