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Cong v. Bell

California Court of Appeals, Second District, Sixth Division
Jan 3, 2008
No. B197748 (Cal. Ct. App. Jan. 3, 2008)

Opinion


DONNA R. CONG, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. NOAH W. BELL, Defendant and Respondent. B197748 California Court of Appeal, Second District, Sixth Division January 3, 2008

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Appeal from the Superior Court County of Ventura No. D294275, John R. Smiley, Judge.

Donna R. Cong, in pro. per. for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Janet A. Lawson for Defendant and Respondent.

GILBERT, P.J.

Donna R. Cong appeals an order awarding primary physical custody of her son to Noah W. Bell, the child's father. We conclude that Cong has not produced an adequate record on appeal. We affirm.

FACTS

After a two day hearing on the issues of custody and visitation the trial court awarded primary physical custody of Cong's son to Bell, the child's father. It ruled that Bell would have the "sole decision as to the child's educational decisions and [the child's] primary care physician." The court awarded visitation rights to Cong.

DISCUSSION

I. Adequacy of the Record

Cong contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the court's custody order. Bell argues that we must affirm because Cong has failed to produce an adequate record on appeal.

Several witnesses testified at the custody hearing. But Cong did not produce a reporter's transcript. Nor did she obtain a settled statement. We do not know what the witnesses said. The record is therefore incomplete and inadequate to support Cong's contentions that the trial court erred.

"[A]n appellant '"must affirmatively show error by an adequate record. . . . 'A judgment . . . is presumed correct. All . . . presumptions are indulged to support it on matters as to which the record is silent . . . .' . . . " . . . '" (Null v. City of Los Angeles (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 1528, 1532.)

Here Cong has produced only a Clerk's Transcript and is challenging the findings of the trial court made after it heard two days of testimony. "On a clerk's transcript appeal, [we] must conclusively presume that the evidence is ample to sustain the findings." (Codekas v. Dyna-Lift Company (1975) 48 Cal.App.3d 20, 24.) The absence of a reporter's transcript is fatal to an appellant's claim that a trial court's order is not supported by the evidence. (Pfleg v. Pfleg (1959) 168 Cal.App.2d 53, 55.) "To put it another way, it is presumed that the unreported trial testimony would demonstrate the absence of error." (In re Estate of Fain (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 973, 992.)

We have carefully reviewed Cong's remaining contentions and conclude she has not shown reversible error.

The judgment is affirmed. Costs on appeal awarded to Respondent.

We concur: COFFEE, J., PERREN, J.


Summaries of

Cong v. Bell

California Court of Appeals, Second District, Sixth Division
Jan 3, 2008
No. B197748 (Cal. Ct. App. Jan. 3, 2008)
Case details for

Cong v. Bell

Case Details

Full title:DONNA R. CONG, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. NOAH W. BELL, Defendant and…

Court:California Court of Appeals, Second District, Sixth Division

Date published: Jan 3, 2008

Citations

No. B197748 (Cal. Ct. App. Jan. 3, 2008)