Every trial lawyer knows the moment when a verdict is read. The room holds its breath. In wrongful death lawsuits, that moment carries the weight of loss, hope, and years of preparation. But what happens when the decision feels profoundly unjust? When the jury awards damages that won’t even cover funeral expenses, let alone compensate for a lifetime of lost companionship? Or when they rule against you entirely, despite testimony and evidence you found compelling?
This is when families face a choice they never anticipated making: whether to appeal. The decision isn’t simple. Appeals demand more time, more resources, and more emotional energy when reserves are already depleted. Yet for some families, walking away from what they believe is an unjust verdict isn’t an option. The question isn’t whether they’re tired of fighting, but whether there’s a legitimate path to challenge what went wrong in the courtroom.
Understanding that path requires looking beyond the frustration of an unfavorable outcome and into the mechanics of how appellate courts actually work. Unlike trial courts, which examine evidence and assess credibility, appellate courts serve a different function. They review legal process, not factual disputes. This distinction shapes everything about the appeals journey, from what issues can be raised to how long the process takes to what outcomes are possible.
Understanding What Can Actually Be Appealed
The first reality of appeals is perhaps the hardest for families to accept: you cannot appeal simply because you disagree with the verdict. Appellate courts don’t retry cases. They don’t watch witnesses testify again or reconsider whether one expert seemed more credible than another. The jury or judge at trial makes those determinations, and appellate courts give them substantial deference.
What appellate courts do examine is whether the trial was conducted according to law. Did the judge properly instruct the jury on the legal standards they should apply? Was evidence improperly admitted or excluded in ways that affected the outcome? Did the court make errors in applying damage caps or other legal limitations? Were there procedural irregularities that undermined fairness?
In wrongful death cases, appealable errors might include a judge allowing inflammatory testimony about the defendant’s wealth when that wasn’t relevant to liability, or excluding expert testimony that was critical to proving causation. Perhaps the court misapplied state law regarding which family members can recover damages, or made mistakes in calculating economic losses. Maybe jury instructions confused or misled the panel about the legal standard for proving negligence.
What you generally cannot appeal is how the jury weighed competing evidence or which witnesses they found more believable, provided they had a legally sufficient basis for their conclusions. If two experts disagreed about whether a medication caused a fatal reaction, and the jury believed one over the other, that’s not grounds for appeal. The jury is entitled to make that choice, even if you believe they chose wrongly.
This distinction matters enormously. It means that before pursuing an appeal, you need clear-eyed assessment of whether actual legal errors occurred, not just disappointment with how factual disputes were resolved.
The Critical Timing: When the Clock Starts Ticking
Appeals operate under unforgiving deadlines. In most jurisdictions, you have between 30 to 60 days from the entry of final judgment to file a notice of appeal. This period is strictly enforced. Courts have very limited discretion to extend these statutory deadlines, even when families are dealing with fresh grief and trauma.
The clock doesn’t start when the verdict is read in court. It begins when the court formally enters the judgment, which may be several weeks later after post-trial motions are resolved. This distinction can be confusing, and missing the deadline is typically fatal to your appeal. Once that window closes, your right to challenge the decision is permanently lost.
This is why having counsel who can act quickly is essential. The notice of appeal itself is usually a brief document, but filing it preserves your appellate rights while your attorney begins the much more substantial work ahead.
The Initial Steps: Preserving and Preparing the Record
Once the notice of appeal is filed, the focus shifts to assembling the trial record. Everything the appellate court will consider happened during the trial proceedings, so creating a complete and accurate record becomes paramount.
This process includes ordering transcripts of all trial testimony. Court reporters must transcribe their stenographic notes into readable documents, which can take months for lengthy trials. In a complex wrongful death trial lasting several weeks, transcripts can run thousands of pages. The cost can be substantial, often tens of thousands of dollars, and this expense falls to the appealing party.
The record also includes all exhibits admitted at trial, pleadings filed by both parties, motions and briefs submitted to the court, and the judge’s rulings on various issues that arose. Your attorney will need to review all of this material meticulously, identifying specific moments where reversible error occurred.
This requires a different skill set than trial advocacy. It’s more analytical and research-intensive, like an investigative journalist combing through documents for the story within them. The attorney must find not just mistakes, but mistakes that matter legally and that were properly preserved by objection at trial. An error that wasn’t objected to at the time is often deemed waived and cannot be raised on appeal. Working with a wrongful death attorney is critical at this stage.
Crafting the Appellant’s Brief: Making Your Case on Paper
The heart of any appeal is the written brief. While trials unfold through witness testimony and real-time advocacy, appeals are won or lost primarily through written argument. This is where the case must be rebuilt, not as a factual narrative about what happened to your loved one, but as a legal argument about what went wrong in the courtroom.
The appellant’s brief in a wrongful death appeal typically includes several critical components. It begins with a statement of the issues presented, which frames the specific legal questions the appellate court is being asked to decide. These must be precise because appellate courts generally won’t consider issues not properly raised in the brief.
