How to Respond to an Appeal

You are the Appellee if you receive a Notice of Appeal involving a small claims or county civil case that you were part of. The notice may come from the other person in the original court case (called the Appellant) or their attorney.

If you are are the Appellee, do not ignore the Notice of Appeal and Designation of Record. If you do, the judge could make a decision without your response.

Court Record

The small claims or county court will have 42 days after the filing of the Notice of Appeal to prepare the record from the original case. This process involves pulling together the paperwork from the case and the transcript. These are the records that will be provided to the district court so that the judge may review the small claims or county court case decision and/or judgment.

The court will send a Notice to you once preparation of the record is complete. You will have 14 days to file any objection(s) about the record that was prepared by the court.

If no objections to the record are given to the court, the record will be certified. The record will be given to the clerk of the district court, and the court will send a Notice to everyone in the case.

How to File an Objection to the Court Record

If you don't like how the court record was prepared--for example, you don't want some paperwork included, or you think paperwork was left out--you may want to file an Objection with the court.

Forms and Paperwork Required

Download and fill out JDF 76 General Motion.

Paperwork Tips

Tips for completing JDF 76 General Motion:

• If you were the Plaintiff in the original case, you are also the Plaintiff when filling out this form. If you were the Defendant/Respondent in the original case, you are also the Defendant/Respondent when filling out this form.
• Follow the prompts on the form to fill in the blanks.
• Title the form as an "Objection" instead of a "MOTION TO", since you are telling the court that you object to the prepared record. This form is often used when there is no specific form for what you are asking.

How to Submit Paperwork to the Court

1. Decide where (which courthouse) to deliver your paperwork. Your Objection should be filed in the county court where the original case was started. Use the courts locator to find the correct court.
2. Give the court the completed form.
3. Pay the filing fee, if required. You may be asked to pay a filing fee when you begin to file paperwork into the appeal case. If you do not think you can afford the filing fee, fill out form JDF 205 Motion to File Without Payment and Supporting Financial Affidavit and JDF 206 Finding and Order Concerning Payment of Fees to request a waiver of the filing fee, or visit our File Without Payment section for complete information.
4. Mail a copy of the Objection to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Complete JDF 1313 Certificate of Service, telling the court how you provided a copy of the completed form to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Give the completed JDF 1313 to the court.
5. The court will contact you about a court hearing. The court hearing will be about your objection to the court record and any response to your objection that the other person in the case may give to the court. The other person should mail a copy of their response to you, if any.

About Briefs

You will receive paperwork from the Appellant called a Brief. The Brief will tell you exactly what the Appellant wants the higher court to look at in their appeal and the legal mistakes he or she believes the judge in the lower court made.

You may give an Answer Brief to the court within 21 days after you receive service of the Appellant's Brief. The Answer Brief is where you tell the judge why you think the Appellant is wrong, including any law that supports what you say.

How to Write an Answer Brief

1. Write an Answer Brief.
   • You may want to visit your local library or a law library to look at examples of Answer Briefs for small claims or county civil appeals.
   • An Answer Brief form is not available. You may want to look at JDF 76 General Motion to make sure that you have a caption, are using the correct font type, and are using the correct font size on the Answer Brief that you create. C.A.R. 57 (Colorado Appellate Rule) includes the format requirements for briefs.
2. Decide where (which courthouse) to deliver your Answer Brief. Your appeal case is in the district court in the county where the original case was started. Use the courts locator to find the correct court.
3. Give the court the completed Answer Brief and pay the filing fee, if required. If you haven't paid the filing fee yet, you will need to pay it when you start giving paperwork to the court in the appeal case. If you do not think you can afford the filing fee, fill out form JDF 205 Motion to File Without Payment and Supporting Financial Affidavit and JDF 206 Finding and Order Concerning Payment of Fees to request a waiver of the filing fee, or visit our File Without Payment section for complete information.
4. Mail a copy of the Answer Brief to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Complete JDF 1313 Certificate of Service, telling the court how you provided a copy of the Answer Brief to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Give the completed JDF 1313 to the court.

What Happens Next?

Once all of the deadlines have passed for giving paperwork to the court, such as Briefs, Answer Briefs, etc., the district court judge will look at the case file and transcript. No new hearing will be held. The district court judge will create a written ruling or order.

You and the Appellant will receive a copy of the ruling or order. Unless there is further review by the Supreme Court, after final ruling or order on the appeal by the district court judge, the judgment on appeal will be sent to the county court for action as directed by the district court judge.