Court of Appeals

About

The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate appellate court. Currently 15 judges hear cases in panels of three. The Court of Appeals reviews the proceedings that occurred in the trial courts for errors of law or legal procedure; it decides only questions of law – not questions of fact. The role of the Court of Appeals is to decide if the trial court correctly applied the law, or if there was prejudicial error in the conduct of the trial.

The majority of cases appealed from the Superior and District courts in civil and criminal cases are heard by the Court of Appeals. One major exception is capital murder appeals in which the death penalty was imposed; these appeals go directly to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. In addition, direct appeals from certain of the state’s administrative agencies are heard by the Court of Appeals.

If a member of the three-judge panel dissents from the decision of the majority, there is a right of appeal from the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court of North Carolina; otherwise, further review of a decision of the Court of Appeals is limited to those cases that the Supreme Court accepts in its discretion. Judges of the Court of Appeals are elected and serve eight-year terms. A Chief Judge for the North Carolina Court of Appeals is designated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Cases are heard by a panel of three judges with the Chief Judge being responsible for assigning members of the court to the five panels.

More information about the Court of Appeals

More Information

Biographies of the Judges

North Carolina Court of Appeals Judges Biographies.

Opinions

Slip opinions filed and written by the judges of the Court of Appeals.

Calendar of Oral Arguments

View current and past calendars of Oral Arguments.

Dockets

Search Court of Appeals Dockets by case title, name, number, or party.

Orders

Search Court of Appeals Orders by docket number or case title.

eFiling and Document Library

Electronically file a case and search and view case information in the Document Library.

Advance Sheets

Preliminary publication of the official North Carolina Court of Appeals Reports assigning citations to opinions and including headnotes (case summaries).