Most matters in Buffalo personal injury lawsuits are appealed to a higher court called the Appellate Division for the Fourth Department. This court is based in Rochester, New York, and hears appeals from both civil and criminal courts covering a large section of upstate New York.
In most cases, an appeal will go no further than the Appellate Division. In personal injury lawsuits, the Appellate Division may review both the law and the facts to determine if the lower court reached a proper decision. Most decisions by a lower court are upheld, but occasionally the Appellate Division will find a mistake was made and reverse the lower court’s decision.
Occasionally, the party that loses at the Appellate Division may seek to have the matter reargued before the Appellate Division or heard by the Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in New York State. To reargue a matter, the party seeking reargument must convince the Appellate Division judges who rendered the decision that they made some mistake in analyzing the case that warrants reconsideration.
Leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals is rarely granted. The Court of Appeals is largely limited to reviewing only whether the Appellate Court correctly interpreted the law – it usually will not address findings of fact unless the Appellate Court abused its discretion. Typically, the only situation in personal injury lawsuits where the Court of Appeals may engage in a full review of the facts is when the Appellate Court overturned a lower court ruling based on new findings of fact.
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