Abuse of Discretion

This is an appellate review standard. In its simplest terms, it means the judge had the power to decide something, but the judge made in mistake in reaching that decision. An abuse of discretion occurs in one of two ways–either the judge’s decision violated the legal standard the judge was supposed to apply or the judge made a factual determination that was unsupported by any evidence whatsoever. To the latter point, it is not enough to win an appeal by saying the judge made the wrong decision; to win an appeal on that point, the person appealing must show that no witness offered any testimony and neither side offered any evidence that supports the conclusion the judge reached. It is extremely rare that that will be the case. Therefore, most of the time when an abuse of discretion is applied, the person appealing is trying to show the judge made a legal error.