What are appeals, appellants, and appellees?
When a litigant is dissatisfied with a trial court judgment, he or she can challenge it by filing a case in an appellate court. The generic term applied to such a case is “appeal.” A party bringing an appeal is called an “appellant,” and the other party is called an “appellee.” To understand the world of appeals, a common understanding of three elemental facts is helpful. The first fact concerns who is the appellant and who is the appellee. In civil-law cases, both a plaintiff and a defendant might find a trial court order unfavorable. A plaintiff might not accept the fact that he or she lost a suit, or might believe that he or she did not receive adequate relief, even if the verdict was favorable. On the other hand, a defendant might question a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, or challenge the nature of the relief, but not the verdict itself. As a result, either a plaintiff or a defendant can be an appellant, depending on which party files an appeal. However, the party that brings a
