Court Opinion

ID: 9580654
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:07:17.227837+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:25.775331
License: Public Domain

GOOLSBY, J.,
(concurring):
Although I question whether the appellants Martha M. Carr and Ruth Riley Glover proved that, at the time the respondent Raymond C. Campbell contracted with Carr to purchase the land in question, Carr’s mental illness affected her legal capacity to enter into that contract, I concur in the majority’s decision to reverse the judgment below.
Rule 208(a)(4), SCACR, provides in part: “Upon the failure of the respondent to timely file a brief, the appellate court may take such action as it deems proper.” This action includes reversing the judgment below. Wierszewski v. Tokarick, 308 S.C. 441, 418 S.E.2d 557 (Ct.App.1992).
Here, Campbell did not file a respondent’s brief, notwithstanding substantial questions of fact and of law are involved, no small amount of money is at stake, and the case is one in which this court, because it is an action in equity, may take its own view of the preponderance of the evidence. Townes Assocs. v. City of Greenville, 266 S.C. 81, 221 S.E.2d 773 (1976). In short, Campbell offers us nothing.
As in Wierszewski, this court should not be inclined to do what Campbell neglected to do, i.e., “search the record for *267reasons to affirm.” 808 S.C. at 444 n. 2, 418 S.E.2d at 559 n. 2; cf. Smith v. South Carolina Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 284 S.C. 469, 327 S.E.2d 348 (1985) (holding, under prior appellate court rules, the supreme court would not “grope in the dark” in order to identify errors).