Dogwood Development and Management Company, LLC v. White Oak Transport Company, Inc.

Summary

The Supreme Court of North Carolina reversed the Court of Appeals' dismissal of White Oak Transport's appeal, which a divided Court of Appeals panel had dismissed for violations of appellate Rules 10(c)(1), 28(b)(4), and 28(b)(6). The Court clarified that appellate-rule defaults arise in three principal forms — trial-level waiver, jurisdictional defects, and nonjurisdictional violations — and prescribed a graduated response for nonjurisdictional violations: determine whether the noncompliance is a 'substantial failure' or 'gross violation' under Rules 25(b) and 34(a)(3), impose an appropriate Rule 34(b) sanction short of dismissal in most cases, and reserve dismissal for only the most egregious instances, with Rule 2 relief available only in exceptional circumstances and never for jurisdictional defaults. Because the Court of Appeals dismissed without conducting any Rules 25/34 analysis, the Court reversed and remanded for consideration of whether the violations implicate those rules and, if so, whether a sanction other than dismissal is appropriate.