Ambrose v. M. F. A. Co-Operative Ass'n of St. Elizabeth

266 S.W.2d 647
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided April 12, 1954·No. 43290·Published·Cited by 93 cases

Opinions

TIPTON, Judge.

A jury in the circuit court of Miller County, Missouri, returned a verdict of $10,000 for appellant for personal injuries he received while a customer in respondent’s store. The trial court sustained respondent’s motion to set aside the verdict and render judgment for respondent and in the alternative sustained respondent’s motion for a new trial on the ground of error in instructions. Appellant has appealed.

Respondent filed only a motion to dismiss the appeal first on the ground that no [648] full transcript of the record had been filed. However, while this appeal was pending in Division One of this Court, that division continued the case at the January 1953 session to allow the filing of a full transcript, which was done.

Respondent’s motion to dismiss also states that appellant’s brief fails to comply with our Rule 1.08, 42 V.A.M.S., in that it does not contain a fair and concise statement of the facts but contains unwarranted conclusions instead of facts; that there are no references to pages of the transcript- indicating where facts referred to in the statement can be found; that it omits all the facts on which appellant’s adversary relies; that the brief fails to specify allegations of error; and that the points relied on are mere abstract statements unsupported by reasons or citation of authorities. Appellant’s brief does violate Rule 1.08 in most respects. Also in that part of the brief denominated “Argument,” which is the only place where cases are cited, the names of some of the cases are not shown.

Appellant’s brief fails to tell what this law suit is about or the legal issues involved. ' “Indeed, appellant presents no brief proper at all — as required by the established usages of both courts and as understood, at the bar. The only authorities cited and the only legal propositions advanced are * * * labeled by learned counsel, himself, ‘Argument.’ This matter is * * * well calculated to divert, or impede, not aid, the judicial mind in its search through the mass for the calm, cold, legal propositions so ambushed and hid away. If.learned counsel had paid attention to the rules of court in the logical arrangement and segregation of his legal propositions, and in the proper citation .of his authorities, his case would be in a shape contemplated by the rules, but, as it is, his case is here in the teeth of them.

‘*The rules of appellate practice in. hand are simple and plain. They fill ño .office of mere red tape, or as a show of surface routine. To the contrary, they have substance,. and carry on their face the obvious purpose'to aid appellate courts in getting at the right of a cause. Hence, apparently, they bespeak the dignity arising from obedience. If they are not to be obeyed, they should be done away with once for all. A just rule, fairly interpreted and enforced, wrongs no man. Ostensibly enforced, but not, it necessarily wrongs some men viz., those who labor to obey it—the very ones it should not injure. If the rules in question stand for something and are ever to be enforced, they should be put in motion in this case.” Sullivan v. Holbrook, 211 Mo. 99, loc. cit. 103-104, 109 S.W. 668, 670. (Italics ours.)

What a brief shall contain is stated in our Rule 1.08, which reads in part: “(a) All briefs shall be printed. The brief for appellant shall contain: (1) A concise statement of the grounds on which the jurisdiction of the review court is invoked; (2) A fair and concise statement of the facts without argument; (3) The points relied on, which shall specify the allegations of error, with citation of authorities thereunder; provided, however, if more than three authorities are cited in support ’ of a point made, the three authorities principally relied on shall be cited first; and (4) An argument.” Subsections (b), (c) and (d) deal principally with the form of the brief.

The requirements as to what a brief shall contain under our Rule 1.08 are almost identical with the requirements under our former Rule 15. See Vol. 351, Missouri Reports, or prior volumes. The penalty for failure to comply with our former Rule 15 was dismissal of the appeal. Failure to comply with our Rule 1.08 is still dismissal of the appeal, see Walker v. Allebach, 354 Mo. 298, 189 S.W.2d 282 or an affirmance of the judgment, “unless good cause is shown or the interests of justice otherwise require.” See Rule 1.15.

It is not our duty to search the entire record irj. order to discover, if possible, error committed by the trial court, but it ⅛ the duty of the appellant to distinctly point our the alleged errors of the trial court and to show that he was prejudiced by such rulings, and where such rulings [649] may be found in the transcript. Anderson v. Woodward Implement Co., Mo.Sup., 256 S.W.2d 819; Kleinschmidt v. Globe-Democrat Publishing Co., 350 Mo. 250, 165 S.W.2d 620.

As before stated, the appellant’s brief leaves us without sufficient information on which to proceed. It does not suggest any good cause why the penalty of dismissal should not be enforced. Nor is there anything ⅛ the brief that shows that in the “interest of justice” this appeal should not be dismissed.

In order for us to determine if the trial court erred in granting a new trial and entering’ a judgment for respondent, it would be necessary for this court to study the transcript and, also, to brief the various issues we find in 'the record, thereby this court becoming an advocate as well as a court. Assuming there is a strong probability that a study of this transcript might show reversible error, we do not think that the interest of justice imperatively requires us to perform this labor in this case as balanced against the importance of keeping this court abreast of its docket. Justice demands that cases be correctly and speedily determined. This cannot be done unless the cases submitted to this court are properly briefed.

This court has been very lenient in its enforcement of the penalty of dismissal for failure to comply with Rule 1.08. The bar has paid little attention to our frequent warnings. Briefs filed in this court recently are not up to the standard of those filed in the past. This is .especially true in reference to the question of “points relied on” under Rule 1.08.

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Ambrose v. M. F. A. Co-Operative Ass'n of St. Elizabeth, 266 S.W.2d 647 (Mo. 1954).

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