Keeping the Federal Appeal Alive: Post-Judgment Motions, Fees, Costs, and the Notice of Appeal Calendar

Timothy M. Kowal, Founder | Kowal Law Group

Timothy M. Kowal is a State Bar of California certified appellate specialist and the founder of Kowal Law Group. He works alongside trial attorneys through dispositive motions, evidentiary hearings, trial, post-trial motions, writs, and appeals in state and federal courts, and he has substantial experience obtaining stays of judgment enforcement during appeal. His trial and appellate victories total more than $60 million.

• Education & Credentials

Tim earned his J.D., cum laude, from Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Chapman Law Review, and his B.A. in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. He is certified as an appellate specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and is admitted before the Supreme Court of California, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

• Recognition & Leadership

Super Lawyers has rated Tim among Southern California appellate attorneys. The $40 million jury verdict he won for real estate developers in C&C Properties v. Shell Pipeline Co. (E.D. Cal. 2019) ranked as the top trespass verdict in California that year, and his law review article on eminent domain won first prize in the Pacific Legal Foundation’s Seventh Annual Judicial Awareness Writing Competition (2006). He has served on the Orange County Human Relations Commission since 2012.

• Professional Involvement

Tim co-hosts The California Appellate Law Podcast, which offers legal updates and practice tips to trial and appellate attorneys, and has been a member of the Orange County Bar Association’s Appellate Law Section since 2018. He taught civil procedure as an adjunct professor at Chapman’s Fowler School of Law from 2015 to 2017. He writes regularly for CEB DailyNews on appellate procedure, including untimely appeals and fee awards after reversal, and has presented CLE programs on trial strategy and preserving issues for appeal, including for myLawCLE.

• Experience

His appellate results include reversing the dismissal of a client’s claim to an option on a Disneyland-adjacent IHOP valued at about $30 million in Stevens v. Elhaj (Cal. Ct. App. 2023), and reversing a $1.9 million jury judgment and a $5.1 million promissory-note judgment for real estate developer clients. In his litigation practice, he handles lender, real estate development, easement, fraud, fiduciary duty, trade secret, and other business and financial disputes.

Kevin S. Elliker, Counsel | Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

Kevin S. Elliker tries cases and handles appeals in federal and state courts, from fast-moving jury trials to argument before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Eleventh Circuits. A former Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, he practices from Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Richmond office, where his work includes post-trial motions and appeals in complex commercial and constitutional cases.

• Education & Credentials

Kevin graduated first in his class, summa cum laude, from William & Mary Law School in 2014, where he was Lead Articles Editor of the William & Mary Law Review, and a member of the Order of the Coif. He earned an M.A.T. in Secondary Education (2009) and a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Social Science (2008) from James Madison University. He clerked for Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and Judge Robert B. King of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He is admitted in Virginia and the District of Columbia and before the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal courts of appeals.

• Recognition & Leadership

Kevin sits on the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and is a member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference. Virginia Business named him to its Legal Elite for Appellate Law (2024–2025), the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division named him one of its 2024 On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers, Virginia Lawyers Weekly named him a 2024 Up & Coming Lawyer, and Style Weekly named him to its 2024 Top 40 Under 40.

• Professional Involvement

Kevin discusses Fourth Circuit law and practice on Holding Fourth, Hunton’s appellate podcast. His firm insights include 2026 analyses of Supreme Court decisions on untimely Rule 60(b)(4) challenges and uncured jurisdictional defects. He is a member of the Federal Bar Association, the Richmond Bar Association, and the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. American Inn of Court, and mentors students through The Appellate Project.

• Experience

Kevin represented a major retailer in post-trial motions and on appeal in a multimillion-dollar personal injury dispute. After winning a defense jury verdict in a $50 million acquisition dispute, he briefed, argued, and secured its affirmance in American Southern Homes Holdings, LLC v. Erickson (11th Cir. 2025). He also briefed, argued, and won reversal in Stewart v. Iancu, 912 F.3d 693 (4th Cir. 2019).

SESSION 1 – The 28 Days After a Federal Civil Judgment: Which Motions Preserve and Toll | Kevin S. Elliker | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session walks through the 28 days after a federal civil judgment, when the most consequential post-judgment decisions must be made. It covers how to identify the docket entry that starts with the clock and when an amended judgment restarts it. It explains why Rule 6(b)(2) makes the 28-day deadlines for Rules 50(b), 52(b), 59(b), and 59(e) impossible to extend, and how to decide whether a Rule 59(e) motion is worth filing or the notice of appeal is the better move. Attendees will learn which filings toll the appeal clock under FRAP 4(a)(4)(A) and which do not, how the Supreme Court’s 2026 Coney Island decision limits Rule 60(b), and which post-trial motions preserve sufficiency review for appeal. The session closes with how local rules add traps on top of the national deadlines. Attendees leave with a deadline calendar, a two-column toll/no-toll list, and a notice of appeal checklist.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Counting to the Federal Notice of Appeal and Bonding the Money Judgment | Timothy M. Kowal | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session follows the 30-day path from judgment to a timely federal notice of appeal, and the steps that protect a money judgment along the way. It covers which docket entry starts the appeal clock, including the separate-document rule, the 150-day backstop, and the Ninth Circuit’s McNeil decision. It also covers what the notice must contain, the 30-, 60-, and 14-day clocks, and when to file an amended notice. Attendees will learn the limits of rescue through a FRAP 4(a)(5) extension or 4(a)(6) reopening, and why fee motions and bills of costs run on parallel clocks that do not stop the appeal. They will also learn how to stay enforcement of a money judgment under Rule 62 with a bond, and what a surety requires before day 30. The session ends by building a working deadline calendar from a redacted timeline.