The verdict has been entered. Most of the trial team’s attention is turning toward what comes next — whether that is filing a notice of appeal, beginning settlement negotiations, or advising the client on how to respond to enforcement of…
You can prove the trial court made an error. You have the transcript, the ruling, and the authority that shows it was wrong. And yet the response you keep hearing — from the trial court, from opposing counsel, from the…
Few post-trial revelations are more unsettling than learning that the jury was compromised. Whether a juror conducted independent online research about the case, communicated with an outside party during trial, failed to disclose a disqualifying relationship during voir dire, or…
Of all the things that can go wrong at trial, few have more appellate consequence than an erroneous jury instruction. The instructions define the legal standards the jury applies. They determine which claims are available, what elements must be proven,…
Most discussions of post-trial motions assume a jury. But a substantial portion of Utah civil litigation is resolved in bench trials — cases tried directly to the judge, without a jury. Post-trial practice in bench-tried cases follows different rules, serves…
A final judgment in a civil case carries significant legal weight. Finality is a core value of the litigation system: parties should be able to rely on judgments, litigation should end, and courts should not be endlessly relitigating settled matters….
Winning on appeal begins long before the appellate brief is filed. In Utah litigation, the right to raise an issue before the Utah Court of Appeals or Utah Supreme Court depends on what happened in the trial court — including,…
A jury verdict is the jury’s factual determination — and courts are reluctant to override it. But jury discretion on damages is not unlimited. When a damages award is so disproportionate to the evidence that it cannot be permitted to…
In Utah civil litigation, the post-trial period is a race. The rules impose strict, non-extendable deadlines on post-trial motions — and unlike many procedural deadlines, these cannot be extended by agreement, good cause, or court order. Missing the window does…
Lotus Appellate Law handles appeals throughout Utah, serving clients in all counties and courts across the state including: