GR 9 COVER SHEET

Suggested Amendment Rules of Appellate Procedure

Rule 10.5 – Reproduction and Service of Briefs

A.  Proponent: Washington State Court of Appeals Rules Committee

B.  Spokesperson: Judge Bradley Maxa, Chair

C.    Purpose: RAP 10.5 provides that the appellate court clerk “will” arrange for the economic reproduction of each brief and charge the parties to pay the cost of reproduction. The rule also allows appellate court commissioner or clerk to permit a governmental party to reproduce and directly supply copies of briefs required by the court in lieu of the clerk’s reproduction.

In light of the current status of electronic filings, reproduction of briefs may not be necessary. The proposed amendment to the rule will make the clerk’s reproduction discretionary by changing the word “will” to “may” and will eliminate unnecessary copying of paper documents and reproduction charges. A separate proposed change to RAP 17.4 will also make reproduction of additional copies of all papers relating to motions or answers by appellate court commissioner or clerk discretionary. A separate proposed change to RAP 14.3(a) will eliminate, from the list of recoverable costs for a prevailing party on review, cost of “preparation of a brief or other original document to be reproduced by the clerk,” which is an amount per page fixed by the Supreme Court, while maintaining the cost of the clerk’s reproduction charges. Additionally, in light of the current practice, the proposed amendment will remove the language that allows appellate court commissioner or clerk to permit a governmental party to directly supply copies of its briefs required by the court in lieu of reproduction. This is because the court has not utilized this practice and may not need this separate rule for a governmental party.

D.  Hearing: Not requested.

E.  Expedited Consideration: Not requested.

F.  Supporting Material: Suggested rule amendment.