[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Today's LTAR
On this morning's LTAR, Bob and Dan were talking about the fact that the
New Hampshire Superior Court had "agreed to hear" a case involving the
proposed 720 station in New Hampshire. They mentioned that the Superior
Court was the highest court in New Hampshire.
Nope. The highest court in New Hampshire is the state Supreme Court.
The Superior Court is the general trial court, as it is in Massachusetts,
whose decisions are subject to appeal to a higher court.
And what does it mean that the court "agreed to hear" a case. You file a
case in court, and the court will eventually hear it. Unless, for some
reason, the town in question moved to dismiss and the court denied the
motion. But in so doing, the court still heard the case.
When we talk of a court having "agreed to hear" a case, we usually are
talking about a supreme court that decides which cases it will hear.
Cases appealed from the Federal District Courts, which are trial-level
courts, go to various circuit Courts of Appeals. There is no general
right to appeal further to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decides
which cases from the Courts of Appeals and from the highest-level state
courts it will hear.
Likewise, in Massachusetts, there is an intermediate-level Appeals Court,
which takes appeals from lower courts. The Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts decides which cases it will hear, either by direct transfer
from the Appeals Court or by further review after a decision from the
Appeals Court.
It makes sense to talk about those courts having "agreed to hear" a case.
But not for the New
Hampshire Superior Court (or, for that matter, the New Hampshire Supreme
Court, which takes all appeals from the lower courts. New Hampshire has
no intermediate-level appellate court.).
--
A. Joseph Ross, J.D. 617.367.0468
15 Court Square, Suite 210 lawyer@attorneyross.com
Boston, MA 02108-2503 http://www.attorneyross.com