Serving and Filing Briefs and Appendices

(a) TIME TO SERVE AND FILE A BRIEF. Unless the district court or BAP by order in a particular case excuses the filing of briefs or sets a different time, the following time limits apply: (1) Appellant’s Brief. The appellant must serve and file a brief within 30 days after the docketing of notice that the record has been sent or that it is available electronically. (2) Appellee’s Brief. The appellee must serve and file a brief within 30 days after the appellant’s brief is served. (3) Appellant’s Reply Brief. The appellant may serve and file a reply brief within 14 days after service of the appellee’s brief but at least 7 days before scheduled argument—unless the dis- trict court or BAP, for cause, allows a later filing. (4) Consequence of Failure to File. If an appellant fails to file a brief on time or within an extended time authorized under (a)(3), the district court or BAP may—on its own after notice or on the appellee’s motion—dismiss the appeal. An appellee who fails to file a brief will not be heard at oral argument un- less the district court or BAP grants permission. (b) DUTY TO SERVE AND FILE AN APPENDIX. (1) Appellant’s Duty. Subject to (e) and Rule 8009(d), the ap- pellant must serve and file with its principal brief an appendix containing excerpts from the record. It must contain: (A) the relevant docket entries; (B) the complaint and answer, or equivalent filings; (C) the judgment, order, or decree from which the appeal is taken; (D) any other orders, pleadings, jury instructions, find- ings, conclusions, or opinions relevant to the appeal; (E) the notice of appeal; and (F) any relevant transcript or portion of it. (2) Appellee’s Appendix. The appellee may serve and file with its brief an appendix containing any material that is required to be included or is relevant to the appeal or cross-appeal but that is omitted from the appellant’s appendix. (3) Cross-Appellee’s Appendix. The appellant—as cross-appel- lee—may also serve and file with its response an appendix con- taining material that is relevant to matters raised initially by the cross-appeal but that is omitted by the cross-appellant. (c) FORMAT OF THE APPENDIX. (1) Content. The appendix must: (A) begin with a table of contents identifying the page at which each part begins; (B) put the relevant docket entries after the table of con- tents; (C) then put other parts of the record chronologically; (D) when transcript pages are included, show the tran- script page numbers in brackets immediately before the included pages; and (E) indicate omissions from the text of a document or of the transcript by asterisks. (2) Immaterial Formal Matters. The appendix should not in- clude immaterial formal matters, such as captions, subscrip- tions, and acknowledgments. 121 FEDERAL RULES OF BANKRUPTCY PROCEDURE Rule 8019 (d) REPRODUCING EXHIBITS. Exhibits designated for inclusion in the appendix may be reproduced in a separate volume or volumes, suitably indexed. (e) APPEAL ON THE ORIGINAL RECORD WITHOUT AN APPENDIX. The district court or BAP may, either by rule for all cases or classes of cases or by order in a particular case: (1) dispense with the appendix; and (2) permit an appeal to proceed on the original record with the submission of any relevant parts that the district court or BAP orders the parties to file. (Added Apr. 25, 2014, eff. Dec. 1, 2014; amended Apr. 2, 2024, eff. Dec. 1, 2024.)