4th District Shortens Allowable Extensions for Reply Briefs and Criminal Appeals
The Fourth District Court of Appeal has shortened the allowable time period for agreed extensions of time: Effective May 1, 2018, parties will only be allowed to agree to 90 days for an initial or answer brief, and 15 days for a reply brief. The Court has also shortened the agreed extension period for criminal appeals significantly, once again applying the same standards to criminal and state appeals.
The new order, AO 2018-1 [.pdf], keeps the amount of time of an agreed extension for the initial brief at 90 days (which in 2016 came down from the original 120 days), but shortens the reply brief stipulation time from 30 days to 15. See AO 2016-1 [.pdf]. When the Fourth District first allowed agreed enlargements in 2011, the time periods were much larger: 120 days for initial or answer, and 60 days for reply. In 2016, the Court changed the rules to keep the 120/60 for criminal, but shorten it to 90/30 for civil. The new Order applies to both civil and criminal cases, and once again aligns the timing for both. Now, however, the time for a reply brief is even shorter, and the rule is 90/15 for all.
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