In 2009, the Pennsylvania Superior Court implemented new appellate rules governing custody, adoption, termination of parental rights, paternity, and dependency cases. (3) Is this a Children’s Fast Track Appeal? But be careful – if you agree to something, you can’t change your mind and later challenge it on appeal. Judges also know that if they make fewer rulings during trial, there are fewer potential issues on appeal. Even if the parties can’t agree enough to settle the case, judges know that trials go more smoothly when the parties agree on the little things – discovery issues, authentication of documents, qualifications of an expert witness.
#SAMPLE MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION PENNSYLVANIA TRIAL#
Trial judges like to get the parties to agree on things. LEXIS 169 (1/21/16) (appeal dismissed for failure to insure transcript was included in the certified record on appeal).įinally, be careful what you agree to. Once you obtain the transcript, you need to be sure that it is included in the certified record on appeal. If there’s no transcript, the appellate court doesn’t know what really happened and the issue is waived. If there is any chance that the sidebar or conference could be an issue on appeal, you must make sure that it is transcribed. Sometimes things happen during a trial out of the earshot of the court reporter – a sidebar conference, a meeting with the judge in chambers. 1926.Īnother common problem is failing to get colloquies with the court in the record. If an exhibit is not admitted at trial, in order to be considered on appeal, it must be filed with the Superior Court along with a written ruling from the trial court. If it’s not introduced into evidence, it is not part of the record on appeal and cannot be referred to in your appellate brief. In the hustle and bustle of a trial, it is easy to overlook the obvious – you can’t just discuss a document, it must be introduced into evidence. After you lose, you review the transcript, find the damaging testimony, and want to argue on appeal that the admission of the testimony resulted in the unfavorable verdict. Opposing counsel has a witness on the stand, the witness says something but you are distracted by your client handing you a note and you don’t object. The failure to timely object is a textbook example of how claims are waived. Many appeals are lost because trial counsel waived the issues by failing to preserve them in the trial court. If you plan ahead you won’t be caught by surprise when the deadline for filing an appeal is approaching.įinally, in Pennsylvania, appeals from certain interlocutory orders, including orders regarding venue, personal jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, and arbitration, must be filed as interlocutory appeals or the right to appeal is waived. Permission to Appeal than it does to draft a Notice of Appeal. It takes more time to prepare a Petition for You should make this determination right away. If the order is not a final order or an appealable interlocutory order, you will need to file a Petition for Permission to Appeal under Chapter 13 of the appellate rules. 2015) (an order denying a petition to intervene in a custody action is a collateral order appealable as of right pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 311? Is it a collateral order appealable under Pa.R.A.P. If it’s an interlocutory order, is it appealable as of right under Pa.R.A.P.
You first need to determine if the Order is a final order or an interlocutory order.
The Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure are very specific regarding what types of orders can be appealed. Here are some of the questions you should ask to make sure your appeal isn’t lost before it gets to the Superior Court: (1) Is the order appealable? No matter how strong your case on the merits may be, if you fail to preserve the issue in the trial court, or you err in the filing of the notice of appeal, the outcome is decided long before you brief and argue your case. Most appeals are won or lost at the trial court level. Appeals of family law cases are growing at a pace that exceeds appeals in every other area. By comparison, in 2012, there were 7,808 appeals filed in the Superior Court, of which 796, or approximately 10%, were appeals in family law cases. Of those, 1,316, or approximately 15%, were appeals from family law cases. In 2015, there were 8,444 cases filed in the Pennsylvania Superior Court. So why worry about an appeal? Because you are likely to have an appeal to deal with sometime soon. Of the cases that do go to trial, only a few of them are appealed to the Superior Court. You may be wondering why, as a family lawyer, you need appellate advice.
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