(a)Application of the Rule. This rule shall apply to appeals de novo from the Justice of the Peace Court to the Court of Common Pleas.(b)How taken. When an appeal de novo is permitted by law, an action is commenced in the Court of Common Pleas by the appellant filing with the Court a notice of appeal within the time prescribed by statute for the filing of an appeal. If no time is prescribed by the statute, the notice of appeal shall be filed within 15 days from the entry of the final judgment, order, or disposition from which an appeal is permitted by law. When the appellant is the party having the duty of filing the complaint or other first pleading on appeal, the appellant shall file such pleading with the notice of appeal, a praecipe and a summons on appeal. When the appellee is the party having the duty of filing the complaint or other first pleading on appeal, the appellee shall serve a copy of such pleading within 20 days after service of the process on appeal, and thereafter the pleading shall proceed as in other actions.(c)Notice of Appeal. The notice of appeal shall specify the parties taking the appeal, shall designate the order, award, determination, or decree, or part thereof appealed from; shall state the grounds of the appeal; shall name the Court to which the appeal is taken; and shall be signed by the attorney for the appellants, or, if the appellants are not represented by an attorney, shall by signed by the appellants.(d)Docketing. Upon the acceptance of the filing, the clerk shall enter into the record a notation that the case is on appeal.(e)Record; stay. The appellant shall, within 10 calendar days, file a notice of appeal with the Justice of the Peace Court to stay the record. The record on appeal shall constitute the record below as of the time of the filing of the notice of appeal. There shall be no stay of execution or other proceedings below unless ordered by this Court pursuant to Rule 62(c).(f)Jurisdiction. The Mirror Image Rule is abolished as a basis for lack of jurisdiction over an otherwise perfected appeal de novo. An appeal to this Court shall join the necessary parties and raise the same issues that were before the Court below. Upon motion of a party or sua sponte, the Court may add or dismiss parties or claims in accordance with the Rules of the Court.
Del. Civ. R. C.P. 72.3
This rule amendment is promulgated pursuant to Fossett & Strock v. DALCO Construction, 2004 Del. Supr. LEXIS 362, C.A. No. 607, 2003 (Decided August 20, 2004); amended January 17, 2007; amended November 20, 2008, effective February 16, 2009; amended February 19, 2009, effective March 9, 2009; effective November 29, 2010; amended February 5, 2018, effective May 1, 2018.
