Court Opinion

ID: 9778023
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:30:24.485513+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:03.143794
License: Public Domain

Robert H. Dudley, Justice, concurring. I concur in the affirmance of the trial court, but I do so on the first two points of appeal because of the appellant’s flagrant violation of Rule 9(d) of the Rules of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. I agree with the reasoning expressed by the majority on the third point. Point one of .the appellant’s argument is: “The trial court erred in failing to grant a new trial on the issue of damages.” Yet, in his abstract, appellant makes no reference to a motion for a new trial being filed with, being presented to, or being ruled upon by the trial court. Point two is: “The trial court erred by deleting that portion of A.M.I. 2204 instructing the jury that Mr. Hinkle [appellant] may be entitled to recover transportation expenses incurred in securing medical care.” Even so, the appellant failed to abstract any part of the proffered instruction. The appellant has tacitly admitted that his brief was flagrantly deficient on the first two points of appeal. In his reply brief, he wrote: Due to error, the appellant’s attorney failed to abstract the motion for new trial, the trial court’s order ruling on the motion for a new trial, a disputed instruction and three questions on voir dire. When this defect was raised, the appellant voluntarily republished his abstract and brief and filed a motion with the court asking permission to file the republished abstract and brief. Since the appellees responded to all of the points raised on the merits, no prejudice nor delay will result if appellant’s republished brief and abstract is considered on Point One and Two. Because the appellant’s brief is flagrantly deficient on the first two points of appeal, I would affirm those two points on the basis of Rule 9(d) of the Rules of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, and I would not reach the merits of those two points. Hickman and Newbern, JJ., join in this concurrence.