First of all, what is an appeal? In simple terms, an appeal is a request to a higher court to review a decision made by a lower court, it’s when both parties can challenge legal errors (mistake made on points of law, points of facts, or a significant procedural mistake or another irregularity making the decision immensely unjust) in a court’s decision.
In business litigation cases, once the trial court issues a decision, the appellant should issue a notice of appeal within 30 days after the entry of the judgment or order appealed from. This court document informs the court and both parties of the appellant’s intent to take an appeal from an order or judgment.
Once the notice of appeal has been filed, it is important for the appellant to file a brief, which is a written argument where the appellant explains his side’s view of facts and provides legal arguments and why the court’s decision should be subject to reversal or modification. The appellee then has a specified time to file an answering brief. The appellant may then file a second brief answering the appellee’s brief.
Now, the court of appeal could make a decision based only on these written briefs, but will also ask that the case be set for oral arguments, or one of the parties will request oral arguments.
The court then reviews the written briefs, the trial record and the oral arguments, and determines if the legal errors that occurred have changed the trial’s outcome. The appellate court may do one of three things:
- A new trial be held
- Remanding the case
- Affirming the trial court’s decision.
