Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in New York

Has time to appeal expired

In December of 2004, a show cause judgment was decided against me. I went to the county clerk office a month or so later and found that the decision said I had no basis in law for my motion, this was of course after the judge heard arguments on the various points. I have not received a formal copy of that decision from the court or from the prevailing party. In this case must I received notice of entry of this decision before I can appeal or is this one of those cases where service of a decision is not needed if you want to appeal and you only have 30 days to appeal once the court makes its decision. I was confused as to why the court did not address any of the other issues in my motion, but it seemed the court put them all together as one. It is the service and appeal part that have me totally confused.


Asked on 5/07/06, 10:14 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Alani Golanski Alani Golanski, Esq.

Re: Has time to appeal expired

Dear sir or madam: In New York state practice, you have 30 days from service upon you of a notice of entry of the order or judgment against you within which to serve and file your Notice of Appeal. If the opposing party has not served you with notice of entry, and if you want to appeal, you may yourself serve a proper notice of entry upon the opposing party, and that, too, will start your 30-day period. In your case, because it appears that the "judgment" against you was issued quite some time ago, you might want to double check with your adversary to make sure he or she did not, in fact, serve you with a notice of entry, just to avoid being surprised with a motion to dismiss your appeal.

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Answered on 5/07/06, 11:54 am
David Simon Hogan & Rossi

Re: Has time to appeal expired

Please provide more information so you can get better guidance from members of the bar. What court? what type of case? what is a "show cause judgment"??? It sounds to me like you filed an order to show cause seeking some type of relief and it was denied. Generally speaking, in NYS Supreme Court, the party that prevailed on the motion should serve a copy of the decision and/or order upon you with notice of entry to start the clock ticking for your appeal. However, is the case still pending? Are you the plaintiff or defendant? Has the case subsequently gone to a judgment? A judgment will supersede all prior decisions and orders and the right of appeal then stems from the final judgment, and not any interlocutory decision or order. Also, you used the term "show cause". If you filed an order to show cause and did not serve it as required, the motion may have failed. Similarly, if the Court merely declined to sign your order to show cause, then the motion never came to be in the first instance. So there are many factors that could come into play and ultimately determine whether you are still entitled to appeal.

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Answered on 5/08/06, 1:47 am


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