Summary Disposition of Appeals

(a) The court may determine that an appeal shall be disposed of by summary order and without formal written opinion. To assist the court in making this determination, the parties may request in writing that an appeal be so decided. The request shall be signed by all parties and may be filed any time after the filing of the notice of appeal. (b) In a criminal case, a summary order under this rule shall contain, at a minimum, a statement of the issues considered by the appellate court. This statement of issues may be made by reference to a trial court opinion. For purposes of this rule, “criminal case” includes all collateral criminal proceedings listed in AS 22.07.020(a). (c) Nothing in this rule limits the right of the parties to oral argument pursuant to Rule 505. (d) Citation of Unpublished Decisions. (1) Citation of unpublished decisions in briefs and oral arguments is freely permitted for purposes of establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case. Citation of unpublished decisions for other purposes is not encouraged. If a party believes, nevertheless, that an unpublished decision has persuasive value in relation to an issue in the case, and that there is no published opinion that would serve as well, the party may cite the unpublished decision. (2) If a party cites an unpublished decision that is available in a publicly accessible electronic database, the citation must specify that it is unpublished in a parenthetical following the citation, and must also specify where the decision is available. If a party cites an unpublished decision that is not available in a publicly accessible electronic database, the party must specify that it is unpublished in a parenthetical following the citation and must also file and 22 serve a copy of that unpublished decision with the brief or other document in which it is cited. (3) For purposes of this rule, “unpublished decision” means any judicial opinion, order, judgment, or other written disposition that is not published in a national or state law reporter and that has been designated as “unpublished,” “not for publication,” “not precedent,” “non-precedential,” “memorandum opinion and judgment,” “memorandum opinion,” or by another similar term. (SCO 439 effective November 15, 1980; amended by SCO 1654 effective April 15, 2008; and by SCO 1972 effective October 15, 2021)