Appellate Practice Reminders

• Publication year: 2020
• Pages: 87

Appellate Practice Reminders No. 89 J. Kan. Bar Assn 6, 87 (2020) Kansas Bar Journal August, 2020

July, 2020

From the Appellate Court Clerk's Office

Reinstatement of Deadlines and Time Limitations—Appellate Style

The most pressing issue for us at the appellate courts is the consequence of reinstating deadlines and time limitations. The fear of the unknown is omnipresent in the pandemic climate. This fear has generated daily phone calls from attorneys seeking precise and immediate interpretation of what the reinstatement will entail—enter shoulder shrug stage right.

Chief Justice Marla Luckert suspended statutes of limitation and statutory time standards or deadlines effective March 19, 2020, through Administrative Order 2020-PR-016, and reiterated the suspension in Administrative Orders 2020-PR-32, 2020-PR-058 and 2020-PR-076. At the appellate level, our time limitations were suspended for most cases with exceptions for expedited cases and other cases specified by the appellate courts.

For the most part, sans a switch from in-person to video arguments, the appellate courts never really skipped a beat through the current stages of COVID19. At every opportunity, I told attorneys to continue to treat an appellate case just like normal. If you needed additional time, file a motion, the appellate courts understand the collateral consequences of the coronavirus. By continuing the norm, it not only gave our system a deadline, but it kept the case on the attorney's radar as well.

On June 29th, Chief Justice Marla...