A friend asked me recently why appeals "take so long," and I explained that usually the process is not as lengthy as one might seem. In California, if a "notice of entry of judgment" is given, the other party has only 60 days in which to file a timely notice of appeal. Once that is done the appeal may be resolved in roughly a year and a half or so, although certain factors may influence this time-line. For example, a court reporter may be tardy in delivering a transcript, or there may so many parties and cross-appeals the court may set a briefing schedule to accommodate the many briefs filed the parties. And another party may play games by requesting additional time to file their brief.
When people say that appeals are lengthy they often refer to a different phenomenon, namely, serial or multi-stage appeals. A state court appeal may raise a federal issue and therefore there may be a secondary appeal to a Federal court. More likely, a party who successfully wins an appeal on the grounds there was reversible error at trial may face another appeal by the other party when the original appellant wins after a re-trial.
But in most instances the appellate stage is not all that more time-consuming than the trial court stage, and often these first two stages of litigation are dwarfed by the glacial pace of attempts to collect upon a judgment. A party may evade service of a subpoena for a judgment-debtor examination, and even when served may still not appear, and courts may require several attempts before they issue a warrant for the arrest of the debtor who refuses to attend and testify. Worse, even after that order the warrant may not have any effect until, for example, the debtor is stopped for a routine traffic infraction and faces jail time.
Which brings us to the saga of Goldman v. Simpson. After a jury of 12 acquitted Mr. Simpson of a double murder despite overwhelming evidence (for the makeup of the jury, see https://famous-trials.com/simpson/1852-civiljury), Simpson was sued for wrongful death by Fred Goldman, the father of Ron Goldman. Mr. Goldman and his wife alleged their son was violently killed by Mr. Simpson, who also killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson. In 1997, a jury awarded Mr. and Mrs. Goldman $33,000,000, but the collection process has taken decades as Mr. Simpson golfed year after year and said he did not have funds to pay the settlement.
On November 14, 2025, the estate of Mr. Simpson finally accepted the claim of the Goldmans, as reported by the Los Angeles Times (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-18/after-three-decades-o-j-simpsons-estate-agrees-to-pay-nearly-58-million-to-goldman-family).
To the degree the assets of the estate exceed its debts, justice may finally be done nearly 30 years too late.
