Appellate

After a trial, if one of the parties is not satisfied with the result, they have the right to appeal the case. Appellate cases are filed in Indianapolis, Indiana and reviewed by a panel of judges. On occasion, they will request that the attorneys appear and argue their positions. Ordinarily, this does not occur, and the opinion is handed down, without an opportunity to be heard, and no new evidence is presented to the Court of Appeals. If either party remains unsatisfied with the result, they also have the right to appeal the case to the Indiana Supreme Court, located in Indianapolis. Once the case has been resubmitted, it is reviewed by another panel of judges. The Supreme Court has the right to deny such a case, which is called denying the transfer. In extremely unusual cases, if the party is still dissatisfied with the result they could ask that the United States Supreme Court to hear the case.

It is important to take into consideration the possibility of the Court of Appeals not concurring with the trial court, as this consideration helps evaluate whether an appeal is appropriate. It is also important to assess whether the cost of the appeal is justified, by the matter at issue. An experienced trial attorney should be able to give you feedback on whether they think appealing the case would be productive. Individuals may want to obtain more than one opinion, though, the attorney that tried the case would presumably have the best opinion. You may want a trial attorney to confer in your presence with an appellate attorney to make the decision.



The decision to appeal a case, or not, is a difficult decision to make. Individuals should carefully listen to their attorney's opinion. If the attorneys' legal advice does not make sense to the individual, then the individual may want to obtain the opinion of a second attorney.

The Law Offices of Steven K Deig, LLC has an experienced appellate attorney on staff in the event that you wish to appeal a case that we have tried. Additionally, this attorney is available to consult with clients who had another law firm try their case. Should you have an appellate matter, please contact our office at (812) 477-5577.