Rule I - Supreme Court Rules - Louisiana Supreme Court

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<h3 style="text-align:center;">RULES OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA </h3><h4 style="text-align:center;">Part A. Practice and Procedure </h4><h4> RULE I. PREPARATION OF RECORDS </h4>Section 1. In all cases appealed to this court, a certified copy of the original record and two duplicate records, shall be filed and shall be prepared as set forth below. Where a writ is granted to review the action of a trial court, a certified copy of the original record and one duplicate shall be prepared. The records need not contain pleadings, testimony, exhibits, or rulings not material to the action sought to be reviewed. The certified copy of the original shall include all documentary and photographic evidence as well as any other evidence which was part of the original record. The original of all evidence may be filed with this court, but they should be filed separately and not be made part of or attached to the certified original record. All exhibits which are filed in original form and separate from the record will be returned to the district court when the case becomes final. All physical or corporeal evidence, particularly large items of physical evidence, should not be filed along with the record, and need only be filed if requested. Where a writ is granted to review the action of a court of appeal, it shall be sufficient to file in this court the original and duplicate records there filed.&nbsp; Section 2. To the extent practicable, the original and duplicate records, either or all of which may be produced through a permanent duplicating process, shall be prepared on white legal-size (8 1/2 x 14") paper and shall be double-spaced and have adequate margins (top 2", left 1"). They shall be bound in strong, flexible loose-leaf covers, fastened at the top. If the record contains more than a total of 250 pages, then it shall be bound in a separate volume or volumes, each of which shall not contain more than 250 pages. The pages in the record shall be consecutively numbered.&nbsp; Section 3. The clerk of the trial court shall prepare and certify as correct the original and duplicate records. The duplicate records shall contain all matters contained in the original record except subpoenas and such exhibits as it is not feasible to duplicate. The pages of the duplicate records shall be numbered to correspond with those of the original record. Charges for preparation of the duplicate record(s) shall not exceed twenty cents per page for the first one hundred pages and fifteen cents for each page thereafter.&nbsp; Section 4. When a record is composed of more than one volume, the pleadings, documents and exhibits, orders of court, minutes, reasons and judgment of the court, petition or motion and order, and bond of appeal shall be included, so far as possible, in Volume 1, and the testimony of the witnesses and records of cases offered in evidence in the subsequent volume or volumes. Each volume shall contain the index of the entire record, which index shall conform to the requirements prescribed by Sections 5(a), (b), (c), and (i) and 6(a) and (e) of these rules.&nbsp; Section 5. Records in civil cases shall include the following matters in the following order:(a) A chronological index by date, item, and page of all filings in the entire record; (b) An alphabetical index by item and page of all filings in the entire record; (c) A chronological or numerical index of the documents and exhibits introduced in evidence; (d) Typed copies of the minutes showing the date of each entry; (e) All pleadings, together with documents and exhibits annexed, and orders of court with respect thereto, in the order in which they are made and filed except that answers to interrogatories or to similar inquiries shall immediately follow the interrogatories; (f) Documents introduced (except those annexed to pleadings as above directed) in the order in which they are filed. No record of any other case shall be included in the transcript of the record of the case appealed, unless such other record shall have been formally offered and ordered filed in evidence in that cause; in such event, this other record may be included in the record as an exhibit; (g) Reasons for judgment and judgments, both interlocutory and final; (h) Petition or motion, and order and bond for appeal; (i) The transcript of oral testimony in the order in which it is taken, preceded by an index setting forth the names of witnesses in the order called by the respective litigants and the transcript volume and page numbers of their examination on direct, cross-examination, etc., and by an alphabetical index of the witnesses called by the respective litigants and the page at which their testimony commenced on each occasion they testified. This index shall also list and identify the exhibits and show by whom presented and the page number where ordered filed. The transcript of evidence shall indicate the party litigant in whose behalf each witness was sworn, whether in chief, on cross-examination, or in rebuttal, and by whom examined or cross-examined; (j) Where documents or exhibits are too bulky or it is otherwise not feasible to bind them, they may be included in an exhibit envelope or envelopes, with a list and identification of the enclosed exhibits attached to the envelope(s). The duplicate record need not reproduce such exhibits. Depositions introduced into evidence, however, must be made part of the original and duplicate records.