Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Re: can/how do i appeal

Every court has written procedures and rules. You should go the the court facility and obtain a copy of them. You can also go to a law library & read them. If a judge only heard one side & would not let you testify he denied you due process of law.

Re: can/how do i appeal

While Mr. Slater is correct in the things he said, it was my impression that you wanted a more substantive answer to your question as to what is meant by a legal reason. I briefly explain:

It is easiest to start where a trial is conducted in the presence of a jury. In such circumstances, the jury acts as the trier of fact. In your situation, there might have been issues of fact, such as whether your cows did, indeed, leave their confined area and trespass onto a neighbor's property. This is a factual question: did the cows escape and go onto your neighbor's land or not.

Assuming for the sake of argument that they did, there still may exist legal questions (as distinct from factual ones). An example of a legal question might be, are there any laws that would permit your to have your cows go onto your neighbor's property without permission? Let's say a statute existed that said that in the time of severe rains, one who owns livestock may lawfully have them go onto a neighbor's property if necessary to save the lives of the livestock. A factual question would exist as to whether a sever rain occurred, but a legal question would exist as to whether this particular statute would bar your neighbor's claim -- this is a question for a judge not for a jury, for, as noted above, a jury only answers factual questions not legal ones.

This same scenario holds true for a bench trial, where there is no jury. In such circumstances, the judge performs both roles, one as trier of fact (as a jury would normally do) and, the other, as drawing conclusions of law.

An appellate court reviews the record of the trial below for errors of law. An appeals court will only address whether an error of fact occurred if no reasonable person could reach the conclusion reached by the jury. Therefore, an appellate court simply looks to whether legal error was committed below.

I believe this was what was meant when someone told you that you needed a "legal reason" in order to be successful on appeal. In other words, some error of law occurred that was not harmless. If you are able to meet your burden in this regard, you will be successful in overturning the trial court's determination.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; Ashman Law Offices, LLC; 156 W. 56 St., Ste. 1902, New York, NY 10019; [email protected]; www.lawyers.com/alo