COA Appears To Recognize Its Error in Ribble v. Ribble

On Oct. 19 I posted about an incorrect decision by the COA. (See "COA Going A Little Too Far With Rules Violations," discussing Ribble v. Ribble.) The COA in Ribble dismissed an appeal on the basis that the appellant omitted from the Record on Appeal the certificate of service attached to his notice of appeal. The Ribble opinion was directly contrary to SCT precedent.

Well, yesterday the COA sua sponte issued an order withdrawing its Ribble opinion. According to the COA's docket, the order reads: "IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the opinion filed in this case on 17 October 2006 be withdrawn. The Clerk of the Court of Appeals is hereby directed not to certify said opinion. This cause is retained by this Court for disposition by the panel to which it is assigned."

Withdrawing that decision was the right thing to do. The interesting question is whether the SCT's Viar decision is affecting how COA judges interpret the rules of appellate procedure, causing them to intepret rules more stringently than necessary. We will address that topic in a later post.