Appellate Practice
Improper Faxed Notice Dooms Appeal of Pro Se Mom
Posted Feb 22, 2008, 07:27 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A mother who says she was unable to contest the termination of her parental rights because she was involuntarily hospitalized has had her appeal tossed because she faxed rather than mailed her notice of appeal.
The mother faxed the document 13 days after the final entry of judgment, one day before it was due. She did not have a lawyer at the time.
An Alabama appeals court ruled last Friday (PDF posted by Alabama Appellate Watch) that the case must be dismissed because of its rule barring faxed notice of appeals or other court documents. The court said the mother should have “heeded the advice she was apparently given by an employee of the juvenile-court clerk” and mailed notice of her appeal, which "might well have been timely received” by the court’s deadline the next day.
A hat tip to How Appealing and Alabama Appellate Watch, which noted the opinion.
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Posted by msg - 9 months, 1 week, 4 days, 21 hours, 5 minutes ago
This is total miscarriage of justice. I hope some Alabama state senator or congressman files legislation to change this that in times of emergency that a faxed notice of requests for appeal or emergency hearings are acceptable as long as the nature of the emergency is contained in the fax and can later at the hearing be demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence. That will prevent any abuse of faxing.