A civil lawsuit that ends in a judgment of the court can be appealed to a higher court. If it is a Small Claims Court judgment, the appeal is to one judge of the Superior Court. If it is a Superior Court judgment, the appeal is to three judges of the Court of Appeal. A party has a right to appeal to these courts in civil cases but no right to appeal further to the Supreme Court of Canada. The party must obtain permission to appeal to the Supreme Court and very few civil cases are given that privilege. The Court of Appeal is really the court of last resort for almost all civil cases.
Some unsuccessful litigants think that, if they appeal the judgment, the appellate (appeal) court will reassess the trial judge’s decision on the evidence. An appeal does not give a party a reassessment of the evidence and an appellate court will not interfere with the trial judge’s decision on the evidence. The reason for this is that the trial judge is in a better position to assess a witness’s credibility because the witness is right there before the judge. All the appellate court sees is a typed transcription of the evidence.
To succeed on an appeal, a party must convince the appellate court that the trial judge erred in the application of the law to the facts of the case as decided by that judge. For example, a party might argue that the trial judge misunderstood the legal principle involved or applied the principle even though there were not sufficient facts proven at trial to warrant its application.
If the plaintiff and defendant settle their case out of court, there is no way of appealing the settlement.