III. How to Appeal
To commence an appeal from a district court decision, a party must file its notice of appeal with the district court and pay any required filing fee.54 The current Fourth Circuit local rules set the total filing fee at $505, but also permit a party to file a motion to proceed in forma pauperis, without paying the fee.55 A party seeking to appeal by permission under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) or to appeal in a bankruptcy case must instead proceed only in the manner prescribed by Rule 5 (appeal by permission) and Rule 6 (appeal in a bankruptcy case) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, respectively.56 The procedure for notices of appeal in other contexts may be different, such as in appeals from Tax Court or from an agency.57
A notice of appeal from district court should:
(A) specify the party or parties taking the appeal by naming each one in the caption or body of the notice, but an attorney representing more than one party may describe those parties with such terms as ''all plaintiffs,'' ''the defendants,'' ''the plaintiffs A, B, et al.,'' or ''all defendants except X'';
(B) designate the judgment, order, or part thereof being appealed; and
(C) name the court to which the appeal is taken.58
A form notice of appeal59 is included as Appendix A in this Guide. This form can also be found in the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Sometimes in an appeal, a party will dispute whether an appellant has sufficiently raised an issue in a notice of appeal. More often than not, this line of argument is unsuccessful, as the notice of appeal merely serves to commence the appeal...
