Court Opinion

ID: 9600472
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:27:34.768484+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:52.702050
License: Public Domain

*748STEELMAN, Judge
concurring.
I agree entirely with the majority opinion in this matter, but write separately to address the increasingly frequent abuse of the appendix to briefs by appellate counsel. In this case, counsel for the Department of Transportation (DOT) attached as a portion of the appendix to its brief, fourteen pages of material from five different Internet sites pertaining to vehicle identification numbers for Chevrolet automobiles. DOT argued this material in its brief to bolster its argument that the vehicle in question was in fact the vehicle stolen from Canada. This matter was decided by the trial court upon DOT’S motion for summary judgment, which was granted on 20 November 2003. None of this material is contained in the record on appeal. All of the Internet material bears the date of 17 May 2004, two days prior to the filing of DOT’s brief in this matter.
Rule 28(d) of the Rules of Appellate Procedure governs appendixes to briefs. N.C. R. App. P. 28(d). Subsection (d)(l)c allows an appellant to reproduce in an appendix the following: “relevant portions of statutes, rules, or regulations, the study of which is required to determine questions presented in the brief.” While not expressly stated in Rule 28(d), it would appear that this provision would be equally applicable to appellees as well. None of the Internet material contained in appellee’s appendix constitutes “statutes, rules, or regulations.” On their face, it is clear the documents do not come from any website operated by a government agency or the manufacturer of Chevrolet automobiles, but rather are private sites. There is no provision in Rule 28(d) allowing for the inclusion of material found on the Internet in appendixes to appellant briefs.
“This Court has held, ‘it [is] improper [for a party] ... to attach a document not in the record and not permitted under N.C. R. App. R 28(d) in an appendix to its brief.’ ” Duke Univ. v. Bishop, 131 N.C. App. 545, 547, 507 S.E.2d 904, 905 (1998) (quoting Horton v. New South Ins. Co., 122 N.C. App. 265, 268, 468 S.E.2d 856, 858 (1996)). The rationale for this rule is clear. The role of an appellate court is to review the rulings of the lower court, not to consider new evidence or matters that were not before the trial court. If this were permitted, the appellate process would never end.
Appellate counsel should take care to follow the requirements of Rule 28(d) in placing material in an appendix. Failure to comply with this rule subjects counsel to sanctions by this court.