THE APPENDIX SUBMITTED BY THE APPELLANT WAS INCOMPLETE; APPEAL DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, dismissing the appeal, determined the appendix submitted by the appellant was insufficient to allow consideration of the issues raised:

“[A]n appellant who perfects an appeal by using the appendix method must file an appendix that contains all relevant portions of the record to enable the court to render an informed decision on the merits of the appeal” … . “‘The appendix shall contain those portions of the record necessary to permit the court to fully consider the issues which will be raised by the appellant and the respondent, including material excerpts from transcripts of testimony[,] . . . papers in connection with a motion, and critical exhibits'” … . Further, “[e]xcerpts from the transcripts ‘must not be misleading or unintelligible by reason of incompleteness or lack of surrounding context'” … . “‘An appellate court should not be subjected to the task of untangling and mastering the facts from an inadequate and incoherent appendix'” … .

Here, the plaintiffs omitted from the appendix, among other things, material excerpts from transcripts of deposition testimony and each of the defendants’ papers in connection with the separate motions which were the subject of the order appealed from … . “These omissions inhibit the court’s ability to render an informed decision on the merits of the appeal” … . Accordingly, as the plaintiffs have failed to provide this Court with an adequate appendix, we dismiss the appeal …  .Kelly-Newhouse v Chase Meadows Farm, LLC, 2026 NY Slip Op 02108, Second Dept 4-8-26

Practice Point: When an appeal is perfected by the appendix method, if the appendix does not include all of the record necessary for consideration of the issues raised in the appeal, the appeal will be dismissed.