Rule 14 - Briefs and appendices; contents(a)Briefs - Cover. -On the front cover of each brief and appendix or supplemental brief and appendix there shall be stated the name of this Court, the caption of the case and its case number, the name of the trial court, the title of the brief or appendix, the name of the party for whom the brief is filed, the name of counsel by whom the brief is filed and the date of filing. Each cover shall be the appropriate color, where applicable. (i)Title. -Each brief and appendix shall be appropriately titled, for example: "Appellant's Opening Brief" or "Appendix to Appellee's Answering Brief." Where a cross-appeal exists, the cross-appellant's brief should be properly labeled as such, i.e., "Appellee's Answering Brief on Appeal and Cross-Appellant's Opening Brief on Cross-Appeal." The cross-appellee's brief should also be properly labeled, i.e., "Appellant's Reply Brief on Appeal and Cross-Appellee's Answering Brief on Cross-Appeal."(ii)Color. -Except where the litigant is in forma pauperis, the cover of the brief of the appellant will be blue; that of the appellee, red; that of an intervenor or amicus curiae, green; that of any reply brief, gray. The cover of the appendix will be white. When a transparent cover is used, the underlying sheet must nevertheless conform to these color requirements.(b)Opening and answering. -The opening brief of appellant and the answering brief of appellee shall contain the following under distinctive titles, commencing on a new page, in the listed order: (i)Table of contents. -The table of contents shall reflect each section required by this rule, including all headings designated in the body of the brief, and shall reflect the page number on which each section or heading begins. The table of contents shall also reflect all attachments or exhibits to the brief.(ii)Table of citations. -A table of citations to cases, statutes, rules, textbooks and other authorities, alphabetically arranged;(iii)Nature of proceedings. -A statement of the nature of the proceeding and the judgment or order sought to be reviewed;(iv)Summary of argument. -A summary of argument, stating in separate numbered paragraphs the legal propositions upon which each side relies. Appellant's statement shall be admitted or denied with specificity in appellee's summary, paragraph by paragraph.(v)Statement of facts. -A concise statement of facts, with supporting references to appendices or record, presenting succinctly the background of the questions involved. The statement shall include a concise statement of all facts which should be known in order to determine the points in controversy and shall describe in particular the judgment or order sought to be reviewed. Each party shall be referred to as "plaintiff", "State", "defendant", as the case may be, or by the party's name or other appropriate designation which makes clear the party's identity. References to the parties as appellant or appellee shall be avoided except where necessary. Appellee's counterstatement of facts need not repeat facts recited by appellant.(vi)Argument. -The argument shall be divided into appropriate headings, and each argument shall commence on a new page. Each argument shall be further subdivided into 3 parts: A.(1)Questions presented. -The first shall state the question or questions presented, with a clear and exact reference to the pages of the appendix where a party preserved each question in the trial court. Where a party did not preserve the question in the trial court, counsel shall state why the interests of justice exception to Rule 8 may be applicable.(2)Scope of review. -The second shall state the standard and scope of review applicable to the issue.(3)Merits of argument. -The third shall state the merits of the argument. The merits of any argument that is not raised in the body of the opening brief shall be deemed waived and will not be considered by the Court on appeal.B.(1)Citations. -The style of citations shall be as provided in paragraph (g) of this rule.(2)Unreported decisions. -If an opinion or order has been published in Westlaw, LexisNexis or any reporter system, a copy thereof is not required to be attached to the brief except as required under (vii). If a decision has yet to be published in any of the previously named systems, a copy thereof shall be attached to the brief, except that if the number of decisions is too numerous to attach, then the decisions may be bound in a separate compendium which shall include a cover page and table of contents.(vii)Trial court's judgment and rationale. -The opening brief of the appellant shall include a copy of the order or orders of judgment being appealed and, if any, the separate written or transcribed rationale of the trial court. These items shall be inserted at the end of the opening brief, and not in the appendix.(c)Reply briefs. -(i)Contents. -Appellant shall not reserve material for reply brief which should have been included in a full and fair opening brief. There shall not be repetition of materials contained in the opening brief. A table of contents and a table of citations, as required by paragraphs (b)(i) and (ii), above, shall be included in the reply brief.