Rule 9.220. Appendix

(a) Purpose. The purpose of an appendix is to permit the parties to prepare and transmit copies of those portions of the record deemed necessary to an understanding of the issues presented. It may be served with any petition, brief, motion, response, or reply but shall be served as otherwise required by these rules. In any proceeding in which an appendix is required, if the court finds that the appendix is incomplete, it shall direct a party to supply the omitted parts of the appendix. No proceeding shall be determined until an opportunity to supplement the appendix has been given.

(b) Contents. The appendix shall contain a coversheet, an index, a certificate of service, and a conformed copy of the opinion or order to be reviewed and may contain any other portions of the record and other authorities. Asterisks should be used to indicate omissions in documents or testimony of witnesses. The cover sheet shall state the name of the court, the style of the cause, including the case number if assigned, the party on whose behalf the appendix is filed, the petition, brief, motion, response, or reply for which the appendix is served, and the name and address of the attorney, or pro se party, filing the appendix.

(c) Electronic Format. The appendix shall be prepared and filed electronically as a separate Portable Document Format (“PDF”) file. The electronically filed appendix shall be filed as 1 document, unless size limitations or technical requirements established by the Florida Supreme Court Standards for Electronic Access to the Courts require multiple parts. The appendix shall be properly indexed and consecutively paginated, beginning with the cover sheet as page 1. The PDF file(s) shall:

(1) be text searchable;

(2) be paginated so that the page numbers displayed by the PDF reader exactly match the pagination of the index;

(3) be bookmarked, consistently with the index, such that each bookmark states the date, name of the document which it references, and directs to the first page of that document. All bookmarks must be viewable in a separate window; and

(4) not contain condensed transcripts, unless authorized by the court.

(d) Paper Format. When a paper appendix is authorized, it shall be separated from the petition, brief, motion, response, or reply that it accompanies. The appendix shall be consecutively paginated, beginning with the cover sheet as page 1. In addition, the following requirements shall apply:

(1) if the appendix includes documents filed before January 1991 on paper measuring 8 1/2 by 14 inches, the documents should be reduced in copying to 8 1/2 by 11 inches, if practicable; and

(2) if reduction is impracticable, the appendix may measure 8 1/2 by 14 inches, but must be separated from the 8 1/2 by 11-inch document(s) that it accompanies.

Committee Notes

1977 Adoption. This rule is new and has been adopted to encourage the use of an appendix either as a separate document or as a part of another matter. An appendix is optional, except under rules 9.100, 9.110(i), 9.120, and 9.130. If a legal size (8 1/2 by 14 inches) appendix is used, counsel should make it a separate document. The term “conformed copy” is used throughout these rules to mean a true and accurate copy. In an appendix the formal parts of a document may be omitted if not relevant.

1980 Amendment. The rule has been amended to reflect the requirement that an appendix accompany a suggestion filed under rule 9.125.

1992 Amendment. This amendment addresses the transitional problem that arises if legal documents filed before January 1991 must be included in an appendix filed after that date. It encourages the reduction of 8 ½ by 14 inch papers to 8 ½ by 11 inches if practicable, and requires such documents to be bound separately if reduction is impracticable.

Updated with rule changes effective October 1, 2017.  For more information about these changes, check out the Florida Appellate Procedure Blog.