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Bar News - May 9, 2003 Opening the Door to Nearly All Appeals: Court Seeks Comment on New Rules By: Dan Wise New Process Set for Sept. 1 Start THE NEW HAMPSHIRE Supreme Court has released for comment rules governing the new process under which the court will accept nearly all appeals. The court's announcement calls for comments by May 30, and indicates that the new process is expected to become effective for lower-court cases decided after Sept. 1, 2003. The rules would be amended so that the court would accept for consideration all decisions eligible for appeal under Rule 7 (essentially, final decisions on the merits issued by all levels of NH courts) other than: - Post-conviction proceedings, including petitions for writ of habeas corpus and motions for new trial; or - Collateral challenges to any conviction or sentence, sentence modification or suspension, or parole or probation revocations. There is no mention among the exclusions of another category of appeals - landlord-tenant cases - which had initially been mentioned as potentially excludable when justices announced their intention earlier this year to accept all Rule 7 appeals. Rules 10 and 11, governing administrative agency appeals and original petitions to the Supreme Court, such as habeas corpus or mandamus appeals, are unchanged in the proposal and would continue to be accepted at the discretion of the court. A preliminary review of the new rules by several appellate practitioners contacted by Bar News indicated that they are pleased by what they see so far, although several had suggestions they intend to formally offer to the court during the comment period. While opening the door to all appeals will increase the number of cases the court decides, attorneys believe that the increased flow of cases will be offset somewhat by the removal of a pre-decision screening function. Among the highlights of the proposal is a rule that requires appellants to seek remands and stays from the lower court before seeking relief pending appeal from the Supreme Court. See page 22 for comments on and selected text of the court's order.
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