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What is an Appeal and How Do I Know if I Should Appeal My Judgement | Arizona

Kathi Sandweiss | 1177 Views | 12/02/2014

I’m Kathi Sandweiss. I’m the chair of the appellate practice section at Jaburg Wilk.

What is an appeal?

An appeal is when a losing party to a judgement will ask the higher court to review a decision by a lower court, and hope that the higher court finds that the lower court made some sort of an error.  That would be an error in a legal issue or perhaps an error in a factual finding.

I am unhappy with my judgement, how do I know if I should appeal it?

Whether or not you can appeal your judgement is not always obvious just by looking at the judgement. You may not know, and your trial lawyer may not know if there is something really legally wrong with your judgement.  That’s why sometimes you want to hire a specific appellate lawyer to determine whether or not there is really something that’s appealable about your judgement. That’s where we get into what’s called the standard of review.  So if the trial court made an error that was an error in law, you’re going to have a much greater chance of getting your judgement reversed on appeal. If the trial court made an error that you think was a factual error, it’s going to be reviewed at a very tougher standard.  A standard that involves whether or not there was a clear error by the lower court. You’re going to have a much harder time getting that judgement reviewed and reversed by the court of appeals.

By: Kathi Sandweiss

What is an Appeal and How Do I Know if I Should Appeal My Judgement | Arizona

I’m Kathi Sandweiss. I’m the chair of the appellate practice section at Jaburg Wilk.

What is an appeal?

An appeal is when a losing party to a judgement will ask the higher court to review a decision by a lower court, and hope that the higher court finds that the lower court made some sort of an error.  That would be an error in a legal issue or perhaps an error in a factual finding.

I am unhappy with my judgement, how do I know if I should appeal it?

Whether or not you can appeal your judgement is not always obvious just by looking at the judgement. You may not know, and your trial lawyer may not know if there is something really legally wrong with your judgement.  That’s why sometimes you want to hire a specific appellate lawyer to determine whether or not there is really something that’s appealable about your judgement. That’s where we get into what’s called the standard of review.  So if the trial court made an error that was an error in law, you’re going to have a much greater chance of getting your judgement reversed on appeal. If the trial court made an error that you think was a factual error, it’s going to be reviewed at a very tougher standard.  A standard that involves whether or not there was a clear error by the lower court. You’re going to have a much harder time getting that judgement reviewed and reversed by the court of appeals.

By: Kathi Sandweiss