Next comes the statement of the case and facts. This section recounts what happened at trial, presenting events in a light favorable to your position while remaining scrupulously accurate. Misrepresenting the record, even unintentionally, can destroy credibility with the appellate judges who will scrutinize every citation to ensure it accurately reflects what the trial transcript shows.
The argument section is where legal analysis meets persuasive writing. Your attorney will cite relevant case law, statutes, and legal principles, building a logical structure that demonstrates how the trial court’s errors weren’t just mistakes but legally consequential ones that affected the outcome. In wrongful death cases, this might involve intricate arguments about tort law, evidentiary standards, or how wrongful death statutes should be interpreted.
Throughout the brief, the most effective appellate attorneys blend rigorous legal analysis with reminders of the human stakes. Appellate judges read countless briefs involving abstract legal principles. The ones that resonate remind them that behind procedural arguments stands a family seeking justice for an irreplaceable loss.
The Appellee’s Response and Reply Brief
The other side gets to respond with their own brief. The appellee, the party who prevailed at trial, will argue that the trial was conducted properly, that any errors were harmless, or that you’ve forfeited certain issues by failing to object at the proper time.
This is where appellate litigation becomes strategic. The appellee might concede that a minor error occurred but argue it couldn’t have changed the outcome given the strength of other evidence. They’ll emphasize the deference owed to the jury and trial judge. They may raise procedural bars to consideration of certain issues, arguing that objections weren’t specific enough or that issues are being raised for the first time on appeal.
The appellant typically gets one more opportunity with a reply brief. This is a shorter document focused on rebuttal, addressing new arguments raised by the appellee rather than restating your initial arguments. It’s your last chance to shape the legal conversation before the appellate court decides whether to hear oral argument.
Oral Argument: A Different Kind of Courtroom Experience
Not all appeals involve oral argument. In some jurisdictions or for certain types of cases, appeals are decided entirely on the written briefs. But in significant wrongful death appeals, courts often schedule oral argument.
This is a markedly different experience from trial. Instead of presenting evidence to a jury, your attorney stands before a panel of appellate judges, typically three, and faces direct questions about the legal issues. These judges will have read the briefs and studied the record. They’re not passive listeners but active interrogators, probing weaknesses in arguments and testing legal theories.
Oral argument is less about delivering a prepared speech and more about engaging in sophisticated legal dialogue. The most effective appellate advocates welcome challenging questions as opportunities to clarify their positions and address the court’s concerns head-on. Judges interrupt frequently, sometimes multiple judges at once, creating a rapid-fire exchange that requires nimble thinking.
For families attending oral argument, it can feel anticlimactic compared to trial. There are no witnesses telling emotional stories, no dramatic revelations, just attorneys and judges discussing technical legal points. The human tragedy at the case’s center may seem barely mentioned. Yet these technical discussions will determine whether your case ends or returns for another chance at justice.
The Waiting Game: When and How Decisions Arrive
After oral argument, or after the briefing is complete in cases decided without argument, the wait begins. Appellate courts operate on their own timelines. It’s not unusual for decisions to take months, sometimes six months to a year or more in complex cases.
The panel must deliberate, one judge must draft an opinion, other judges may draft concurrences or dissents, and the final opinion must be circulated, revised, and approved. This takes time, and families accustomed to the relatively quick pace of trial proceedings often find the appellate timeline frustrating.
Eventually, the court will issue a written opinion. In wrongful death appeals, several outcomes are possible. The court might affirm the trial court’s decision, finding no reversible error. This ends your appeal, and the trial court’s judgment becomes final.
They might reverse the judgment entirely, which could mean ordering judgment entered in your favor if you’re the plaintiff, or dismissing the case if you’re the defendant who appealed. This outcome is relatively rare because it requires the appellate court to conclude not just that errors occurred, but that the only reasonable outcome is the opposite of what the trial court ordered.
More commonly in civil cases, appellate courts reverse and remand, sending the case back to the trial court for further proceedings. This might mean a complete new trial, giving both sides another opportunity to present their case. Or it might mean the trial court needs to reconsider a specific issue, such as recalculating damages under proper legal standards while leaving the liability finding intact.
Some reversals come with specific instructions to the trial court about how to handle the matter on remand. Others are less directive, simply identifying the error and leaving it to the trial court to determine how to proceed consistently with the appellate opinion.
The Possibility of Further Appeals
If you lose at the intermediate appellate court level, in many jurisdictions you can seek review from your state’s highest court, often called the supreme court. However, this level of review is typically discretionary. The high court chooses which cases to hear, usually selecting those involving important legal questions or conflicts between different appellate courts’ decisions.
The standards for obtaining supreme court review are demanding. You’ll need to demonstrate that your case presents issues of broad significance beyond your individual circumstances. In wrongful death cases, this might involve novel questions about statutory interpretation, conflicts with established precedent, or constitutional issues that affect many potential cases.
