The standard of review is perhaps the most important component of appellate law. Under the highly deferential “abuse of discretion” standard, a reviewing court will reverse the trial court’s judgment only if no reasonable person would have taken the view adopted by the trial court. For instance, if two cases with identical facts result in opposite trial court judgments, the appellate court might nonetheless affirm in both cases under the abuse-of-discretion standard. In sum, the appellate court …