Rule 1311 Procedure on Appeal

When a case is appealed after arbitration, the court starts completely fresh. This means the judge and jury hear all the evidence again from scratch, as if the arbitration never happened. Neither side can simply hand over what was decided in arbitration and call it a day.

There is one important limit on how the new trial works. No one is allowed to call an arbitrator to the stand to talk about what happened during the arbitration hearing. The new trial stands on its own, based only on the evidence presented in court.