When a case is appealed from the Justice Court to the County Court, it’s called “an Appeal de novo.” Essentially, it means that it’s a brand new case, as if the case were being heard for the very first time.
So many times clients want to point back to what happened in the Justice Court and say: “Judge so and so said this, and I’ve already won this.” But that is not the case.
An appeal de novo essentially erases anything that happened in the Justice Court. So, if it happened with a Justice of the Peace, it’s as if it didn’t happen.
You mentioning it is really a waste of time. It’s not a matter of efficiency, it’s not a matter of “Your honor, these issues have already been settled, don’t worry about making a decision here.” The appeal means nothing is settled, nothing has been decided and there are no winners or losers from the lower court.
It’s important to know that when you’re presenting your case in appeal it’s as if you’ve never presented it before. You have to start from scratch.
Your appeal requires that you prove again that you are a Landlord entitled to possession and that you delivered a proper Notice. If you are relying on the Justice Court to prove your case on appeal, unfortunately, the court is not going to allow that. You will need to frame your argument again.
That is why it’s helpful to have an attorney with you who is experienced in landlord-tenant law and knows how to present these cases to the court on appeal.
The truth is all of the Justice Courts are going to handle things a little bit differently because the judge is hearing it for the first time. And it really doesn’t matter that this judge allows this kind of Notice to Vacate and this other judge allows these kinds of issues to be discussed during the eviction trial. None of that matters if you are hearing this for the first time.
So, don’t go in with a misguided presupposition that what happened in the Justice Court is going to continue in this court.
So many times I’ve seen plaintiffs get in trouble harkening back to the previous court: “You said this at that court, or you didn’t bring this up back at court.” It’s not worth mentioning because it doesn’t matter.
And if you insist on raising issues that were purportedly decided by another judge, you are actually likely going to upset the current judge.
So, your key is to stay focused, present the case as though nothing happened to the Justice Court and prove your facts. And if you are able to do that, you should be successful.
