APP-201-INFO - How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases

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How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases

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Form ID: APP-201-INFO
Title: How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases
Effective Date: 2025-01-01
Mandatory Form: no
Info Page: https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/jcc-form/APP-201-INFO
Primary Download URL: https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/app201info.pdf
Form Detail Page:
How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases
(APP-201-INFO)
Get form APP-201-INFO
Effective: January 1, 2025
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Judicial Council of California,   
New January 1, 2025, Optional Form  How to Use Form APP-201  
in Limited Civil Cases
APP-201-INFO How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases
GENERAL INFORMATION
1 What does this information sheet cover?
This information sheet tells you about how to use 
Respondent’s Brief—Limited Civil Case  (form APP-201) 
to draft a respondent's brief in a limited civil case.
A “limited civil case” is a civil case that involves an 
amount of $35,000 or less. If your case involves more than 
$35,000, your case is an “unlimited civil case” and you 
cannot use form APP-201. Also, do not use form APP-201 
in a criminal case.
Do not use form APP-201 if a cross-appeal has been filed 
in your case. A cross-appeal is when both parties have filed 
notices of appeal asking to have the trial court’s decision 
reviewed. For more information about briefs where a cross-
appeal has been filed, see California Rules of Court, rule 
8.884.
For information about the appeal process in limited civil 
cases in general, you should read Information on Appeal 
Procedures for Limited Civil Cases (form APP-101-INFO). 
To learn even more, you should read rules 8.800–8.845 and 
8.880–8.891 of the California Rules of Court, which set out 
the procedures for appeals in limited civil cases. You can 
get this form and these rules at any courthouse or county 
law library or online at www.courts.ca.gov/rules and 
www.courts.ca.gov/forms.
2 What is an appeal?
An appeal is a request to a higher court to review a 
decision made by a judge or jury in a lower court. In a 
limited civil case, the court hearing the appeal is the 
appellate division of the superior court, and the lower court 
—called the “trial court” in this information sheet and in 
the form briefs—is the superior court.
If you are the party appealing (asking for the trial court’s 
decision to be reviewed), you are called the appellant. If 
you received notice that another party in the case is 
appealing, you are called the respondent.
3 What is a brief?
A “brief” is a written document that tells the appellate 
division (the court reviewing your case): 
The facts in the case;
The law that applies; and
The party’s arguments about the issues being appealed.
If you are the appellant, you will file the first brief, called 
an “opening brief.” If you are the respondent, after the 
appellant files the opening brief, you will have the chance 
to file the “respondent’s brief” to respond to the appellant’s 
arguments in the opening brief. Finally, if the respondent 
files a respondent’s brief, the appellant will then have the 
chance to file a “reply brief” to reply to the respondent’s 
arguments. The reply brief is the final brief unless the 
appellate division orders further briefing.
4 Preparing a brief
If you are represented by a lawyer in your appeal, your 
lawyer will prepare your brief. If you are not represented 
by a lawyer, you will have to prepare your brief yourself. 
If you are the appellant, Appellant’s Opening Brief—
Limited Civil Case (form APP-200) may be used to prepare 
your opening brief. The information sheet How to Use 
Form APP-200 in Limited Civil Cases (form                         
APP-200-INFO) explains how to fill out form APP-200.  
If you are the respondent, Respondent’s Brief—Limited 
Civil Case (form APP-201) may be used to prepare your 
respondent’s brief. This information sheet explains how to 
fill out form APP-201.
If you are the appellant, and you would like to use a form 
to prepare your reply brief, you can use Appellant’s Reply 
Brief—Limited Civil Case  (form APP-202). The 
information sheet How to Use Form APP-202 in Limited 
Civil Cases (form APP-202-INFO) explains how to fill out 
form APP-202.                
You or your lawyer do not need to use these forms for your 
briefs. If you choose to draft your own brief, read 
California Rules of Court, rules 8.882–8.884 to learn about 
what your brief must contain, how it must be formatted, 
and how and when it must be served and filed.
APP-201-INFO, Page 1 of 4

