With the onset of electronic filing in the Appellate Division during the course of the past year, very specific
rules regarding preliminary e-filing requirements in the Appellate Division have been promulgated.
Specifically, section 1245.3(a) of the Electronic Filing Rules of the Appellate Division states, in pertinent
part, that “counsel for the appellant or the petitioner… shall within 14 days of filing of a notice of
appeal, or entry of an order granting leave to appeal, or entry of an order transferring a matter to the
Appellate Division: (1) register or confirm registration as an authorized e-filer with NYSCEF; and (2)
enter electronically in NYSCEF such information about the cause and parties; and e-file such documents,
as the court shall require.”
The aforementioned process is colloquially known as the initialization of a Notice of Appeal at the
Appellate Division. The question arises: what are the consequences for an Appellant who fails to meet
this 14 day deadline? In short, for the moment, there are no grave consequences. The Appellate Division
has been (thus far) very lax in strictly enforcing this 14 day period. Accordingly, one need not worry that
his appeal will be dismissed on day 15 for failure to initialize a Notice of Appeal. However, rest assured
that when it comes time to perfect the appeal, appellant will be unable to do so if this initial process
remains undone and a case number has not been obtained and served upon the other side. Accordingly,
as a matter of self-interest, it is incumbent upon every appellant to initialize his Notice of Appeal as
soon as possible (ideally within 14 days of the Notice of Appeal having been filed in the Supreme Court),
obtain the Appellate Division Case Number and serve it on the other side. That way, when it is time
to perfect the appeal, appellant will have complied with all preliminary requirements and not face the
prospect of being unable to perfect the appeal in a timely manner.
Please note that notwithstanding the foregoing, it is certainly possible that at some point the Appellate
Division will strictly enforce this 14 day requirement. Don’t fall victim to he who hesitates is lost- initialize
your Notice of Appeal post haste.