Difference between revisions of "How Do I Appeal a Final Supreme Court Decision?"

Appeals to the Court of Appeal are governed by two things, the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/84h4 Court of Appeal Act]'' and the [http://canlii.ca/t/85bg Court of Appeal Rules]. You should be familiar with both the act and the Rules because both contain guidelines and deadlines for the conduct of an appeal; reading the Rules is not enough!

To appeal a decision, you must file a Notice of Appeal, in Form 1 of the Court of Appeal forms, in the registry of the Court of Appeal and serve it on the other side. The Notice of Appeal is a set form which you must fill out. In it you <span class="noglossary">will</span> have to say:

Once you've filled out your Notice of Appeal, you must file it in the registry of the Court of Appeal. They <span class="noglossary">will</span> charge you a fee for this, and you'll notice that all of the fees charged by the Court of Appeal are higher than those of the Supreme Court. The registry <span class="noglossary">will</span> stamp your Notice of Appeal with the seal of the court, a date stamp and the file number of your action. You must then serve the Notice of Appeal on the other side.

#the pleadings that were filed in the original court proceeding (the Notice of Family Claim, the Response to Family Claim and the Counterclaim) plus all of the interim orders which may have been made in that proceeding,

#the documentary exhibits which were entered at the trial, and

You must prove to the registrar that you have taken whatever steps are necessary to obtain these materials and prepare your Appeal Book. When preparing your Appeal Book, you must pay close attention to the rules and the form provided in the Court of Appeal Rules. There are a couple of companies which <span class="noglossary">will</span> prepare your Appeal Book for you; they are listed in the Yellow Pages.

Within 60 days of filing your Notice of Appeal you must file four copies of your Appeal Book and the transcript and deliver another copy of each document to the respondent. You <span class="noglossary">will</span> need a total of six copies of each of these documents, since the court gets four, you'll need one and the respondent gets one as well.

Make a total of six copies of your factum and file them in court. The court <span class="noglossary">will</span> keep four copies, you <span class="noglossary">will</span> keep one and you must serve the sixth on the respondent.

The day of your hearing is at hand. At this point, you must prepare a book of authorities. This is a binder containing all of the case law and statutes that you are relying on in the argument you've set out in your factum. You should arrange the cases in the order that you set them out in the list of authorities in your factum. Make five copies. One copy is for you, another is for the respondent and the court <span class="noglossary">will</span> get the remaining three; you <span class="noglossary">will</span> give the court their copies on the day of the hearing of your appeal.