Rule 81-3. Opposition to Petition

(a) Within ten days of the filing of the petition, any party may file an opposition with the appellate clerk stating the reasons why certification should not be granted. The opposition shall be presented in a manner which is responsive, in form and content, to the petition it opposes. Except as otherwise ordered, oppositions shall not exceed 4000 words. The word count is exclusive of the case caption, signature block of counsel of record, certifications and appendix, if any. Oppositions, including footnotes, shall be typed in a 12 point serif font. Section captions shall be typed in a 14 point serif font. A list of serif fonts can be found in the guidelines published on the Judicial Branch website. Margins shall be 1 and 1/2 inches on all sides. All text must be left aligned. Line spacing can be between 1.3x and 1.5x and must be uniform throughout, including the body of the document, footnotes and block quotes. Bold face or italic emphasis tools shall be used, not underlining. Oppositions shall be filed as one document with a single pagination scheme that starts on the first page of the opposition and continues throughout the entire document, on every page, including the pages in an attached appendix, if any. The page numbers shall be centered on the bottom of the page and shall be written as ''Page X of XX'' (e.g., Page 1 of 33 . . . Page 7 of 33 . . . Page 33 of 33). No separate memorandum of law in support of the opposition will be accepted by the appellate clerk.

(b) The opposition shall be delivered in the manner set forth in Section 62-7 and shall contain a certification that: (1) a copy has been delivered to each other counsel of record in accordance with the provisions of Section 62-7, and (2) that the opposition complies with the word count requirement of subsection (a) of this section.

(c) No motion to dismiss a petition for certification will be accepted by the appellate clerk. Any objection to the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the petition shall be included in the opposition.

(d) Responses to oppositions are not permitted.

Committee Notes

(Amended July 15, 2025, to take effect Jan. 1, 2026.) (P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. 4142.2.) (Amended Jan. 17, 2002, to take effect April 15, 2002; amended May 15, 2003, to take effect Jan. 1, 2004; amended May 4, 2006, to take effect Jan. 1, 2007; amended Sept. 16, 2015, to take effect Jan. 1, 2016; amended July 19, 2022, to take effect Jan. 1, 2023; amended June 27, 2023, to take effect Jan. 1, 2024; amended July 23, 2024, to take effect Jan. 1, 2025; amended July 15, 2025, to take effect Jan. 1, 2026.) HISTORY—2026: Prior to 2026, this section was titled ''Statement in Opposition to Petition,'' and provided: ''(a) Within ten days of the filing of the petition, any party may file a statement in opposition with the appellate clerk stating the reasons why certification should not be granted. The statement shall be presented in a manner which is respon- sive, in form and content, to the petition it opposes. Except as otherwise ordered, oppositions shall not exceed 4000 words. The word count is exclusive of the case caption, signa- ture block of counsel of record, certifications and appendix, if any. Oppositions, including footnotes, shall be typed in a 12 point serif font. Section captions shall be typed in a 14 point serif font. A list of serif fonts can be found in the guidelines published on the Judicial Branch website. Margins shall be 1 and 1/2 inches on all sides. All text must be left aligned. Line spacing can be between 1.3x and 1.5x and must be uniform throughout, including the body of the document, footnotes and block quotes. Bold face or italic emphasis tools shall be used, not underlining. No separate memorandum of law in support of the statement in opposition will be accepted by the appel- late clerk. ''(b) The statement in opposition shall be delivered in the manner set forth in Section 62-7. ''(c) No motion to dismiss a petition for certification will be accepted by the appellate clerk. Any objection to the jurisdic- tion of the court to entertain the petition shall be included in the statement in opposition. ''(d) If the party in a civil matter filing the opposition is an entity as defined in Section 60-4, a certificate of interested entities or individuals shall be attached to the opposition. ''(e) Responses to oppositions are not permitted.'' COMMENTARY—2026: The purpose of these amend- ments is to make the formatting rules for briefs, motions, peti- tions and oppositions consistent such that all of them are filed, with any attachments, as one document with a single pagination scheme, to add a word count certification require- ment, and to provide that parties are required to file a certificate of interested entities or individuals only when the reviewing court orders the parties to file the certificate when necessary.