Indiana appeal success rate: What the numbers really say

You lost at trial. Maybe a jury came back the wrong way, or a judge ruled against you on a motion that decided everything, or you were convicted of something you do not believe you did. Now somebody has told you that you can appeal, and the first thing you want to know is the same thing everyone wants to know: what is the actual Indiana appeal success rate? Are you wasting your time, or do you have a real shot? This piece walks through the most recent statewide numbers from the Indiana Court of Appeals, breaks down reversal rates by case type, and explains why the headline percentages tell only part of the story. You deserve a clear picture before you spend money on an appeal.

What the Indiana Court of Appeals reversal rate actually looks like

Most appeals from trial courts in Indianapolis, Hamilton County, and the rest of central Indiana go to the Indiana Court of Appeals. That court keeps detailed statistics every year and publishes them in an annual report. The most recent one, covering calendar year 2025, gives a useful baseline.

In 2025, the Court of Appeals disposed of 2,059 cases. Of those, the court affirmed 84.1% of trial court decisions, reversed 15.1%, and remanded another 0.9% without a clear win or loss for either side. You can read the full numbers in the Court of Appeals 2025 Annual Report.

If you stop reading there, the picture looks pretty grim. Roughly five out of six appeals end with the trial court being affirmed. But that overall figure is a blended average across every kind of case the court hears, from felony convictions to commercial disputes to grandparent visitation fights. Lumping them together hides what most people actually want to know, which is how their type of case tends to fare.

Here is one more thing the overall number does not tell you. The cases that get filed are not a random sample of all trial court losses. People who lose at trial usually consult with appellate counsel before filing, and a fair number of potential appeals get talked out of being pursued because the issues are weak or the record is bad. The pool of cases you see in the annual report is already filtered. Even with that filtering, only about fifteen percent succeed. That should tell you something about how careful Indiana appellate judges are about disturbing trial court rulings, and how important it is to bring strong issues rather than weak ones.

Indiana criminal appeal odds versus civil appeal success rate

The case-type breakdown is where things get interesting. The 2025 numbers from the Court of Appeals look like this:

In criminal cases, 87.8% were affirmed, 11.2% were reversed, and 1.1% were remanded. In civil cases, 70.9% were affirmed, 28.2% were reversed, and 0.9% were remanded. In post-conviction relief cases, 92.1% were affirmed and 7.9% were reversed.

So if you are reading this after a criminal conviction in Marion County or Hamilton County, the raw odds say roughly one in nine criminal appeals leads to reversal. If you are reading this after losing a civil case in Boone, Hendricks, or Hancock County, the odds look closer to one in three or four. Civil appeals get reversed at more than double the rate of criminal appeals.

Why the gap? A few reasons. Criminal cases come with constitutional protections that pile up before trial, and many of the strongest issues get litigated and decided well before a jury verdict. Trial courts in criminal cases also tend to follow well-worn procedures, and many criminal convictions rest on guilty pleas, where the avenues for appeal are narrow. Civil cases, by contrast, often turn on disputed legal questions about contract interpretation, statutory construction, evidentiary rulings, or summary judgment standards, and those are exactly the kinds of issues appellate courts review with fresh eyes.

Post-conviction relief is a different animal. Those cases involve people who have already exhausted their direct appeal and are trying to reopen their conviction based on things like ineffective assistance of counsel or newly discovered evidence. The standards are demanding, the petitioner carries a heavy burden, and the affirmance rate (over ninety percent) reflects how hard it is to win one of these appeals.

These numbers describe what happened across thousands of cases. They do not predict what will happen in your case, because outcomes turn on the specific issues, the record, the standard of review that applies, and how well the appeal is presented. The averages are a starting point, not a fortune teller.

What "reversed and remanded" actually means for your case

People often hear that a case was reversed and assume that means the other side lost everything and they walked away with a check or a dismissal. That is not usually how it works.

When the Court of Appeals reverses, it sets aside some part of what the trial court did. Sometimes that means the case is over and the appellant wins outright. More often, the case goes back to the trial court for further proceedings. That might mean a new trial, a new sentencing hearing, a new evidentiary ruling, or reconsideration of a particular issue under the correct legal standard. A win on appeal is sometimes a true final victory, but it is just as often a chance to try again with the legal landscape redrawn in your favor.

