different court - the Washington State Appeals Court - from the research I have done that would be District 2 of the appeals court but that is about all I have been able to figure out ... finding information about how to appeal is not seeming to be easily findable (yes, I should have a lawyer but couldn't get one for VALID case, so trying to figure this out) - so CR 59 says "motion for reconsideration" has to be filed within 10 days but the appeals court website information seems to say 30 days - this is confusing, is motion for reconsideration the same thing as appeal? And can I appeal a county court order in the State Appeals court? Is there a difference in how much the appeal filing would cost? (like a $10 motion in district court or like 200 in appeals court)?
District Court appeals are governed by the RALJ (Rules of Appeal of Decisions of Courts of Limited Jurisdiction). Look on the Washington State court website for the rules. These are heard by the Superior Court, not the Court of Appeals. In rare circumstances you can appeal directly to the Supreme Court. Those rules are in the Rules of Appellate procedure. (RAP)
If you are looking at the civil rules for a motion for reconsideration, you need to look at the CRLJ, Civil Rules for Courts of Limited jurisdiction, not the CRs which are the Civil rules for Superior Courts. they are different.
If the decision was rendered by Thurston County District Court, your appeal will be to Thurston County Superior Court. The appeal is governed by the Rules for Appeal of Decisions of Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (RALJ). See link below.
Under very limited circumstances, you can appeal directly to the State Supreme Court. See RAP 4.3 (link below). First, you have to get the District Court to certify that the case presents a fundamental and urgent issue of statewide importance and that the record adequately presents the issue. In most cases, this will be very difficult to get. Even if you can convince your judge to do it, you then have to convince the Supreme Court that the issue is sufficiently important for them to take the case. The State Supreme Court takes less than 10% of the cases presented to them. If, after all this work, the court declines to take your case, it will most likely go back to the Superior Court, where you would have been in the first place.
The only other way to get to the Court of Appeals or above is to request discretionary review after the Superior Court makes a decision on your RALJ appeal.
A motion for reconsideration is not an appeal. It is a way to ask the same judge to reconsider their decision and rule in your favor. Sometimes these are worthwhile, particularly if you want to introduce new evidence that you weren't able to present the first time around, or if you want to raise a new issue or make a new argument. You cannot present new evidence or new issues in an appeal. If that is what you want to do, you need to make a motion for reconsideration under CR 59 or a motion to vacate the judgment under CR 60. If one of those motions is denied, you can appeal from that.
As for timing, where to file, what the costs will be, follow the RALJ.
