Most civil cases in New York have little chance of getting to the Court of Appeals. While some are appealable to that court as of right, the vast majority are not. For those that are not, appeal is available by permission – granted either by the Court of Appeals itself or by the Appellate Division. Such permission, however, is granted in only a small handful of cases: in 2022, for example, the Court of Appeals heard only 44 civil cases on that basis. See 2022 Annual Report of the Court of Appeals, Appendix 2. This means that the four departments of the Appellate Division are effectively the courts of last resort in most cases.