Tenn. R. App. P. 21
Advisory Commission Comments.
Subdivision (b), on extension of time, should be read in connection with Rule 2 of these rules, dealing with the time for filing a notice of appeal, an application for permission to appeal, or a petition for review.
If a motion is made for extension of time, it should comply with Rule 22, which provides for the service of all motions on all parties.
Advisory Commission Comments [1988].
If a clerk's office is closed all day on a date other than a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, a lawyer would be unable to gain entrance to file a document on the "deadline." Consequently the amendment extends the deadline to the next business day that the courthouse is open.
Advisory Commission Comments [2004].
The second sentence of Rule 21(a) is altered to adopt federal language covering snow days and the like which make a clerk's office "inaccessible" for filing. Earlier language required that the office be "closed."
Rule 21(b) was amended to conform with Rule 2, which was recently amended to clarify that the filing deadlines to the Supreme Court under Rules 9(c) and 10(b) are jurisdictional, as are those in Rules 4, 11 and 12.
Termination of Parental Rights Proceedings. Rule 8A imposes special requirements governing the appeal of any termination of parental rights proceeding. In particular, Rule 8A(i) imposes a special provision regarding extensions of time in such an appeal.
Advisory Commission Comments [2011].
Rule 21(a) is amended to define "legal holiday" by reference to statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 15-1-1 01. The status of a day as a legal holiday is statutory; thus, for the purpose of filing papers in court, it does not depend on whether the clerk's office is open for business. For example, state offices might be open on Columbus Day, pursuant to the governor's authority under Tenn. Code Ann. 8 4-4-1 05(a)(3) to substitute the day after Thanksgiving for the Columbus Day holiday; in such circumstances, however, Columbus Day is still a "legal holiday" for purposes of computing time periods under the rule.
Rule 21(a) also is amended to add a reference to days on which the office of the court clerk is closed.