Appeals: What Are They and What Can You Expect?

If you go to trial, and you win or lose, you may assume that the case is over, and finally settled. But think again. Because after a trial, you could face the prospect of an appeal.

What is an Appeal?

An appeal is a process where one party to a lawsuit takes the case to a higher court for rehearing. The entire case is not retried, but rather, a party is arguing that the lower, trial court, made certain errors and thus, the judgment should be overturned, or else, the case be completely retried.

You may or may not have the option to appeal—of course, if you lose, you may want to appeal, a decision that you and your business law attorney will make. But even if you win your case, you may not have a choice, if the other, losing party appeals the trial court’s decision.

Almost everything that happens in a trial can be appealed; every decision that the judge made during not just the trial itself, but since the day the lawsuit was filed, can be “second guessed” on appeal. And because many legal decisions made during a lawsuit are not clear cut, it leaves a lot of room for parties to argue to an appellate court that the trial court committed an error.

Your Role in an Appeal

Assuming you lost your case—or even if you won it, but you don’t feel that the final judgment fully compensates you for your losses—it may be time to discuss an appeal. Note that the option to appeal is only after a trial court’s judgment—not a voluntary settlement, which cannot be appealed.

As a party to a lawsuit, an appeal is a relatively passive process; there are usually no new depositions and no additional discovery that is done. The appeal is almost fully handled by your attorneys.

Staying the Judgment

In most cases, the appeal will “stay” the judgment—that is, whomever has to do something pursuant to the trial court’s judgment (like pay any money to the other side), will often be granted a stay, while the result of the appeal is pending.

If you are the party that has to pay another party pursuant to the judgment, this is good. But if you are the party that expected to get paid on your judgment, and the losing party appealed, you may have to wait even longer to see any compensation from the judgment.

Negotiations and Settlement

Often, parties will file an appeal, just to force the other side into a settlement. For example, if your judgment is for $200,000, and the other side appeals, you may offer to settle your case for $100,000, just to avoid the appeal, get paid the money, avoid appellate costs, and end the case.

Even when your business law case is over, there are still important decisions to be made. Let us help you with your business law case. Call the West Palm Beach business litigation lawyers at Pike & Lustig today.

Sources:

4dca.flcourts.gov/information/appellateprocess.pdf

uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/types-cases/appeals