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Where to begin?…

The courts of appeals continue to wrestle with their jurisdiction after dismissals without prejudice. The most recent example is Britt v. DeJoy, in which the Fourth Circuit sat en banc to address finality when a district court dismisses a complaint or action without prejudice but also does not grant or deny leave to amend.…

Dismissals for failure to prosecute are appealable, and the court of appeals will review the propriety of the dismissal. The more interesting issue is what else the court of appeals will review. The merger rule normally means that all interlocutory decisions merge into the final judgment. But allowing litigants to appeal interlocutory decisions by inviting a failure-to-prosecute dismissal rewards dilatory tactics and risks piecemeal review.…

The Fifth and Federal Circuits cannot agree on where appeals of Walker Process claims belong. These claims allege that someone violated the Sherman Act by fraudulently obtaining a patent. The Federal Circuit—which has exclusive jurisdiction over claims arising under the patent laws—thinks that these cases do not arise under the patent laws.…

The most interesting decision from last week (to me, at least) addressed whether a voluntary dismissal after an adverse interlocutory order affected jurisdiction. There was also a Second Circuit decision on the appealability of interlocutory writs of execution (though the court determined that the order was “final,” so “interlocutory” might not be an accurate description).…

Litigants sometimes try to create a final, appealable decision by voluntarily dismissing some or all of their claims. These dismissals fall under the banner of manufactured finality, and they come in several forms. A litigant who loses on some claims might voluntarily dismiss its remaining claims and then appeal the loss.…

There is too much to talk about from last week. Let’s start with the D.C. Circuit’s decision on the appealability of PREP Act immunity.…

Last week had several decisions of note. The Eleventh Circuit had me wondering if pendent appellate jurisdiction is ever necessary. The Eighth Circuit addressed its jurisdiction after an appellee had voluntarily dismissed some of its claims without prejudice, though that discussion was probably unnecessary. The Eleventh Circuit allowed an appeal from the denial of sovereign immunity under Florida law.…

Pendent appellate jurisdiction allows a court of appeals to extend jurisdiction over a decision that would not normally be immediately appealable when the court has jurisdiction over another, related decision. Used almost entirely in the context of interlocutory appeals, pendent appellate jurisdiction says that the normally non-appealable issue piggybacks on the appealable one.…

It was another packed week of appellate-jurisdiction decisions, particularly in the Sixth Circuit. Let’s start with one of my favorite topics, cumulative finality.…