J. A. H. v. Heikkila

In this case, the trial court granted wife’s petition for a restraining order against husband and entered that order in the trial court register on May 9, 2013. On June 10 2013, husband’s attorney filed a notice of appeal and served a copy of that notice by mailing it to wife. Husband’s attorney did not serve a copy of the notice on wife’s attorney, even though ORCP 9 B required him to do so. Eight days later, the Court of Appeals sent a "deficiency notice" to husband stating that the case caption in the notice of appeal was incorrect. The Court of Appeals sent a copy of the deficiency notice to wife, who emailed a picture of it to her attorney. Shortly after wife’s attorney learned that husband had filed a notice of appeal, wife moved to dismiss husband’s appeal because the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction. The Appellate Commissioner agreed and dismissed husband’s appeal. The Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals denied husband’s motion for reconsideration, and the Supreme Court allowed husband’s petition for review to consider whether his failure to comply with ORCP 9 B was a jurisdictional defect. On review, husband noted that the plain text of the jurisdictional statutes required that an appellant serve a copy of the notice of appeal on the other "parties" to the case. In husband’s view, those statutes define what a party must do to confer jurisdiction on the Court of Appeals, and he complied with them. He timely served the only other "party" to the action (his wife) with a copy of the notice of appeal. In its analysis of the controlling case law pertinent to this case, the Supreme Court ultimately agreed with the Court of Appeals and affirmed its dismissal of husband's appeal. View "J. A. H. v. Heikkila" on Justia Law