New January 1, 2025, Optional Form How to Use Form APP-201 
in Limited Civil Cases
APP-201-INFO How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases
INFORMATION ABOUT FILLING OUT 
RESPONDENT'S BRIEF—LIMITED CIVIL 
CASE (FORM APP-201)
If you are the respondent, your brief, called a “respondent’s 
brief,” responds to the arguments made in the appellant’s 
opening brief and explains why the trial court’s decision 
being appealed is correct. You or your lawyer may use 
Respondent’s Brief—Limited Civil Case  (form APP-201) 
for this purpose. This section describes how to fill out that 
form.
You do not need to submit a respondent’s brief. However, 
if you do not submit a brief, you will lose the chance to 
present your argument to the appellate division, either in 
writing or by making an oral argument before the appellate 
division. (For more information about oral argument, read 
item 26 on form APP-101-INFO.) If you do not submit a 
brief, the appellant does not automatically win the appeal. 
Instead, the appellate division will decide the appeal on the 
trial court record, the appellant’s opening brief, and any 
oral argument by the appellant.
5 Attachments, format, and length
Form APP-201 has spaces for you to give information or 
answer questions. If any of these spaces are not big enough 
and you need more space for your response to an item, you 
may check the box in that item stating that you need more 
space. After you check the box, you may continue your 
answer on a separate sheet of paper labeled “Attachment” 
followed by the item number you are filling out. For 
example, an attachment continuing your response to item 4 
would be labeled “Attachment 4” at the top of the page. 
The separate sheets of paper used to continue your answers 
and the proof of service are the only attachments that may 
be included with your brief. Do not attach any other 
documents.
You should format your brief and attachments as follows:
The attachments must be on white paper, 8.5 inches by 
11 inches in size, with 1.5 inch margins on the left and 
right and 1-inch margins on the top and bottom.
In typing the brief and attachments, you may use any 
standard font, but the font must not be smaller than 13 
point.
You should use normal typeface, but italics, boldface 
type, or underscores can be used for emphasis. Case 
names must also be in italics or underscored. 
If you file the brief in paper form, you should bind the 
brief on the left margin, unless the appellate division has 
a local rule requiring the brief to be bound on the top.
All attachments need to be included at the end of form 
APP-201 in the order of the attachment number. For 
example, you would put Attachment 4 after Attachment 
3. You then need to number the pages of all the 
attachments in order, starting with page 6 (because the 
actual form is 5 pages long).
Your respondent’s brief, including the form and any 
attachments, may not be longer than 25 pages.
6 Completing the caption (the top part of 
the form)
Name of the parties on appeal. At the top left of the form, 
fill out the name of each party appealing the trial court’s 
decision and the name of each party who is a respondent in 
the appeal.  
Appellate division case number. When the appellant filed 
the notice of appeal in this case, the clerk gave the appeal a 
case number. You can find this number on the appellant’s 
opening brief or on the notice of briefing schedule sent to 
you by the clerk of the appellate division. Write that 
number in the box entitled “Appellate Division Case 
Number.”
Trial court case number and trial court judicial officer. 
Write the case number your case had in the trial court here. 
You can find this number on any court order from the trial 
court. Also write the name of the trial court judge or other 
judicial officer who made the decision the appellant is 
appealing.
7 Completing item 1, "Information About 
the Respondent"
In item 1a, type your name. If you are a lawyer filling this 
out for your client, type your name, State Bar number, and 
the name of your law firm.
In item 1b, type your address and contact information if 
you do not have a lawyer. If you are a lawyer filling out 
this form for your client, write your office 
address,telephone number, fax number (if applicable), and 
email address.
APP-201-INFO, Page 2 of 4

