How to Appeal a Final Judgment in the 8th Circuit
- 1). Make sure that your final judgment is eligible for an appeal to be heard before the 8th Circuit. You should not file an appeal if any outstanding motion is necessary for the district court judge to rule on, including motions for reconsideration of the verdict or a motion for a new trial. Your appeal cannot be processed until all such motions are acted on (and denied, otherwise you would not be appealing). Your attorney must also have preserved the error you wish to appeal by objecting to the error at the time of the original trial.
- 2). File a notice of appeal in the federal district court in which your case took place. This must be done within 30 days of the final judgment.
- 3). Receive the schedule from the 8th Circuit clerk of the court. The clerk's office will prepare a schedule of deadlines for motions, briefs as well as oral argument, if requested. Either party may request an expedited schedule, or the court may elect to make such a move on its own accord.
- 4). Prepare and file your appellate brief pertinent to the rules and regulations of the 8th Circuit. Per the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 28, the appellant brief must include up to 11 items: a corporate disclosure statement, a table of contents, a table of authorities, a jurisdictional statement, a statement of the issues being reviewed, a statement of the case, a statement of the facts, a summary of the argument, the argument, a short conclusion and a certificate of compliance. Your brief may not be longer than 30 pages.
- 5). File a reply brief, if desired. After you file your brief, the other side (the appellee) will have time to review it and file its own brief in opposition. You are then given a chance to rebut the appellee's points in a reply brief, again in 30 pages or less.
- 6). Wait for the court's decision as to whether oral argument will be allowed. If the case is selected for oral argument, each side will have anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes of argument time; the exact length will be decided by the court.
- 7). Receive the judge's decision, usually within 90 days of oral argument (or brief filing, if no oral argument occurs).