Kalispell, MontanaKalispell Appeals
Kalispell Appeals Lawyers: Civil Appeals from Flathead County District Court and the Missoula Federal Court
Boland Aarab PLLP.
To appeal a civil judgment from the Flathead County District Court, you generally must file a notice of appeal within 30 days of entry of judgment, or 60 days when a government entity is a party. The appeal goes to the Montana Supreme Court. Federal cases from the Missoula Division go to the Ninth Circuit, generally within 30 days. Missing the deadline usually ends the appeal.
Need to appeal, or defend, a judgment from Kalispell or Missoula? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Where do appeals from Kalispell go?
State court. Civil cases in Flathead County are tried in the Eleventh Judicial District Court, which serves only Flathead County (§ 3-5-101(11), MCA). It sits at the Flathead County Justice Center, 920 South Main Street, Suite 310, Kalispell, and has five departments, each with its own judge. Montana has no intermediate appellate court, so an appeal from the Eleventh District goes directly to the Montana Supreme Court in Helena. Cases decided in Flathead County Justice Court, in the same building, follow a different path: they are generally appealed to the district court first.
Federal court. Cases from Flathead County in federal court are heard in the Missoula Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, at the Russell Smith Courthouse, 201 East Broadway (D. Mont. L.R. 1.2). Appeals go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The practical point for Flathead litigants. Whether your case was tried before a Flathead County jury or decided by a judge on summary judgment, the appeal will be decided on the written record made in Kalispell or Missoula: the transcripts, the exhibits, and the objections and motions filed there. Appellate lawyers can’t add evidence. That is why involving appellate counsel before or during trial can matter as much as after it.
What happens in an appeal from Flathead County?
- Deadline check, right away. In state court, the notice of appeal is generally due within 30 days of entry of judgment, or 60 days if the State, the United States or a local government is a party. If notice of entry of judgment must be served, the clock starts on service (M. R. App. P. 4(5)(a)). Timely post-trial motions (for a new trial, judgment as a matter of law, or altered findings) restart that clock. In federal court, the notice is generally due 30 days after entry of judgment, or 60 days when the United States is a party (Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)).
- The record. Transcripts must be ordered from the court reporters who recorded the proceedings, and the Clerk of District Court in the Justice Center (Suite 300) assembles the record for the Supreme Court. Delays here are common, so we order early.
- Issue selection. The Montana Supreme Court generally won’t consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal (Unified Industries, Inc. v. Easley, 1998 MT 145, ¶ 15). We review what was preserved in Kalispell and build the brief around the strongest issues.
- Stays and bonds. A judgment can be collected while an appeal is pending unless it is stayed, which often requires a bond (M. R. App. P. 22).
- Briefing and argument. Most Montana appeals are decided on the briefs. Oral argument is granted in some cases.
Montana law that applies
The fundamentals; our Montana appeals lawyer page covers standards of review and appellate strategy in depth.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Kalispell case?
Appeals are decided on paper and in Helena or before the Ninth Circuit, not in Kalispell, so where your appellate lawyer is located matters less than in almost any other kind of case. We are based in Great Falls and handle appeals statewide. We travel to Kalispell and Missoula when a post-trial hearing, a stay motion or trial support calls for it.
The Boland Aarab Way
- A record built on appeals. The Boland Aarab appellate record reaches back to 1977 (appellate record).
- We restore verdicts. When a trial judge threw out a Phillips County jury’s $168,500 verdict, we had it reinstated by the Montana Supreme Court (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
- Ninth Circuit experience. 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.
- Trial lawyers who understand the record. Our attorneys have spent more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom, so we know how a record gets made, and lost, at trial.
We also handle insurance bad faith cases in Kalispell and medical malpractice cases in Kalispell. See our Kalispell personal injury page.
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do appeals from the Flathead 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 Kalispell judgment? Generally 30 days from entry of judgment, or 60 days if a government entity is a party. Timely post-trial motions can change the start date. Check immediately, because the deadline is strict.
My case was in federal court in Missoula. Where does the appeal go? To the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The notice of appeal is generally due within 30 days of judgment.
Can you handle an appeal if another lawyer tried my case in Kalispell? Yes. We regularly review records made by other counsel. We’ll need the full file and transcripts quickly.
Should we bring in appellate counsel before a Flathead County trial? Often, yes. Jury instructions, objections and post-trial motions decide what can be argued on appeal. Early involvement helps preserve the issues.
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.
