Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Responses & Reply to Responses of Motion in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

(3) Response.



(A) Time to file. Any party may file a response to a motion; Fed. R. App. P. 27(a)(2) governs its contents. The response must be filed within 8 days after service of the motion unless the court shortens or extends the time. A motion authorized by Fed. R. App. P. 8, 9, 18, or 41 may be granted before the 8-day period runs only if the court gives reasonable notice to the parties that it intends to act sooner.



(B) Request for affirmative relief. A response may include a motion for affirmative relief. The time to respond to the new motion, and to reply to that response, are governed by Fed. R. App. P. 27(a)(3)(A) and (a)(4). The title of the response must alert the court to the request for relief.



(4) Reply to Response. Any reply to a response must be filed within 5 days after service of the response. A reply must not present matters that do not relate to the response.



(b) Disposition of a Motion for a Procedural Order. The court may act on a motion for a procedural order — including a motion under Fed. R. App. P. 26(b) — at any time without awaiting a response, and may, by rule or by order in a particular case, authorize its clerk to act on specified types of procedural motions. A party adversely affected by the court’s, or the clerk’s, action may file a motion to reconsider, vacate, or modify that action. Timely opposition filed after the motion is granted in whole or in part does not constitute a request to reconsider, vacate, or modify the disposition; a motion requesting that relief must be filed.



(c) Power of a Single Judge to Entertain a Motion. A circuit judge may act alone on any motion, but may not dismiss or otherwise determine an appeal or other proceeding. A court of appeals may provide by rule or by order in a particular case that only the court may act on any motion or class of motions. The court may review the action of a single judge.



(d) Form of Papers; Page Limits; and Number of Copies.