An appeal is a review of a judgment or order of a trial court or administrative tribunal. The appeals court hears no witnesses and does not determine facts. Its review is generally limited to alleged errors of law or fact determinations that allegedly are not supported by any evidence. The Court of Appeals can only consider appeals within its jurisdiction, as prescribed by the Arizona Legislature. The court can consider only those judgments, orders, and other matters that, by statute, are appealable. Thus, not every order or decision can be appealed.

To appeal a superior court order, file a “Notice of Appeal” in the superior court that issued the order or judgment to be appealed. Consult Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure 8 (for civil, family, mental health or tax matters), Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 31.2 (for criminal matters), or Arizona Rule of Procedure for the Juvenile Court 603 (for juvenile court matters) for the specific procedures that apply to your appeal.

No. Although the Arizona Court of Appeals is one court, it is divided into two divisions, each of which has primary responsibility for certain assigned counties. Cases may be transferred between divisions, but must be filed in the counties assigned to each division by statute.

Division Two is responsible for cases arising in Cochise, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties.

No. There are no trials at the Court of Appeals.

No. The Court of Appeals will not consider any evidence not included in the superior court’s Index of Record.

Generally, in juvenile appeals, once the transcripts and completed record have been filed in the Court of Appeals — the Court sets a briefing schedule. The Appellant must file its Opening Brief within 20 days. After the Opening Brief is filed, the Appellee must file its Answering Brief within 20 days. Finally, the Appellant may file a Reply Brief within 10 days from the filing of the Answering Brief. After submission of the briefs, the Court reviews the entire record, transcripts, and briefs before rendering its decision or opinion.

How soon a decision is filed depends on many things, including the complexity of the issues raised, the caseloads of the judges, and scheduling considerations. In addition, some of the time required is built into the process. For example, the court reporter and the superior court clerk are given time to prepare transcripts and gather and transmit the record to the appeals court. Then, there are fixed time periods for filing briefs. Once an appeal is ready to be decided, it is assigned to a court department to be considered as soon as possible. Some decisions take longer, for example, in complex cases or when the three judges of the department are not in agreement on the decision.

The court may schedule oral argument on its own or if one of the parties timely requests it and the court agrees that oral argument might be helpful in deciding the case. The court generally favors oral argument if there is any doubt about whether it will be useful. An exception to this rule is special actions, in which oral argument is generally not granted.