Stavrum v. Tudor

"To preserve an argument, an appellant must 'provide the trial court with an explanation of his or her objection that is specific enough to ensure that the court can identify its alleged error with enough clarity to permit it to consider and correct the error immediately, if correction is warranted.'" State v. Wyatt, 315 Or 335, 343, 15 P3d 22 (2002).

Plaintiff appealed a judgment entered in favor of Defendants that dismissed Plaintiff's claims and awarded damages to Defendant on her breach-of-contract counterclaims. Plaintiff assigned error to the trial court’s denial of Plaintiff’s motion for a directed verdict. On appeal, Plaintiff argued he was entitled to a directed verdict because the contract debt that formed the basis of Defendant’s counterclaims had been discharged in Plaintiff’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. In response, Defendant argued that Plaintiff did not preserve his first assignment of error because he did not "make a coherent legal argument." "To preserve an argument, an appellant must 'provide the trial court with an explanation of his or her objection that is specific enough to ensure that the court can identify its alleged error with enough clarity to permit it to consider and correct the error immediately, if correction is warranted.'" State v. Wyatt, 315 Or 335, 343, 15 P3d 22 (2002). The Court held that it could review Plaintiff's argument on appeal because Plaintiff did properly preserve his argument. Additionally, the Court held that the trial court improperly failed to discharge all of Plaintiff’s debt under the bankruptcy discharge order.

Judgment on counterclaims reversed and remanded in part; otherwise affirmed.