Las Vegas Appellate Attorneys

Reasons to Appeal an Injury Case

The appellate process takes a judgment from the trial court and puts it before a higher appellate court. The higher court will look at the judgment from a legal standpoint to determine whether the trial court made the correct decisions. For example, if you won your case and the defendant is filing the appeal, the court will look at whether your judgment was proper or whether it should be reduced or taken away. Appeals can result in the judgment being upheld, the judgment being altered, or in a new trial. An experienced appellate attorney will know how to navigate this process.

Appeals center mostly on legal issues. The defendant may wish to go to the appellate court after a jury enters a final judgment on your personal injury claim in Las Vegas if they believe there is an error in the judgment. Their lawyer will need to give a specific reason why the jury’s verdict is incorrect, such as that the jury failed to obey jury instructions or that the court dismissed key evidence the jury should have been able to review. Their lawyer can list all of the ways they believe a jury made a mistake. It is common in Nevada to base an appeal on multiple grounds.

Many times after trial, but before an appeal, the party that lost will file a motion for new trial. This type of motion will go to the same court where you had your original injury trial. The losing side will list all the reasons they believe a new trial is needed and the winning side will argue why the verdict was proper and why a new trial is not needed. Many times, these issues are the same ones that end up before the appellate court in the appeal. It is wise to have an appellate lawyer handle the motion for new trial so as not to miss any issues.

For Attorneys Who Need Appellate Co-Counsel

At Claggett & Sykes Law Firm, our appellate team has handled hundreds of appeals. We can tell you exactly what to expect from the process and we will outline the possibilities of your appeal as well as where we believe it will go. Keeping you updated with how your case is progressing can give you greater peace of mind.

We recommend that lawyers going to trial involve appellate counsel before trial. Waiting to hire an appellate attorney until after trial can be too late. The appellate attorney can help with pre-trial issues like motions in limine and jury instructions and with issues that arise during trial so as to preserve those issues for appeal. The appellate attorney helps with error preservation during trial because most trial lawyers are busy doing what they should be doing; the trial. If you wait until after the trial, you run the risk of not preserving issues properly for appeal.

Claggett & Sykes Law Firm offers appellate services for other trial attorneys and have worked on some of the largest, most recent verdicts in the State. We offer flexible fee arrangements. We can operate on a flat or hourly fee for cases where the plaintiff lost at trial, or on a contingency fee basis where the plaintiff is trying to preserve the judgment. Contact us to discuss an appeal in Las Vegas with one of our attorneys today.