Alaska Court System Self-Help

After filing the appeal at the Supreme Court, the appellant should serve the appellee with copies of all papers filed either by personal delivery or First Class U.S. mail. The appellee should receive:

• Notice of Appeal & Statement of Points on Appeal
• Docketing Statement
• Designation of Transcript
• Copy of the final judgment or order that is being appealed
• Any motions the appellant also filed.

The only way to stop the appeal is if the appellant did not correctly open the case because:

• the Superior Court did not issue a final judgment yet so it is too early to appeal or
• the appellant did not file the Notice of Appeal on time. See Appellate Rule 204 and Appellate Rules 216-220 to understand the deadlines for filing.

If there is a problem with the appeal, you may file a motion to dismiss the appeal. See our motions page for more information about filing a motion. You can also argue in the response brief that the Supreme Court should dismiss the appeal. If you have questions, please consult an attorney.

The appellee should read the papers to understand what issues the appellant raised on appeal. Pay close attention to the “Statement of Points on Appeal.” The appellant will try to convince the Supreme Court that the Superior Court made a mistake about those points. So you should plan to defend the Superior Court decision regarding those points. Remember it is your job to convince the Supreme Court that the Superior Court decision was correct and should be affirmed.

Review the appellant’s “Designation of Transcript” form to make sure that the sections of the record to be transcribed will address all the issues you think are necessary to defend the Superior Court decision.

If the appellant’s selected parts of the transcript will not be enough to decide the issues on appeal, the appellee may designate additional parts of the electronic record to be transcribed by filing Designation of Transcript, SHS-AP 140 (Word document).

For more information, please read the transcript section.

If you want to appeal different issues from the same final judgment than the appellant raised in the Notice of Appeal & Statement of Points on Appeal, you can file a cross-appeal. For more information, please read the cross-appeal section.

The cross-appeal is due

• within 14 days from when the appellant filed their Notice of Appeal
• OR
• within 30 days from the date shown in the clerk's certificate of distribution on the final judgment

depending on which period ends last. So you need to look at the dates on both documents. From the date the Notice of Appeal was filed, add 14 days. From the date of the clerk's certificate of distribution on the final judgment, add 30 days. Figure out which date is later. You must file your cross-appeal before that date.

You need to follow the same procedure and file the same documents that the appellant uses to start the appeal. This includes paying the filing fee and cost bond. However, there may be different deadlines involved in a cross appeal. Please read carefully the cross-appeal section. To understand the process and papers for filing a cross appeal, please read the information on starting and filing an appeal.