I filed a demurrer to evidence after the plaintiff rested their case, and the court denied it — can I immediately go up on certiorari or appeal that denial before the trial even continues?

The demurrer follows Rule 15

Section 2 subjects action on a demurrer to evidence to Rule 15's provisions, meaning the ordinary motion procedure — notice, hearing, and so on — governs how it is heard and resolved. The demurrer itself is treated procedurally like any other motion: it must be filed and served properly, the opposing party gets the chance to be heard, and the court rules on it in the same manner it would rule on other motions raised in the course of the case, rather than following some separate, specialized track built just for demurrers.

Denial cannot be immediately challenged

The order denying the demurrer is explicitly placed off-limits for interlocutory appeal, and off-limits for certiorari, prohibition, or mandamus, before judgment is rendered. This blocks every avenue a party might otherwise try immediately after losing the demurrer — there is no separate appeal to take, and no special civil action can be used as a workaround to get an appellate court to intervene at that stage, however strongly a party believes the trial court got it wrong. The bar applies specifically to the period before judgment; it says nothing about what happens once judgment is finally rendered.

Why this rule exists

It prevents a losing demurrer from becoming a vehicle for repeatedly interrupting the trial with separate appellate proceedings, forcing the case to proceed to judgment before the denial can be reviewed, typically as part of an appeal from that judgment. Without this rule, a defendant could file a demurrer largely to delay the case, then tie up the proceedings further by seeking appellate review of the denial before the trial court ever gets to render a decision on the merits. Keeping review tied to the eventual judgment consolidates all the issues, including the demurrer denial, into a single appeal, rather than allowing piecemeal appellate litigation over interlocutory rulings.

What you must do instead

A party whose demurrer is denied must proceed to present evidence in the ordinary course, preserving the demurrer issue for a later appeal rather than seeking any immediate appellate relief. Practically, that means calling witnesses, offering exhibits, and building the defense as though the demurrer had never been filed, while keeping the denial on record so that, if the case is ultimately lost and appealed, the argument that the plaintiff's evidence was insufficient at the time the demurrer was filed can still be raised as one of the grounds for reversing the judgment.

Related provisions

• Rule 33, Section 2 — Action on demurrer to evidence
• Rule 34, Section 2 — Action on motion for judgment on the pleadings