RULE 28. BRIEFS

Obsolete Date: 3/1/2003

(a) Brief of the Appellant. The brief of the appellant must contain under appropriate headings and in the following order:

1. A table of contents, with page references, and a table of cases (alphabetically arranged), statutes, and other authorities cited, with references to the pages of the brief where they are cited.

2. In an application for the exercise of original jurisdiction, a concise statement of the grounds on which the jurisdiction of the supreme court is invoked, including citations of authorities.

3. A statement of the issues presented for review.

4. A concise statement of the case. The statement must first indicate briefly the nature of the case, the course of proceedings, and its disposition in the court below, followed by a clear, concise, chronological statement of the facts relevant to the issues presented for review, with appropriate references to the record (subdivision (e)). If the facts are in dispute the brief must so state.

5. An argument. The argument may be preceded by a summary. The argument must contain the contentions of the appellant with respect to the issues presented, and the reasons therefor, with citations to the authorities, statutes, and parts of the record relied on. The argument must avoid unnecessary repetition.

6. A short conclusion stating the precise relief sought.

(b) Brief of the Appellee. The brief of the appellee must conform to the requirements of subdivision (a)(1),(3),(4), and (5), but a statement of the issues or of the case need not be made unless the appellee is dissatisfied with the statement of the appellant.

(c) Reply Brief. The appellant may file a single reply brief that conforms to subdivision (a)(1)strictly confined to new matter raised in the appellee's brief. Except as provided in subdivision (h), no other briefs may be filed without leave of the court.

(d) References in Briefs to Parties. Counsel will be expected in their briefs and oral arguments to keep to a minimum references to parties by such designations as "appellant" and "appellee." It promotes clarity to use instead the designations used in the trial court or in the agency proceedings, or the actual names of parties, or descriptive terms such as "the employee," "the injured person," "the taxpayer," "the purchaser."

(e) References in Briefs to the Record. Briefs must contain references to the page of the appendix where the part of the record relied on appears. (see Rule 30(a)). If references are made in the briefs to parts of the record not reproduced, the references must be to the docket number of that part of the record. If reference is made to evidence the admissibility of which is in controversy, reference must be made to the pages of the appendix or transcript where the evidence was identified, offered, and received or rejected.

(f) Reproduction of Statutes, Rules, Regulations, and Other Sources. If determination of the issues presented requires the study of statutes, rules, regulations, other sources, or relevant parts thereof, they must be reproduced in the brief or in an addendum thereto, or they may be supplied to the court in pamphlet form.

(g) Length of Briefs. The author of the brief must sign the brief and thereby certify compliance with the requirements and limits of these rules.

(1) Word Limit for Proportional Typeface. If proportionately spaced typeface is used, a principal brief may not exceed 10,500 words, and a reply brief may not exceed 2,500 words, excluding words in the table of contents, table of citations, and any addendum. Footnotes must be included in the word count.

(2) Page Limit for Monospaced Typeface. If monospaced typeface is used, a principal brief may not exceed 40 pages, and a reply brief may not exceed 10 pages, excluding the table of contents, table of citations, and any addendum.

(h) Briefs in Cross-Appeals. An appellee and cross-appellant shall file a single brief at the time the appellee's brief is due. This brief must contain the issues and argument involved in the cross-appeal as well as the answer to the appellant's brief.

The appellant's answer to the cross-appeal must be included in the reply brief, but without duplication of statements, arguments, or authorities contained in the appellant's principal brief. To avoid duplication, references may be made to the appropriate portions of the appellant's principal brief.

The cross-appellant may file a reply brief confined strictly to the arguments raised in the cross-appeal. This brief is due within 14 days after service of the appellant's reply brief; however, if there is less than 14 days before oral argument, the a reply brief must be filed at least 3 days before argument.

(i) Briefs Involving Multiple Parties. Any number of parties may join in a single brief or adopt by reference any part of another's brief. Parties may similarly join in reply briefs.