Opinion
C.A. No. 01A-10-012CG
Date Submitted: April 5, 2002
Date Decided: May 10, 2002
On Appeal from the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board. Affirmed.
John K. Williams, pro se, Wilmington, Delaware, Appellant.
Stephani Ballard, Deputy Attorney General, Wilmington, Delaware, Attorney for Appellee.
ORDER
This 10th day of May, 2002, upon consideration of the record in this case and the papers filed by the parties, it appears to the Court that:
(1) Appellant, John K. Williams, worked for Alliance Environmental, Inc. from January 1997 until February 2001 when Alliance terminated Williams' employment. On February 11, 2001, Williams applied for unemployment benefits with the Department of Labor, Division of Unemployment Insurance.
(2) On March 6, 2001, a Claims Deputy determined that Williams was disqualified from receipt of benefits because he was discharged for just cause in connection with his work. On March 27, 2001, Williams filed an untimely appeal of the Claims Deputy's decision. On April 12, 2001, an Appeals Referee conducted a hearing solely to consider the issue of the timeliness of Williams' appeal. Williams failed to appear at the hearing and the Appeals Referee dismissed the appeal.
(3) On June 25, 2001, Williams filed an untimely appeal of the Appeals Referee's decision to dismiss his appeal. On July 12, 2001, the Board remanded the matter to the Appeals Referee. On July 30, 2001, the Appeals Referee conducted a hearing pursuant to the remand to consider the timeliness of Williams' appeal. On August 3, 2001, the Appeals Referee issued a written decision affirming the decision of the Claims Deputy. The Appeals Referee determined that Williams failed to file a timely appeal of the Claims Deputy's decision.
(4) On August 31, 2001, Williams filed an untimely appeal of the Appeals Referee's decision. On October 12, 2001, the Board issued its written decision, declining to accept jurisdiction over Williams' late appeal. Williams has now appealed the decision of the Board to this Court pursuant to 19 Del. C. . § 3323.
(5) Williams has appealed the Board's October 12, 2001 decision. Therefore, the sole issue before the Court on appeal is whether the Board erred as a matter of law or abused its discretion by refusing to accept jurisdiction over Williams' late appeal. In his Notice of Appeal, Williams lists as his grounds for relief: "I never received notice from unemployment office;" "I never received a hearing from appeals board;" "I was unable to make assigned dates for hearings because of incarceration;" and "Was told I didn't have to continue to file appeal, office already had information. This caused delay in my appeal."
(6) However, in his opening brief, which Williams titled, "Response to Fact Finding Statement," Williams merely sets forth a lengthy narrative of the facts surrounding the merits of his claim for unemployment benefits. Williams does not address his stated grounds for appeal or raise any legal argument of those grounds. Appellee argues that, by failing to address his grounds for appeal in his opening brief, Williams has abandoned them on appeal.
(7) Generally, an appellant's failure to a raise a legal issue in the text of an opening brief constitutes a waiver of the claim on appeal. Murphy v. State, 632 A.2d 1150, 1152 (Del. 1993). In the instant case, Williams has failed to address his stated grounds for relief, or indeed to raise any legal argument at all. As a result, the Court finds that Williams has waived his claims, quoted above, by failing to argue them in his opening brief.
Therefore, the Board's decision is hereby AFFIRMED.