RULE 2:6. Appendices; Briefs; Transcript on appeal

RULE 2:6. Appendices; Briefs; Transcript

2:6-1. Preparation of Appellant's Appendix; Joint Appendix; Contents

• (a) Contents of Appendix.
  
  • (1) Required Contents. The appendix prepared by the appellant or jointly by the appellant and the respondent shall contain (A) in civil actions, the complete pretrial order, if any, and the pleadings; (B) in criminal, quasi-criminal or juvenile delinquency actions, the indictment or accusation and, where applicable, the complaint and all docket entries in the proceedings below; (C) the judgment, order or determination appealed from or sought to be reviewed or enforced, including the jury verdict sheet, if any; (D) the trial judge's charge to the jury, if at issue, and any opinions or statement of findings and conclusions; (E) the statement of proceedings in lieu of record made pursuant to R. 2:5-3(f); (F) the notice or notices of appeal; (G) the transcript delivery certification prescribed by R. 2:5-3(e); (H) any unpublished opinions cited pursuant to R. 1:36-3; and (I) such other parts of the record, excluding the stenographic transcript, as are essential to the proper consideration of the issues, including such parts as the appellant should reasonably assume will be relied upon by the respondent in meeting the issues raised. If the appeal is from a summary judgment, the appendix shall also include a statement of all items submitted to the court on the summary judgment motion and all such items shall be included in the appendix, except that briefs in support of and opposition to the motion shall be included only as permitted by subparagraph (2) of this rule.
  • (2) Prohibited Contents. Briefs submitted to the trial court shall not be included in the appendix, unless either the brief is referred to in the decision of the court or agency, or the question of whether an issue was raised in the trial court is germane to the appeal, in which event only the material pertinent to that issue shall be included. A document that is included in appellant's appendix shall not also be included in respondent's appendix unless appellant's appendix includes only a portion of the document and the complete document is required for a full understanding of the issues presented. If the same document has been annexed to more than one pleading or motion filed in the trial court, the document shall be reproduced in the appendix only with the first such pleading or motion and shall be referred to thereafter only by notation to the appendix page on which it appears.
  • (3) Confidential Documents. If the appellate record is not sealed, any documents that are required to be excluded from public access pursuant to R. 1:38-3 shall be submitted in a separate appendix marked as confidential. The format of the confidential appendix shall in all respects conform with the requirements of this rule. 
• (b) Form. Documents included in the appendix shall be abridged by omitting all irrelevant or formal portions, with asterisks being used to indicate omissions. The filing date of each included paper shall be stated at the head of the copy as well as its subject matter (e.g., Pretrial Order, Notice of Appeal). Each page shall be numbered consecutively followed by the letter "a" to indicate the appendix (e.g., 1a, 2a, etc.).
• (c) Binding; Table of Contents. The appendix may be bound with the brief or separately, into volumes containing no more than 200 sheets each. If bound with the brief, it shall follow the brief, but there shall be a single table of contents of the brief and appendix. If bound separately it shall be prefaced with a table of contents. The table of contents shall indicate the initial page of each document, exhibit or other paper included, and the pages of the stenographic record at which each exhibit was marked for identification and was offered into evidence. Attachments to a document by way of affidavits, exhibits or otherwise shall each be separately identified in the table of contents and the initial page of each such attachment noted therein. If there are multiple volumes of the appendix, each volume shall contain a full table of contents and shall specify on its cover the appendix pages included therein.
• (d) Joint Appendix. Whenever possible counsel shall agree upon a joint appendix, which shall be bound separately. The cost thereof shall be apportioned between them.