Effect of failing to dispute the basis for a trial court’s ruling

Concluding plaintiffs’ appellate arguments relied on their erroneous assertion that the trial court granted defendants summary disposition under MCR 2.116(I), the court declined to consider their claims. The case arose from plaintiffs’ arrangement for defendants to handle the cremation of a deceased family member. They appealed “the trial court’s order dismissing the case as a sanction for spoliation.” They contended the trial court erred in dismissing the “case because (1) it did not provide them with proper notice that it may dismiss the case at the evidentiary hearing, and (2) it improperly granted summary disposition under MCR 2.116(I) because defendants failed to prove they were entitled to summary disposition as a matter of law or that there was no genuine issue of material fact for all the counts listed in plaintiffs’ complaint.” But the court concluded they misunderstood “the trial court’s legal basis for dismissing their case.” It did not grant defendants summary disposition “under MCR 2.116(I); it dismissed the case as a sanction for plaintiffs’ spoliation of crucial evidence—decedent’s cremains and the tracking medallion. The trial court did not grant summary disposition to defendants under MCR 2.116(I), and plaintiffs fail to allege any errors pertaining to [its] dismissal of this case as a sanction for spoliation.” Affirmed.