New January 1, 2025, Optional Form How to Use Form APP-201 
in Limited Civil Cases
APP-201-INFO How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases
8 Completing item 2, "What Are the Facts 
of This Case?"
You do not need to fill out item 2 if you agree with the 
facts stated by the appellant in the appellant’s opening 
brief. If you do not agree with those facts, then, in item 2, 
discuss what happened between the parties to cause this 
lawsuit to be filed. 
If you discuss the facts, you must only include facts that:
Are important to the arguments made in the appellant’s 
opening brief, your responses to those arguments you 
make in item 3, or other arguments you make in item 4 
about why the trial court was correct in the decision the 
appellant is challenging on appeal or why the appellant 
should not be allowed to appeal; and
Were presented to the trial court. The appellate division 
will not consider new evidence, such as the testimony of 
new witnesses or new exhibits, so do not discuss any 
facts that were not presented to the trial court. 
For each fact you discuss in item 2, you must tell the 
appellate division where in the record on appeal it shows 
that the fact was presented to the trial court. (For more 
information about the record on appeal, read item 13 on 
form APP-101-INFO.) To do this, when you discuss a fact, 
you must cite the page in the record where it shows that 
fact was presented to the trial court. To cite means to give 
(1) the volume number of the part of the record where the 
fact can be found, (2) the name of the part of the record 
you are citing, and (3) the page number in the record where 
the fact can be found. Here are examples of how to cite to 
different forms of the record:
If the fact you are discussing appears at page 10 of 
volume 2 of the Clerk’s Transcript, you would cite the 
Clerk’s Transcript as “2 CT 10.”
If the fact you are discussing appears at page 15 of 
volume 1 of the Reporter’s Transcript, you would cite 
the Reporter’s Transcript as “1 RT 15.”
If the parties used an appendix on appeal instead of a 
clerk’s transcript, and the fact you are discussing 
appears at page 33 of volume 1 of the appendix, you 
would cite the appendix as “1 AA 33.”
9 Completing item 3, "What Are Your 
Responses to Appellant's Arguments?"
Item 3 is your opportunity to explain why the arguments 
made by the appellant in the appellant’s opening brief are 
wrong and the trial court’s decision is right. You should 
respond to every legal argument made by the appellant in 
the opening brief and should respond to the arguments in 
the same order that appellant made them. 
Form APP-201 has items for you to respond to the 
appellant’s first two arguments. If the appellant made more 
than two arguments, check the box at item 3c, and respond 
to the appellant’s other arguments on a separate piece of 
paper labeled “Attachment 3c” at the top of the page.
For each response, begin by briefly describing the 
appellant’s argument to which you are responding. Then, 
explain why you believe the appellant’s argument is wrong 
and the trial court’s decision is correct. Even if the 
appellant has identified a legal mistake made by the trial 
court, you can argue that the mistake did not cause enough 
harm (or prejudice) to the appellant’s case to require the 
trial court’s decision to be changed (or reversed).
In each of your responses, you must clearly identity the 
following:
The places in the record on appeal where the facts that 
support your argument can be found. (Please see the 
discussion of cites to the record on appeal in item 8 of 
this information sheet.)
The law that supports your argument. This can take the 
form of statutes, court opinions, court rules, 
constitutional provisions, or other legal authority. You 
may find law that supports your appeal mentioned in the 
documents filed by the parties in the trial court or in the 
trial court’s decisions.
In reviewing the arguments made by the appellant in the 
opening brief and your responses to those arguments, the 
appellate division will apply a standard of review. The 
standard of review is the rule or guidelines the appellate 
division will apply to decide whether a mistake was made 
in the trial court. If the appellant’s opening brief failed to 
discuss the applicable standard of review, or if you 
disagree with the appellant about which standard of review 
applies, you should include in your response a discussion 
of what standard of review you believe applies. 
APP-201-INFO, Page 3 of 4

