Title: Cannon v. Forrest
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 392, 2022
State: Delaware
Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court
Date: November 18, 2022

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
ALTON HALL CANNON, 
 
 
Defendant Below, 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
WILMA FORREST, ET AL., 
 
Plaintiffs Below, 
Appellees. 
§ 
§     No. 392, 2022 
§ 
§ 
§     Court Below–Justice of the Peace  
§     Court of the State of Delaware 
§   
§   
§     C.A. No. JP13-22-006909 
§                     
§ 
 
 
Submitted:  October 27, 2022 
Decided:  November 18, 2022 
 
Before VALIHURA, VAUGHN, and TRAYNOR, Justices. 
 
ORDER 
After consideration of the notice to show cause and the appellant’s response, 
it appears to the Court that: 
(1) 
On October 21, 2022, the appellant, Alton Hall Cannon, filed a notice 
of appeal from a Justice of the Peace Court order denying his motion to vacate a 
default judgment previously entered against him on September 16, 2022.  The Senior 
Court Clerk issued a notice to Cannon to show cause why his appeal should not be 
dismissed for this Court’s lack of jurisdiction to consider an appeal from the Justice 
of the Peace Court. 
(2) 
Cannon has responded to the notice to show cause and argues, among 
other things, that permitting the Delaware court system to exercise jurisdiction over 
2 
 
him violates his First Amendment rights.  Cannon does not address this Court’s lack 
of jurisdiction to consider an appeal from the Justice of the Peace Court. 
(3) 
It is manifest that this Court does not have jurisdiction over this appeal.  
A decision by a magistrate of the Justice of the Peace Court, whether in a civil or 
criminal case, is not directly appealable to this Court.1  This appeal must therefore 
be dismissed. 
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, under Supreme Court 
Rule 29(b), that the appeal is DISMISSED. 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
/s/  James T. Vaughn, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice 
 
1 Kostyshyn v. City of Wilmington, 2006 WL 2771733 (Del. Sept. 25, 2006) (citing Del. Const., 
art. IV, § 11).