This matters because it changes how you should think about the value of an appeal. A reversal that sends a child custody case back for a new hearing is meaningful but not guaranteed to produce a different outcome the second time. A reversal of a criminal conviction might lead to a new trial, where the State still has the option to retry the case. A reversal in a civil money dispute might mean the trial court has to recalculate damages or apply a different statute. The headline number "reversed" covers a wide range of practical results.

There is also a category called "remand" that the court reports separately from reversal. In 2025 about 0.9% of cases were remanded without being reversed, often to clarify findings or address an issue the trial court did not reach. Those are not wins or losses in the traditional sense.

Why your Indiana appeal success rate depends on more than statistics

If reversal rates were the whole story, you could just look up the number for your case type and decide. They are not. Here are the things that move the needle in real cases.

First, the standard of review. Appellate courts apply different levels of scrutiny depending on what kind of issue is being appealed. Pure questions of law get reviewed "de novo," meaning the appellate judges look at the issue fresh, without deferring to the trial judge. Factual findings get reviewed for "clear error" or "sufficient evidence," which is a much harder standard for the appellant. Discretionary decisions, like whether to admit certain evidence or how to weigh credibility, get reviewed for "abuse of discretion," which is the hardest standard of all. The civil reversal rate is higher partly because civil appeals more often involve pure legal questions reviewed de novo. Criminal appeals more often challenge discretionary or factual rulings, which face the steeper climb.

Second, preservation. Indiana appellate courts will not consider an issue unless it was properly raised and preserved at the trial court. If your trial lawyer did not object to something at the right time, or did not make the right legal argument, the issue is usually waived. A waived issue is a dead issue on appeal, no matter how strong it would have been. This is one reason a careful record review by appellate counsel early in the process matters so much.

Third, harmless error. Even if you can show the trial court made a mistake, the appellate court will affirm if the mistake did not affect the outcome. This doctrine swallows a lot of arguably good appeals. A trial judge can make a bad evidentiary ruling, but if the other evidence overwhelmingly supports the verdict, the error is harmless and the conviction or judgment stands.

Fourth, the brief itself. Appellate courts decide most cases on the written briefs, with no oral argument. In 2025 the Court of Appeals heard only 53 oral arguments out of more than two thousand cases decided. The brief carries the weight. A clear, accurate, well-organized brief that focuses on the strongest two or three issues, applies the correct standard of review, and tells a coherent story tends to do better than a brief that throws everything at the wall.

Fugate Gangstad Lowe represents clients in Indiana appeals, including criminal appeals, civil appeals, family law appeals, commercial appeals, probate appeals, petitions to transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court, and other post-judgment matters. Anne Medlin Lowe handles the firm's appellate work and gives each case direct attorney attention from the first record review through final briefing and filing. A former judicial law clerk to Judge Paul D. Mathias of the Indiana Court of Appeals, Anne has worked on more than 150 appeals and brings a practical understanding of how appellate judges evaluate records, waiver, harmless error, standards of review, procedural issues, and written advocacy. A strong appeal starts long before the brief is written. Anne helps clients and trial counsel evaluate the record, identify appealable issues, avoid weak arguments that distract from stronger ones, and present the case in a way that is clear, accurate, and useful to the Court. To learn more about Anne, click here. If you are considering an appeal, contact us for a free initial consultation to help you understand your options.

Going to the Indiana Supreme Court, a much narrower door

If you lose at the Court of Appeals, you can ask the Indiana Supreme Court to review your case by filing a petition to transfer. The reality is that the Supreme Court takes very few cases.

According to the Indiana Supreme Court 2024-2025 Annual Report, the Court received 704 cases during that fiscal year and granted transfer in only 41. The Court itself notes that less than one percent of all cases filed in Indiana courts ever reach the Supreme Court.

This means that for most appellants, the Court of Appeals decision is effectively the final word. A petition to transfer can still be worth filing if the case involves an issue of broad public importance, conflicting decisions among the Court of Appeals districts, or a significant question of state or federal constitutional law. Those are the kinds of cases the Supreme Court tends to take. A petition that simply argues the Court of Appeals got the facts wrong is much less likely to be granted.

