In Time For Halloween

The Tennessee Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal due to a deficient brief

Ana Tania Gomez and Joaquin Gomez, citizens and residents of Mexico, are the appellants in this matter. Appellants filed a complaint against ten individuals and business entities in the chancery court of Sevier County, asserting numerous claims arising out of their involvement with a business that operated a dinner show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The complaint stated that it was an action for declaratory judgment, to quiet title, for breach of contract, for violations of the Tennessee Business Corporation Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-11-101, et seq., for violations of the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-51-101, et seq., to pierce the corporate veil, and for fraud and misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, and unjust enrichment.

After a two day bench trial, the trial court entered an order ruling in favor of the defendants on all claims and dismissing the complaint filed by Appellants. Appellants timely filed a notice of appeal.

But

The brief filed on behalf of Appellants does not contain an argument section separately addressing each of these three issues. After reciting the facts, it simply recites the abuse of discretion standard and summarily declares, “Defendants clearly violated T.C.A. Section 61-1-404 et seq., General Standards of partner’s conduct.” The brief contains no other citation to legal authority, and it does not specify which portions of Tennessee Code Annotated section 61-1-404 (or the following sections) should apply to the conduct of the ten defendants…

Because Appellants failed to construct more than a skeletal argument in support of their issues on appeal, we deemed them waived.

(Mike Frisch)