The Appeal

The Appeal is a 2008 novel by John Grisham, his twentieth book and his first fictional legal thriller since The Broker was published in 2005. It was published by Doubleday and released in hardcover in the United States on January 29, 2008. A paperback edition was released by Delta Publishing on November 18, 2008.

Plot

Politics has always been a dirty game. Now justice is, too.

Mississippi attorneys Wes and Mary Grace Payton have battled New York City-based Krane Chemical in an effort to seek justice for their client Jeannette Baker, who lost her husband and young son to cancer likely caused by carcinogenic pollutants the company knowingly and negligently allowed to seep into the town of Bowmore's water supply. When the jury awards the plaintiff $3 million in wrongful death damages and $38 million in punitive damages, billionaire stockholder Carl Trudeau vows to do whatever is necessary to overturn their decision and save the company's stocks.

Since Mississippi Supreme Court justices are elected rather than appointed, Trudeau plots with Barry Rinehart of Troy-Hogan, a Boca Raton firm that deals only in judicial elections and does secret deals off shore, to select a candidate who can defeat Sheila McCarthy, known for her tendency to side with the underdog. Their choice is Ron Fisk, a lawyer with no prior political experience or ambitions. He is naive enough to be impressed by all the attention shown him by his backers and not question the source of the considerable funds pouring into his coffers or the underhanded tactics used by his campaign team. Also thrown into the ring by Rinehart is heavy-drinking gambler Clete Coley, a clownish rogue third candidate designed to make McCarthy think her campaign will be easy, draw support away from her, and then cede it to Fisk when he eventually withdraws from the race.

Appeal

In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and interpreting law. Although appellate courts have existed for thousands of years, common law countries did not incorporate an affirmative right to appeal into their jurisprudence until the nineteenth century.

History

Appellate courts and other systems of error correction have existed for millennia. During the first dynasty of Babylon, Hammurabi and his governors served as the highest appellate courts of the land.Ancient Roman law employed a complex hierarchy of appellate courts, where some appeals would be heard by the emperor. Additionally, appellate courts have existed in Japan since at least the Kamakura Shogunate (1185–1333 CE). During this time, the Shogunate established hikitsuke, a high appellate court to aid the state in adjudicating lawsuits. In the Eighteenth century, William Blackstone observed in his Commentaries on the Laws of England that appeals existed as a form of error correction in the common law during the reign of Edward III of England.

Appeal (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, an appeal is the act of a player on the fielding team asking an umpire for a decision regarding whether a batsman is out or not. According to the Laws of Cricket, an umpire may not rule a batsman out unless the fielding side appeals. There have been occasions when a batsman has otherwise technically been out, but the fielding team neglected to appeal so the umpire did not declare them out. An appeal may be made at any point before the bowler starts his run-up for the next ball.

According to the Laws of Cricket, an appeal is a verbal query, usually in the form of, "How's that?" to an umpire. Since the taking of a wicket is an important event in the game, members of the fielding team often shout this phrase with great enthusiasm, and it has transmuted into the slightly abbreviated form, "Howzat?", often with a greatly extended final syllable. Sometimes the second syllable is omitted entirely, the player emitting an elongated cry of simply "How?"

Most players also raise their arms or point at the umpire as part of the appeal. Some players have established their own trademark appeals as well.

Appeal (motion)

In parliamentary procedure, an appeal from the decision of the chair is used to challenge a ruling of the chair.

Explanation and Use

George Demeter notes that it "protects the assembly against the arbitrary control of the meeting by its presiding officer." The most common occasions for the motion to appeal are when the chair misassigns the floor or incorrectly recognizes a member; when the chair rules on a motion as not within the scope of the organization's purposes; when the chair rules on germaneness of an amendment; when he rules on points of order and questions of privilege; when he rules on the interpretation of words, phrases, provisions, etc.; and when the chair misapplies the rules of a motion (especially in reference to the rankings of motions). Members have no right to criticize a ruling of the chair unless they appeal from his decision.

In stating the appeal, the presiding officer always uses the form, "Those in favor of sustaining the decision of the chair..." rather than a biased form such as "Those in favor of sustaining the bylaws..." Appeals are debatable unless they relate to indecorum, the priority of business, or an undebatable question. If the reasons given for the appeal are convincing, the presiding officer may change his ruling accordingly, in which case the appeal is automatically dropped.