Poppa v. Laird

The appellant is required to provide the appellate court with a sufficient appellate record to decide the issues on appeal. The appellate court will not decide issues that were not preserved as an error in the court below.

Poppa, a former employee of Laird, filed a wage claim in small claims court. The jury found in favor of Poppa, but the trial court ruled that Poppa's wrongful use of civil proceedings claim had been filed prematurely. Poppa then filed a new claim for wrongful use of civil proceedings to which Laird did not respond. The trial court issued a default judgment against Laird and held a prima facie hearing to determine damages, in which it entered a judgment for Laird based on a lack of evidence. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment because Poppa failed to preserve the trial court’s error. Additionally, Poppa did not provide the Court with a sufficient appellate record to decide the issues on appeal. Because the prima facie hearing was not recorded, there was no record for appeal and the Court was unable to determine if anything pertinent to the claim occurred during the hearing. Affirmed.