MEMO
TO: Joint Procedure Committee
FROM: Mike Hagburg
RE: Rule 28, N.D.R.App.P., Briefs
The Chief Justice has suggested that the Committee consider adoption of amendments to Rule 28 based on a provision in Utah R.App.P. 24, which contains content and decorum requirements for briefs. A copy of the Utah rule is attached.
Staff has prepared amendments to Rule 28, inserting a new subdivision (l) on requirements and sanctions. Among other things, the new subdivision would require that briefs be "free from burdensome, irrelevant, immaterial or scandalous matters." The proposed amendments are attached.
The Utah rule was in the legal news recently because of how it was applied in Peters v. Pine Meadow Ranch Assn., 2007 UT 2, 151 P.3d 962. The Utah court struck a party's briefs and fined the party's attorney $17,000 in fees because the briefs were "replete with unfounded accusations." A copy of the Peters case and a news article on the case are attached.