Posted: January 30, 2008
Rules of Appellate Procedure
URAP 03. Appeal as of right: how taken. Amend. States that a trial court clerk shall accept a notice of appeal even if the filing fee is not paid at that time. The fee must be paid within a reasonable time or the case might be dismissed.
URAP 37. Suggestion of mootness; voluntary dismissal. Amend. Requires a voluntary dismissal to be filed at least before the date that a decision is entered.
URAP 41. Certification of questions of law by United States courts. Amend. The proposed amendments state that, in certification cases, the rules of appellate procedure apply to the form of briefs and the proceedings on oral argument, except to the extent that the court notifies the parties differently.
I think paragraph (f) and (g) are confusing. If the clerk shall accept the notice of appeal and no filing fee is paid, what is “reasonable time” for paying the fee? Also, in (g) the clerk is directed to immediately send a copy of the notice of appeal once the notice AND the required payment is received. Does the clerk wait until payment is received or sent it to the appellate court without payment, contrary to paragraph(g)? I don’t think (g) is consistent with (f).
Rule 41 – Certification of questions of law by United States Courts (d) submission of the record should be modified to allow for electronic submission of the record as the federal courts now all have electronic case files. It is cumbersome to print out and certify copies of electronically available documents. The Supreme Court could be given a login and password and download themselves any documents needed to (a) determine whether to accept the certified question and (b) to look to the federal court record to rule on the question of law so certified.