In Louisiana appellate practice, the appellant’s brief and the relator’s writ application must include a jurisdictional statement. To get this simple part of a brief or writ application right, you need to know the governing rules and—equally important—the purpose of the jurisdictional statement.
In both a brief and a writ application, the jurisdictional statement serves one and only one purpose: to prove (not just say) that the court of appeal has jurisdiction. Proof of jurisdiction is like proof of any other argument: it requires citation of legal authorities and assertion of facts supported by record citations (or, for a writ application, citations to specific pages in the appendix).
In an appeal brief, proof of appellate jurisdiction means proof that (a) the judgment to be reviewed is appealable; and (b) the appeal was taken timely under the applicable law. Don’t take my word for it: read Uniform Rule 2-12.4(A)(3):
The brief of the appellant shall contain, under appropriate headings and in the order indicated:
...
(3) a jurisdictional statement setting forth the constitutional and statutory basis for the court to exercise appellate jurisdiction, with citations to applicable provisions. The jurisdictional statement shall also include the dates of the judgment appealed and of the motion and order for appeal to establish the timeliness of the appeal and the following, as applicable:
(a) an assertion that the appeal is from a final appealable judgment and, if the appealability is dependent upon a designation by the trial court, a reference to the specific page numbers of the record where the designation and reasons for the designation are to be found, or
(b) an assertion that the appeal is from an interlocutory judgment or order which is appealable as expressly provided by law, or
(c) an assertion of information establishing the court of appeal's jurisdiction on some other basis ....
When citing the law supporting your right to appeal, be as specific as possible. If it’s a suspensive appeal, cite La. Code Civ. P. art. 2123. If it’s a devolutive appeal, cite La. Code Civ. P. art. 2087. If it’s an appeal from a preliminary injunction, cite La. Code Civ. P. art. 3612. If it’s an appeal from a city or parish court, cite La. Code Civ. P. art. 5001 and 5002. If it’s an appeal from an interlocutory judgment that’s appealable “as expressly provided by law,” cite the specific statute or code article that makes the judgment appealable.
Also, any assertion of a jurisdictionally significant date should be supported by a record citation. For example, if the notice of judgment triggers the appeal delay, cite the record volume and page where the notice of judgment can be found. And of course, cite the record volume and page where the motion for appeal and order granting the appeal can be found.
Sometimes, a timely motion for new trial interrupts the appeal delay. If so, your jurisdictional statement should refer to the timely filing of the motion for new trial and the date of the notice of judgment denying new trial, with supporting record citations.
In short, the jurisdictional statement should include all the facts (supported by record citations) and all the law needed to establish the court of appeal’s appellate jurisdiction.
That’s enough for one blog post. My next one will discuss the jurisdictional statement in an application for a supervisory writ.
For prior posts on this topic, see my posts of 12 July 2017 and 5 January 2013.