Appellate Law

Pro se appellant subject to rules requiring citation to authorities

In Hendricks v. KW Plastics, [Ms. 2070324], (Ala. Civ. App. Oct. 10, 2008), the Court of Civil Appeals refused to consider an argument because it was not supported by sufficient citations to the law.  The fact that the appellant was acting pro se did not change the result.

In one of the portions of his brief, the pro se appellant "cite[d] as supporting authority only general references to Amendments 1 through 14 of the United States Constitution and to the Alabama Constitution of 1901.  Hendricks faile[d] to make specific arguments to this court attempting to explain the relevance of those authorities."  Slip Op. p. 4.  Thus, the court concluded, the appellant failed to comply with Ala. R. App. P. 28(a)(10) which requires the arguments to ne supported by citations to the record and authority.

The fact that the appellant was pro se did not save him from the requirement.  Quoting from Lockett v. A.L. Sandlin Lumber Co., 588 So. 2d 889, 890 (Ala. Civ. App. 1991), the court noted that "[r]ules are not more forgiving to a pro se litigant that to one represented by counsel."  Slip. Op. p. 5.

Full post as published by Alabama Appellate Watch on October 16, 2008 (boomark / email).