PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF ISSUES ON APPEAL

I've been up early today facing the task of preparing my case for appeal.  After over a year of being in litigation--yes, can you believe it, over a year!--the case is finally going to appeal.  

I have been aware that this case was going to appeal pretty much from the beginning so I've been anticipating I'd be in this situation for a while.  Still, that doesn't make it any easier.  

The Rules of Appellate Procedure, how you go about an appeal, are contained in Chapters 60 through 86 of the 2011 Practice Book, and the rules dictating how I shall write the Preliminary Statement of Issues, the subject of this blog, is located in Chapter 63 of the 2011 Practice Book.  

There is also a "Handbook of Appellate Procedure" which was written in 2003 and is somewhat dated, though still a very good guide to making sure that you are on track in terms of how you are doing your appeal.  You just have to double check its contents with the 2011 Practice Book to be sure you are adhering to up to date procedures.  

So far I haven't found any great deviations, but I still check to be sure.  It is also worth noting that Appellate clerks respect the handbook enough so that they routinely hand it out to self represented parties so it still must be a valuable guide for us self rep types.  You can also download the book from online at:

http://www.jud.ct.gov/Publications/appellatehandbook.pdf.  

Essentially, the part of the appeal I've been working on right now is the Preliminary Statement of Issues which provides to the court your initial statement regarding the legal basis for your appeal.  

In other words, you can't just appeal because the Judge annoyed you by ruling against you, or because you think it isn't fair, you have to appeal based upon your claim that the basis for the Judge's ruling was legally incorrect, or that some part of the proceedings during the trial violated court rules, i.e. your right to due process or something like that.

As I have said, I knew that I would be appealing early on in the trial, and so you might think that writing up this statement of issues was really easy.  Actually, doing so was the most difficult part for me and took the longest time.  I began writing up my statement around October of last year and it took from that time up to the present in order for me to formulate what the issues were.  

Meanwhile, I suffered from writer's block and panic attacks thinking I would never be able to write it up properly.  In the end, what helped me tremendously was when I went back to older motions which I submitted to the Court in order to note that there were legal problems in the case as the trial was happening.  Motions such as "Motions For Articulation" where I asked the court to explain the legal basis for some of its rulings in the case.  "Motions For Rectification" where I asked the court to correct factual or procedural mistakes that had occurred during the course of trial.  

Sometimes I lifted wording wholesale from these motions and just transferred them into my statement of issues.  Other practices that helped me in putting together my statement was the exercise of explaining them to my friends who are helping me in the case.  I told them what my issues were and they critiqued me, sometimes acting as devil's advocates to my annoyance, but every time sharpening my focus.  

In the end, last night, in fact, I came up with a satisfactory six pages of 11 issues that I am using as the basis for my appeal, each one of them sucked out of my intellectual bloodstream.  It was the culmination of tears, of angry confrontations, unbelievable frustration with myself, hours sulking in bed telling myself the world is a bad place, slammed doors, all the signifiers of an intellectual and emotional battle.  And it was done.  

I am lucky that I have friends who understand that so much of my process arises from struggle and they let me do what I have to do in order to achieve good results.  Nothing is quite important as that Statement of Issues because it acts as the fundamental basement structure of your argument.  No matter how you wander into other areas of discussion, such as case law, etc., your essential statement regarding what the problems are arises from here and it is back here you will go whenever you are asked so what it it that you are saying, what are you trying to prove, what are you trying to convey?  This is digging the basement and pouring out the concrete.  Once it is there, well built and solidly constructed, your house will be able to withstand any legal storm.  

But before I get lost in eloquence, let me just review some of this appeals procedure with you.  Here is how it goes.  1) Once the judge on the trial court level, your judge, has issued his Memorandum of Decision, or made his judgment orally in court, you have 20 DAYS within which to appeal.  2) You obtain the appeals form #JD-SC-28.  You fill it out, submit it to the trial court clerk and 3) pay $250.00.  4) The clerk signs the appeals form and then 5) gives to you the DS1, an annotated copy of your case detail, or the listing of every motion and ruling in your case which is on the record.  6) You must also provide a certificate affirming that you will send a copy of the appeals form to all the parties in the case.  If you don't include this certificate, the trial clerk will not accept your appeal.  7) Then, you take the signed appeals form, plus the certificate, and the DS1 to the appellate court clerk on that same day.  8) From then on you have TEN DAYS to provide to the appellate clerk all the documents required by the Practice Book 2011, chapter 63, including, surprise, surprise, the Preliminary Statement of Issues.  

Any questions?!?