Billings Appellate Lawyers

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Billings Appellate Lawyers: Appeals From Yellowstone County District Court to the Montana Supreme Court and From the Billings Division to the Ninth Circuit

Boland Aarab PLLP.

If you won or lost a civil case in Billings, the appeal clock is already running. Appeals from the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Yellowstone County go to the Montana Supreme Court, generally with a 30-day deadline. Appeals from the federal court’s Billings Division go to the Ninth Circuit. An appeal can fix only errors preserved at trial.

Facing an appeal, or need to protect a verdict? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

Where do Billings appeals come from, and where do they go?

Billings has two trial courts that produce most of the region’s civil appeals.

The Thirteenth Judicial District Court. Yellowstone County has its own judicial district (§ 3-5-101, MCA), and the Clerk of District Court describes it as an eight-judge district (Yellowstone County). With Montana’s largest county population and eight judges, it handles a large share of the state’s civil trials, from injury and insurance cases to contract, property and business disputes. An appeal from a final judgment there goes directly to the Montana Supreme Court in Helena. There is no intermediate court of appeals in Montana.

The Billings Division of the U.S. District Court. Federal cases from Yellowstone County and twenty-one other south-central and eastern Montana counties are tried at the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse, 2601 2nd Avenue North (District of Montana). Appeals go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where argued cases are heard by three-judge panels in the circuit’s courthouses in cities such as Seattle and Portland.

Neighboring district courts feed the same Supreme Court. The Twenty-Second Judicial District (Stillwater, Carbon and Big Horn Counties), the Fourteenth (including Musselshell and Golden Valley) and the Sixteenth (including Custer and Rosebud) all appeal to Helena as well.

What happens after a judgment in Billings?

The first days after a verdict or judgment decide what the appeal can be.

1. Calendar the deadlines immediately. In most Montana civil cases, the notice of appeal is due 30 days after entry of judgment, or 60 days when the State, a county, a city or another government party is involved. If notice of entry of judgment must be served, the time runs from service (M. R. App. P. 4(5)(a)). In the Billings Division, the federal deadline is generally 30 days, or 60 with the United States as a party (Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)).
2. Decide on post-trial motions. A timely motion for judgment, to amend findings or for a new trial in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court restarts the Montana appeal clock, which then runs from the ruling or from the date the motion is deemed denied (M. R. App. P. 4(5)(a)(v)). Post-trial motions have their own short deadlines.
3. Order the transcript. The Supreme Court decides the case on the district court record. Every hearing, sidebar, objection and jury-instruction conference that matters has to be in the transcript.
4. Prepare for mediation. Montana appeals in cases seeking money damages go through mandatory appellate mediation (M. R. App. P. 7).
5. Protect the judgment. If you won in Yellowstone County, the other side may seek a stay or post a bond. A winning party should also consider whether to cross-appeal, which is due within 15 days after the first notice or within the original time, whichever is later.

What will the Montana Supreme Court review in a Billings case?

Legal errors, reviewed under the right standard. Questions of law and summary judgments are reviewed fresh. Evidence rulings and new-trial orders get more deference. A jury verdict stands if substantial evidence supports it. And the Court generally will not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal (Unified Industries, Inc. v. Easley, 1998 MT 145, ¶ 15). That is why appeals are won or lost in the trial courtroom, and why objections, offers of proof and proposed instructions have to be made on the record (M. R. Evid. 103).

Montana law that applies

• Final judgment rule: most appeals must wait for a judgment resolving all claims, including costs and fees, unless a partial judgment is properly certified (M. R. App. P. 4(1), (4)).
• Scope: an appeal from a judgment brings up the earlier orders and rulings that were objected to and led to it (M. R. App. P. 4(4)(a)).
• Federal preservation: to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence for a jury verdict on appeal, a party must renew its motion for judgment as a matter of law after the verdict (Unitherm Food Systems v. Swift-Eckrich, 546 U.S. 394 (2006)).

Our Montana appeals page covers standards of review, preservation and verdict defense in more depth.

Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?

Because the Montana Supreme Court sits in Helena, not Billings, and the Ninth Circuit sits outside Montana altogether. What matters is appellate skill and knowledge of the trial record, not the office address. We are based in Great Falls and handle appeals from district courts statewide and from every division of the federal court. Our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County, so we know how records are made in that courthouse, and our attorneys travel to Billings for post-trial hearings and to work with trial counsel. We do not have a Billings office. We take appeals in cases we tried and in cases other lawyers tried.

The Boland Aarab Way

• We protect verdicts. After a Phillips County jury returned a $168,500 verdict for our client, the district court granted the defense a new trial. We appealed, and the Montana Supreme Court reversed and ordered the verdict reinstated (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
• We argue in the Ninth Circuit. Samir Aarab has argued twice before the Ninth Circuit, and our attorneys have handled more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years.
• We try cases with the appeal in mind. Our firm has tried more than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and our attorneys have spent more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
• Our record is long. The Boland Aarab appellate record reaches back to 1977.

Related Billings pages: insurance bad faith · wrongful death · all Billings personal injury cases

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does an appeal from the Yellowstone County district court go? Directly to the Montana Supreme Court in Helena. Montana has no intermediate court of appeals.

How long do I have to appeal a judgment from the Thirteenth Judicial District Court? Generally 30 days from entry of judgment, or 60 days if a government party is involved (M. R. App. P. 4(5)(a)). Timely post-trial motions can restart the clock.

Where do appeals from the Billings federal courthouse go? To the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The notice of appeal is generally due 30 days after judgment (Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)).

I won a jury verdict in Billings and the other side is appealing. What should I do? Bring in appellate counsel right away to respond, consider a cross-appeal within 15 days, and address any stay or bond. Verdicts can be protected on appeal.

Can you take over an appeal from a case another lawyer tried in Billings? Yes. We handle appeals in cases we tried and cases other lawyers tried, working with trial counsel or taking over the appeal.

Talk to a Billings Appellate Lawyer

Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.