Opinion
A150069 A150159
10-10-2018
In re the Marriage of JENNIFER SUN and TOM LAN. JENNIFER SUN, Respondent, v. TOM LAN, Appellant.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. HF14713157) MEMORANDUM OPINION
We resolve these appeals by memorandum opinion pursuant to California Standards of Judicial Administration, section 8.1. --------
Appellant Tom Lan, appearing in propria persona in this dissolution proceeding, pursues two appeals from orders entered, respectively, July 1, 2016 and October 21, 2016. The July 1, 2016 order is an order after hearing setting child support and directing appellant to provide health insurance. The October 21, 2016 order is an order rejecting appellant's proposed form of judgment.
We consolidated the two appeals for purposes of oral argument and decision.
Both parties are unrepresented. Respondent Jennifer Sun appeared in propria persona in the family court proceedings from which these appeals are taken and filed a letter with this court inquiring how to proceed on appeal, but despite notice of default in filing a responding brief, she failed to file any such brief.
The notices of appeal in each of the appeals were filed, respectively, on November 28, 2016, and December 15, 2016, prior to the entry of final judgment of dissolution, which was entered January 17, 2017. Appellant never secured certification from the trial court for an interlocutory appeal of any order entered prior to final judgment. On March 17, 2017, we granted appellant's unopposed motion to augment the record to include the final judgment of dissolution, but we did so without any determination of relevance.
Although appellant managed to present us with the final judgment by his motion to augment, we decline to treat his premature appeals from prior orders as properly taken from the judgment. Accordingly, we dismiss these appeals as an improper attempt to challenge interlocutory orders which are not appealable. (Code Civ. Proc., § 904.1; Kinoshita v. Horio (1986) 186 Cal.App.3d 959, 962-963; Lester v. Lennane (2000) 84 Cal.App.4th 536, 560.)
Even if these two appeals were properly taken from a final judgment, we see no basis to disturb the orders appellant seeks to attack. Much of the argument in appellant's brief addresses whether the family court correctly calculated his average monthly income and whether it should have accepted and relied on purportedly fraudulent evidence offered by respondent of her income and expenses. He also complains that respondent failed to respond to discovery and failed to properly serve him with her updated income and expense declaration prior to the hearing on child support issues. The family law court's evidentiary rulings and assessments of the evidentiary showings made by the parties are discretionary and will not be second-guessed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion, which appellant has not shown.
The legal arguments advanced in the opening brief, to the extent we can discern any, are a barely coherent jumble interspersed with suggestions that the family court was biased against appellant, "retaliat[ed]" against him, and abused his "man's legal rights by its gender discrimination." We cannot meaningfully address arguments presented in this inchoate fashion. (See Jones v. Superior Court (1994) 26 Cal.App.4th 92, 99; Dills v. Redwoods Associates, Ltd. (1994) 28 Cal.App.4th 888, 890, fn. 1.) The judgment is presumed correct on appeal. While some statutory and case law citations are supplied, appellant presents no legal grounds that might justify our concluding that the two prejudgment rulings at issue were outside the bounds of the family court's discretion or otherwise legally erroneous.
DISPOSITION
These appeals are dismissed.
/s/_________
Streeter, Acting P.J. We concur: /s/_________
Reardon, J. /s/_________
Lee, J.