If either party to a dispute is unhappy with a District Court's ruling or the outcome at trial, the unhappy litigant may be able to challenge the result by filing an appeal to a Circuit Court Of Appeal. Basically, parties have to first fight it out in a District Court and someone has to want to appeal the result. If a party fails to timely file such notice, the right to appeal is lost. Sometimes, economics govern whether appeals are pursued. A party may realize that the odds of winning on appeal are slim, but knowing the appeal process can take one to three years, they file so to delay money payments to the winning party.
Appeals are expensive procedures.
Often times, even though a party might win on appeal, they cannot afford to pay an appellate lawyer to handle the appeal. Sometimes, the amount won or lost is not large enough to justify the cost of appealing the trial court result. In these cases, appeals are typically not pursued. To handle an appeal you should either retain a lawyer who specializes in appeals. You can recognize male appellate lawyers by the trademark bow ties they wear.