North Dakota Briefs: Paragraph Numbers in the Table of Authorities

What the rules say

Rule 28 builds the tables on those numbers. The appellant's brief must contain “(1) a table of contents, with paragraph references; (2) a table of authorities—cases (alphabetically arranged), statutes, and other authorities—with references to the paragraphs in the brief where they are cited” (N.D.R.App.P. 28). Rule 32(b)(1) goes further: “All paragraphs must be numbered in documents filed with the court except for exhibits, documents prepared before the action was commenced, or documents not prepared by the parties or court” (N.D.R.App.P. 32). The court's appellate practice tips repeat it in five words: “Number the paragraphs in briefs.”

The categories and order are the familiar federal ones: cases alphabetically, then statutes, then other authorities. Only the reference changes. A case discussed in paragraphs 12 through 15 is listed with those paragraph numbers, whatever pages they fall on.

What a paragraph-numbered brief looks like

The rules require numbering but do not prescribe a typographic form. A common form puts the number in brackets at the start of each paragraph, the same form the Supreme Court uses in its own opinions (“[¶1] Galvanizers, Inc., and K and K Construction and Repair, Inc. … appealed from a judgment …” in *Galvanizers v. Kautzman*). One brief filed in the Supreme Court in 2021 numbers even its front matter: the table of contents lists “Table of Authorities … ¶1,” “Statement of the Issue … ¶2,” and the table itself is headed “[¶1] TABLE OF AUTHORITIES” (brief, PDF). That is one filer's practice, not a rule; what the rules require is that every paragraph is numbered and every reference points to a number.

How North Dakota cases are cited

N.D.R.Ct. 11.6 requires the initial citation of a published opinion released on or after January 1, 1997, in a brief and “the citation in the table of cases in a brief,” to include the year, the court designation “ND” (or “ND App”), and the sequential number, plus the North Western Reporter volume and page when available. Its examples: “Smith v. Jones, 1997 ND 15, 600 N.W.2d 900” and, for a pinpoint, “Smith v. Jones, 1997 ND 15, ¶ 21, 600 N.W.2d 900.” The rule's note explains that “The use of the ¶ symbol in spot citations is necessary to distinguish paragraph numbers from page numbers,” and that “ND” without periods refers to the post-1997 opinions, while “N.D.” with periods is the old North Dakota Reports. Opinions released before 1997 are cited to the North Western Reporter (N.D.R.Ct. 11.6).

So a North Dakota brief uses paragraph numbers in two different ways: the brief's own paragraphs, which the table of authorities references, and the paragraphs of cited opinions (“2007 ND 82, ¶ 9”), which are pinpoints and stay out of the table. The pinpoint is a paragraph of the opinion; the table's reference is a paragraph of your brief.

Worked example

The table cites brief paragraphs 12 and 15 for Kautzman and paragraph 20 for Noack, not the pages those paragraphs sit on and not Noack's own ¶ 9. Both case entries carry the medium-neutral and North Western Reporter citations, as N.D.R.Ct. 11.6 and the court's filing tips require. The cases are real (Kautzman; Noack); the brief and its paragraph numbers are hypothetical. Some briefs print the column values with the symbol (“¶¶ 12, 15”); the rules only require that they refer to paragraphs.

Common errors