&nbsp; Section 6. Records in criminal cases shall contain the following matters in the following order:(a) Indices of filings, oral testimony, and documents or exhibits, prepared as in the cases of civil appeals (see Section 5(a), (b), and (c) above); (b) Typed copies of minute entries, showing the opening of court, the impaneling of the grand jury by which the indictment (if the prosecution was by indictment) was found, list of challenges for cause, list of peremptory challenges, list of petit jurors selected, list of all evidence, list of all witnesses, time when jury went out and returned, and the jury's verdict, in chronological order; (c) The indictment or information, all pleas, demurrers, and motions and orders, including the verdict and sentence, in the order in which they were filed, made, returned, or imposed; (d) The assignment of error in numerical order and the trial judge's per curiams, if any, which should follow each assignment of error. If the evidence necessary to form a basis for the assignment of error has been transcribed elsewhere in the record, such as in a full transcript of the trial, it may be incorporated by reference to the appropriate page numbers of the transcript or record, so as to dispense with unnecessary duplication in the record; (e) The transcript of oral evidence at the trial and at any preliminary hearing, if made part of the record, each being prepared as in the case of transcripts for civil appeals (see Section 5(i) above). In capital cases in which a sentence of death has been imposed and appealed to this Court, the record shall conform to the other requirements of this section and shall also contain, in addition to a complete transcript of the oral evidence offered at the guilt and penalty phases of trial, transcripts of the following: all pre-trial evidentiary hearings in chronological order in which they occurred; voir dire examination prospective jurors in its entirety; opening statements of counsel at the beginning of the guilt phase; closing arguments of counsel at the guilt phase and the state's rebuttal argument; the trial court's jury instructions at the guilt phase and the jury's return of its verdict(s); opening statements of counsel at the penalty phase; closing arguments of counsel at the penalty phase and the state's rebuttal argument; the trial court's jury instructions at the penalty phase and the jury's return of its sentencing determination(s). The transcripts of pre-trial hearings shall conform to the requirements of Section 5(i) above, and the transcript of voir dire examination shall identify each prospective juror by name as he or she is questioned and the party litigant conducting the examination. The district judge in the court in which the case was tried shall retain all notes and tape recordings of the proceedings as the property of the court and, as to appeals in capital cases only, shall certify that the record conforms to the requirement of this section before it is lodged in this Court. [Amended effective January 15, 2000] (f) Exhibits not included in the bound volumes of the record, prepared as in the case of civil appeals (see Section 5(j) above). Section 7. In the absence of instruction from the parties or this court, subpoenas, notices, returns, and writs may be omitted from the record. They may be supplied upon timely application to this court by any party to the appeal, upon showing their materiality. Section 8. On the outside of the front cover of the record (and of each volume if there be more than one), there shall be inscribed, with proper separation of lines and spaces, and in the following order:(a) The number of the case in this court, to be inserted by the clerk of this court; (b) The number of the volume, if there be more than one; (c) The date of the filing in this court, to be entered by the clerk of this court; (d) The title of the case, with words showing the status of the parties respectively (i.e., whether appellant, appellee, relator, respondent, plaintiff, defendant, etc.); (e) The name of the court and of the parish from which the appeal comes, the number of the case in such court, and the name of the judge who rendered the decision appealed from; (f) The name and address of counsel for the parties at the time of lodging the record in this court, with words showing whether the party is plaintiff, defendant, intervenor, opponent, or third-party plaintiff or defendant. The clerk of the trial court shall ascertain counsel at the time of the appeal and of lodging the record in this court, rather than supplying only the counsel at the initial pleadings.Upon request, the clerk of this court will furnish printed cover sheets in the format desired for the records to be filed in this court. Section 9. In all cases appealed to this court from a judgment rendered in a criminal case by a parish, city or municipal court, wherein the testimony of witnesses was electronically recorded, such electronic recording shall, before lodging of the appeal in this court, be transcribed, and a certified copy of the original transcription and two duplicates shall be prepared and filed in accordance with the foregoing sections of this rule. Section 10. Any record lodged in this court may, with leave of court, be used, without necessity of duplication, in any other appeal.&nbsp; Section 11. If an appeal is taken to this court when such remedy is not available, the court may in its discretion treat such appeal as an application for supervisory or other writs. &nbsp;
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