A party seeking relief from an adverse judgment in a divorce action is left with various options including filing a motion to reconsider or an immediate appeal. The former asks the trial court to reconsider its own ruling while the latter results in a higher court reviewing the trial court’s decision—specifically an appellate panel of three justices.
A motion to reconsider raises error predicated on newly discovered evidence, changes in the law, or error in the court’s application of existing law—new legal theories and factual arguments cannot be raised.
An appeal requires a demonstration of reversible error based on evidence and arguments presented to the trial court with varying degrees of deference given to the trial court’s decision. Both a request for reconsideration and an appeal have relatively short filing timelines. Provided appellate jurisdictional filing deadlines are met, the filing of a motion to reconsider will not preclude a subsequent appeal of the issues.
There are legal and strategic reasons for pursuing one avenue over the other which should be explored with your attorney. Considerations should include timing—an appeal is typically a lengthier process than reconsideration; cost—depending on the length of the proceedings and complexity of the issues involved an appeal can be substantially more expensive than reconsideration; the differing burdens as discussed above; and whether reconsideration will give the trial court an opportunity to strengthen its opinion by correcting errors to the detriment of a subsequent appeal.
If electing to file a motion to reconsider, litigants must be cognizant of jurisdictional appellate deadlines and whether the request for reconsideration will toll those deadlines.
Jamie R. Fisher, Partner
For more on Ms. Fisher, please visit:
www.beermannlaw.com/team/jamie-r-fisher.
