Freedom from Folly
“Age from folly could not give me freedom.”
“As you are old and reverend, you should be wise.”
The normal practice under Tennessee appellate procedure is that an appellee’s brief is due no later than thirty days from the filing of the brief of the appellant. If you don’t believe me, just ask Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure 29(a): “The appellant shall serve and file a brief within 30 days after the date on which the record is filed with the clerk. The appellee shall serve and file a brief within 30 days after the appellant's brief is filed with the clerk. Reply briefs shall be served and filed within 14 days after filing of the preceding brief.” So there you go. Cut and dried. 30-30-14 it is. Memorize that formula, activate the autopilot, and calendar your deadlines.
Not so fast. That timeline may be different for certain specific appeals.
After nearly forty years of filing briefs on a 30-30-14 timeline, I was recently reminded that briefing deadlines for parental termination appeals are on an expedited basis, controlled by Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 8A(g): “The appellant shall serve and file a brief within 30 days after the date on which the record is filed with the clerk. The appellee shall serve and file a brief within 20 days [!!] after the appellant 's brief is filed with the clerk. Reply briefs shall be served and filed within 14 days after filing of the preceding brief.”
Just like that, a 30-20-14 timeline wakened me from a slumber of habit.
It’s not that I wasn’t aware of this specific difference. We reference this exception in a footnote to our discussion of appellate timelines in Appellate Advocacy; A Handbook on Appellate Practice in Tennessee. It’s just that I have so rarely dealt with it that it hit me like a jolt of electricity, as if it were brand new knowledge. (Fortunately, I was not the appellee when I learned this new (old) information).
We’re never too new to relearn old tricks, or something like that.
Remain vigilant, fellow practitioners! In our field, there are always exceptions to the ways we’ve done it before.
