PATRICIA THORNBER, JOHN FRANKLIN AND AL GRANT, APPELLANT,
v.
CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1988-11-15
No. 88-99
SMITH, C.J., and MILLS and NIMMONS, JJ., concur.
534 So. 2d 754 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1988) Caution
Cited by 42 cases

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Holding

The court held that appellate review is strictly limited to the record on appeal, and attempts to supplement the record with extraneous materials are improper and subject to sanctions.


Headnotes

[1] Appellate review is confined to the record on appeal, and appellate courts may not consider matters outside that record.

[2] The purpose of rules allowing for correcting and supplementing the record is to ensure that material portions of the record before the lower tribunal are available, not t…

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellant sought to amend the appellate record with newspaper articles and city council minutes unrelated to the proceedings below. Appellee responded…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant moved to “amend” the record on appeal with newspaper articles and the recorded minutes of the Fort Walton Beach city council meeting. The council minutes concerned the appearance of the trial court judge before the city council on an issue unrelated to these proceedings. The newspaper articles appellant sought to include in the record concerned the city council meeting and a report of the trial court ruling in this case.

Appellee responded to the motion to “amend”. This court denied the motion to “amend” the record on appeal and issued an order directing counsel for appellant, George E. Day, to show cause why he should not be sanctioned for his disregard of the appellate rules of procedure. In response to the show cause order, counsel for appellant continued to argue that the documents he seeks to have this court consider are properly contained in the record.

It is axiomatic that appellate review is confined to the record on appeal. Sheldon v. Tiernan, 147 So. 2d 593 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962); Permenter v. Bank of Green Cove Springs, 136 So. 2d 377 (Fla. 1st DCA 1962).

Rule 9.200(a)(1) of the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure states that the “record shall consist of the original documents, exhibits, and transcripts of proceedings, if any, filed in the lower tribunal, except summonses, praecipes, subpoenas, returns, notices, depositions, other discovery and physical evidence.” The committee notes to the rule make clear that Rule 9.200(a)(1) establishes the context of the record. Appellant may direct the clerk of the lower tribunal to exclude portions of the record but appellee is afforded an opportunity to direct the clerk to include additional documents and exhibits that were before the lower tribunal.

Rule 9.200(a)(2), Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure.

That an appellate court may not consider matters outside the record is so elemental there is no excuse for an attorney to attempt to bring such matters before the court. Altchiler v. State of Florida Department of Professional Regulation, Division of Professions, Board of Dentistry, 442 So. 2d 349 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Mann v. State Road Department, 223 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 1st DCA 1969).

It is the lower tribunal that is the court of record. As such, its judgments or decrees are to be supported, as well as tested by what its record in a particular case may show. Atlas Land Corp. v. Norman, 116 Fla. 800, 156 So. 885 (1934).

An appeal has never been an evidentiary proceeding; it is a proceeding to review a judgment or order of a lower tribunal based on the record before that tribunal. An appellate court will not consider evidence that was not presented to the lower tribunal because the function of an appellate court is to determine whether the lower tribunal committed error based on the issues and evidence before it. Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners v. Public Employees Relations Commission, 424 So. 2d 132 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); Tyson v. Aikman, 159 Fla. 273, 31 So. 2d 272 (1947); and Seashole v. F & H of Jacksonville, Inc., 258 So. 2d 316 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972).

Counsel for appellant relies on Rule 9.200(f) which allows for correcting and supplementing the record. This rule is intended to assure that any portion of the record before the lower tribunal which is material to a decision by the court be made available to the court so that appellate proceedings will be decided on their merits. The rule is not intended to correct inadequacies in the record which result from a failure of a party to make a record below. The committee notes for Rule 9.200(f) state that “the purpose of the rule is to give the parties an opportunity to have the appellate proceedings decided on the record before the lower tribunal.”

It is inappropriate and will subject movant to sanctions to inject matters into the appellate proceedings which were not before the trial court. Rosenberg v. Rosenberg, 511 So. 2d 593 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). Appellant sought to supplement the record on appeal with matters clearly out side the record. Counsel for appellant has previously been placed on this court’s culpa list by unpublished order for failing to comply with the orders of this court. See Mitchell v. State, 433 So. 2d 632 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), for an explanation of the culpa list. Counsel was warned that future violations of the rules and orders of this court might result in more severe sanctions.

By publication of this order, George E. Day is publicly reprimanded for his flagrant violation of the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure. He is warned that any future violations of the appellate rules or disregard of an order of this court, in this case or any other case, may result in imposition of further sanctions. Mitchell v. State; Rule 9.410, Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure.

This court has recently had to consider several similar motions to supplement the record with matters clearly inappropriate for inclusion in the record on appeal. This lack of understanding of the rules of appellate procedure has resulted in a needless expenditure of judicial effort. This court serves notice that future efforts to violate the integrity of the record on appeal may result in imposition of sanctions on counsel for movant.

SMITH, C.J., and MILLS and NIMMONS, JJ., concur.


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Cited By (23 total)

  • Cotton v. State, 177 So. 3d 666 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)
    …lant. We decline this request because we are not at liberty to add to this record documents that were never filed with the lower tribunal in this case and that there is no evidence the trial court reviewed. See Thornber v. City of Fort Walton Beach, 534 So. 2d 754, 755 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). The documents should have been filed directly in this record, or placed in this record pursuant to a request for judicial notice. The ability to supplement the record “is not intended to correct inadequacies in the record w…
  • State v. Gantt, 688 So. 2d 1012 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)
    …ed the State’s theory that since "we filed within the speedy trial period, the defendant, while he may be entitled to file a notice of expiration, the State would then get the fifteen day window." See generally Thornber v. City of Fort Walton Beach, 534 So. 2d 754 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Ahmed v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 516 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987).…
  • …, or proceeding, upon a finding of “[njewly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for rehearing.” Our review, however, is limited to the record on appeal. See Thornber v. City of Fort Walton Beach, 534 So. 2d 754 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Rosenberg v. Rosenberg, 511 So. 2d 593 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), review denied, 520 So. 2d 586 (Fla.1988). Accordingly, the order of termination of parental rights is affirmed.…

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