J. Hernandez v. State ( 2021 )

p, 07/27/2021 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA Case Number: DA 21-0267 DA 21-0267 .• Li2.7111 JUSTIN CHARLES HERNANDEZ, JUL 2 7 2021 Bowen Greenwood Petitioner and Appellant, Clerk of Supreme Court State of Montana v. ORDER STATE OF MONTANA, Respondent and Appellee. This Court reviews briefs to ensure compliance with Rules 11 and 12 of the Montana Rules of Appellate Procedure. After reviewing the Appellant's opening brief filed on July 26, 2021, this Court has determined that the brief does not comply with the Rules and must be resubrnitted. M. R. App. P. 10(4) requires a certificate of service in the form of a statement of the date and manner of service and of the names and addresses of the persons served. M. R. App. P. 13 (2) states that a brief will not be accepted for filing "unless it is accompanied by a certificate of service as required by rule 10." The Appellant's opening brief does not contain a certificate of service. M. R. App. P. 1 1(6)(b) requires the cover page of a brief to contain the title of this Court; the cause nurnber in this Court; the title of the case frorn the trihtinal in which the case originated or frorn which an appeal is taken, adding the designations of the parties set forth in M. R. App. P. 2, and the name, the venue of the tribunal, and the judge in which the case originated or from which an appeal is taken; the names, mailing addresses, telephone, fax numbers, and ernail addresses of respective counsel for the parties, identifying the party counsel represents and that same information if the party is proceeding without counsel; and the title of the document being filed. M. R. App. P. 12(1) requires the opening brief of an appellant to contain a table of contents, with page references, and a table of cases (alphabetically arranged), statutes and other authorities cited, with references to the pages of the brief where they are cited; a statement of the issues presented for review; a statement of the case briefly indicating the nature of the case and its procedural disposition in the court below; a statement of the facts relevant to the issues presented for review, with references to the pages or the parts of the record at which material facts appear; a staternent of the standard of review as to each issue raised, together with a citation of authority; a surnrnary of the argument containing a succinct, clear, and accurate staternent of the argurnents made in the body of the brief; an argurnent containing the contentions of the appellant with respect to the issues presented, and the reasons therefor, with citations to the authorities, statutes, and pages of the record relied on; a short conclusion stating the precise relief sought; and an appendix that includes the relevant judgment, order(s), findings of fact, conclusions of law, jury instruction(s), ruling(s), or decision(s) from which the appeal is taken together with any written memorandum or rationale of the court, and those pages of the transcript containing any oral ruling in support. The Appellant's opening brief does not rneet the requirements of Rule 12. Therefore, IT IS ORDERED that the signed original and nine copies of the referenced brief be returned for revisions necessary to comply with the specified Rules; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a signed original and nine copies of the revised brief ordered herein be filed within thirty (30) days of the date of this Order with the Clerk of this Court and that one copy of the revised brief be served on each counsel of record; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the postage costs for returning the referenced copies of Appellant's brief will be billed to Appellant by the Clerk of this Court and shall be due and payable upon receipt; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of Court is directed to provide Appellant with a copy of the Civil Handbook for litigants proceeding before this Court without an attorney; and IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the tirnes for any subsequent briefing contained in M.R. App. P. 13 shall run frorn the date offiling of the revised brief. The Clerk of this Court is directed to mail a true copy of this Order to Appellant, to mail a true copy of this Order to counsel for the State, and to provide a copy of the Civil Handbook to Appellant. DATED this Zr4day ofJuly, 2021. For the Court, Justice