A Rule 4 Conflict: The Prison-Mailbox Rule v. the Mistaken-Filing Rule


October 22, 2024
By Bryan Lammon

In Christmas v. Hooper, the Fifth Circuit held that the prison-mailbox rule applies to notices of appeal mistakenly sent to a court of appeals.

In doing so, the court had to resolve a tension between two portions of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4. Rule 4(c)(1) says that an imprisoned appellant’s notice of appeal is deemed filed on the day it is deposited in the prison mail system. Rule 4(d) says that when litigants mistakenly send their notice to the court of appeals, the notice is deemed filed when the court of appeals receives it.

So what happens when an imprisoned appellant deposits a notice of appeal in the prison mail system but addresses that notice to a court of appeals? The Fifth Circuit held that Rule 4(c)(1)’s prison-mailbox rule applies, such that the notice is filed when deposited.

The Notice in Christmas

Simplifying only a little bit, Christmas stemmed from a district court’s denial of habeas relief. On the day the petitioner’s notice of appeal was due, he placed in the prison mail system a notice of appeal. But he addressed that notice to the the Fifth Circuit, not the district court. The letter was postmarked the next day and, shortly thereafter, received by the court of appeals.

Two Relevant Rule 4 Provisions

The notice of appeal in Christmas implicated two potentially inconsistent portions of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4.

Under Rule 4(c)(1)—which codifies the prison-mailbox rule—a notice of appeal is timely filed if it is deposited in a prison’s mail system before the time to appeal expires. So under Rule 4(c)(1), the notice in Christmas would be deemed filed on the day it was deposited in the mail system and thus timely.

But Rule 4(d)—the mistaken-filing rule—provides that a notice of appeal mistakenly sent to the court of appeals (rather than the district court) is deemed filed on the day the court of appeals receives it. Under that provision, the notice would be deemed filed when received by the Fifth Circuit and thus untimely.

Resolving the Tension

The Fifth Circuit ultimately held that the prison-mailbox rule applied. The mistaken-filing rule of Rule 4(d) is the more general rule—it applies to all litigants. Rule 4(c)(1) is the more narrow rule, providing an exception to general rules for pro se, imprisoned parties. And it’s a necessary exception, as imprisoned parties lose any control over the time of filing once they deposit documents in a prison mail system. Maintaining parity for all appellants thus required applying the prison-mailbox rule.

The court added that the structure of Rule 4 further supported this reading. Although the more general rule (Rule 4(d)) comes after the more specific rule (Rule 4(c)(1)), that is a consequence of Rule 4’s rewriting in 1998. Before then, the mistaken-filing rule had been part of Rule 4(a).

Christmas v. Hooper, 2024 WL 4454929 (5th Cir. Oct. 10, 2024), available at the Fifth Circuit and Westlaw

Final Decisions PLLC is an appellate boutique and consultancy that focuses on federal appellate jurisdiction. We partner with lawyers facing appellate-jurisdiction issues, working as consultants or co-counsel to achieve positive outcomes on appeal. Contact us to learn how we can work together.

Learn More Contact

Related Posts


Disclosure: I filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit in support of rehearing its decision in this case and discussed the cert petition with the petitioner’s counsel. Last week, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Parrish v. United States. The case asks if a would-be appellant must file a second notice of appeal after […]

Continue reading....

In Blackwell v. Nocerini, the Sixth Circuit held that a motion to reconsider reset the time to take a qualified-immunity appeal. The denial of immunity was immediately appealable and thus a “judgment” under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. So a motion to reconsider that denial was effectively a motion under Federal Rule of Civil […]

Continue reading....

In Gelin v. Baltimore County, the Fourth Circuit held that Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(4)(A) applies to appealable interlocutory orders. So a motion to reconsider such an order resets the time to appeal. The court added that a motion can effectively be one seeking reconsideration even though the motion does not cite to Federal […]

Continue reading....

In Malek v. Feigenbaum, the Second Circuit reiterated its rule that a post-judgment motion must be timely filed—not merely served—to reset the time to appeal under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(4). The court went on to hold that although Rule 4 is a claims-processing rule, it is a mandatory one that is not subject […]

Continue reading....

Disclosure: I filed an amicus brief in support of rehearing in this appeal. In last summer’s Parrish v. United States, a divided Fourth Circuit panel held that when a notice of appeal is treated as a motion to reopen the appeal period under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(6), the would-be appellant must file a […]

Continue reading....

Recent Posts


In Diaz v. FCA US LLC, the Third Circuit split over whether a district court had resolved distinct claims for purposes of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b). The majority concluded that the district court had resolved only a distinct theory of recovery, not a distinct claim. Dissenting, Judge Phipps argued that claims are defined […]

Continue reading....

In Grippa v. Rubin, the Eleventh Circuit addressed the immediate appealability of Florida’s absolute and qualified litigation privileges. The court determined that the absolute privilege was immediately appealable via the collateral-order doctrine. But the qualified litigation privilege was not.

Continue reading....

Last month featured a Sixth Circuit debate over jurisdiction to review Brady issues in appeals from the denial of qualified immunity. There was also an especially odd Second Circuit decision in which the court exercised pendent appellate jurisdiction over a normally non-appealable issue even though the court lacked jurisdiction over any other issue. And there […]

Continue reading....

In two appeals—Clark v. Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government and Salter v. City of Detroit, the Sixth Circuit spoke at length about its jurisdiction to review certain Brady issues as part of qualified-immunity appeals. The cases produced a total of six opinions, several of which dove into this jurisdictional issue.

Continue reading....

In Rossy v. City of Buffalo, the Second Circuit appeared to both dismiss a qualified-immunity appeal for a lack of jurisdiction and exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction over a plaintiff’s cross-appeal. This is odd. Pendent appellate jurisdiction allows normally non-appealable issues to tag along with appealable ones. But if the denial of qualified immunity was not […]

Continue reading....