For people in Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Indianapolis, and the surrounding communities, the practical takeaway is this. Treat the Court of Appeals brief as your main and probably only chance to change the outcome. Make it as strong as you possibly can.

How long does the appellate process take in Indiana?

The Court of Appeals has earned a reputation as one of the fastest intermediate appellate courts in the country. The 2025 annual report shows the average age of pending cases as 1.7 months, which is a measure of how quickly the court works through its docket once cases are fully briefed.

The full timeline for an appeal, from filing the notice of appeal through the final decision, is longer than that. The bulk of the time is spent on preparing the trial transcript, briefing, and waiting for the case to be assigned to a panel of judges. Petitions to transfer add several months to a year if you go to the Supreme Court. An appellate lawyer can give you a realistic timeline estimate once she has looked at your specific case and the trial court record.

Knowing that the timeline matters because some appeals carry deadlines you cannot miss. The notice of appeal in most Indiana cases must be filed within thirty days of the final judgment under Indiana Appellate Rule 9. Miss that deadline and your appeal is gone, no matter how strong your issues are. If you are even thinking about an appeal, talk to an appellate lawyer well before the thirty days run.

Frequently asked questions about Indiana appeal success rates

What percentage of appeals are won in Indiana?

Roughly fifteen percent of appeals decided by the Indiana Court of Appeals in 2025 resulted in reversal, with another small percentage remanded. The exact rate depends heavily on case type, with civil appeals reversed at about 28% and criminal appeals reversed at about 11%.

How often does the Indiana Court of Appeals reverse?

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed 15.1% of cases it decided in calendar year 2025 and remanded another 0.9%. The remaining 84.1% were affirmed. These numbers come directly from the court's annual report.

Are criminal appeals harder to win than civil appeals in Indiana?

Yes, generally. In 2025 the Court of Appeals reversed 11.2% of criminal cases and 28.2% of civil cases. Criminal convictions face a steeper climb in part because many issues get reviewed under deferential standards like abuse of discretion or sufficiency of the evidence.

How long does an Indiana appeal take?

The Court of Appeals reports an average of 1.7 months for cases pending decision after they are fully briefed. The full timeline from notice of appeal through opinion is longer because of transcript preparation and briefing, and varies case by case.

What does it mean when an appeal is reversed and remanded?

A reversal sets aside the trial court's ruling on the issue you appealed. A remand sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with the appellate decision. That can mean a new trial, a new hearing, or simply a new ruling under the correct legal standard. It does not always mean the appellant ultimately wins.

 

Can I appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court if I lose at the Court of Appeals?

You can file a petition to transfer asking the Indiana Supreme Court to review your case, but the Court grants only a small fraction of these petitions. In fiscal year 2024-2025, the Court granted transfer in only 41 cases.

What makes an appeal more likely to succeed?

The strongest appeals usually involve preserved legal errors reviewed under a less deferential standard, a clean record, and a focused brief that emphasizes two or three strong issues rather than spreading thin across many weak ones. Cases that turn on factual disputes or trial-level discretionary calls tend to fare worse.

Is it worth filing an appeal in Indiana?

That depends on the strength of the issues, the standard of review, what is at stake, and the cost of the appeal compared to the likely benefit if you win. An honest assessment from an appellate lawyer who reviews your record is the only way to know whether your case has a real path to reversal.

Deciding whether to pursue your Indiana appeal

The Indiana appeal success rate is not a number anyone can apply directly to your case. The 15.1% overall reversal rate from 2025 is a useful baseline, and the case-type breakdowns give you a better sense of the landscape, but the outcome of your appeal will depend on the specific issues you raise, the record below, the standard of review, and how the appeal is briefed and presented. The single most useful thing you can do, if you are considering an appeal anywhere in Hamilton, Marion, Boone, Hendricks, Johnson, or Hancock County, is have an appellate lawyer review the record and give you a candid evaluation before the thirty day notice of appeal deadline runs.

Fugate Gangstad Lowe offers a free initial consultation to talk through your case and your options. Anne Medlin Lowe will look at what happened in the trial court, identify any potentially strong issues, flag any procedural problems, and tell you straight whether she thinks an appeal makes sense. Call 317-829-6797 or reach out through the contact page to set up a time. The earlier you call, the more options you have.

The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. For legal advice tailored to your situation, please contact our firm directly.