appeals

Published on: February 10, 2016

Legal Self-Help Clinic for Appeals (Minnesota)

By Laura Orr

This a joint initiative of the Minnesota State Law Library and the Appellate Practice Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

“New self-help clinic helps Minnesotans navigate appeals process,” posted Monday, February 8, 2016, at the Minnesota Judicial Branch website:

“A new self-help clinic at the Minnesota State Law Library provides free assistance to individuals seeking to file an appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals or the Minnesota Supreme Court.

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Published on: June 20, 2014

How is ‘certiorari’ pronounced? Even Supreme Court justices disagree

By Laura Orr

From the ABA Journal News: “How is ‘certiorari’ pronounced? Even Supreme Court justices disagree,” Jun 17, 2014, by Debra Cassens Weiss

Excerpt: “.... He listened to the U.S. Supreme Court’s oral arguments to learn the uniform pronunciation and instead found a six-way split of opinion, the National Law Journal reports. Black’s Law Dictionary also fails to settle the dispute, Duane writes in an article for Green Bag (PDF). It lists three pronunciations as acceptable….” [Link to full article.]

Published on: April 18, 2012

Oregon and U.S. Court and Case Law e-Summary Service

By Laura Orr

Subscribe to Oregon and U.S. court and case law e-summary services from the Willamette University Law School service: Willamette Law Online. It’s a painless way to stay informed about new caselaw:

1) 9th Circuit Case Summary Service
2) Oregon Court of Appeals Case Summary Service
3) Intellectual Property Case Summary Service
4) Oregon Supreme Court Case Summary Service
5) United States Supreme Court Case Summary Service

For example, they alerted me to this upcoming U.S. Supreme Court copyright case:

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Published on: April 2, 2012

Oregon Court of Appeals: Debt Collection Statute of Limitations Cases

By Laura Orr

Oregonian article: “Oregon Court of Appeals says consumers with unpaid credit-card debt aren’t off the hook unless six years have passed and no lawsuits are filed,” by Aimee Green, The Oregonian, March 30, 2012, and Sunday, April 01, 2012.

Oregon Court of Appeals Cases (link from OJD COA opinions website or from OJD homepage):

1) Unifund CCR Partners vs. Rigoberto Porras (Docket # A146957)

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Published on: August 12, 2011

New Legal Research Guide – Appeals

By Holly

The Washington County Law Library has a new legal research guide on appeals, available on our website in a number of places: the What’s New page; the Subjects Guide page; and our lovely Document Index. If you are ever at a loss to find a document on our website, the Document Index page includes every document uploaded to the website. You can also use the labels on the right-hand sidebar of this blog to find posts about appeals.

Published on: December 28, 2009

U.S. Courts of Appeals (Circuit Courts) Opinions Online

By Laura Orr

Not all U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals (or federal district or bankruptcy courts for that matter) make full (or almost full) runs of their opinions available at their websites. See, e.g. the blog post at Gallagher Law Library (University of Washington Law Schools): Circuit Courts Archiving Cites to Online Sources.

The Administrative Office of the Courts is a one place to begin when researching federal court practice and procedure, but for cases, you need to do a little detective work if you want to use a free database.

The primary method for finding federal court case documents is PACER (registration required – some fees), but opinions from the Courts of Appeals, and other federal courts, may also appear elsewhere on the Internet. The AOC has links to federal courts.

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Published on: August 22, 2007

Appealing from Municipal to Circuit Court: Proceed with Caution

By Laura Orr

This Oregon Court of Appeals decision, Milton-Freewater v Ashley (A130586), was decided August 22nd, 2007:

“The circuit court dismissed defendant’s appeal from a judgment of conviction in the municipal court on the ground that defendant failed to file the original notice of appeal with the municipal court and, therefore, the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to review the judgment of conviction. As we explain, ORS 53.030 required defendant to file the original notice of appeal with the municipal court, and her failure to satisfy that requirement precluded the circuit court from exercising jurisdiction over her appeal. We review the circuit court’s conclusion for errors of law, and affirm.”

Update: I neglected to include this excerpt from the opinion:

“We conclude that, when a municipal court that has not become a court of record prosecutes state misdemeanor offenses pursuant to ORS 221.339(2), the municipal court is exercising its authority as a justice court. In that situation, where the municipal court acts as a justice court, we apply the statutes that govern appeals from the justice court.”