Chapter 1: General Appellate Issues
1.1Basis for Parties’ Positions
A.Party Must State Basis For Claim
“A party may not merely announce a position and leave it to [the reviewing court] to discover and rationalize the basis for the claim.” Nat’l Waterworks, Inc v Int’l Fidelity & Surety, Ltd, 275 Mich App 256, 265 (2007). “When a party merely announces a position and provides no authority to support it, [the reviewing court] consider[s] the issue waived.” Id.
B.Party Must Provide Record Supporting Claim
“It is the appellant’s obligation to secure the complete transcript of all proceedings in the lower court unless production of the full transcript is excused by order of the trial court or by stipulation of the parties. [The appellate court] limits its review to the record provided on appeal and will not consider any alleged evidence or testimony that is not supported by the record presented to the Court for review.” Admiral Ins Co v Columbia Cas Ins Co, 194 Mich App 300, 305 (1992) (internal citation omitted). See also MCR 7.109; MCR 7.210; MCR 7.310.
However, MCR 7.105(B)(5) only requires a complete transcript accompany certain applications for leave to appeal. See Section 2.1(F)(2) for information on the manner of filing an application for leave to appeal.