As a general rule, if an issue is to be raised on appeal as a ground for modification or reversal of the order or judgment below, it must first have been raised in the trial court and preserved for appellate review.
With few exceptions, appellate courts will not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal. And this is as true of the Appellate Division[1]� , which has broad jurisdiction to review both questions of law and questions of fact[2]� and to reverse and grant a new trial “in the interests of justice,”[3]� as it is of the Court of Appeals, which has much narrower jurisdiction.[4]� It would be extremely foolhardy for a litigant to withhold a claim of error at the trial court level, hoping to keep it as an ace-in-the-hole for use in the Appellate Division in the event of an adverse decision or verdict. There is no guarantee that the Appellate Division will look favorably on the appellant’s plea and be disposed to exercise its discretionary power to consider a point not raised below.
