Art. 2128.Same; Determination of Content

The form and content of the record on appeal generally follows each appellate court's own rules, subject to the constitution and to Article 2128.1's rule on depositions. The bulk of Article 2128, though, addresses something more consequential: whether the whole trial court file goes up on appeal, or only part of it.

Within three days, not counting holidays, after taking the appeal, the appellant may file a written designation with the trial court identifying which portions of the record are wanted for the appeal. Within five days, not counting holidays, after being served with a copy of that designation, the other party may file a designation of additional portions considered necessary, so an appellee is not stuck with whatever slice of the record the appellant chose to bring up.

The clerk then prepares the record according to whatever the parties designated. Nothing is permanently lost by leaving something out at this stage, since a party or the trial court can still file an omitted portion later as a supplemental record. And if nobody files a designation at all, the default record is a transcript of every proceeding along with every document filed in the trial court. Article 2129 adds a related requirement: an appellant who designates only part of the record must also state the specific points relied on, and the appeal is then limited to those points.