Montoya

DISCUSSION

Montoya and Trejo contend the trial court erred in granting summary adjudication of the affirmative defenses. In response, Cunning Dental and Guerra maintain that Montoya and Trejo failed to provide an adequate record. They list 23 items that would be minimally necessary to understand and review the summary adjudication issue. Even though this procedural

3 error was brought to Montoya’s and Trejo’s attention, they did not file a reply brief or attempt to augment the record. While we generally make every effort to address appeals on their merits, rather than disposing of them on technical procedural grounds, we agree the record in this case is simply too sparse for meaningful review. “[I]t is a fundamental principle of appellate procedure that a trial court judgment is ordinarily presumed to be correct and the burden is on an appellant to demonstrate, on the basis of the record presented to the appellate court, that the trial court committed an error that justifies reversal of the judgment.” (Jameson v. Desta (2018) 5 Cal.5th 594, 608–609.) “ ‘This is not only a general principle of appellate practice but an ingredient of the constitutional doctrine of reversible…