What is an appeal in Connecticut?
An appeal in Connecticut is when a higher court, generally called the Connecticut Supreme and Appellate Court, is asked to review the decision of a lower Court, generally called the Superior Court, by a party that either lost or is dissatisfied with the decision. The Connecticut Supreme and Appellate Courts reviews the decision of the Superior Court by reviewing the record. The record is the court filings or pleadings, transcripts or the written testimony of all of the proceedings, evidence, which are physical objects that the lower Court is asked to review, and in the case of the Supreme Court, may include review of the briefs prepared before the Appellate Court. The Supreme and Appellate Court are restricted to reviewing only those pleadings and evidence introduced to the Superior Court. Nothing new can be introduced on appeal that was not raised below.
How is an appeal prosecuted and defended in a Connecticut Courts ?
The party not happy with a decision has a limited time to pay an entry filing fee and file a notice of appeal. This notice advises the Superior Court, in certain circumstances, that a party is dissatisfied with a result from a family, criminal, civil, zoning, or housing proceeding and wants the Appellate Court to review the matter. The person bringing the case is called the appellant and they have to file documents with the Appellate Clerk advising them of certain information necessary to prepare an appellate clerks file. The Connecticut Rules of Appellate Procedure sets forth deadlines and requirements for making sure that the record of pleadings, evidence, and Court rulings are complete and that transcripts have been ordered, delivered, and paid. Within a short period of time, the appellant must file a brief that usually does not exceed 35 pages.
What is an appellate attorney ?
An appellate attorney focuses on the writing and research of briefs and presents them at oral argument to the Court. A brief is a document, usually bound as a book that lays out legal argument in favor of or in opposition to reversing a lower Court’s decision, because the case was decided incorrectly. If you are prosecuting an appeal, your attorney will usually argue in the brief the reasons the trial court erred in the decision below and therefore, the case should be reversed with an appellate remedy that is usually a new hearing or trial. If you are responding to an appeal, your attorney will argue in the brief the reasons that the trial court correctly decided the case and that the lower court decision should be affirmed. Ideally, a brief is prepared by a lawyer who has reviewed the entire record including transcripts, evidence, and pleadings. A brief is a technical document a lawyer completes after he engages in careful research of sources of law, usually the state and federal constitutions, statutes, and case law, to determine if a Superior Court Judge has properly followed the law, and did not abuse its discretion in applying the law to the facts.