Kenneth Bell & Nez, Inc. v. Baldwin Chevrolet Cadillac, Inc.
Decision Date | 25 October 2018 |
Docket Number | No. SD 35342,SD 35342 |
Citation | 561 S.W.3d 469 |
Parties | KENNETH BELL AND NEZ, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BALDWIN CHEVROLET CADILLAC, INC., Defendant-Respondent. |
Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Attorney for Appellants – Tom K. O'Loughlin II of Cape Girardeau, MO.
Attorney for Respondent – Paul E. Petruska of St. Louis, MO.
Kenneth Bell and NEZ, Inc. (collectively, "Appellants") filed a multiple-count suit against General Motors of Missouri, LLC ("General Motors") and Baldwin Chevrolet, Cadillac, Inc. ("Respondent") based on alleged defects in a 2013 Corvette that Appellants purchased new from Respondent on February 3, 2014. Subsequently, Appellants voluntarily dismissed all counts of their suit other than Count I, which requested "rescission of the sale contract" and was solely against Respondent. Following Appellants' dismissal, Respondent requested summary judgment on Count I. The trial court granted Respondent’s request, and entered an amended judgment on February 8, 2018, stating: "This Court finds that Plaintiff an adequate remedy at law, that being the car at issue remains under warranty until February 2019, which Defendant Baldwin Chevrolet, Inc. is honoring. Appellants appeal from the amended judgment raising a single point with four sub-points. Respondent filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for violations of Rule 84.04.1 Respondent contends that it cannot determine Appellants' actual argument on appeal. Respondent’s motion is well taken and is granted. The appeal is dismissed.
We start with Appellant’s point relied on, which states:
Rule 84.04 has very specific requirements for drafting an appellate brief. Respondent complains that several aspects of Appellants' brief violate Rule 84.04. Specifically, Respondent argues that the brief technically violates Rule 84.04(d). More importantly, the technical violations are substantive. Respondent claims Appellants set forth facts that are not supported in the record, mis-cited facts, ignored the obvious legal argument at issue, and ignored the requirements of a Point Relied On. We agree.
We begin with the point relied on, Rule 84.04(d).2
Next, Respondent notes that Appellants failed to cite a single case, statute or authority of any kind in the point relied on section of the brief as required by Rule 84.04(d)(5). Again, as Respondent notes, the violation is not merely a technical violation but is a substantive violation. Appellants failed to argue that any cases support their purported claim that the court erred in granting summary judgment for Respondent. In other words, the deficient point is compounded by an insufficient listing of authority. Although the UCC provisions are cited as authority, in what is clearly a confusing argument, Appellants argue that the UCC does not apply to the grant of summary judgment.
Finally, Respondent addresses the argument section of the brief. While noting that Appellants violated Rule 84.04(e) by changing the point relied on in the argument section, Respondent correctly notes that the point relied on fails to "state concisely the legal reasons for the Appellant[s'] claim of reversible error" and completely fails to "explain in summary fashion why, in the context of the case, those legal reasons support the claim of reversible error." Rule 84.04(d) tries to make compliance as easy as possible by suggesting an appellant use the word "because" before stating the concise legal...
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