After finding your business at the losing end of a ruling, you may wonder if you have any way to attain a more advantageous outcome. The judge and jury may have made obvious procedural errors. Or, their decision may not have lined up with the facts your side presented. If you feel misconduct or mistakes hampered your case, you will want to file an appeal.
How appeals work
The Nevada Court of Appeals the Supreme Court of Nevada can both hear appeals. To improve the odds of reversal, you will want to file an appeal with both courts. You will explain your reasoning in a brief, which you will want to present in a different manner to each court. The state’s Supreme Court is more likely to hear your case based on its broad business law appeal. Whereas the Court of Appeals may hear it if it focuses on issues that will not set legal precedent.
Filing an appeal does not lead to your case’s retrial. Rather, a panel of judges on either court will review your brief and your case’s record to determine whether the ruling was fair. If the Supreme Court reviews your case, you will also need to prepare a 15-minute oral argument to present to the panel. The judges will not enter new evidence or call new witnesses. And in most cases, they will only reverse a lower court’s ruling if they determine an error occurred in the first place.
When appealing makes sense
Appealing based on your dislike of the initial ruling may not hold up in a court of law. While the judge and jury’s decision might make you unhappy, it may have sound legal standing. Yet, if your ruling had errors, filing an appeal makes sense. These errors include:
- Abuse of judicial discretion
- Procedural mistakes by the judge or jury
- Inaccurate application of the law
- Misinterpretation of the law
- Admittance of evidence that did not support the ruling
- Incompetence or ineffectiveness of your original counsel
An appeal will not guarantee a reversal of your case’s original ruling. But filing one remains an effective way of taking steps toward a fair outcome.