Getting a state supreme court to accept review is difficult. These courts receive many more petitions than they can possibly hear, and they focus on cases that will clarify law for future cases rather than simply correcting outcomes in individual disputes.
In rare cases involving federal constitutional questions, there’s even the theoretical possibility of seeking review from the United States Supreme Court, though the odds of that court accepting a wrongful death case are exceedingly slim unless it presents a significant federal constitutional issue affecting the entire country.
The Practical and Emotional Costs
Appeals are expensive. Beyond the cost of transcripts, there are attorney fees for the substantial work of researching, writing, and arguing the appeal. Many wrongful death cases are handled on contingency at trial, meaning the lawyer receives a percentage of any recovery rather than hourly fees. Appellate work often requires different arrangements. Some attorneys will continue on contingency through appeals, others charge hourly rates, and some require a hybrid approach.
The fees can be substantial because appellate work is labor-intensive. Thorough research into case law, careful analysis of lengthy trial transcripts, and crafting persuasive briefs all take considerable time. Families should understand these costs upfront and discuss fee arrangements clearly with counsel before committing to an appeal.
The emotional cost can be equally steep. Appeals extend the legal process by years, postponing closure and keeping families in a state of legal limbo. The loss that prompted the lawsuit remains fresh as the case continues, making it difficult to move forward with grief. Every brief filed, every hearing scheduled, every decision awaited brings the trauma back to the surface.
There’s also the psychological risk of hope and disappointment. Pursuing an appeal means believing a better outcome is possible, which reopens emotional investment in a process that already caused pain. If the appeal fails, the disappointment can feel like losing twice. If it succeeds but only results in a remand for a new trial, you face the prospect of reliving the entire trial experience with all its attendant stress and uncertainty.
Yet for many families, appeal represents the only path forward when they genuinely believe justice wasn’t served. The question becomes whether the potential for a better outcome outweighs the costs and risks of continuing the legal battle.
Making the Decision: Should You Appeal?
This deeply personal decision should be made in close consultation with experienced appellate counsel, ideally someone other than your trial attorney who can provide an objective assessment. Trial attorneys are understandably invested in the cases they’ve litigated and may have difficulty separating their own disappointment from realistic evaluation of appellate prospects.
Not every unfavorable verdict warrants appeal. If the trial was conducted fairly and the jury simply weighed evidence differently than you hoped, an appeal likely won’t succeed and will only prolong pain. Disagreeing with a verdict, even strongly, isn’t grounds for reversal.
But if there were significant legal errors, if an attorney can identify specific, preserved issues that likely affected the outcome, an appeal might offer a genuine opportunity for justice. The key is honest assessment, not wishful thinking. Good appellate counsel will tell you directly whether meritorious issues exist or whether an appeal would be throwing good money and emotional energy after bad.
Consider the practical implications as well. If you’re the plaintiff and lost at trial, an appeal delays any possibility of recovery. Your family may need financial resources now, not years from now after appellate proceedings conclude. If you won a verdict but are appealing because damages were too low, an appeal carries the risk of losing what you’ve already been awarded if the appellate court reverses on other grounds the defendant raises.
Some families find that the process of exploring an appeal, even if they ultimately decide against pursuing it, helps them achieve closure. Working with appellate counsel to objectively evaluate what happened at trial can provide perspective and help families understand why the outcome occurred, even if they disagree with it.
A Final Perspective
The wrongful death lawsuit itself emerged from tragedy, a life cut short and a family forever changed. The decision to appeal means choosing to remain in the legal system’s embrace for months or years more, extending a process that began in grief and may not end with the closure families desperately need.
Yet the appeals process exists for crucial reasons. It provides a check against legal errors, ensures that trial courts follow established law, and offers a remedy when proceedings go fundamentally wrong. For families who believe their trial was tainted by reversible error, it represents not an extension of suffering but a continuation of the fight for accountability and justice.
The American legal system recognizes that trial courts, despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes make mistakes. Judges misunderstand legal standards, make incorrect evidentiary rulings, or give faulty jury instructions. These errors can deprive parties of fair proceedings and just outcomes. The appellate system exists to correct those errors when they substantially affect results.
For families considering appeal, the decision ultimately comes down to three questions: Were there legitimate legal errors? Do you have the emotional and financial resources to continue? And can you accept the possibility that appeal may not change the outcome? If the answers point toward proceeding, do so with experienced counsel, realistic expectations, and support systems in place for the journey ahead.
Whatever you decide, approach it with clear eyes and competent guidance. Understand that appeals are uphill battles fought on technical legal grounds, but know that they’re battles that can sometimes be won. Justice, while it may be delayed through appeals, isn’t necessarily denied by them. Sometimes it’s refined and ultimately realized through the appellate process, bringing families the accountability they sought from the beginning. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.