If you find yourself in a controversy, you can always go to court to resolve it. The problem is, sometimes the courts get it wrong. There’s no guarantee that the justice system is going to work in your favor, even if you’re genuinely right, and even if you have all the evidence in your favor.
Fortunately, our justice system is designed with this reality in mind, and if you are given an unjust result, you’ll have an opportunity to appeal and overturn it. Together with a civil appellate attorney, you can file a state level civil appeal and potentially reverse the judgment, or get a new trial.
But what exactly is a state level civil appeal? And how and when do you use it?
Breaking Down the Term
Let’s break down the term piece by piece to better understand what a state level civil appeal is.
- Appeal. An appeal is essentially a challenge to a completed case at the trial court level. All cases start at the trial court level, where they are heard by a judge and decided by a judge or jury. The decision will be ostensibly final, intended to resolve the controversy for good. Although most cases end at this point, it is possible for either party to appeal the decision, including individual parts of the decision. For example, if you sue someone for breach of three different contracts and the court finds that no contract was breached, you can appeal the decision with respect to any individual breach of contract or all three.
- Civil. There are two main types of cases in our justice system: civil and criminal. Criminal cases are brought by the State and relate to illegal activity. Civil cases include controversies and wrongs not covered by criminal law, and often deal with things like torts and contract violations.
- State level. We have courts at the state level and at the federal level. Federal courts oversee cases that specifically involve federal issues, such as issues with the Constitution or disputes between states. Most cases will be decided at the state level.
When You Can Appeal a Case
There are several reasons why you might appeal a case, such as:
- Procedural mistakes. There’s a very specific procedure that must be followed in a civil case. If there are any deviations from the standard in your trial court case, you may be able to appeal it.
- Evidence issues. If there are certain types of evidence issues in play, you might also be able to appeal. For example, if a piece of evidence should have been thrown out and it wasn’t, you may have grounds for appeal.
- Conflicts of interest. It’s also possible to appeal a decision if you believe there are conflicts of interest involved, such as a judge being personally motivated to find against you.
- Mistakes of law. More commonly, people appeal when they notice mistakes of law. If a judge misinterprets the law or misapplies it to your situation, you can try your argument at the appellate level.
- Other significant issues of justice. It’s generally not a good idea to appeal a decision just because you don’t like the outcome. But if there is a serious and objective miscarriage of justice, you can file an appeal.
Why You Might Not Want to Appeal the Case
However, it’s not always a good idea to appeal a case, and you might not want to.
There are several reasons for this:
- Time. If you appeal the case, it’s going to take a long time for it to resolve. It may be years before your case is heard at the appellate level, if it’s accepted at all. If you have to appeal again, you could add even more years to the process. For some people, it’s just not worth it.
- Money. Appealing a case is typically very expensive. You’ll be paying your legal team to do an inordinate amount of work, across a longer time horizon, and you’ll be responsible for court fees as well. However, there are some cases valuable enough to justify this.
- Low rates of success. Most appeals result in affirmed decisions, meaning the appealing parties don’t get the results they’re hoping for. That’s because we generally trust courts to make good decisions, and you need to have a very compelling argument to convince an appellate judge to overturn a lower court’s decision.
- Uncertainty. It’s hard to say what your odds of success are. Although you may have a reasonable argument to present to the appellate circuit, there’s no guarantee the judges will find in your favor.
A state level civil appeal might work in your favor, but you shouldn’t appeal your case just because you weren’t happy with the decision. Together with a civil appellate attorney, you can decide whether it makes sense to move forward.
