Updated Laws for Your Case- True or False Answer! FALSE! Once you have submitted your main documents (brief, petition, complaint, etc) to the court, there IS a way to update the court if you find new statutes or cases relevant to your lawsuit. Although it varies by jurisdiction, it is usually done as a Notice of Supplemental Authority, where you briefly explain what the newly discovered law or case precedent is, but do not include any additional argument about it. I.e., FL Rule 9.225

T/F Tuesday Answer: True! As unfortunate and unconstitutional as it is, Court clerks across the country are being allowed to deny your ability to file legal documents, even documents you’re legally required to file. Your best course of action if this happens to you is to document every time you try to file your documents or otherwise comply with the rule or law in question. And do what you can to get your request heard by someone else in that court, even the judge, if possible.

T/F Tuesday Answer: TRUE! In many jurisdictions, like in Florida, a lower tribunal’s final decision generally must be appealed within 30 days, or the right to appeal is forever lost. While it makes sense to have finality when there are two private parties involved, this strict time limit is NOT appropriate in cases between the government and a private party. But they still apply it nonetheless. See FL Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.110(b)&(d) [civil cases], 9.140(b)(3) [criminal cases], 9.900 [format], and 9.100 [appeals by writ, such as secondary level appeals, etc.].

T/F Tuesday Answer: TRUE! Where there is no RIGHT to appeal (see last week’s T/F post), you must ask the appeals court to take your case through an Application for Leave to Appeal or a Petition for Writ of Certiorari, depending on your jurisdiction. In this brief, you must convince the court the importance of accepting your case.