Short answer. The appellee's brief must contain a subject index with a digest of arguments and citations, either an acceptance of the appellant's Statement of Facts or a Counter-Statement pointing out inaccuracies, and an Argument section responding to each assignment of error with record references and cited authorities.
What the law says
A subject index of the matter in the brief with a digest of the arguments and page references, and a table of cases alphabetically arranged, textbooks and statutes cited with references to the pages where they are cited
Rule 44, Section 14 — Contents of appellee' s brief. Read the full provision →
What the law says
the appellee shall state that he accepts the statement of facts in the appellant's brief, or under the heading "Counter-Statement of Facts," he shall point out such insufficiencies or inaccuracies as he believes exist in the appellant's statement of facts
Rule 44, Section 14 — Contents of appellee' s brief. Read the full provision →
Same indexing discipline as the appellant's brief
Section 14 opens with the same requirement Section 13 places on the appellant: a subject index of the matter in the brief with a digest of the arguments and page references, and a table of cases alphabetically arranged, textbooks and statutes cited with references to the pages where they are cited. This uniform structure lets the court navigate both briefs the same way.
Accept the facts, or counter them explicitly
On the facts, the appellee has a binary choice, not a vague summary. Either the appellee shall state that he accepts the statement of facts in the appellant's brief, or, under the heading 'Counter-Statement of Facts,' he shall point out such insufficiencies or inaccuracies as he believes exist in the appellant's statement of facts — with references to the record, and without simply repeating what the appellant already stated.
Argument tied to each assignment of error
The appellee's Argument section must respond to the appellant's case point by point, addressing each assignment of error with its own record references and cited authorities. This mirrored structure — index, facts response, then argument — is designed to let the Court of Appeals compare the two briefs directly rather than reconcile mismatched formats, and it discourages an appellee from arguing the case broadly while leaving specific assigned errors unanswered.
Why the appellee's brief has no Relief section
Unlike the appellant's brief, Section 14 does not require a heading asking the court for specific relief, because the appellee is usually not the one seeking a change to the judgment below — the appellee's position is ordinarily that the judgment should stand as rendered. What Section 14 does require instead is the direct, point-by-point response to the appellant's assigned errors, since that response is what actually defends the judgment being appealed rather than a separate request for affirmative relief.
Related provisions
- Rule 44, Section 14 — Contents of appellee' s brief
- Rule 44, Section 13 — Contents of appellant' s brief
- Rule 44, Section 8 — Appellee' s brief