An appellant is the party who has filed the Notice of Appeal and is challenging the trial court's decision. A respondent is the party responding to the appellant's arguments.

A Notice of Appeal is filed in the court of original instance, not at this court.

A Notice of Appeal from decision of the Workers' Compensation Board is filed with the Secretary of the Workers' Compensation Board.

A Notice of Appeal from an Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board decision is filed with that office.

Notices of Appeal in Surrogates' Court cases, Family Court cases and Court of Claims matters are filed with the Clerks of those Courts.

Perfection of an appeal means to file the Record on Appeal and your Appellant's Brief.

An appeal must be perfected within six months from the date of the Notice of Appeal or order granting leave to appeal, unless otherwise ordered by the Court (22 NYCRR 1250.9 [a]).

In the event an appellant fails to timely perfect an appeal in a civil matter the appeal is deemed dismissed without further order of the court (22 NYCRR 1250.10 [a]). Each month the Third Department posts a list of cases that were deemed dismissed for failure to timely perfect the appeal.

While Court staff endeavors to be as helpful as possible to everyone who contacts the Court, staff are not permitted to provide any legal advice or take any action that could be considered providing legal service.

Yes. Basic Court forms are available for use by self-represented (pro se) litigants. A basic quick start guide is also offered but is not meant to be a complete explanation of all information you may be required to provide for your appeal to be heard.

Pursuant to Rule 1250.2 (b), if your appeal has not been perfected, you may file (through NYSCEF in an E-Filed case) a letter on notice requesting the appeal be withdrawn.

If your appeal has been perfected, you must file (through NYSCEF in an E-Filed case) either a fully executed Stipulation of Discontinuance or a formal motion requesting withdrawal.

If your appeal has been perfected, you must file (through NYSCEF in an E-Filed case) either a fully executed Stipulation of Discontinuance or a formal motion requesting withdrawal.

E-Filing is done through the New York State Courts Electronic Filing System (NYSCEF) and can be accessed via the NYSCEF website at https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/login

No. NYSCEF at the appellate level is separate from the trial court. To E-File a matter at the appellate level, you must register the Notice of Appeal in NYSCEF and request a case number from the Third Department. The trial level NYSCEF does not carry over to the appellate level. For more information regarding NYSCEF at the Third Department, see the Appellate Division E-Filing rules (22 NYCRR part 1245) and detailed instructions on the Court's E-Filing page.

All matters other than professional matters such as attorney disciplinary matters, are subject to mandatory E-Filing at the Third Department, except for exempt matters. Exempt matters are any matters where the appellant - the party filing the notice of appeal - is not represented by an attorney. Generally speaking, self-represented (pro se) litigants are not required to E-File but may opt to do so.

Not if the appeals arise from the same commencing documents and the intention is to perfect the appeals in one record.

No. Unless a party is exempt from E-Filing, there is no need to serve hard copies as documents are deemed served upon upload into the NYSCEF system so long as more than 20 days have elapsed since service of the Notification of Case Number (see 22 NYCRR 1245.4 [b]; 1245.5)

Your information - including your email address - in NYSCEF is the information on record with Attorney Registration. Court staff is unable to change this information for you. To update/correct this information, kindly visit the Attorney Registration Page at www.nycourts.gov.

Yes, the Third Department requires hard copies of all briefs and reproduced Records on Appeal (12 NYCRR 1250.9 [a], [c]).

Because the Appellate Division is an appellate court, it will need to review the papers that were considered by the trial court. The Record on Appeal contains all the documents that were considered by the trial court and will also include, among other things, the decision/order/judgment on appeal, the Notice of Appeal and certain statements required by the CPLR.

An appellant can either proceed with a fully reproduced record or a single copy of the record, and where a single copy of the record is used, you may also be required to file an Appendix. An appendix contains the relevant portions of the Record on Appeal that you are citing to in your brief.

When a single copy of the Record on Appeal is filed, all parties must agree to the contents of that record. Appellant or their counsel will serve opposing counsel with a request/demand to stipulate (sign the CPLR 5532 stipulation) to the correctness of the record.

No.

No. An appendix may only include portions of the Record on Appeal.

No. Email is not an acceptable method to file documents.

No. The Practice Rules of the Appellate Division (22 NYCRR 1250.8 [f], [g]) set forth the word limitations for briefs. A party may make an application for permission to file an oversized brief as set forth in Rule 1250.8 (h).

