In Indiana, there are thousands and thousands of trials and hearings each year. For litigants who lose on the merits in civil or criminal litigation, there are roughly 3,000 appeals taken to the Indiana Court of Appeals.1 This is Indiana’s intermediate appellate court. The entire appellate process is laborious for the lawyers who handle appeals and time-consuming for the Court because three judges are assigned to review every case. As might be expected, there are comprehensive rules to ensure efficiency and consistency in the process because these appeals come from all of Indiana’s 92 counties. The one rule that can ... Read More
Tag: civil appeal
30
Apr2020
22
Feb2018
And What Happens If You Miss the Deadline?
In most criminal and civil cases, there are many court orders issued. These are “interlocutory” (temporary) orders to move a case to a final order and are not normally appealed. There are provisions to appeal certain “interlocutory” orders1 as a matter of right (during trial court proceeding) and by the discretion of the trial court (an order trial court must certify the interlocutory order for appeal and the Court of Appeals has to then accept the appeal). This blog addresses and identifies what constitutes a final order and what happens if you “blow” ... Read More
16
May2017
Civil appeals are guided by very rigid appellate rules. Generally, missing an appellate deadline precludes a civil appeal. The only remedy is a malpractice action against counsel who failed to advise his or her of the appellate deadline or missed this deadline.
This is unlike criminal appeals, where belated appeals may be allowed due to the potential loss of life and liberty by incarceration. This blog explores a very narrow remedy that the Indiana Court of Appeals and Supreme Court have embraced where the facts of a civil are such that the case should be decided on the merits.1
Most attorneys confuse ... Read More
05
Jul2016
As a general rule, the final order of Indiana trial courts has the right to appeal. Most are taken to the Indiana Court of Appeals. A few appeals proceed directly to the Indiana Supreme Court. In this blog post, three types of matters that cannot normally be taken up on appeal are discussed as this creates significant confusion for some litigants.
The first are interlocutory orders. During the trial process a judge may make dozens or hundreds of orders to move the trial along. Normally, these are not appealable because they are interlocutory (or not final) in nature. However, a trial ... Read More
06
Oct2015
Very few civil cases are decided by a jury in Indiana. Therefore most final orders (the ruling that decides the case) are issued following a trial before a judge (bench trial). In most cases, someone wins (prevails) and someone loses. As a general rule, after a final order is issued a party has 30 days to appeal.
In Indiana, there is a right to one appeal. Almost all of these go to the Indiana Court of Appeals, which is comprised of 15 judges located in Indianapolis. They decide cases in three judge panels. This means three randomly assigned judges in this ... Read More