When a trial or other case-related decision taken by a lower court is requested to be reviewed by a higher court, the process or the request is known as an appeal. Either party of a case can request appeals in various cases, including Spousal Sponsorship Appeals in Canada.
How Much Time Do You Have to Appeal a Court Decision?
There are times when one party might believe the court decision was not just. Perhaps, a legal error occurred, or the legal aid overlooked a piece of evidence. There could be many reasons, and in such situations, the wronged party needs to appeal against the court decision.
If you find yourself in such an ordeal, you must contact an appellate lawyer who will guide you through the entire procedure. The most important part of the procedure is to file an appeal within the given time limit.
Once the trial court declares its decision, you will have a limited timeframe within which you will need to file your appeal. If you fail to do so, you will lose your right to claim an appeal against the court’s decision.
How Does the Appeal Process Work?
When someone loses their legal case or is not happy with the outcome of a case, they can appeal so that the court will go through the case once more.
If you are the losing party in a case and want to start an appeal process, you first need to file a claim at the appellate court. In the lawsuit, you will have to mention that the court, which made the decision during the trial period, made a grave legal mistake. The error impacted the overall outcome of the court decision.
The other party, i.e. the appellee, will need to submit a brief claiming the court made the right decision. If the court did make a legal error, then the appellee will also need to state in the brief that the error did not affect the final outcome.
How Long Will an Appeal Take?
The average time of an appeal is anywhere from five months to eleven months. However, there is no time limit, thus, the time period for appeals can extend further. This time period is calculated from the day of sentencing to the day the Court of Appeals makes the final decision.
If you are wondering why does an appeal takes that long? This is because several steps in the appeal process need to take place. Hence, the overall procedure is time-consuming.
What are the Grounds of Appeal?
If you want to appeal a court decision, you must have a good and reliable reason. To appeal, you will need to have a legal ground; otherwise, your appeal will be overturned. You cannot simply file an appeal because the final decision is not in your favour or you are not happy with it.
Therefore, you need to figure out the legal grounds on which you can file an appeal. For instance:
- Not enough evidence.
- New pieces of evidence.
- Misconduct by prosecutors
- Misconduct by jury
- Judicial error
- IAC – Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
- A plain error by the trial court
Which Court Decisions Can You Appeal?
As mentioned above, you cannot decide to claim an appeal without a valid legal reason. Some of the most common motives for which an individual file an appeal against a court decision are:
- If they believe the trial was unfair and biased.
- If the evidence presented did not align with the verdict.
- If judicial misconduct occurred due to factual or legal errors.
What Type of Cases Can You Appeal to?
You can request appeals on court decisions for different types of cases. These cases are, however, handled differently during an appeal. Some of the cases you can appeal on are:
- Criminal Case
- Civil Case
- Bankruptcy Case
To Conclude
There are times when an error can occur, or foul play from the other party could lead to an unjust court decision. If you are ever in such an ordeal, do not hesitate and ignore your intuitions. Instead, contact an appeal lawyer immediately and start gathering all the information and pieces of evidence that can support your claim.
Once you have everything you need, file for an appeal before you reach the time limit. You do not want to lose your golden chance to overturn the trial court’s decision by failing to request the high court to review your case.
