Appeal

If you don’t like the decision of a trial court, you might be able to appeal the decision. So, what does the appeals process entail? An appeal is a request by one party for a higher court to review the decision of a lower court. There’s no guarantee, and appeals courts tend to either dismiss appeals or ultimately uphold trial court judgments. Nevertheless, people win appeals every day. 

Appeal Procedure

According to the Missouri Court of Appeals, you must complete the following steps:

  1. Within 10 days after the final judgment, file your Notice of Appeal.
  2. File the Record on Appeal (transcripts, evidentiary exhibits, and other documents) within the next 90 days after filing the Notice of Appeal.
  3. File an Appellate Brief, which includes a statement of facts, legal arguments, and references to the trial record, within 60 days after filing the Record on Appeal. The other side has 30 more days after that to file their response brief.

The court may or may not schedule oral arguments before the Court. 

Grounds for Appeal

You cannot win an appeal without proper grounds for appeal. 

Some of the most common grounds are:

  • Legal Error: The court misapplied the statute of limitations deadline, for example.
  • Abuse of Discretion: The trial judge made a decision that was arbitrary or unreasonable. 
  • Insufficient Evidence: The trial court’s decision was not supported by sufficient evidence presented during the trial.
  • Procedural Error: Errors in the trial process that could have affected the outcome. 
  • Misconduct: Misconduct by the judge, jurors, or lawyers.
  • New Evidence: The discovery of new evidence that was not available during the trial might have affected the outcome.

An experienced attorney can help you determine what grounds for appeal could be applicable in your case. 

How an Appeal Differs From a Trial

Appeal proceedings differ dramatically from trial proceedings: 

  • The court does not hear witnesses.
  • The court does not normally evaluate new evidence, although it can do so under just the right circumstances if new evidence is grounds for appeal. Typically, however, even if new evidence is a ground for appeal, the court will evaluate it only to determine whether it might have affected the outcome. If it decides the evidence might have affected the outcome, it will remand the case to the trial court for a new trial.
  • The court focuses primarily on possible legal errors rather than mistaken findings of fact.
  • The lawyers present their arguments through written briefs rather than through opening and closing statements.
  • The court might allow oral arguments, but these will not include calling witnesses or introducing evidence.

In short, the court will decide the appeal entirely or almost entirely on documentation. 

Issues of Fact vs. Issues of Law

Missouri appeals courts are concerned primarily with legal issues, such as whether the trial court misapplied the law. Except in extreme cases, they are unconcerned with factual issues such as the credibility of witness testimony. This is because appeals courts do not hear witnesses and, therefore, have no opportunity to assess their credibility. As such, they defer to the trial court’s judgments on factual matters unless factual arrows are glaringly obvious. 

Standards of Review

A standard of review is like a bar that you have to jump over to prove your case. The higher the bar, the more difficult it is to win.  Appeals courts typically don’t like to overturn trial court judgments, even if they disagree with them, without very good reasons to do so. 

The following are descriptions of some of the most common standards of review.

  • De Novo: The appeals court decides the case entirely on its own. Appeals courts only use this standard when dealing with pure issues of law, such as the interpretation of a statute.
  • Abuse of discretion: The appeals court will only overrule the trial court if the trial court was almost certainly wrong. Courts use this standard for alleged procedural errors such as the decision to exclude certain evidence.
  • Plain error: This standard applies to obvious errors, even if the appellants lawyer didn’t object to the error during the trial. Even this won’t be enough unless the error was extremely serious.
  • Harmless error: Even if the trial court was wrong, the appeals court won’t overturn its decision if the error was unlikely to have affected the outcome of the trial.  

The nature of the issue being appealed determines which standard of review applies.

What Can You Appeal?

If you have proper grounds for appeal, you can appeal the following types of court decisions:

  • A final judgment. 
  • A partial judgment. 
  • Certain interlocutory judgments. An interlocutory judgment is a ruling in the middle of a trial, such as the decision of whether to admit certain evidence.

The appeals court has discretion on whether to hear an appeal on any of these bases. 

Possible Outcomes

Below are the possible outcomes of an appeal:

  • The court dismisses the appeal.
  • The court affirms the trial court’s decision. In other words, the party that appealed loses.
  • The appeals court overturns the trial court’s decision. In other words, the party that appealed wins.
  • The appeals court modifies the trial court’s decision without completely overturning it.
  • The appeals court sends the case back to the trial court for a new decision based on certain legal standards that the appeals court imposes.  

These are the only possible outcomes of an appeal.

Contact a St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer for Help With an Appeal

You might have handled your personal injury claim on your own all the way to trial. Whether you did or didn’t, however, you’re going to need a St. Louis personal injury lawyer at Schultz & Myers Personal Injury Lawyers to help you with your appeal. Appeals are often complex to navigate, but an experienced attorney can help you throughout the entire process. Contact us online or call us at (314) 444-4444 to schedule a consultation.