APPEALS
An appeal is the legal process used to ask a higher court to review a judgment made in a legal matter from the trial court. Anyone who is a party to a case can file for an appeal.
Civil Appeals: Civil appeals exist for when two parties go to court, and one individual disagrees with the outcome of the trial. This could be for a family law case, a contract dispute, personal injury, or any other various type of civil dispute. In a civil appeal, the higher court will review if there were any mistakes in applying the law to the facts of the case.
Criminal Appeals: If an individual is convicted of a crime and believes their trial was unfair or that they were improperly convicted, they have a right to file an appeal in a higher court. With criminal appeals, the Defendant will not get a new trial, but instead a higher court reviews the original trial to see if there are any legal errors. In criminal appeals, when successful, the court could overturn the conviction or reduce the sentence.
Administrative Appeals: If a government decision causes you harm in some way that is contrary to the law, an administrative appeal provides an avenue for certain individuals to bring it to the attention of a court. Generally, an administrative appeal focuses on whether the agency followed the law correctly and made a fair decision.
