The Oklahoma Bar Journal September 2023

A ppellate L aw

Paths to the Supreme Court: A Brief Discussion of the Various Ways to Obtain Review of a District Court Order

By Melanie Wilson Rughani

N EARLY EVERY TIME TWO parties enter a courtroom, at least one leaves unhappy. It is the nature of our adversarial system. As an appellate lawyer, I routinely receive calls from trial counsel who are sitting in a district court parking lot, fuming. Inevitably, the district court’s ruling was “com pletely wrong,” and they want to know how to “take this up to the Supreme Court” immediately. Most often, once they get back to the office, cooler heads have prevailed. We walk through the rules of finality and, if the district court’s order is indeed final or oth erwise appealable as of right, the procedures for appellate review. Sometimes, however, the trial court’s order is not final, but the circumstances of the case make immediate review truly necessary. Accordingly, it is important to be familiar with the various paths to obtaining review in the Oklahoma Supreme Court. There are two primary mech anisms for obtaining Supreme Court review of a district court

order: 1) appeals as of right and 2) discretionary review. This arti cle will discuss the various types of trial court orders reviewable on appeal and the different Supreme Court procedures that are applica ble to each type of review. majority of the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s docket consists of appeals as of right. Primarily, these are appeals from judgments and final orders; however, certain types of interloc utory orders are also immediately reviewable. The nature of the under lying trial court order determines the type of appellate proceeding. Judgments and Final Orders Title 12, Section 952(a) gives the Oklahoma Supreme Court juris diction to review “judgments of the district court.” A “judgment” is defined as “the final determi nation of the rights of the parties in an action.” 1 This includes the ordinary judgment that is entered after a jury or bench trial. It also APPEALS AS OF RIGHT As one might expect, the vast

includes orders of dismissal and orders granting summary judg ment, so long as they resolve all pending claims. And it includes various other orders enumerated in Supreme Court Rule 1.20, including adoption decrees, paternity determinations, driv er’s license orders, small claims awards, condemnation orders and probate distributions. To qualify as a final “judg ment,” an order need not include a statement of costs, attorney fees or post-judgment interest – those issues may be deferred for post-judgment proceedings. 2 Any other outstanding issues, however, must be fully and finally deter mined. A judgment may not reserve issues like punitive damages or pre judgment interest for future res olution, and it may not contemplate future action, like the preparation of findings or a proposed judgment by the parties. 3 In addition to “judgments,” the Supreme Court also has juris diction to review “final orders.” 4 These include, for example, orders

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL