Untimely Appeal Not Recharacterized as Cross-Appeal

The court dismissed an attempt by a party to have their untimely appeal declared a cross-appeal because the original appeal had already been formally decided, and furthermore, the party's filing date predated their knowledge of the opposing party's appeal, thus precluding it from being a cross-appeal. The court reasoned that the two procedural actions are substantively distinct, with a cross-appeal being contingent upon the main appeal, and since the party failed to file a proper cross-appeal within the legally prescribed ten-day period following notification of the main appeal, the delayed filing could not be recharacterized.