Transfer of Cases from the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court: How it Works

• Publication year: 2021
• Pages: 267

Connecticut Bar Journal Volume 83.

83 CBJ 267. TRANSFER OF CASES FROM THE APPELLATE COURT TO THE SUPREME COURT: HOW IT WORKS

Connecticut Bar Journal
Volume 83, No. 4, Pg. 267
DECEMBER 2009

TRANSFER OF CASES FROM THE APPELLATE COURT TO THE SUPREME COURT: HOW IT WORKS

By David M. Borden(fn*)

Appellate lawyers - and the trial bench-have never fully understood just how it happens that their case (in the case of the lawyers) - or the case over which they presided (in the case of the trial judges)-was transferred from the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court before oral argument in the Appellate Court. Some of them have described it to me as a "black box." The purpose of this brief article is to open up the black box and shine some light on the question. As I hope this article will make clear, the process is really not very mysterious.

First, some history. When the Appellate Court was created in 1983, then Chief Justice John Speziale, who was the driving force behind its creation, wisely envisioned that there would be a close working administrative relationship between the new court and the Supreme Court, while still maintaining the adjudicative independence of the Appellate Court as a court of intermediate appeal subject, of course, to final review of its decisions by the Supreme Court. The operating principle, which still animates our appellate system, is that the Appellate Court would serve principally as an error reviewing court-i.e., dealing with those cases that involve claims of trial court error but not involving claims of major legal or social significance-while reserving to the Supreme Court those cases that do involve issues of major legal or social significance.

One way of implementing this principle has been the certification process, pursuant to General Statutes Section 51-197f and Practice Book Section 84-8. Under these provisions, once a case has been decided by the Appellate Court any aggrieved party can petition for review by the Supreme Court, and if three Justices vote to accept the case it is entered on the Supreme Court docket and proceeds in due course as an appeal in that court.

The other principal way of implementing this principle has been the transfer process. Pursuant to General Statutes Section 51-199(c) and Practice Book Section 65-1, the Supreme Court "may transfer to itself any cause in the Appellate Court." Under these provisions, any case pending in the Appellate Court may be...