Lucas v. Lucas

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE FILED AT KNOXVILLE March 27, 1998 Cecil Crowson, Jr. Appellate C ourt Clerk ETTA LUCILLE LUCAS, ) C/A NO. 03A01-9707-CV-00298 ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) GREE NE CIR CUIT ) v. ) HON. BEN K. WEXLER, ) JUDGE J. L. QUINTON LUCAS, ) ) Defend ant-App ellant. ) APPEAL DISMISSED J. RONNIE GREER , Greeneville, for Plaintiff-Appellee. LERO Y TIPT ON, JR ., Greenev ille, for Defe ndant-A ppellant. O P I N IO N Franks, J. In this divorce action the husband appeals from the divorce decree, insisting the Trial Court erred in determining the nature and extent of the parties’ separate and marital property and failed to make an equitable division of the marital assets and debts between the parties. The failur e of an ap pellant’s brief to comply w ith the Rules of App ellate Procedure and the Rules of this Court may be grounds for dismissal of appeal or not consid ering iss ues raise d on ap peal. See W ilhite v. B rown sville Co ncrete C o. Inc., 798 S.W.2d 7 72 (Tenn . App. 199 0); Davis v. H all, 920 S .W.2d 213 (T enn. A pp. 199 5). Rule 27, Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure, provides that the brief of the appellant shall contain “a statement of facts, setting forth the facts relevant to the issues presented for review with appropriate reference to the record:” Id.(6). Under the statement of facts the appellate brief states: In an effort to avoid repetition and redundancy, the appellant shall make a statemen t of facts in th e argume nt portion of the brief an d approp riate reference shall be ma de to the tran script of the e vidence w hich is designated as Volume 2 of the appellate record. The foregoing fails to comport with the requirements of Rule 27. Rule 15 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals provides: Rule 15. Briefs in D omestic Relation s Cases. - In domestic relations appeals where the issues involve the amount or the disposition of the marital property, the appellant’s brief shall contain in the statement of facts or in an appendix, an orderly tabulation of all marital property in a form sub stantially like the for m attached hereto. All e ntries in the tab le as to value and to whom the property was awarded shall be accompanied by a citation to the record where the information may be found. If the appeal involves issues about the separate property of either party or the alloca tion of the m arital debts, the a ppellant’s brie f shall contain a separate table in the same form showing the pertinent information for that disputed issue. If the appellee disagrees with the appellant’s tabulation, the appellee’s brief shall contain a tabulation in the same form showing the appellee’s version of the facts. This rule shall apply to briefs filed after May 1, 1992. Marital Ap pellant’s Appellee’s Value Found Party To Property Value Value By Trial Whom Prop - Court erty Awarded By Trial Court Appellant filed no appendix to his brief, and the brief contains no orderly tabulation of all marital property in the form required by the Rule, nor any tabu latio n as to the marital d ebts or se para te property. There is no attempt to comply with the Rules, nor has any reason been 2 given for failure to comply. Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal and remand at appellant’s c ost. __________________________ Herschel P. Franks, J. CONCUR: ___________________________ Don T. McM urray, J. ___________________________ Charles D. Susano, Jr., J. 3