Court Opinion

ID: 9563317
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:38:32.740189+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:47.852459
License: Public Domain

TYSON, Judge
dissenting.
Defendant seeks the review of the North Carolina Industrial Commission’s (“Commission”) affirmation of Deputy Commissioner Glenn’s decision to deny defendant’s motion for summary judgment and to award damages to plaintiffs. The majority’s opinion grants defendant’s motion to amend the record and affirms the Commission’s opinion and award. Defendant’s violations of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure (“appellate rules”), warrants dismissal of its appeal. I respectfully dissent.
I. Appellate Rules Violations
Defendant failed to comply with the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure in the following ways: (1) to set forth record citations for its assignments of error in violation of N.C. R. App. P. *53710(c)(1); (2) to state without argument the basis for the errors assigned in violation of N.C. R. App. P. 10(c)(1); (3) to object to testimony when offered, in violation of N.C. R. App. P. 10(b) (1), which requires, “[i]n order to preserve a question for appellate review, a party must have presented to the trial court a timely request, objection or motion, stating the specific grounds for the ruling the party desired the court to make;” and (4) to assign error to the admissibility of evidence presented before Deputy Commissioner Glenn in violation of N.C. R. App. P. 10(a), which mandates, “the scope of review is confined to a consideration of those assignments of error set out in the record on appeal.”
On 18 November 2005, after defendant and plaintiff filed their appellate briefs and nineteen days prior to oral argument, defendant moved to amend the record due to its failure to assign error in accordance with N.C. R. App. P. 10. The majority’s opinion grants defendant’s motion. Because defendant’s motion also violates our appellate rules, is untimely, and prejudicial to plaintiff, I vote to deny defendant’s motion to amend the record.
Our Supreme Court has stated:
It is not the role of the appellate courts, however, to create an appeal for an appellant. As this case illustrates, the Rules of Appellate Procedure must be consistently applied; otherwise, the Rules become meaningless, and an appellee is left without notice of the basis upon which an appellate court might rule. See Bradshaw v. Stansberry, 164 N.C. 356, 79 S.E. 302 (1913).
Viar v. N.C. Dept. of Transp., 359 N.C. 400, 402, 610 S.E.2d 360, 361 (2005).
In Viar, our Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal due to appellate rules violations. Id. The plaintiff violated N.C. R. App. P. 10(c)(1) and 28(b). Id. Regarding N.C. R. App. P. 10(c), the plaintiff failed to number separately the assignments of error “at the conclusion of the record on appeal in short form without argument.” The plaintiff also violated N.C. R. App. P. 28(b), which requires, “a reference to the assignments of error pertinent to the question, identified by their numbers and by the pages at which they appear in the printed record on appeal” to follow each question. Id.
II. Conclusion
“The North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure are mandatory and ‘failure to follow these rules will subject an appeal to dis*538missal.’ ” Id. (quoting Steingress v. Steingress, 350 N.C. 64, 65, 511 S.E.2d 298, 299 (1999)). Defendant’s late motion.to amend is untimely and prejudicial to plaintiff.
The proper procedure to address defendant’s multiple rule violations is to dismiss the appeal. It is unnecessary to reach the merits of defendant’s appeal. Id. (“It is not the role of the appellate courts, however, to create an appeal for an appellant.”). Consistent with our Supreme Court’s mandate in Viar, I vote to dismiss defendant’s appeal. Id. I respectfully dissent.