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Rule 84.06 – Form of Briefs

May 13, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Missouri

(a) Size-Type-Form. A brief shall be filed in text searchable PDF, except those filed by parties ineligible for electronic filing. The brief shall:

(1) Be formatted for pages of size 8 1/2 X 11 inches;
(2) Have a left, right, top and bottom margin of not less than one inch. Page numbers shall appear in the bottom margin, but no other text may appear in the margins;
(3) Have all pages, including the cover page, consecutively paginated using Arabic numerals;
(4) All briefs must be in a font, including footnotes, that is not smaller than 13 point, Times New Roman; and
(5) Have line spacing not less than 1.5, except that the following may be single-spaced: the cover; headings; quotations more than two lines long; footnotes; certificate required by Rule 84.06(c); and signature block.
(b) Length. Appellant’s initial brief and all briefs in a cross appeal except the reply brief shall not exceed 31,000 words. Respondent’s brief shall not exceed 27,900 words; Appellant’s reply brief shall not exceed 7,750 words.

All material contained in the brief except the cover, any certificate required by Rule 84.06(c), signature block, and appendix count toward the word limitations.

(c) Certification. A brief submitted under this Rule 84.06 shall contain a certificate of compliance by the lawyer or self-represented person that:

(1) Includes the information required by Rule 55.03;
(2) Includes information as to how the brief was served on the opposing party, whether pursuant to Rule 43.01(c) or Rule 103.08;
(3) States that the brief complies with the limitations contained in Rule 84.06(b); and
(4) States the number of words in the brief.

The person preparing the certificate may rely on the word count of the word-processing system used to prepare the brief.

Mo. R. Civ. P. 84.06

Adopted June 13, 1979, eff. Jan. 1, 1980. Amended July 27, 1979. Amended Aug. 16, 1983, eff. July 1, 1984; June 24, 1986, eff. Jan. 1, 1987; June 1, 1993, eff. Jan. 1, 1994; May 27, 1999, eff. Jan. 1, 2000; May 26, 2000, eff. Jan. 1, 2001; May 23, 2001, eff. Jan. 1, 2002; June 21, 2002, eff. Jan. 1, 2003; December 23, 2003, eff. July 1, 2004; June 27, 2006, eff. Jan. 1, 2007. Rev. Dec. 31, 2007; Amended June 26, 2007, eff. January 1, 2008; Amended Dec. 18, 2007, eff. July 1, 2008; repealed and readopted May 19, 2016, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; Amended June 30, 2017, effective January 1, 2018; Amended June 29, 2018, effective January 1, 2019.