Banerjee and Fiorillo

ORS 19.270(1) provides that the Court of Appeals only has jurisdiction to hear a case when appellant meets the time and manner requirements of ORS 19.240, 19.250, and 19.255. Generally, this means the notice of appeal is filed and served on the parties within 30 days of the entry of the judgment appealed.

Mother appealed a marriage dissolution judgment that awarded custody of their son to Father. Mother assigned five errors, all of which focused on Father's custody and parenting time award. On appeal, Mother argued that the trial court erred by not abiding by ORS 107.137(1)(e) granting preference to the mother for custody in addition to four other similar arguments. In response, the Father argued that because his trial attorney no longer represented him before the appeal, the notice of appeal to his attorney was not proper. Since Mother never served notice on Father himself, Father argued that the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. ORS 19.270(1) provides that the Court of Appeals only has jurisdiction to hear a case when Appellant meets the time and manner requirements of ORS 19.240, 19.250, and 19.255. Generally, this means the notice of appeal is filed and served on the parties within 30 days of the entry of the judgment appealed. The Court held that improper service of the notice of appeal “deprives [the Court] of jurisdiction to hear an appeal.” Since Mother's service was completed on an attorney who had previously withdrawn as the attorney of record, the service was not proper. The trial court required Father's attorney to withdraw upon the entry of the dissolution judgment; therefore, there was no question that the attorney could no longer accept service for Father. Appeal dismissed.