Benjamin Chang v. Christine Nyonga

• Court: Supreme Court of New Hampshire
• Decided: September 16, 2022
• Docket: 2021-0573
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

SUPREME COURT

In Case No. 2021-0573, Benjamin Chang v. Christine Nyonga, the court on September 16, 2022, issued the following order:

Having considered the parties’ briefs and the limited record submitted on appeal, we conclude that oral argument is unnecessary in this case. See Sup. Ct. R. 18(1). The plaintiff, Benjamin Chang, appeals an order of the Circuit Court (Alfano, J.) finding in favor of the defendant, Christine Nyonga, on the plaintiff’s claim for damages for breach of contract and on the defendant’s counterclaim for return of her security deposit. We affirm.

On appeal, the plaintiff argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the trial court’s decision. We are unable to review his appellate argument substantively because he has failed to provide a sufficient record for our review. As the appealing party, the plaintiff has the burden of providing us with a record sufficient to decide his appellate issues. Bean v. Red Oak Prop. Mgmt., 151 N.H. 248, 250, (2004); see Sup. Ct. R. 13; see also Town of Nottingham v. Newman, 147 N.H. 131, 137 (2001) (explaining that the rules of appellate practice are not relaxed for self-represented litigants). The plaintiff has not provided a transcript of the hearing on the merits. Absent a complete record, we must assume that the evidence supported the trial court’s decision. See Bean, 151 N.H. at 250. We review the court’s order for errors of law only, see Atwood v. Owens, 142 N.H. 396, 397 (1997), and find none.

Affirmed.

MacDonald, C.J., and Hicks, Bassett, Hantz Marconi, and Donovan, JJ., concurred.

Timothy A. Gudas, Clerk