Can You Appeal Your Case?

Picture this: you just finished a lengthy trial, paid thousands of dollars in legal fees, and had sleepless nights anxiously awaiting the result of your case…only to find out the judge did not agree with your position. You lost, now what? 

You may think the automatic next step is to appeal your decision. But what goes into an appeal? Who gets to appeal their decision? How expensive is an appeal? Below, we break down some of the most common questions we receive about appeals. 

What does it mean to appeal a decision?

Most people’s understanding of an appeal comes from television. They believe it’s the automatic next step if they lose their court case. In reality, appeals are very technical and most requests for an appeal are dismissed. You can appeal a decision if you have sufficient evidence that the trial judge made an error in interpreting and applying the law to your particular case. You can also appeal a decision if you believe the decision resulted from an error in procedure. For example, maybe there is evidence to suggest the judge was biased toward one party, or maybe something happened during the course of trial that was obviously procedurally unfair. In other words, you need to show that there was a miscarriage of justice. 

Contrary to popular belief, you cannot appeal a decision simply because you do not agree with the trial judge’s decision. There has to be something seriously wrong with how the decision was made (either in how the law or procedure was applied) to even get your foot in the door of the court of appeal or divisional court. 

If you are considering appealing your decision, you should first consult a lawyer to determine if your case qualifies for an appeal. Even if you decide to represent yourself for the actual appeal, getting legal advice about the likelihood of success, before you file the appeal, could save you thousands of dollars. 

How expensive is an appeal?

Appeals are very expensive. You may think most of the work has already been completed since you just finished a trial. However, the work that goes into appealing a decision is very different from the work that went into preparing your initial trial. At trial, the focus was on collecting and presenting evidence to support your claims. As a general rule, an appeal is not a second chance to retry your case. You generally do not deal with new facts related to your case. An appeal is an analysis of how your trial was conducted. It is an entirely different legal analysis that is usually time consuming and very technical in nature. This means your appeal lawyer will spend many hours reviewing what specifically happened at your trial before even preparing their new submissions and evidence for the appeal. One can argue it is double the work load - especially if you are hiring someone other than the lawyer who represented you at your trial. This translates to how much you will spend to bring an appeal. You can expect to pay at least $15,000 - $30,000 for your appeal. The cost depends on the complexity of your case, your lawyer’s hourly rate, and the level of court to which you are appealing. 

Can I appeal a family law decision?

Family law decisions are unique in nature and have very tight timelines especially if they concern child protection proceedings. The rule of thumb is to act as quickly as possible if you intend on bringing an appeal. 

An important consideration in family decisions is that judges have a substantial amount of discretion in making them. Our legal system allows judges a fair amount of personal interpretation and application of the law. On one hand, this allows judges to consider unique family dynamics and circumstances when making parenting orders. On the other hand, it makes proving that a judge made a palpable error that much harder. By extension, it means starting a family law appeal is notoriously tricky. 

Key Takeaways

1. If you intend on appealing your decision - act quickly. Appeals have stringent deadlines. 

2. Meeting with a lawyer to discuss whether your case qualifies for an appeal could save you time and money in the long run - even if you want to represent yourself in the appeal. 

3. Consider whether the decision you want to appeal demonstrates a clear miscarriage of justice - can you point to something that went obviously wrong?

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