e Court, Division of State Court Administration
1999 Appellate Rules Revision
continued on page 2
Highlights for Trial Court Clerks and Court Reporters
T
he Appellate Practice Section of the Indiana State
Bar Association has drafted a revision of the Indiana
Appellate Rules and has proposed the revision to the
Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Practice and Pro-
cedure.
The proposal is now being
evaluated by the Supreme Court
Rules Committee, which wel-
comes comments from interested
persons. Following are highlights
of the revised rules.
The revisions were completed
by a committee of more than 20
judges and practitioners. The
committee's work began with a
survey of appellate practitioners
that produced nearly 100 re-
sponses suggesting changes to the
rules. The process included three
meetings in different locations in
the state soliciting ideas about
changes.
1. General Principles.
The revised rules make very
little change in the substance of
current rules, although they add
rules in areas that were not previ-
ously covered by specific rules
(e.g. motion practice). They also
codify some practices that were
known to frequent appellate prac-
titioners but not generally known
to the bar.
2. General Improvements.
The rules are reorganized for
easier reference. By splitting the
current rules into shorter rules
with titles, material is easier to
find and the table of contents is a
more useful guide. Some rules
are reorganized for better refer-
ence with, for example, a single
rule governing length of docu-
ments; a single rule governing
form of documents; and a single
rule governing time for filing.
The wording of the rules has
been modernized. Some Latin has
been eliminated (e.g. praecipe) in
favor of English.
The rules have been changed
to cover specifically all aspects
of appeals from administrative
agencies.
A section of definitions has
been added to the rules, making
them as a whole less cumber-
some.
Forms have been added to the
rules to assist practitioners and
add uniformity.
3. Record of Appeal.
The largest single change may
be in the area of records, as the
record of proceedings as we know
it has been abolished. The changes
are aimed to make less paper for
court staff, lawyers and judges.
The appellate process still starts
by filing a document (the notice
of appeal) within 30 days of the
judgment. Filing the notice of
appeal is the only jurisdictional
deadline under the new rules. The
appellate filing fee is due when
the notice of appeal is filed.
The notice of appeal directs
the trial court clerk to assemble
the clerk's portion of the record
and the reporter to prepare the
transcript. The rule specifies more
clearly what portions of the tran-
scripts must be ordered in some
cases. The clerk's portion remains
with the trial court clerk, for easy
access by hometown counsel,
unless a party by motion gets the
clerk's portion sent to the appel-
late court clerk.
The trial court clerk has 30
days to assemble the clerk's por- 2 I n d i a n a C o u r t T i m e s M a r c h - A p r i l 1 9 9 9
continued from page 1
tion of the record, and the clerk is relieved from the
former duty to copy the record. Once the clerk as-
sembles the clerk's part of the record, the clerk notifies
the appellate court clerk, and jurisdiction passes to the
appellate court. If the clerk cannot compile the clerk's
portion within thirty days, the clerk must obtain an
extension by motion the clerk files with the appellate
court.
The reporter has sixty days to complete the tran-
script. If the reporter cannot, the reporter must obtain
an extension by filing a motion with the appellate
court. Appropriate forms will be available for the
clerk and court reporter's use. The transcript also
remains in the trial court for easy reference by home-
town counsel unless a party moves to have it sent to
the appellate court clerk's office. When briefing is
completed, the transcript is sent to the appellate court.
Parties are required to provide the appellate court
with an appendix, filed along with their briefs. The
appendix must contain the judgment being appealed
and a few other mandatory documents, and also should
contain all the other information from the trial court
record that the appellate court needs to decide the
case. The appellate court has access to the transcript,
so inclusion of transcript pages in the appendix is at
the party's option. If the appellee believes the appel-
lant has not provided the appellate court with all
necessary papers, the appellee may file its own appen-
dix. Supplemental appendices may be filed by any
party at any time through the end of briefing, and any
material before the trial court may be included. Fail-
ure to include an appendix does not constitute waiver.
4. Trial court clerk and court reporter.
Everything governing what the trial court clerk
must do in appealed cases is in one rule. Everything
governing what the trial court reporter must do in
appealed cases is in two rules, one governing the form
of the transcript and another governing the reporter's
other obligations.
Under the revised rules, the trial court clerk has no
additional obligations and is relieved of the burden of
copying the clerk's portion of the record.
Under the revised rules, the trial court reporter's
duties are about the same. The court reporter is now
required to annotate marginally the transcript, which
many reporters do already. The reporter also is re-
quired to apply for extensions of time to file the
record.
The Judge's certificate is abolished.
When transcripts are completed by computerized
word processing, the reporter is to include a computer
disk along with the paper transcript.
Submitted by Lilia Judson
Amicus Curious
situations, the entire county is considered one entity,
and all courts, as a group, must approve any amend-
ment, usually by a majority vote. Those counties that
were part of a district concept should obtain the
approval of the remaining participating courts in the
district, particularly when the rule provides for rota-
tion among or selection of judges from outside the
county seeking the amendment. In short, all of the
courts that participated in the submission of the origi-
nal local rule should participate in the amendment of
that rule. Furthermore, the courts that participate in
the rule amendment should sign the local rule, or, by
a separate order adopting the amendment, should
indicate each courts participation in the decision to
amend.
Local Rules Governing Assignment and Reassignment of
Criminal Cases and Selection of Special Judges
Question:
What steps must a trial court take to amend
its local rule for assignment and reassignment of
criminal cases pursuant to Criminal Rule 2.2 and
special judges selection pursuant to Trial Rule 79?
Answer:
When a trial court finds it necessary to
amend a local rule promulgated pursuant to Criminal
Rules 2.2 and 13 or Trial Rule 79(H), the trial court
must follow the same process that was followed in
promulgating the original local rule. In all but a few
continued on page 3 In requesting approval of revised
local rules under T.R. 79 and Crim.R.
2.2 and 13, courts should review and
identify clearly which local rules
remain unchanged and which are
being superseded by the proposed
amended local rule. Also, when a
local rule refers to reassignment or
selection of a particular judge, courts
are encouraged to refer generically
to the judge of the particular court,
e.g., the Judge of the Adams Cir-
cuit Court, as opposed to the judge
by name. This approach avoids the
need for amendment when the regu-
lar judge of the court changes.
M a r c h - A p r i l 1 9 9 9 I n d i a n a C o u r t T i m e s 3
New Faces
State Court Administration
Nancy Gettinger
assumed the
duties of Director of the Office of
(Guardian Ad Litem) GAL/CASA
on March 22, 1999. Nancy comes to
State Court Administration from the
Indiana Attorney General's Office,
where she has spent the past five
years as a Deputy in the Agency
Litigation Section. Prior to the At-
torney General's Office, Nancy was
a staff attorney for the Family and
Social Services Administration and
chief counsel for the Marion County
Office of Family and Children. Prior
to receiving her J.D. Degree in 1990,
Nancy was a caseworker for Child
Protection Services.
Tim Chiplis
joined the Techni-
cal Services Section of the Division
of State Court Administration on
February 15, 1999, as a PC/LAN
support technician. Tim previously
has worked for the General Assem-
bly and Ameritech. Tim is a graduate
of IUPUI with a degree in Electron-
ics
Technology. He is a native of
Indianapolis and an alumnus of Ca-
A number of courts have unique
provisions for criminal case reas-
signment and special judge
appointments in conflict situations.
Each of these unique provisions
should be incorporated, either by
reference or specifically, in the gen-
eral local rule promulgated under
Crim.R. 2.2 and T.R. 79, so that the
local rules, as a whole, make it per-
fectly clear which special judge
selection method takes precedence
in a given situation.
The proposed local