Interlocutory Appeal: Everything You Need to Know
Interlocutory appeal occurs before the final answer from a trial court. If a judge enters orders you cannot accept, you can petition the appellate court within a month. 3 min read
Interlocutory appeal occurs before the final answer from a trial court. If a judge enters orders you cannot accept, you can petition the appellate court within a month. You would normally get a response, but this depends on the jurisdiction, and your answer would be due 20 days after. You would then usually wait for months. If you feel that a case should not move forward, you may ask for a “stay” to halt the proceedings until an appellate court decides on an issue. If a judge refuses, you can mention the issue in your appeal and inquire the court to stop all proceedings.
Interlocutory appeals can stop cases in their tracks if a court chooses to take the issue up. In a so-called plenary appeals process, a final judgement in a case takes place, and a jury or judge issues a ruling against you. To get a judgement revised, you need to submit an appeal notice to the court in 10 to 20 days, but this would depend on the jurisdiction. During the next one or two months, you would direct a clerk of the court to issue the record pertaining to your case to an appellate court.
How to File an Appeal
Regarding post-judgment appeal cases, you can submit an appellate motion when an appeals court has stated that it must be submitted usually two months after your appeal notice is filed. An opponent in a case also has roughly 20 days to submit a response motion. Your reply to such a response would be due 20 days after. Further, the timelines would depend on your location. It should be noted that a response could take months or years for an appellate court to decide on a case.
The appellate brief you file details how a trial court missed the mark. A standard review of an appeals court is based on if you think a judge was not correct in interpreting the law, or is generally wrong regarding the facts. After assigning error to a judge’s order regarding the question of law, the standard falls in the new, and an appeals court does not show deference to the judge. When assigning an error regarding a question of fact, you’re stating that a judge’s ruling is wrong in the follow ways:
- Lacking vital evidence
- Clearly erroneous ruling
- Capricious or arbitrary
Regardless of the standard, an appeals court assumes that a ruling is inherently correct, so your goal is to break through such a presumption. The appeals court affirms a judgment if it is harmful and incorrect. Interlocutory appeals are also called interim appeals, and are also rare in the federal and state court systems, but they are pertinent in resolving cases. It should be noted that an appellate judge hates to overturn cases after a trial has ended because a trial judge heard all testimony and evidence involved in a case, and would be better qualified to render an appropriate verdict. Therefore, obtaining a verdict in your favor can be very difficult.
Appeal Barriers
In general, federal and state courts frown upon interlocutory appeals due to the preference to resolve cases in a suitable manner before the appeal takes place. In some situations, single or multiple parties may suffer irreparable damage if an issue does not get appealed during the pendency of a case in court, interlocutory appeals may be granted. The standard in bestowing interlocutory appeals includes that obtaining the judgment overturned during plenary appeal will not fix an issue, or plenary appeal could be unavailable due to the harm caused by an order may not be possible to demonstrate.
For example, a judge has submitted a discovery order to force production of the trade secret of a business. Once such records are disclosed, it cannot be undone. Moreover, no decision from an appellate court can reverse any damage.
When judges issue protective orders that forbid the discovery of material witnesses, the damage was caused by going to trial without a witness and cannot be demonstrated on plenary appeal since no one knows for certain that witnesses could have testified. Another example is when an attorney on the opposite side has been involved in your past cases, but a judge refuses to render that lawyer disqualified. Also, such an instance could occur if a judge has demonstrated malice against your case and does not recuse him or herself.
To learn more about an interlocutory appeal, you can post your job on UpCounsel’s website. UpCounsel’s lawyers will give you the best advice on the appeals process and the best ways you can win your case. In addition, they will vigorously defend your case in court, so you don’t have to fight alone.