Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in Tennessee

My husband entered an appeal with the State of Tennessee Criminal Appelette court in 2009. I just found out the state made a motion for dismissal based on lack of jurisdiction. The motion was granted. Can you tell me what lack of jurisdiction means?


Asked on 9/04/10, 10:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

It means the court had no legal authority to decide the case. There are several reasons why a court might not have jurisdiction. Presumably the trial court did have jurisdiction over the original case, so only two plausible reasons leap to mind why the appellate court didn't. The first is that the appeal was filed after the deadline had passed. The second is that it was filed in the wrong court. There may be other reasons that I'm not thinking of at the moment.

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Answered on 9/09/10, 6:39 pm


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