Was the Judge right by awarding primary residential parent to the Mother? We will never know…
Sines v. Tinnin (Tenn. Ct. App. 2022) was an appeal from a 2-day trial (1/24/2020 and 2/4/2020) on issues relating to primary residential parent and the parenting plan. For the trial, the evidence consisted of the following: the Mother’s testimony and the Father’s testimony and both parties were represented by attorneys; the parties agreed to the admission of a “lengthy report” prepared by a doctor, but the report was not a part of the appellate record; an educator testified; and a counselor testified at trial.
After two days of testimony, the judge awarded the Mother primary residential parent status with the Father receiving equal parenting time. The Father requested to the trial court amend its order arguing that the parenting plan was in error and contrary to the weight of the evidence and the statutory factors, and he requested to be designated primary residential parent. On 11/5/2021, the trial court denied the Father’s request.
Neither side had ordered a court reporter. The Appellate Court stated, “Again, no transcript or statement of the evidence was provided in the appellate record.” Thus, “the absence of either a transcript or a statement of the evidence significantly ties the hands of the appellate court.” What does that mean? “The absence of a transcript or statement of the evidence is generally fatal to the party having the burden on appeal.”
How much was really lost by not spending the money for a court reporter, or at the very least, recording the trial? Just some rough numbers and not based on what the attorneys actually charged or the experts’ fees: say $250 an hour for each attorney for two 8-hour days plus the old rule of thumb of 3 hours of preparation per every 1 hour of trial = $8,000 per side for attorneys’ fees, so $16,000-ish total for fees + $5,000 for an expert’s report + $1,000 for the counselor. So maybe $22,000 for the trial. This $22,000-ish does not include the cost of the attorney time to request the trial court amend the order, and it does not include appellate attorneys’ fees. So, after an year and a half of litigation from the time of the trial to the time of the request for amendment, one would think that $2,000-ish expenditure for the court reporter and transcript would have been a worthwhile expense.
Moral of the story: If it is worth going to trial, it is worth having a record.
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