TONY GRIER,
Plaintiff,
v
.
Gaston County
No. 02 CVS 705
EARL TINDOL FORD, INC.,
Defendant.
Plaintiff-appellant Tony Grier, pro se.
Arthurs & Foltz, by Douglas P. Arthurs, for defendant-
appellee.
HUDSON, Judge.
On 22 February 2002, plaintiff Tony Grier filed a complaint
against defendant Earl Tindol Ford, Inc., alleging negligence,
breach of agreement, misrepresentation, and conversion in
connection with the trade-in of plaintiff's used car. Plaintiff
and defendant both moved to compel and for sanctions. On 4 August
2003, the court entered orders denying plaintiff's motion, and
granting defendant's motion. Only plaintiff's negligence and
conversion claims were tried. The court granted defendant's motion
for directed verdict on the negligence claim. The jury found that
defendant converted plaintiff's car and awarded him fifty dollarsin damages. Because the jury's award was less than defendant's
pre-trial offer of judgment, the court ordered plaintiff to pay
defendant the difference between defendant's post-offer costs and
arbitration fee, and the jury award. Plaintiff moved for a new
trial, which motion the court denied on 17 November 2003.
Plaintiff appeals. As discussed below, we affirm.
Plaintiff's statement of facts is somewhat unclear. Plaintiff
owned a Mazda 626 which he had towed to defendant's car dealership
as a trade-in for a new vehicle. The Mazda was stored at the home
of a tow truck driver where it was disassembled by the tow truck
driver in an effort to start it without a key. Subsequently,
another person used the Mazda as a trade-in without plaintiff's
consent.
Plaintiff first argues that the court abused its discretion in
denying his motion to compel and for sanctions. Plaintiff contends
that defendant “gave evasive and incomplete answer [sic] during
discovery.” Because plaintiff fails to make any more specific
allegations of abuse of discretion by the court, fails to take
exception to any part of the deposition excerpts included in the
record, and fails to challenge any of the findings contained in the
order, we overrule this assignment of error as without merit.
Plaintiff next argues that the court erred in granting
defendant's motion to compel and for sanctions. Plaintiff's entire
second argument is the following:
Under the Fifth Amendment of the United States
Constitution, everyone has a privilege against
self-incrimination. The plaintiff was [sic]
for exercising his constitutional right.
Because plaintiff's argument is not intelligible to us, we deem
this assignment of error abandoned.
Plaintiff also assigns error to the court's granting
defendant's motion for directed verdict. While plaintiff cites two
cases regarding the standard of review on appeal of a grant of
directed verdict, he makes no argument regarding their application
to his case. We deem this assignment abandoned. N.C. R. App. P.
28(b).
Plaintiff next argues that the court erred in failing to
instruct the jury on negligence. Because plaintiff fails to
present an argument applying the case cited to the facts here, we
deem this assignment of error abandoned as well. N.C. R. App. P.
28(b).
Plaintiff also argues that the court erred in granting
defendant attorney fees. The court did not award attorney fees to
either party in its 29 September 2003 judgment. The court did tax
the costs incurred by defendant after the date of its offer of
judgment (11 April 2003) against plaintiff pursuant to N.C. Gen.
Stat. § 1A-11, Rule 68. However, because plaintiff failed to
include the offer of judgment in the record before this Court, he
may not use it as the basis of an assignment of error. N.C. R.
App. P. 9.
Finally, plaintiff assigns as error “Motion for a new trial
when it abused discretion on the trial court erred in denying the
plaintiff's newly discovered evidence and, an uncontested
affidavit.” Because plaintiff fails to make a coherent argument orcite any authority regarding this issue, this assignment of error
is deemed abandoned. N.C. R. App. P. 28(b).
Affirmed.
Judges WYNN and STEELMAN concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
*** Converted from WordPerfect ***