The appeals process in Hawaii consists of 10 main stages, which are summarized below.
(You can find the full and detailed procedures in the Hawaii Rules of Appellate Procedure
Step 1: File the Notice of Appeal
You start an appeal by filing a written notice of appeal with the trial court. This initial document officially starts the appeal process and tells the appeals court the specific decision or order that you are challenging.
In Hawaii, as in most states like Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, you must file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the decision you are appealing.
If you are filing the appeal, you are known as the appellant. If you are the party defending the appeal, you are known as the appellee.
There are two main trial courts in the State of Hawaii: circuit courts and district courts. Circuit courts handle serious felony cases and civil cases where the amount in dispute is over $40,000. District court cases deal with lower-level criminal cases and less expensive civil cases.
As soon as the notice of appeal is received, the appellate court assigns a case number to the appeal.
FAQ: Filing a Notice of Appeal in Hawaii
Step 2: Serve the Notice of Appeal
After you file the notice of appeal, you must next serve the notice of appeal on the opposing party. For example, if you are appealing a criminal conviction that occurred in Honolulu, you must serve the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
You must file proof of service on the opposing party within seven (7) days of filing the appeal.
In Hawaii, all attorneys must file and serve documents using the Judicial Electronic Filing and Service System (JFES). If you do not have an attorney, you can register through JFES or serve documents by mail or in-person.
Step 3: Prepare the Trial Court Record
The appellant (i.e. the losing party in the trial court) is responsible for preparing the trial court record. The record consists of the following
- The clerk's docket
- All written pleadings and all correspondence between the court and the parties
- All exhibits admitted into evidence during trial (or rejected at trial)
- Any written jury instructions in a civil or criminal case (whether given to the jury or not)
- Written transcripts of any court proceedings
Depending on the type and complexity of the case, the record on appeal ranges from less than 100 pages to thousands of pages.
Transcript: If you want to have any court hearings transcribed, you must notify the appropriate court reporter in writing within 10 days of filing the notice of appeal. You must also file this request with the appellate court.
The appellant is also responsible for paying the costs of the transcription.
Upon receiving the request, the court reporter determines how long he or she needs to complete the transcript (normally within 45 days) and then files an expected notice of completion with the appellate court.
A court reporter who needs more than 60 days to finish the transcription needs to file an extension request with the appellate court.
Once completed, the court reporter files the transcript electronically with the court.
Step 4: Record Goes to Appellate Court
Once you have identified what parts of the record you want as part of your appeal, the clerk's office at the trial court sends the record to the appellate court (for most appeals, this is the Intermediate Court of Appeals).
Typically, the clerk's office has 60 days from the notice of appeal date to transmit the record to the Court of Appeals. Like the transcript, however, this won't happen until you pay the clerk's office for creating and transmitting the record.
Step 5: File the Statement of Jurisdiction
Unique among states, Hawaii requires that the appellant (the party who files the appeal) file a written statement explaining why the appellate court has jurisdiction over your appeal.
The appellee (the party challenging the appeal) may file statement challenging jurisdiction.
You must file this statement no later than 10 days after the appellate court receives the trial court record.
Step 6: The Briefs
Once the appellate court receives the record from the trial court, the parties file their respective briefs. In essence, the “brief” serves as your written argument in favor of the appeal or in favor of the original trial court ruling.
Appellant Brief: The appellant files the opening brief within 40 days of the appellate court receiving the trial court record. The brief summarizes the relevant facts of the case, explains the trial court's rulings, identifies the errors made in the trial court, and explains why the court should overturn your conviction because of these errors.
Answering Brief: The opposing party then files a response brief within 40 days of receiving your opening brief, following the same format.
Reply Brief (optional): After receiving your opponent's brief, you have the option of filing a reply brief within 14 days. You cannot raise new issues in the reply brief, but instead you can respond to the specific arguments raised by the opposing party.
Upon a showing of good cause, the appellate court will extend these deadlines, so long as the court receives the extension request before the original deadline.
Step 7: Oral Argument (optional)
After reviewing the party's briefs, the Court may schedule oral argument. As the name suggests, oral argument is where the lawyers get to defend their positions in front of the judges and answer questions about their briefs.
If the court declines to schedule oral argument, you may file a request for oral argument within 10 days of hearing from the court.
By contrast, even if the court schedules oral argument, the parties can file an agreed motion asking the court to waive argument and simply review the briefs before making a decision.
Step 8: Decision
After hearing arguments and reviewing the record, the court issues a written decision.
Typically, the court will not rule immediately but will take the case “under advisement” and issue a written ruling later, within a few weeks or months.
In general, the court will either affirm or reverse the trial court ruling, although these are not the only possible outcomes. In a criminal case, for example, the appellate court may reject your argument that you did not receive a fair trial but agrees with your argument that the judge sentenced you too harshly, so it remands the case to the trial court for re-sentencing only.
Step 9: Motion to reconsider (optional)
If you aren't happy with the court's decision, you can file a motion to reconsider. In this motion, you are arguing that the appellate judges misinterpreted the law or didn't fully consider your arguments. In Hawaii, you only have 10 days to file a motion to reconsider after the court issues its decision.
The opposing party is not allowed to file a response unless requested by the appellate court. However, the court will not grant a reconsideration without first giving the opposing party an opportunity to file a written response.
Unlike the original appeal, the court typically decides reconsideration motions without oral argument.
Step 10: Writ of Certiorari (optional)
If the Intermediate Court of Appeals rules against you (or you initially win but then lose after reconsideration), you can seek appellate review in the Hawaii Supreme Court.
You must file a writ of certiorari within 30 days of receiving the final ruling from the Intermediate Court of Appeals. Your written application for a writ cannot exceed 12 pages. To win at this stage, you have to establish (in a nutshell) that the Intermediate Court of Appeals made a serious legal error.
The opposing party may (but is not required to) file a response within 15 days of receiving the writ application.
The Hawaii Supreme Court will issue a ruling within 30 days of receiving all briefs. Typically, there is no oral argument.
If the supreme court accepts review, then the court will review the entire record and the previously filed briefs and decide whether to affirm or reverse the Intermediate Court of Appeals.
