Rule 53.3. Response to Petition for Review

(a) A response to the petition for review need not be filed unless ordered by the Court. A petition will not be granted before a response has been filed or ordered by the Court. The response must conform to the requirements of 53.2, except that: the introduction should identify the most persuasive grounds for the Court to deny review, which will vary by case, but will often focus on the substantive legal reasons that the respondent should prevail;

(b) the list of parties and counsel is not required unless necessary to supplement or correct the list contained in the petition;

(c) a statement of the case and a statement of the facts need not be made unless the respondent is dissatisfied with that portion of the petition;

(d) a statement of the issues presented need not be made unless:

(1) the respondent is dissatisfied with the statement made in the petition;

(2) the respondent is asserting independent grounds for affirmance of the court of appeals’ judgment; or

(3) the respondent is asserting grounds that establish the respondent’s right to a judgment that is less favorable to the respondent than the judgment rendered by the court of appeals but more favorable to the respondent than the judgment that might be awarded to the petitioner (e.g., a remand for a new trial rather than a rendition of judgment in favor of the petitioner);

(e) a statement of jurisdiction should be omitted unless the petition fails to assert valid grounds for jurisdiction, in which case the reasons why the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction must be concisely stated;

(f) the respondent’s argument must be confined to the issues or points presented in the petition or asserted by the respondent in the respondent’s statement of issues; and

(g) the appendix to the response need not contain any item already contained in an appendix filed by the petitioner.