Tag Archives: Court of Appeals

Appealing Appeals Applied, Fraudulently Fooled, Legally Educated

Pretrial e-mail Scam Reports from Minnesota Court of Appeals

WARNING, SCAMMER ALERT!

The Minnesota courts website, www.mncourts.gov, reports fraudulent emails appearing to be from the a Court of Appeals has been making the rounds to in-boxes recently.  The official notice is below.

Five More Tips It’s a Fraud

1. No “complaint” originally filed with Court of Appeals

2. E-mail address not governmental

3. No “trial” in Court of Appeals

4. Poor grammar

5. No electronic communications YET from Minnesota Appellate Courts.

They play off fear and ignorance to have you bite on these e-mail scams so that you will open the attachments.  Don’t do it unless you have confirmed the e-mail from other sources first. Be diligent people!!! The fraud will never end but can be beaten with caution, knowledge and education!

MKT

Notice: Pretrial e-mail Scam Reported

The Minnesota Judicial Branch has learned of an e-mail scam where recipients are receiving a pretrial notice regarding a court complaint.  The public should be aware that the e-mails are not coming from the Minnesota Judicial Branch or the Minnesota appellate courts, and they should not open the e-mail or respond.  Official court communications will only be sent by phone or U.S. mail.  An example of the message is included below:

FROM: Minnesota Court of Appeals

Mon 2/3/2014 8:46 PM Pretrial notice Hereby we confirm that your complaint has been received together with enclosures dated January 30, 2014. The complaint will be reviewed in court in the nearest possible time based on the documents and information you have previously provided. You do not have to be present at trial in person if the Court does not suggest otherwise. Please use this link to check your complaint once again and confirm it. If we do not get your confirmation the claim will be cancelled. You will be further notified without delay of any judgement delivered in regard to your complaint. Sincerely, Court secretary

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Appealing Appeals Applied, Attorneys & Lawyers & Counselors

Practice Tip for Aspiring Appellate Attorneys

courthouse-1330873-mIf you want a successful win/loss record* as an appellate attorney, always remember to only represent the Respondent when a case goes up on appeal.

In 2012, US federal courts of appeal granted the Appellants reversals in only around 12% of all civil cases appealed out from federal district courts, considered federal trial courts.

Nationwide in 2008 (most recent data I found), the combined rate for US state intermediate appellate courts  (e.g., usually state “courts of appeal”) that reversed lower court decisions averaged out at only 15%.

Also nationwide in 2008, in cases appealed to a state court of last resort (e.g., usually a state “supreme court”) the cases affirmed outnumbered reversals more than two-to-one. While nationwide the same year, cases affirmed by state intermediate appellate courts outnumbered reversals at a rate of four-to-one.

Finally in 2008, leaving my local courts last, but certainly not considering them least, in deciding 147 civil and criminal appeals combined, the Supreme Court of Minnesota only issued reversals in about 14% of all appeals. Meanwhile, in Minnesota’s intermediate appellate court, the Court of Appeals decided 2,046 criminal and civil cases, with the Appellants doing slightly better by obtaining reversals about 16% of the time.

The numbers don ‘t lie. If you want to have the best possible win/loss record for your appellate practice, the odds are much higher if you only represent the party that prevailed at trial court level: The Respondent.

If your practice allows you to pick and choose cases on this basis, please leave a detailed comment below explaining for me how it’s done, because I sure don’t enjoy that luxury in my practice!

* Other outcomes may be considered a “win” or a “loss” as well, but are not incorporated in the above discussion in order to keep the definition of a “win” as clean, clear and indisputable as possible. The outcomes left out that could be considered either a “win” or a “loss,” depending on the interpretation of each particular case’s final result, can include cases where an appellate decision is issued that modifies a lower court’s decision (one way or the other), cases when an order is issued dismissing an appeal (for any number of reasons), cases when an Appellant voluntarily agrees to dismiss the appeal (usually with undisclosed reasons), along with many other potential outcomes that are never so neatly and distinctly defined that they fit in a classical “win” column or “loss “column.

MKT–MKT Law–Appellate Practice Information

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