(ii)Cross-appeal. -Where there is a cross-appeal, appellee's summary of argument with regard to the cross-appeal shall be admitted or denied with specificity in the reply brief. As appropriate, the reply brief may also contain sections specified under paragraph (b)(iii) and (b)(v) of this rule, with respect to such cross-appeal.(iii)Headings. -To the extent that the reply brief contains any of the items set forth in paragraph (b) of this rule, they shall be set forth under distinctive titles and commence on a new page.(d) Length of Briefs.(i) Type-volume limitation. Without leave of Court, an opening or answering brief shall not exceed 10,000 words, and no reply brief shall exceed 5,500 words. Where there is a cross-appeal, the answering/opening brief on cross-appeal of appellee shall not exceed 14,000 words and the reply/answering brief on cross-appeal of appellant shall not exceed 10,000 words. The reply brief on cross-appeal of the appellee, if any, shall not exceed 5,500 words. The front cover, material required by paragraphs (b)(i) and (ii), signature block, and any footer included pursuant to Rule 10.2(5), do not count toward the limitation. All other text must be counted toward the limitation.(ii) Certificate of compliance. (A) Any brief subject to Rule 14(d)(i) must include a certificate of compliance by counsel or an unrepresented party that the brief complies with the typeface requirement of Rule 13(a) and type-volume limitation of Rule 14(d)(i). The person preparing the certificate must state the number of words in the brief, and may rely on the word count of the word processing program used to prepare the brief.(B) Form R is a suggested form of a certificate for compliance. Use of Form R is sufficient to meet the requirements of paragraph (d)(ii)(A) of this rule.(iii) Page limitations for unrepresented parties without access to a word processing program. Without leave of Court, an opening or answering brief shall not exceed a total of 35 pages and a reply brief shall not exceed 20 pages, exclusive of appendix. Where there is a cross-appeal, the answering/opening brief on cross-appeal of appellee shall not exceed 50 pages and the reply/answering brief on crossappeal of appellant shall not exceed 35 pages, exclusive of appendix. The reply brief on cross-appeal of the appellee, if any, shall not exceed 20 pages. In the calculation of pages, the material required by paragraphs (b)(i) and (ii) of this rule is excluded and the material required by paragraphs (b)(iii) through (vi) of this rule is included.(iv) Footnotes shall not be used for argument ordinarily included in the body of a brief.(v) Extensions. The Court looks with disfavor upon motions to exceed the type-volume or page limitation, and such motions will be granted only for good cause shown. Any motion filed pursuant to this section must be filed at least five days before the due date for the filing of the brief to which it relates.(e)Appendices. -Appellant's appendix shall contain a paginated table of contents, the complete docket entries in the trial court arranged chronologically in a single column, and relevant portions of the charge. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, the appellant's appendix shall contain such portions of the trial transcript as are necessary to give this Court a fair and accurate account of the context in which the claim of error occurred and must include a transcript of all evidence relevant to the challenged finding or conclusion. The appendix of either appellant or appellee shall, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, contain such other parts of the record material to the questions presented as each wishes the Justices to read; duplication shall be avoided whenever possible. The portions of the record in the appendix shall be arranged in chronological order following the docket entries. If testimony of witnesses is included, appropriate references to the pages of such testimony in the typewritten transcript shall be made in the table of contents. Asterisks or other appropriate means shall be used to indicate omissions in such testimony. Each appendix shall have a table of contents and be organized so that its contents can be clearly identified and rapid reference thereto can be made. All appendices shall be separately bound. Whenever any document, paper or testimony in a foreign language is included in any appendix or is cited in any brief, an English translation of such document, paper or testimony, made under the authority of the trial court or agreed by the parties to be correct, shall be included in the appendix. The appellant's opening brief is required to be accompanied by an appendix in all cases except, in a Certification of Questions of Law matter filed pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 41.(f)Joint appendix. -Counsel may agree upon a joint appendix which shall be bound separately.(g)Form of citations. -The following shall be the form of citations:(i) Reported Opinions. The style of citation shall be as set forth in THE BLUEBOOK: A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION, with no reference to State Reporter Systems or other parallel citations. For example: Melson v. Allman, 244 A.2d 85 (Del. 1968).
