If you were wronged, you deserve compensation.
But in many cases the laws are unclear on what constitutes a personal injury claim.
Sometimes you lose your case.
The scenarios are numerous: hit by another driver under the influence...
an injury on the job which makes you incapable of working...
if you have pain and suffering issues after a near death injury.
These deserve some form of compensation, but often it can be hard to get it.
Sometimes you do in fact lose the personal injury case.
You're out of options, right? No, you can argue the court decision in appeals court for most state and federal cases, especially those involving accidents and injuries.
How? You Need a Lawyer First off, you need to see if you have a capable lawyer.
Just because you were denied your personal injury claim does not mean your lawyer is inept.
Sometimes, he or she may have made a clear case for you.
In others, they were poor communicators, spent little if any time on your case, and overcharged you.
There are a variety of other reasons for firing your lawyer and getting a new one.
You may have to pay somewhat more, but in appeals court, you need experience, time, and knowledge.
A good personal injury lawyer can give each of these and help you reverse a decision.
What Happens in Appeals Court Appeals court is different from the regular trial.
There are some similarities too, but it's clearly a different process.
You do not present evidence, witnesses, and there is no jury.
Also, there is more than one judge - unlike the initial trial with one judge, you have several.
In appeals court, you are trying to prove the law was not followed.
If you can prove the original trial was in the wrong, you have a clear appeal.
This is not a second chance to show all your witnesses, experts, and evidence.
The one similarity is the involvement of your lawyer.
He or she will likely help you with the brief (more on this soon), and will argue how the laws were not followed.
You Need To Show Mistakes How do you show mistakes? This is where your lawyer can earn his or her money.
The main point of emphasis is the appellate brief.
You will have to prove to the judges the mistakes made; they have full control of the court room and make the final decision.
The Brief Lawyers earn their money with the appellate brief, submitted by both defendant and plaintiff before the appeal court hearing.
The plaintiff, that's you, will be arguing how the laws were not correctly interpreted.
The defense, the one you want damages from, will be arguing the laws were correct and that the final decision was correct.
If You Lose You might still lose, but if your lawyer makes a good case, you have a very good chance of winning.
If you do lose, you have the option of going to to the supreme court, which can be much more daunting to win.
If in fact you win, this case can lead to your deserved compensation.