New Rule Requiring "Certificate of Interested Entities and Persons" Generally Not Applicable in Panel Cases.
August 4, 2006

New rule 14.5, effective July 1, 2006, requires that all principal briefs include a Certificate of Interested Entities and Persons. (Click here to see the Court's form certificate.) The important news from the First District is that the First District, at least as of now, has decided, based on the lack of incorporation of the new rule into certain existing rules and also based on the clear intent of the rule, that the Certificate does not apply in virtually all the types of appointed-counsel appeals you handle through FDAP.

Specifically, the Certificate requirement does NOT apply in:

• Juvenile delinquency cases
• Juvenile dependency cases
• Criminal cases, including cases in which a habeas petition is filed
  ancillary to the appeal
• Mental health cases (SVP, MDO, LPS)
• Cases (rare) in which a free-standing habeas petition is filed (e.g. from
  a parole denial hearing)

If you have some other kind of case and believe the Certificate is required, the Certificate is not very difficult to fill out and sign, so FDAP recommends including one just in case (though please also check with your FDAP buddy).

Please note: it is anticipated that the Division Clerks may have some initial confusion about which cases do and which do not require a Certificate. They may erroneously send you a default notice based on no Certificate, in a case which does not in fact require one (the default notice gives you 15 days to file a Certificate). If that happens please contact Mat Zwerling or Amy Grigsby (for dependency cases) and we will contact the court to straighten it out. Make sure to notify us right away.

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