Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in New York

Judge decided case before the court date

I had a continuance granted for a court date that was supposed to be on Sept 6. It was chenged to Oct 12th. I got a letter today(Sept 29) from the judge with a decision ruling the case before I even had a chance to give my defense. How can this be legal? What do I do to get decision appealed?


Asked on 9/30/06, 9:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

David Simon Hogan & Rossi

Re: Judge decided case before the court date

You need to file something called a notice of appeal within 30 days. However, technically, no appeal lies from a "decision". An appeal must be taken from an "order" or a "judgment". If it says "Decision & Order" or it says at the end, "this constitutes the Decision and Order of the Court", or "this constitutes the final judgment of the Court", then you have to file your notice of appeal.

Please re-post your question and give us more information about what court this decision came from. Was it NYS Supreme Court? a Town or Village Justice Court? a City Court? It all matters very much and we can't give appropriate advice without knowing which Court we are dealing with.

Also give the nature of the Court's decision. Some acts are not appealable. For example, if the Court entered a default judgment, that is usually not appealable. Instead, you would have to make a motion to vacate the default. If that is denied, then you appeal from that. Did you have an answer stricken for failure to do something?

Thanks.

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Answered on 10/01/06, 10:17 pm


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