MULTIPLE APPEALS AND BONDS IN CIVIL CASES

(a) Cross‐Appeals. (1) Need to File. If the appellee seeks any change in the judgment that is on appeal, the appellee must file a cross-appeal to preserve that issue. The notice of cross-appeal shall be filed with the clerk of the trial court from which the appeal is taken, and shall be processed in the same manner as a notice of appeal filed pursuant to Rule 2A(b)(1). An appellee need not file a notice of appeal if no change in the judgment is sought. An appellee may, without filing a cross-appeal, argue that alternative grounds support the judgment that is on appeal. (2) Time to File. If a timely notice of appeal is filed by a party, any other party may file a notice of appeal (accompanied, when required, by the filing fee or a request to have the fee waived pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 91) within 14 days after the date on which the first notice of appeal was filed, or within the time specified by Rule 2B(b) or 2B(c), whichever period last expires. (3) Status of Parties. When more than one party has appealed, the party who first appeals shall, unless otherwise agreed by the parties or ordered by the Law Court, be treated as the appellant in applying these Rules to such cross-appeals, and all other parties shall be treated as appellees. (b) Joint or Consolidated Appeals. If two or more parties are entitled to appeal from a civil judgment or order, and their interests are such as to make joinder practicable, they may file a joint notice of appeal or may join in an appeal after filing separate timely notices of appeal, and they may thereafter proceed on appeal as a single appellant. Appeals may be consolidated after docketing in the Law Court by order of the Law Court upon its own motion or upon motion of a party. (c) Parents’ Appeals. If both parents of a child appeal from an order of the District Court or the Probate Court finding jeopardy to the child as to both parents, terminating both parents’ parental rights to the child, awarding a guardianship over the child to a third person, or awarding a grandparent 18 visitation rights, both parents shall be treated as appellants, unless otherwise agreed by the parties or ordered by the Law Court. (d) Bond; Continuance Any bond given at the commencement or during the pendency of a civil action, unless otherwise provided by law or by direction of the court ordering the judgment appealed from, shall continue in effect until the final disposition of any appeal of the action and until the conditions of such bond have been fulfilled. in Effect.