Pursuant to the Practice Rules of the Appellate Division, unless the Court has directed that the appeal be perfected within a particular time, an appellant may seek up two extensions of time to perfect an appeal. The first request may be for up to 60 days and the second request may be up to 30 days. To request those initial extensions, the appellant can make a request by letter (through NYSCEF in an E-Filed case), on notice to all parties. Any additional requests for an extension of time to perfect an appeal must be made by motion (22 NCYRR 1250.9 [b]) and shall include an affidavit/affirmation setting forth a reasonable excuse for the delay and an intent to prefect the appeal within a reasonable time (22 NCYRR 850.9 [c]).

A respondent's brief must be filed within 30 days of the date of service of the appellant's brief (22 NYCRR 1250.9 [c]). Requests for an extension of time to file a respondent's brief can be made by a letter (through NYSCEF in an E-Filed case) on notice to all parties. Alternatively, the parties may stipulate to said extension. Two separate requests of up to 30 days each may be made in this manner and any additional request for an extension must be made by motion (22 NYCRR 1250.9 [g]), and shall be supported by an affidavit setting forth a reasonable excuse for the delay and an intent to file and serve the brief within a reasonable time (22 NCYRR 850.9 [d]).

In an e-filed appeal, your letter application should be uploaded to NYSCEF. In a hard-copy-only appeal, your letter application should be emailed to the Clerk's Office at [email protected]. Notice should be provided to all other parties in accordance with whatever methods of service you agree on.

Properly filed and served letter applications for extensions of deadlines are granted as a matter of course. While you will hear back from the Clerk's Office - either by NYSCEF comment or email - confirming the extended deadline, the extension itself is secured at the time the timely request is properly filed.

A case is scheduled for a specific court term (month) upon the filing of all responding briefs.

Upon receipt of the responding brief(s), the Clerk's Office will issue a Scheduling Memorandum which states the Term of the court the matter will be on

The Schedule of Term lists all the sittings days. The April term runs into the first week of May while the May Term runs into the first week of June.

Term Calendars are posted to the Court's Website about 5 weeks before the opening of a term. This will list all cases, both argued and submitted, to be considered for a particular term and will be broken down by their assigned day.
Session Calendar (aka Day Calendars) are available on the Court's Website one week before the opening of the term. This calendar details each day's panel of justices, the time of oral argument, the order of cases and the amount of time allotted to each arguing party.

When a case is scheduled for a court term, you will be given an opportunity to notify the Court of dates you will not be available during the term. The Court makes every reasonable attempt to accommodate your availability, however, you must provide the Court with as much notice as possible of the dates you are not availed.

Appellant/Appellant's Counsel's may request to move an appeal to the next term by letter uploaded to NYSCEF, or alternatively, emailed to [email protected] if it is not an E-Filed matter. The respondent(s) must have the consent of the appellant's counsel before such request would be considered

The $315 filing fee is due upon the filing of the Record on Appeal. For appeals perfected via E-Filing, the fee is paid through NYSCEF. Otherwise, the court will accept fees in the form of a law firm check, bank check or money order (payable to State of New York). Personal checks are not accepted.

We have a guide/instructions for Adding Bookmarks.

If a party needs to seek incidental relief from the Court during the course of an appeal or proceeding, such party must make a motion, which may be brought on by a notice of motion or order to show cause. Motion practice in this Court is governed by Section 1250.4 of the Practice Rules of the Appellate Division and Section 850.4 of this Court's rules (22 NYCRR 1250.4, 850.4). All-purpose motion forms, with instructions, are available on this Court's website at www.nycourts.gov/ad3.

Where compliance with the terms of a judgment or order during the pendency of an appeal threatens to change the status quo and render that appeal academic, the appellant may seek a stay of enforcement pursuant to CPLR 5519. Where ongoing acts not commanded or forbidden by the judgment or order would similarly tend to render the appeal academic, the appellant may move for an injunction pursuant to CPLR 5518. In either case, if the threat of change is imminent, the appellant may bring on a motion for a stay or injunction by an order to show cause containing a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would maintain the status quo during the pendency of the motion (CPLR 5518; see also Family Ct Act § 1114 [b]).

A party seeking a temporary restraining order must give reasonable notice to their adversaries of: (1) the date and time, and location where the order to show cause will be presented and (2) the relief being requested. The proposed order to show cause must be accompanied by a copy of the papers the party seeking relief intends to present to the Court for filing (22 NYCRR 1250.4 [b] [2]; 850.4 [b] [1]). Absent exigent circumstances, the custom is to provide such notice by telephone or email at least 24 hours in advance. In addition to the notice required by 22 NYCRR 1250.4 (b) (2), the party seeking relief is also required to provide advance notice to the Court of its intention to present the application or order to show cause (22 NYCRR 850.4 [b] [1]).

