Can I appeal because the jury or trial judge believed evidence that wasn true?
Unfortunately, it is not proper to argue on appeal that the juryor the trial judge in a case tried without a juryshould not have believed evidence that supports the judgment. It’s the job of the jury or trial judge to determine the facts from the evidence presented at trial. The job can be difficult. Witnesses often give inconsistent, even completely contradictory, versions of events. There may be reason to doubt the credibility of one witness or another. There are often questions about the legitimacy or authenticity of documents. Even when there are no contradictions in the testimony or documents, evidence can frequently be interpreted different ways. As the appellate courts put it, a reasonable person may be able to draw different, conflicting inferences from the evidence. Viewed one way, a piece of evidence may favor plaintiff; viewed another way, it may favor defendant. But it is for the jury or trial judge alone to decide just what the evidence proves, to decide which witnesses ar
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