Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 131

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Below is Rule 131 of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure. Rule 131 deals with Filing and Service of Briefs, the Appendix, and the Supplemental Record, and is indexed under TITLE VII. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

131.01 Time for Filing and Service

Subdivision 1. Appellant's Brief. The appellant shall serve and file a brief and appendix within 30 days after delivery of the transcript by the reporter or after the filing of the trial court's approval of the statement pursuant to Rules 110.03 and 110.04. If the transcript is delivered by United States Mail, three days are added to the briefing period, which is measured from the date the transcript was mailed. If the transcript is obtained prior to appeal or if the record on appeal does not include a transcript, then the appellant shall serve and file a brief and appendix with the clerk of the appellate courts within 30 days after the filing of the notice of appeal, the petition which initiates the appeal, the appellate petition for declaratory judgment, or the appellate court order granting review.

Subdivision 2. Respondent's Brief. The respondent shall serve and file a brief and appendix, if any, within 30 days after service of the brief of the appellant or the last appellant's brief, if there are multiple appellants, or within 30 days after delivery of a transcript ordered by respondent pursuant to Rule 110.02, subdivision 1, whichever is later.

Subdivision 3. Reply Brief. The appellant may serve and file a reply brief within ten days after the later of the following:

(a) service of the respondent's brief or the last respondent's brief if there are multiple respondents; or

(b) service of the brief of an amicus curiae granted leave to participate under Rule 129.

Subdivision 4. Supplemental Record. If a party prepares a supplemental record, the supplemental record shall be served and filed with that party's first brief.

Subdivision 5. Briefing Schedule for Cross-Appeals; Form of Briefs in Cross-Appeals.

(a) Cross-Appeal Defined. A cross-appeal, for the purpose of this rule, exists when a notice of appeal and at least one notice of related appeal or separate notice of appeal are filed by parties adverse to each other on appeal. Multiple notices of appeal or related appeal filed by parties who are not adverse to each other do not create cross-appeals.

(b) Designation of Appellant. The party who files a notice of appeal first is the appellant for the purposes of this rule. If notices are filed on the same day, the plaintiff in the proceeding below is the appellant. These designations may be modified by the parties’ agreement or by court order.

(c) Schedule for Filing. In a case involving a cross-appeal, the appellant’s principal brief shall be filed in accordance with Rule 131.01, subdivision 1, and the respondent/cross-appellant’s principal brief shall be filed as one brief within 30 days after service of appellant’s brief. Appellant/cross-respondent’s response and reply brief shall be filed as one brief within 30 days after service of cross-appellant’s brief. Respondent/cross-appellant’s reply brief may be filed within 10 days after service of appellant/cross-respondent’s response and reply brief.

(d) Form of Briefs in Cross-Appeals. In a case involving a cross-appeal:

(1) Appellant’s Principal Brief. The appellant must file a principal brief in the appeal. That brief must comply with Rule 128.01 or Rule 128.02, subdivision 1.

(2) Respondent/Cross-Appellant’s Principal and Response Brief. The respondent/cross-appellant must file a principal brief on the cross-appeal and may, in the same brief, respond to the appellant’s principal brief. The respondent/cross-appellant’s brief must comply with Rule 128.01 or 128.02, subdivision 1, as to the cross-appeal and Rule 128.02, subdivision 2, as to the appeal, except the brief need not include a statement of the case or a statement of the facts unless the respondent/cross-appellant is dissatisfied with the appellant’s statement.

(3) Appellant/Cross-Respondent’s Response and Reply Brief. The appellant/cross-respondent may file a brief that responds to the principal brief of the respondent/cross-appellant in the cross-appeal and may, in the same brief, reply to the response in the appeal. That brief must comply with Rule 128.02, subdivision 2, as to the response to the cross-appeal and Rule 128.02, subdivision 4, as to the reply on the original appeal.

(4) Respondent/Cross-Appellant’s Reply Brief. The respondent/cross-appellant may file a brief in reply to the response in the cross-appeal. The brief must comply with Rule 128.02, subdivision 4, and must be limited to the issues presented by the cross-appeal.

(5) No Further Briefs. Unless the court permits, no further briefs may be filed in a case involving a cross-appeal.

(6) Cover. If briefs are formally bound, the cover of the appellant’s principal brief must be blue; the respondent/cross-appellant’s principal and response brief, red; the appellant/cross-respondent’s response and reply brief, yellow; the respondent/cross-appellant’s reply brief, gray; and an intervenor’s or amicus curiae’s brief, green.

(7) Length limit.

(A) The appellant’s principal brief is acceptable if it complies with the length limits of Rule 132.01, subdivision 3(a).

(B) The respondent/cross-appellant’s principal and response brief is acceptable if:

(i) it contains no more than 16,500 words; or

(ii) it uses a monospaced font and contains no more than 1,500 lines of text.

(C) The appellant/cross-respondent’s response and reply brief is acceptable if:

(i) it contains no more than 10,000 words; or

(ii) it uses a monospaced font and contains no more than 750 lines of text.

(D) The respondent/cross-appellant’s reply brief is acceptable if it complies with the length limits of Rule 132.01, subdivision 3(b).

(Amended effective January 1, 2010.)

Comment - 1983

Times for filing all briefs have been shortened.

This rule reduces the time for the filing of the appellant's brief from 60 to 30 days. The commencement of the briefing will depend upon a number of variables. If a transcript is ordered, the 30-day period begins with its delivery. If a transcript has been prepared prior to the appeal or the granting of a petition for review, or if no transcript is contemplated or necessary, the time runs from the date the notice of appeal was filed or the petition was granted. If a statement pursuant to either Rule 110.03 or 110.04 is submitted in lieu of a transcript, the time begins to run upon filing of the trial court's approval. The time for filing the respondent's brief has been shortened from 45 to 30 days. All parties now have equal time for the preparation of their briefs.

Advisory Committee Comment - 2009 Amendments

Rule 131.01, subdivision 5, is a new rule to establish alternative rules for briefing in cases where a cross-appeal is filed. The provisions are drawn from Fed. R. App. P. 28.1. The amended Minnesota rule operates as a default timing and brief-length rule; in any case the parties may seek alternate limits by motion, and the court may impose them on its own initiative.

The briefing process for cross-appeals under the amended rule is summarized as follows:

Brief (in order of filing) Cover Color Length limit

(word count method)

1 Appellant’s principal brief Blue 14,000 words (unchanged)

2 Respondent/cross-appellant’s

    	 principal and response brief	Red	16,500 words 

3 Appellant/cross-respondent’s

response and reply brief Yellow 10,000 words

4 Respondent/cross-appellant’s

    	 reply brief	                 Gray	7,000 words (unchanged)

Subdivision 5(a) makes it clear that only multiple appeals by adverse parties create cross-appeals. If several parties on the same side of a case file separate appeals that are not adverse to each other, the normal three-brief schedule of Rule 131.01 applies.

131.02 Application for Extension of Time

Subdivision 1. Motion for Extension. No extension of the time fixed for the filing of a brief will be granted except upon a motion pursuant to Rule 127 made within the time specified for the filing of the brief. The motion shall be considered by a justice, judge or a person designated by the appellate court, acting as a referee, and shall be granted only for good cause shown. Only an original of the motion shall be filed.

Subdivision 2. Procedure. The date the brief is due shall be stated in the motion. The motion shall be supported by an affidavit which discloses facts showing that with due diligence, and giving reasonable priority to the preparation of the brief, it will not be possible to file the brief on time. All factual statements required by this rule shall be set forth with specificity.

(Amended effective March 1, 2001.)

Comment - 1983

This rule has been clarified to make explicit that a request for an extension of time to file a brief must be made within the time specified by rule or court order for the filing.

131.03 Number of Copies to be Filed and Served

Subdivision 1. Number of Copies. Unless otherwise specified by the appellate court, the following number of copies of each brief, appendix, and supplemental record, if any, shall be filed with the clerk of the appellate courts:

(a) In an appeal to the Supreme Court, 14 copies. Two copies of the 14 shall be unbound.

(b) In an appeal to the Court of Appeals, seven copies. One copy of the seven shall be unbound.

If counsel has elected, in the statement of the case form, to rely on memoranda submitted to the trial court, supplemented by a short letter argument, the number of copies required by this rule shall be filed with the clerk of the appellate courts.

Subdivision 2. Service. Two copies of each brief, appendix, and supplemental record, if any, shall be served on the attorney for each party to the appeal separately represented and on each party appearing pro se. The clerk shall not accept a brief, appendix or supplemental record for filing unless it is accompanied by admission or proof of service as required by Rule 125.

(Amended effective January 1, 1999.)

Comment - 1983

Fourteen copies of all briefs, appendices, and supplemental records must now be filed in the Supreme Court and nine copies in the Court of Appeals. Two unbound copies must be supplied to either court.

Advisory Committee Comment - 1998 Amendments

This rule has been revised to make more clear the event from which the due date of the opening brief is calculated, the due date for responsive briefs, and the procedure for obtaining extensions of time to file briefs. The amended rule also reduces the number of copies of briefs that must be filed in the Court of Appeals. In instances where it is not necessary to await the preparation of a transcript, the time for the opening brief begins to run when the appellate proceedings are formally commenced. When review is not as a matter of right, but depends on some grant of leave from the appellate court, the time for the opening brief does not begin to run until that permission is granted.

If either party has ordered a transcript, the time for the opening brief runs from the date the transcript is delivered. Consistent with Rule 125.03, three days are added to the briefing period if the transcript was delivered by United States Mail. The revised rule makes that calculation clear.

Generally, service of appellant's brief begins the 30-day period for the filing of respondent's brief. If respondent has ordered a transcript pursuant to Rule 110.02, subd. 1, respondent's briefing period does not begin until delivery of the transcript, if the transcript is delivered after appellant's brief is served.

Specific grounds for any extension of a brief due date must be shown in the affidavit accompanying the motion. Extensions of time to file briefs are not favored.

The rule has also been changed to reduce the number of briefs to be filed in the Court of Appeals from nine to seven. While the rule previously required two unbound copies for the Court of Appeals, it now only requires one such copy. The number of bound and unbound copies required by the Supreme Court is unchanged.