The Attorneys at Dixon & Moseley, P.C.
Strong, Trial-Ready Advocates Protecting Your Rights
On its own motion or granting of a Motion for an oral argument, the Indiana Court of Appeals may have the litigants, by counsel, make its argument before the judges who will normally decide the opinion. At a recent CLE, two seasoned Court of Appeals judges shared wisdom for making the best oral argument. Dixon & Moseley P.C. conducts arguments…
What You Need to Know in Picking an Appellate Attorney and Identifying Issues for Appeal In Indiana, we are fortunate (in most cases) to have the automatic right to file an appeal of a final order with the Indiana Court of Appeals. However, an appeal is a sophisticated and complex legal instrument that is often both time-consuming and costly. For…
In civil litigation, the trial and any appeals are one-and-done. This means that except for extraordinary circumstances, such as later trying to re-open the case,1 a civil case later brought on the same issues or matter cannot be re-litigated under legal doctrines known as res judicata and/or collateral estoppel.2 This blog post addresses child custody and related matters, such as…
Civil appeals are guided by very rigid appellate rules. Generally, missing an appellate deadline precludes a civil appeal. The only remedy is a malpractice action against counsel who failed to advise his or her of the appellate deadline or missed this deadline. This is unlike criminal appeals, where belated appeals may be allowed due to the potential loss of life…
In Indiana, there are two higher courts a party may seek an appeal from any final trial court order. There is an appeal as a matter of legal right to the Indiana Court of Appeals. A party dissatisfied with a decision of the Indiana Court of Appeals may seek discretionary transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court. This blog covers the…
Under Appellate Rule 9, a party generally has the right to appeal a final judgment to the Indiana Court of Appeals. This order is the one that decides the case. However, an appeal has some very key limitations that are easy to misunderstand and miss when deciding to appeal. This blog post covers three important such issues that generally cannot…
While very few cases of the tens of thousands of cases carefully decided by Indiana trial court judges are appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals or Indiana Supreme Court each year, a litigant with an adverse civil judgment or criminal conviction should carefully weigh the options of appealing. This is because a judgment after the time for appeal (typically…
lSince criminal cases involve the potential loss of freedom, there are trial and appellate provisions for a criminal case to be brought by a filing belated Notice of Appeal. In civil cases, Appellate Rule 9(A), it clearly states that “[u]nless the Notice of appeals is timely filed, the right to appeal shall be forfeited.” Historically, attorneys and Indiana courts have…
There is an old phrase, “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied.” This is generally viewed in the negative, such as when a defendant has been charged and incarcerated, addressed by the right to demand a speedy trial. Sometimes it takes a defendant or civil litigant a long time otherwise to obtain a trial. In most situations law is inherently slow because…
In all criminal convictions (sentencing) and civil judgments (final orders), the non-prevailing litigant has an automatic right to appeal. Most appeals go to the Indiana Court of Appeals. With a criminal conviction at the time of sentencing, a defendant who believes he has been wrongfully convicted or received an excess sentence should most always appeal. This blog explores the two…