Once notice has been provided to the Court pursuant to 22 NYCRR 850.4 (b) (1), the party seeking relief will be advised as to when and where the order to show cause may be presented for signature.

A motion brought on by notice of motion must: (1) be made returnable at 10:00 a.m. on a Monday, or if Monday is a legal holiday, the first business day of the week (22 NYCRR 1250.4 [a] [1]), (2) be served in accordance with CPLR 2103 and (3) must be made on notice as required by CPLR 2214. The return date of a motion brought on by order show cause and the method and time of its service are fixed by the Justice who signs the order to show cause. All motions are returnable at the Appellate Division courthouse in the Robert Abrams Building for Law and Justice, P.O. Box 7288, Capitol Station, Albany, New York 12224-0288.

Only the original is required.

All motions are submitted.

The Court does not call a motion calendar and no appearance on the return date is permitted or required (22 NYCRR 1250.4 [a] [8]).

One adjournment, for a period of 7 or 14 days, shall be permitted upon written consent of the parties to the appeal, filed no later than 10:00 a.m. on the return date (22 NYCRR 1250.4 [a] [9]). Alternatively, a request for an adjournment, supported by a showing of good cause, may be made by letter to the Court's motion department or submitted via email to [email protected], on notice to each party to the appeal or proceeding.

Requests for additional time to answer a motion may be made by letter to the Court's motion department or submitted via email to [email protected], on notice to each party to the appeal or proceeding.

The fee for filing a motion or cross motion regarding a civil appeal or special proceeding is $45 (CPLR 8022 [b]). However, there is no fee for a motion or cross motion that seeks poor person relief pursuant to CPLR 1101 (a). Additionally, no fee is required for a motion or cross motion made in the context of an unemployment insurance appeal.

The panel of judges assigned to hear each case is made public on the Session/Day calendars, which are released about a week prior to the opening of each month's term.

No, you may opt to submit the case for the Court to decide the issues based upon the brief you submitted. However, oral argument is strongly encouraged.

The amount of time you will be given to present your argument to the Court will be shown on the Session/Day calendar and will depend upon a variety of factors such as how many people are presenting arguments in your case.

An appellant may request to save some of their allotted time for rebuttal - to speak after respondent has provided their argument. In such a case, the appellant must ask the Presiding Justice or Justice Presiding at the beginning of their argument to reserve time for rebuttal. A respondent is not allowed to present rebuttal argument.

Send an email (through NYSCEF in E-Filed cases) to the Court on notice to all parties explaining that you are requesting to present oral argument.

Yes. You should notify the Clerk's office at least 24 hours PRIOR to argument of any changes to the calendar including submissions or attorney changes.

Your failure to timely notify the Clerk's office of a calendar change may ultimately lead to the imposition of costs.

The Third Department hears oral arguments in person at the Robert Abrams Building for Law and Justice in Albany. The Court encourages in-person appearances for oral argument, to the extent possible and practicable. However, in the interest of promoting access to justice, the Court may also permit remote oral arguments under certain circumstances. To request permission to appear remotely for oral argument, please email the Third Department's Clerk's Office at [email protected] as soon as your case is calendared for a term, on notice to all parties, and set forth the reason(s) that you are requesting to appear remotely.

All of the Court's oral arguments are live streamed and available to be watched through the Court's website. Archived oral arguments are also available.

The Court traditionally hands downs decisions every Thursday before Noon. In most instances, a decision will be issued approximately 4-6 weeks after the matter is heard by the Court (i.e. the date of oral argument or submission).

Decisions are published on the Court's website on the day they are handed down and in E-Filed cases, a copy of the decision is uploaded to NYSCEF. The Court also emails or mails a copy of the decision to incarcerated individuals. Otherwise, you need to check the Court's website to see the decision.

No. The decision speaks for itself and Court staff are not permitted to explain the decision.

No. Once a decision is issued, it is final. Litigants who seek additional review of this Court's decisions need to make an appropriate motion before this Court (i.e. for reargument, leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals) or for other appropriate relief where available (appeal to the Court of Appeals).

All decisions (other than some attorney disciplinary matters that are by statute confidential) are public documents and accessible to the public and will appear on the internet.