Section 500.11 of the Court of Appeals’ rules (22 NYCRR 500.11) sets forth an “alternative procedure” which the court can utilize to resolve an appeal that, in the court’s view, does not warrant full briefing and argument. In lieu of submitting new briefs and of then appearing for oral argument, each party submits a letter “stating its arguments.” The Court of Appeals then decides the matter based upon those letters and the parties’ appellate division briefs.
One advantage of the alternate procedure is that the appeal is often decided more quickly than would otherwise occur. One disadvantage is that the resultant ruling, which is almost invariably unanimous, is usually nothing more than a sentence or two and is sometimes so short of explanation and context as to border on cryptic. In such instances, one cannot intelligently analyze the high court ruling without also examining the lower court rulings and often the lower court briefs as well. Even then, while one may know that the state’s highest court definitively resolved an issue that split the appellate division panel, the careful reader may not be able to discern what, precisely, the Court of Appeals meant.
