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Things to know about the Appeal stage
- Overview of the Appeal stage
- What is an appeal?
- Appeals as of right vs. discretionary appeals
- Legal basis for appeal
- Common documents at the Appeals stage
The appellate process
- Appeal stages in general
- Notice of appeal
- The record of appeal
- Briefs
- Appellant’s brief
- Appellee’s brief
- Reply brief
- Oral arguments
- Opinion and judgment
- Judgment language
The appellate brief
- Sample cover of an appellate brief
- Inside an appellate brief
- Error
- Standard of review
- Appellant’s brief
- Appellee’s brief
- Writing the reply brief
Transcript
Hi again, and welcome. I\’m Matt, and this is lesson six, the final lesson of our course, introduction to civil procedure. This lesson will cover civil procedure at the appeal stage.
Lesson six will begin with things to know about the appeal stage and move on to discuss the appellate process and the appellate brief.
The appellate stage begins when a judgment is rendered and the losing party, believing the judgment is wrong, appeals.
The person appealing is called the appellant or petitioner, while the person who won in the lower court is the appellee or respondent.
Procedural challenges at the appeal stage include timely filing and preparation of briefs, stating the error made, and describing the standard of review.
An appeal is a review of a lower court\’s decision by a higher court. Witnesses, new arguments, and new evidence are not allowed.
In some cases, an appeal is a right. In others, it\’s discretionary. An appeal as of right is a mandated right to challenge the outcome of a lower court\’s decision.
The process begins with a notice of appeal.
The timeline is often longer than a discretionary appeal. The discretionary appeal process begins with the filing of a writ of certiorari. An interlocutory appeal is an example of a discretionary appeal.
An appellate court is loathed to overturn decisions by lower courts. That\’s why most decisions are upheld. An appellate court will not overturn factual findings by a judge, decisions where the losing party simply didn\’t like the verdict, and cases where issues were not raised in the lower court. An appellate might correct a mistake made by the lower court where that mistake changed the final decision or where factual findings are very different from the evidence presented.
Filings at the appeal stage include the notice of appeal or writ of certiorari, the appellant\’s or petitioner\’s brief, the appellees or respondent\’s brief, and a reply brief.
An appeal begins with the filing of a notice of appeal. A record of the proceedings in the lower court is sent to the appellate court. The appellant and appellee file briefs. The court may make its decision only on the written documents or set the case for oral argument. After briefs are in and arguments, if any are done, the judges decide the case, write an opinion, and send down a judgment.
The notice of appeal is a formal announcement to an appellate court, the parties, and the trial court that an appellant is seeking review of a lower court\’s order.
A fee is typically required when filing an appeal. Once the notice is filed, the appeal\’s clock starts. That is, the due dates for briefs are determined by the date of the filing of the notice of appeal.
The record on appeal is the collection of documents filed with the court during litigation. The appellate court does not typically review the entire record in search of mistakes, rather, the lower court will assemble only the documents requested by the appellant. This is called the record. The lower court will then send the record to the appellate court.
A brief is a formal document filed in an appeal that lays out the arguments of parties involved. The layout of briefs can vary greatly from typical pleadings and motions. For instance, there is a page number limitation on briefs, but not on other litigation documents.
So follow the rules of civil procedure carefully.
Appeals are decided based on the record and the briefs filed by the parties. Sometimes referred to as the opening or initial brief, the appellant\’s brief is the first filed in an appeal and sets out the appellant\’s arguments.
The appellees brief sets out the arguments by the party who won in the lower court. The appellee has less time to respond to the appellant. However, they\’re at an advantage because appellate courts typically uphold lower court decisions.
The appellant gets the last word in a reply brief. Simply put, a reply brief is an appellant\’s response to an appelle\’s brief.
Oral arguments give parties in an appeal an opportunity to clarify points made in their briefs, point out the most important parts of their arguments, and take questions from the appellate judges.
Oral arguments are not typical and in most appeals can be waived.
When a case is docketed, it is assigned to a panel of judges who review the record, briefs, and oral arguments, if any. The judges make a decision and issue an opinion, a written explanation of their decision along with a judgment.
A judgment is a decision on the rights and responsibilities of the parties in the case. The opinion and judgment are then filed.
In their decision, appellate courts use very particular wording. Affirm upholds the judgment of the trial court. Reverse overturns the lower court ruling. Reverse and remand overturns the decision of the trial court and sends the case back for further proceedings.
Remand sends the case to the trial court with instructions.
Unlike typical motions and pleadings, an appellate brief has a cover that includes case numbers, parties, court name, and so on.
Inside, an appellate brief might look similar to motions and pleadings except for additional inclusions, like a table of contents and table of authorities, a statement assigning error, a statement about the standard of review, a statement of conformity, and an appendix and citations to the record.
Font size might also be larger.
Error refers to the issue that led to an erroneous decision. The barring of a material witness or misinterpretation of a statute are examples of errors. Grave errors are deemed reversible. Minor errors might be deemed as harmless with no real bearing on the outcome of the case.
The standard of review is an appellate court\’s way of determining how much deference it will give the lower court when it decides error. The standard of review differs depending on what type of issue is being raised before the court.
Decisions on issues of fact are given greater deference than those on issues of law because the lower court judge was in the best position to determine facts.
The appellate court accepts the lower court findings of fact unless it\’s clear that a mistake was made. The arbitrary and capricious standard of review, for instance, is an issue of fact and is thus a very high standard of review.
The court must determine if a ruling was based on something other than evidence. If the answer is no, the lower court decision stands. A substantial evidence standard determines if a ruling was supported by substantial evidence and a clearly erroneous standard determines if a ruling was at odds with the evidence.
Abuse of discretion determines if a discretionary ruling was unreasonable.
When a de novo review is applied, the case is reviewed as if the lower court decision did not take place. Little difference is given to the lower court in a de novo review.
The appellate brief sets the stage for the errors or issues to be addressed on appeal. It begins the appeals process in earnest. The goal of an appellant is to convince an appellate court that it should reverse a lower court order. In the brief, the appellant should identify the correct and most useful standard of review, and the appellant should also identify cases that have reversed a ruling using the same standard of review.
The goals of the appellees brief are, of course, quite different. The two main goals are to support the ruling of the lower court and to help the court write its opinion. The appellees should identify issues the appellant relies on but did not preserve for appeal. He should also look for harmless error and for cases that have affirmed a ruling using the same standard of review.
The reply brief is written by the appellant. It\’s not required, but it helps to have the last word. The appellant should first read and understand the appellees brief. The appellant should look for unsupported arguments, points that are helpful to him, and gaps in the argument.
In writing, he should respond by briefly highlighting misstatements or overstatements and any misinterpretations of the law. He should also clarify or explain any points the appellee has confused and drive home his main point.
Let\’s summarize.
This lesson began with things to know about the appeal stage, including an overview, legal basis for appeal, and common documents.
Next, we took a look at each of the eight steps in the appellate process. The last section focused on the appellate brief, including error, standards of review, and the various types of briefs.
We began this course with lesson one, a look at federal and state courts, the law, and basic rights.
Lesson two discussed civil procedure at the complaint stage, including starting a lawsuit and parts of a complaint.
In lesson three, our focus turned to civil procedure at the answer stage, which discussed ways to respond to a complaint and strategic use of filings.
Civil procedure at the discovery stage was the topic of lesson four, which addressed ways to conduct, respond to, and review discovery. In lesson five, civil procedure at the trial stage, we looked at the steps in the trial process from pretrial to judgment.
Lesson six, the final lesson, discussed civil procedure at the appellate stage including error, standards of review, and the various types of briefs.
Next up, course three final exam.