BULLETINS FROM ALOHA

Appealing a bad judge’s decision should be as easy as writing a term paper.

Several days ago I was standing behind a sophisticated-looking woman at the ‘civil’ court clerk window at the local courthouse.  This woman clearly had anguish over a small claims court judicial decision involving several thousand dollars.  The civil clerk was patiently explaining the options, but the woman was barely listening and soon began to tear-up.  The civil clerk’s empathy was palpable even as the woman started to repeat herself. 

Appellate Rules  --  I just printed off Oregon’s Appellate Court Rules.  All 285 pages of them.  So, it ALL oughta be there; right there, don’t ya think?  Contained in those pages are all sorts of things with special rules about ballot title appeals, criminal appeals, civil appeals, local government exceptions, land use appeals and so on.  But, it is not all right here.  Nope.

Oregon Statutes  --  You also have to look at Oregon Revised Statutes at Chapter 19 where you are going to find twenty two (22) more pages of statutory requirements for that special appeal of yours.  Is that about it?  Nope.

Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure  --  There is another book entirely for a very important component of your civil appeal.  Undertakings!  No, not underpants, undertakings!  It is going to do no good to file that appeal unless you supply an undertaking (security) with the court so the other party doesn’t start collection proceedings while you are writing the term paper. 

        So, by now, you should be about ‘home free’ and secure that these are all the rules you need to get that term paper done right??  Nope.  There are two OTHER places that you have to consult to make sure you provide the right security.  One is in the Rules of Civil Procedure at #82 and the other is at Oregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 19.300.

        End of Story?  Armed with about four hundred (400) pages of rules found in four different places in the multiple rule books, now that sophisticated lady ought to be able to figure it out for herself.  Shall we say!!?  Nope.  Depending on whether or not her appeal is taken from small claims court or justice (of the peace) courts, her appeal will be governed by Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 53 and none of those other tomes I mentioned will direct you to that chapter entitled “Appeals in Civil Actions”????

                                A TERM PAPER

        Writing an appeal is no more difficult than writing a term paper in high school, college or trade school.  All the appellate judge needs to know is what happened; the facts, and what went wrong, the law.  Writing an appeal is easy.  It is the rule(s) book that is hard.  I hope that sophisticated lady follows the adroit advice provided by that conscientious public employee.

        What we do in the law, is make thousands of rules that govern ourselves, but we forget that there is a public out there that should be able to have access to these rules and our courts too.   

        Now, do you want me to tell you where to find the special rules to appeal an arbitration decision……………………………………….?  Hint, it is called a “Request for Trial De Novo” (You did take Latin in high school did you not?)  Additional hint, it is located in yet another set of rules called “Uniform Trial Court Rules”.  You guessed it  --  the Arbitration Rules are found in the Trial Court Rule Book!

        Don’t forget that your opening appellate court brief has to be written on blue paper.