Prince v. Bensinger, 244 A.2d 89 (Del. Ch. 1968).
State v. Pennsylvania R.R. Co., 244 A.2d 80 (Del. Super. Ct. 1968).
Cases with citations to computer reported systems; e.g., Westlaw, Lexis, and Fastcase shall be cited as set forth below: LEXIS Citation form: Fox v. Fox, 1998 Del. LEXIS 179 (Del. May 15, 1998); Westlaw Citation Form: Fox v. Fox, 1998 WL 280361 (Del. May 15, 1998); or Fastcase Citation Form: Fox v. Fox, No. 163, 1998 (Del. May 15, 1998) (Fastcase).
(ii) Unreported Opinions: The style of citation shall be as set forth below: Delaware Citation Form: Fox v. Fox, Del., No. 510, 1997, Berger, J. (May 14, 1998).
(iii) Other Authority. The style of citation to any other type of authority, including but not limited to statutes, books, and articles, shall be as set forth in THE BLUEBOOK: A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION.(h)CD-ROM Briefs. -In addition to the electronically filed or conventionally filed paper copies of the brief, as required by these Rules, a party may file a brief on a CD-ROM subject to the following requirements. The electronically filed or paper submission filed pursuant to these Rules will be the "official version" for the Court's purposes. Except as specifically noted, the filing of a CD-ROM brief does not affect the other requirements of these Rules governing the preparation, filing, and service of the brief: (i) The cover page of the brief shall include the following legend in bold type immediately beneath the case number in the caption: "CD-ROM Version To Be Filed".(ii) Multiple parties filing a brief jointly may file such a brief on CD-ROM. Joinders to a brief may also be filed on the same CD-ROM.(iii) A CD-ROM brief shall be identical to the "official version" filed with the Court, including identical pagination and the signature of counsel, or an/s/ indicating that counsel has authorized its filing.(iv) The table of contents of the CD-ROM brief shall contain hyperlinks to the cited page within the brief.(v) The CD-ROM brief shall contain hyperlinks to all cases, statutes, reference materials, exhibits and such other items as are cited in the brief, subject to the following: (1) Hyperlinks shall link directly to the cited page(s) of the linked document.(2) Hyperlinks shall link only to documents filed on the same CD-ROM, and not directly to the internet or other external sources.(vi) Format: (1) All files in a CD-ROM submission shall be in PDF (portable document format).(2) The CD-ROM shall not be bootable.(3) The file for the brief may be prepared through direct conversion from the word processing file, or through scanning. The CD-ROM shall also include a text version of the brief in the format in which it was created and in RTF [Rich Text Format].(4) Files shall be configured to allow selecting and printing. All fonts used in a file shall be imbedded in the file.(vii) Time and Form of Filing:(1) The CD-ROM brief shall be filed not later than ten days after the filing of the electronically filed or conventionally filed paper copies of the brief, unless the Court directs otherwise.(2) Ten copies of the CD-ROM shall be filed by conventional means. The CD-ROM version of the brief shall not be electronically filed.(3) Two copies of the CD-ROM shall be served on each party separately represented and on each pro se party. A certificate of service shall accompany each submission.(4) Each CD-ROM shall be packaged in a standard container commonly known as a "jewel case" or other secure container. A simple paper sleeve shall not suffice for this purpose.(5) Each submission shall be labeled with the name of this Court, the short caption of the case and its case number, the title of the brief, the date of submission, and the name of the party making the submission. The label shall appear on the CD-ROM itself and on the jewel case or other container. Where a submission includes multiple CD-ROMs, each shall be labeled as above, with the additional identification as "CD-ROM 1 of 2", etc.Amended effective 7/21/2006; amended effective 5/15/2007; amended effective 7/1/2007; amended effective 8/19/2011; amended effective May 2013; amended August 19, 2016, effective 10/3/2016; amended efffective 4/16/2018.