Most states with a two-tier appellate system route appeals directly to the intermediate appellate court, with the state supreme court entering the picture only through discretionary review. Utah does something structurally different. Nearly every appeal is technically filed with the…
Most of this series has focused on certiorari — the discretionary mechanism for getting a case from the Court of Appeals to the Utah Supreme Court. But not every case follows that route. Some matters proceed directly to the Utah…
You lost at the Utah Court of Appeals. The opinion came down, the panel affirmed the trial court — or reversed in a way that hurts you — and you believe the court got the law wrong. The instinct is…
Most people who find themselves in litigation assume that appeals happen at the end — after the jury verdict, after the judge’s final ruling, after the case is over. That assumption is largely correct. But it has an exception that matters enormously in the right circumstances. An interlocutory appeal is an appeal taken not at the end of a case, but in the middle of one — a request for the appellate court to review a specific ruling before the litigation concludes.
Whether an appellate court can stay your district court case depends upon a couple of things. First, have you asked the district court to stay the case? In most cases, a party needs to request a stay of all other…
In Utah, in order for the appellate court to take jurisdiction over your claim, you must obtain a final judgment. The final judgment rule is jurisdictional, and without it, the court of appeals will dismiss your case. It’s helpful—and indeed…
Lotus Appellate Law handles appeals throughout Utah, serving clients in all counties and courts across the state including:
