NALS ANNUAL EDUCATION CONFERENCEOCTOBER 3 , 2014

The Appellate Process

Goal: Error Correction

Why?

Fairness FinalityNoticeHarmConfidence

Goal: Uniformity

Rules of decision-makingResolution of conflicts

Appellate Architecture

The Circuit Courts of Appeals

Texas Appellate Districts

Jurisdiction: the power of the court

Exclusively FederalAdmiraltyAntitrust (Federal)BankruptcyCopyrightFederal CrimesPatentsSuits against the U.S.Immigration

Exclusively StateAnything not

federal

Concurrent:Federal questionsDiversity of citizenship

Original v. Appellate

Original Jurisdiction:Courts with the authority to hear the case for the first time (the trial courts).

Appellate Jurisdiction:

Authority to review a trial court’s decision (usually after a final judgment).

The Mechanics

To preserve an error for appeal, the record must show an objection in the trial court that is:

TimelyDefinitiveRuled upon

Timely

Raise an objection contemporaneously with the error it challenges.

Courts follow the Kung Fu Panda rule:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Not definitive enough

Ruled Upon

Must obtain a ruling – either “expressly or implicitly”.

Ask: Was my objection understood? See Phillips v. Bramlett, 288 S.W.3d 876, 883 (Tex. 2009) (objection waived where trial court’s response showed that it didn’t understand the objection and counsel did not attempt to clarify it.).

Definitive

The objection must be specific enough “to make the trial court aware of the complaint.”

Unless: the grounds for the objection are “apparent from the context.”

The Record

Appellate Briefs

Appellate Briefs

Oral Argument

Opinions of the Court

NALS ANNUAL EDUCATION CONFERENCEOCTOBER 3 , 2014

Thank you.