The Court of Appeals - Just When You Thought It Was Over...

The court of appeals is something you might want to be concerned with, but you should realize you have little control over it. In truth, small claims court aside, once your case goes to the formal lawsuit phase you're pretty much powerless.

This is the world of law and lawyers and, aside from being updated about progress, your job is pretty much done. That said, if the lawsuit ever goes to court, you will be needed at the trial. You'll be put on the stand and you'll have to answer questions. Other than that you'll have to sit next to your lawyer doing nothing but trying to appear calm and likeable.

If all goes well, when the trial is done the jury will award you a sum of money. In a perfect world that sum of money will be large and handed to you right away.

Unfortunately, no insurance company is going to want to just hand over a check. In most situations they'll look for reasons to take the case to a court of appeals. This is often done as a formality, but it's also often done as a negotiation tactic. By this point they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. After all, they still have your money in their bank pulling in interest.

A case can go to a court of appeals if either side decides that something improper happened during the trial. If either party is unhappy with the decision, they can appeal it and request a new trial. This also means that if you feel you didn't get enough money, you may want to look into get an appeal attorney.

The court of appeals also gets involved if a lawyer says something inappropriate and the judge doesn’t take measures to correct the matter. The judge can also decide to exclude certain evidence. In those situations an appeal attorney will argue that the exclusion was unfair.

There are also cases where the jury will award the accident victim nothing. In cases where the court of appeals recognizes that the injuries were extensive, and the defendant was clearly at fault, they'll order a new trial.

The phrase ‘new trial’ keeps coming up. If you’ve read the previous section, you’ll understand that a 'new trial' will probably make your expenses go up considerably. This is why the threat of appeal can be so powerful.

Let’s say that the jury awards you fifty thousand dollars. The insurance company will threaten to take the case to the court of appeal, unless you accept a smaller settlement. You'll then have to decide which is more worth while, accepting their new offer, or going through the time and expense of a new trial.

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