PRESERVING YOUR RECORD FOR APPEAL; STANDARDS OF APPELLATE REVIEW. Trial courts are the judicial level at which a decision is made by way of witness testimony, and exhibits admitted into evidence. (Well leave judicial notice evidence aside for right now). Trial courts then compile all the motion papers, transcripts, and all documents in the case into what is called the record. If the losing party decides to appeal to a higher court, then whatever the errors that occurred at the lower court level must have been raised in that court as issues, or they are waived on appeal. For example, if in a breach of contract case, the court finds a contract existed (because perhaps there was an issue about whether there was an offer made, whether the offer was accepted, and was supported by consideration), and the trial court decided there was a binding contract, the losing party cant argue for the first time on appeal that he/she did not have the mental capacity to enter into the contract, or that he or she was defrauded into agreeing to the deal (aka fraudulent inducement), or a myriad of other possible defenses to the contract. For tomorrow, how the appellate court applies standards of review to make their decision whether to affirm, reverse, or remand the case back to the trial court for further proceedings, and/or some combination of all of those things. The basic reason for the preserving your record requirement is that it gives the trial court the opportunity to fully consider the issue, and correct an error and possibly avoid an appeal.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 03:28:57 +0000
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