In re Amendment to Rule 1.4

In re Amendment to Rule 1.4
1999 OK 4
Case Number: SCAD-99-5
Decided: 03/29/1999
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

PUBLICATION

O R D E R

¶1 Rule 1.4 of the Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules,12 O.S.Supp.1998, Ch. 15, App. 1, is hereby amended to read as follows:

Rule 1.4. Supreme Court Clerk, Filings, Mailing, Copies, and Notice to Parties

(a) Supreme Court Clerk.

All briefs, motions, and other papers are to be filed with the Clerk of the Supreme Court. The Clerk of the Supreme Court shall serve ex officio as Clerk of the Court of Civil Appeals. See Rule 1.172.

The Clerk shall not allow an original opinion to be removed from the Office of the Clerk. The Clerk shall not allow an original motion, pleading, or record to be taken from the Office of the Clerk without an order of the Court or one of the Justices thereof.

(b) Filings.

(1) Form. The pages of all filings shall be numbered unless excused by a specific rule herein. The forms provided by Rule 1.301 shall be used when applicable.

(2) Time for Filing. Except for petitions in error, petitions for review, and petitions for certiorari mailed in conformance with Rule 1.4(c), all briefs, motions, petitions, and other papers shall be deemed filed on the date of receipt by the Clerk of the Supreme Court during regular office hours, Monday through Friday between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M., state holidays excluded, at the State Capitol.

(c) Petition in Error, Petition for Review an Order of the Workers' Compensation Court, Petition for Certiorari to the Court of Civil Appeals, and Mailing.

A petition in error, petition for review, or petition for certiorari may be filed either by delivery to the Clerk of the Supreme Court or by deposit with the United States Postal Service addressed to the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Room B-2, State Capitol Bldg., 2300 N. Lincoln, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, or Clerk of the Supreme Court, P.O. Box 53126, Oklahoma City, OK 73152. See Rule 1.4(e). When a petition is delivered to the Clerk for filing it must be delivered at the Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court during regular office hours, Monday through Friday between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M., state holidays excluded, at the State Capitol. When a petition is delivered to the Clerk by the United States Postal Service, the date of mailing as shown by the postmark or other proof from the post office, such as the date stamped by the post office upon a certified mail receipt, will be deemed to be the date of filing the petition. Whitehead v. Tulsa Public Schools, 1998 OK 71, 968 P.2d 1211.

A postmark date from a privately owned postage meter will not suffice as proof of the date of mailing and, in the absence of other proof of date of mailing from the United States Postal Service, a document bearing only such a postmark will be deemed filed upon date of delivery to the Clerk. A petition delivered by any service other than the United States Postal Service will be deemed filed upon the date of receipt by the Clerk. The date of the mailing of a petition shall be deemed the date of its filing only when it is mailed in accordance with this rule, when it is properly addressed to the Clerk of the Supreme Court and contains sufficient postage. Where a petition is mailed following the requirements of this rule, the petition shall not be deemed filed on the date of mailing unless the full amount of the required cost deposit for filing the petition has also been mailed, conforming to the same mailing requirements, or such cost deposit is actually delivered to the Court Clerk within the time period for perfecting the appellate procedure.

(d) Mailing by Prisoner.

A prisoner's appeal is commenced on the date that he or she places the petition in error in the prison mailbox for mailing or otherwise delivers it to a prison official for mailing. Proof of the date of the placement of the petition in error in the prison mailbox shall be supplied by affidavit attached to the petition in error. Woody v. State, 1992 OK 45, 833 P.2d 257.

(e) Scope of Rule 1.4(c).

Rule 1.4(c) applies to petitions in error in appeals from the District Courts; petitions in error in all appeals from the Corporation Commission, and other tribunals, including but not limited to, the Tax Commission, Banking Board, State Banking Commissioner, and the Court of Tax Review; to petitions to review orders of the Workers' Compensation Court in the Supreme Court, to petitions for certiorari to review opinions of the Court of Civil Appeals, and to petitions for certiorari to review certified interlocutory orders of the District Courts.

(f) Copies.

The original shall be filed with the following number of copies.

1. Petition in Error - Fourteen copies (Rule 1.23).

2. Response to Petition in Error, - Fourteen copies (Rule 1.25).

3. Amended and Supplemental Petitions in Error - Fourteen copies, (Rule 1.26).

4. Entry of Appearance - Two copies (Rule 1.5).

5. Motions in an appeal - Ten copies (Rule 1.6).

6. Briefs in an appeal - Fourteen copies (Rule 1.10).

7. Waiver of brief - Fourteen copies (Rule 1.10).

8. Record on appeal from summary judgment, etc. - Four copies (Rule 1.36).

9. Rehearing before Supreme Court - Ten copies (Rule 1.13).

10. Rehearing before Court of Civil Appeals - Ten copies (Rule 1.177).

11. Petition for Certiorari to Court of Civil Appeals - Ten copies (Rule 1.179).

12. Answer to Petition for Certiorari to Court of Civil Appeals - Ten copies (Rule 1.179).

13. Reply to Answer to Petition for Certiorari to Court of Civil Appeals - Ten copies (Rule 1.179).

14. Petition to Review Certified Interlocutory Order - Fourteen copies, (Rule 1.52).

15. Response to Petition to Review Certified Interlocutory Order -Fourteen copies, (Rule 1.53).

16. Application to assume original jurisdiction - Fourteen copies (Rule 1.191).

17. Responses and Briefs in an original action - Fourteen copies (Rule 1.191).

18. Appendix in original action - One copy (Rule 1.191).

19. Corrections to filed instruments - Same number of copies as document corrected, (Rule 1.7).

(g) Notice to Parties.

Service of all documents filed with the Supreme Court or Court of Civil Appeals shall be made in the manner provided in 12 O.S.Supp.1998, § 2005(B). Proof of service may be by a certificate of service endorsed on the filing. The Court, a Justice thereof, or a Referee of the Supreme Court may require other methods of service and proof of service.

No brief, motion, petition, application or suggestion will be considered by the Supreme Court or the Court of Civil Appeals without proof of service as required herein, except where the Court determines that notice is not required.

Orders and notices required to be mailed to parties will be mailed on the date shown by the Clerk's file stamp unless otherwise indicated, and such date will serve as notice of the date of mailing. Notice by the Clerk shall be made to attorney or party pro se at the address shown by the entry of appearance or notice of change of address. See Rule 1.5.

Whenever in any case filed in this Court it shall be made to appear to the Clerk of this Court by the affidavit of an appellant or a petitioner, appellant's agent or attorney, that the appellee or the respondent has no attorney of record, or that appellee is beyond the limits of the state, or that appellee's residence is unknown, so that it is impossible or impracticable to serve citation upon appellee (or respondent) in the ordinary method provided by law, it shall be the duty of the Clerk of this Court, upon the appellant or the petitioner making provision for the payment of the expense thereof, to cause notice of the pendency of such cause to be published once each week for four weeks successively in some newspaper published in the county in which the case was tried.

¶2 Rule 1.4, as published herein, shall be published in three consecutive publications of the Oklahoma Bar Journal immediately subsequent to the filing of this order. Rule 1.4, as published herein, shall be effective upon the filing of this order.

¶3 DONE BY ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT IN CONFERENCE on the 29th day of March, 1999.

___________________________

CHIEF JUSTICE

SUMMERS, C.J., HODGES, OPALA, WILSON, and KAUGER, JJ., concur.

HARGRAVE, V.C.J., LAVENDER, SIMMS, and WATT, JJ., dissent.