New January 1, 2025, Optional Form How to Use Form APP-201 
in Limited Civil Cases
APP-201-INFO How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases
You can get information about the possible standards of 
review that may apply on the Self-Help Guide to the 
California Courts website at 
10 Completing item 4, "Other Arguments"
In item 3, you responded to the arguments the appellant 
made in the appellant’s opening brief. Item 4 is your 
opportunity to make any additional arguments you may 
have for why the trial court’s decision is correct.
For example, if the trial court’s decision gave two reasons 
why the appellant lost, but the appellant only discussed one 
of these reasons in the appellant’s opening brief, you could 
argue that the appellant has lost the ability to challenge the 
other reason.
Additionally, if the appellant did not follow the court rules 
about appeals, you can argue in item 4 that the appellate 
division should dismiss the appeal. For example, if the 
appellant failed to file the notice of appeal in time or if the 
trial court’s decision is not an appealable order, you could 
make these arguments in item 4. For more information 
about the deadlines for filing a notice of appeal and what 
orders or trial court decisions can be appealed, see the  
Self-Help Guide to the California Courts website at
You may make as many additional arguments as you want. 
Each argument should be listed separately with a title that 
summarizes the argument in a single sentence, followed by 
the argument. If you require additional space, check the 
box stating you need additional space, and continue your 
answer on an attached sheet of paper labeled “Attachment 
4” at the top of the page.
11 Completing item 5, "Your Request of the 
Appellate Division"
In item 5, tell the appellate division what you would like it 
to do. For example, if you believe the trial court’s decision 
is correct, you could ask the appellate division to affirm 
the trial court’s decision (to affirm means to uphold the 
trial court’s decision). Or, if you believe the appellant has 
not followed the rules about appeals and the appellate 
division should reject the appeal, you could ask the 
appellate division to dismiss the appellant’s appeal, leaving 
the trial court’s decision in place. 
12 Serving and Filing Your Brief
After you have completed your brief, make copies of the 
brief (with all attachments) for your records, each of the 
other parties in the case, and the trial court. 
Serve a copy of the completed form (with all attachments) 
on each of the other parties and the trial court, and keep 
proof of this service. There are two forms you may use to 
show proof of service:
Proof of Service (form APP-109); or
Proof of Electronic Service (form APP-109E).
You can get more information about how to serve court 
papers and proof of service from What is Proof of Service 
(form APP-109-INFO) and on the Self Help Guide to the 
California Courts website at  
After you have served copies of the brief on the other 
parties and the trial court, file the original brief and all 
attachments, along with the proof of service, with the 
appellate division.
APP-201-INFO, Page 4 of 4

Retrieval chunks

• #1

  Form ID: APP-201-INFO Title: How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited Civil Cases Effective Date: 2025-01-01 Mandatory Form: no Info Page: https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/jcc-form/APP-201-INFO Primary Download URL: https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/app201info.pdf Form Detail Page: How to Use Form APP-201 in Limited …

• #2

  appealing, you are called the respondent. 3 What is a brief? A “brief” is a written document that tells the appellate division (the court reviewing your case): The facts in the case; The law that applies; and The party’s arguments about the issues being appealed. If you are the appellant, you will file the firs…

• #3

  being appealed is correct. You or your lawyer may use Respondent’s Brief—Limited Civil Case (form APP-201) for this purpose. This section describes how to fill out that form. You do not need to submit a respondent’s brief. However, if you do not submit a brief, you will lose the chance to present your argument …

• #4

  Your respondent’s brief, including the form and any attachments, may not be longer than 25 pages. 6 Completing the caption (the top part of the form) Name of the parties on appeal. At the top left of the form, fill out the name of each party appealing the trial court’s decision and the name of each party who is …

• #5

  new witnesses or new exhibits, so do not discuss any facts that were not presented to the trial court. For each fact you discuss in item 2, you must tell the appellate division where in the record on appeal it shows that the fact was presented to the trial court. (For more information about the record on appeal, …

• #6

  The places in the record on appeal where the facts that support your argument can be found. (Please see the discussion of cites to the record on appeal in item 8 of this information sheet.) The law that supports your argument. This can take the form of statutes, court opinions, court rules, constitutional provis…

• #7

  Each argument should be listed separately with a title that summarizes the argument in a single sentence, followed by the argument. If you require additional space, check the box stating you need additional space, and continue your answer on an attached sheet of paper labeled “Attachment 4” at the top of the page…