Appealing a Clearwater Personal Injury Claim

An appeal takes place when an individual does not agree with the outcome of the case, whether it is a jury verdict or a decision by a judge. The appeal does not happen until after a case is resolved. Many times, a case goes to trial and if the plaintiff wins and receives a large sum in the verdict, the defense may appeal the verdict saying either the plaintiff should not have won or even if the plaintiff should have won, they should not have been awarded that much money.

On the other hand, when the plaintiff loses, their attorney will often appeal and say that the judge or the jury did something wrong or that there was an error and the plaintiff should have won the case. Something may have gone wrong with the procedure and the plaintiff’s lawyer argues that they were not given a fair trial. So, they appeal the case and try to start over

A person appeals a personal injury claim by having their attorney examine the records, documents, and exhibits that were entered into the trial. The attorney looks for any errors and compiles an appellant brief with case law arguing to the appellant court that something happened in the trial court that was an error. Because the original trial is being argued as unfair, that should allow the plaintiff to have another trial of their case.

If you were involved in a personal injury case in Clearwater and are unhappy with the outcome, our Clearwater personal injury lawyers are prepared to help you appeal your case to seek the compensation you deserve.

Length of an Appeal

The appellant process is slow and can take anywhere from six months up to five years. There is no actual set limit on the amount of time that an appeal can take. It can take several years to argue the many nuances of something that occurred in a given case, and that case could have potentially taken a couple of years just to get to the appellant process.

Costs and Benefits

Appealing a personal injury claim can be very expensive, and the financial cost involved is one of the downsides. An appeal can add a lot of stress to a person’s life, and may be a drawn out process.

The benefits of appealing a personal injury verdict are that the claimant gets to retry their case to prove the actual worth of the case, and it is possible that they may receive more money the second time around.

Another risk is when an individual gets a verdict that they do not think is high enough, and they appeal the case to get a new trial. There is a potential chance that the jury could come back with a verdict that favors the defense, or with a verdict amount that is considerably less than the initial verdict amount they received. The claimant can actually receive a lesser amount the second time on appeal. That is a risk if someone appeals a case that they won and the jury rendered a verdict in their favor.

Retaining an Experienced Appeals Lawyer

If you are pursuing an appeal of your personal injury case, the best thing that you can have is an appellant lawyer, someone who has tried many cases. A Clearwater personal injury lawyer knows what to look for throughout the trial to see if the trial court, jury, or either of the attorneys made a mistake that provides an issue that serves as grounds for appeal and allows you to potentially win on appeal. They know what to look for and what errors the appellant court may look into to overturn a decision.