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In In re Tennial, the Sixth Circuit held that bankruptcy’s 14-day deadline for filing an appeal is not jurisdictional. In doing so, the court split with every other court of appeals to address this issue. The Supreme Court has drawn a fairly clear line between deadlines found in statutes—which are jurisdictional—and those found only in rules of procedure—which aren’t.…

Last week saw two decisions of note. The Ninth Circuit suggested that plaintiffs can reinstate claims that they had voluntarily dismissed in a failed attempt to manufacture an appeal. And the Tenth Circuit held that criminal defendants cannot immediately appeal from orders deeming them competent to stand trial.…

After a couple slow weeks in the world of federal appellate jurisdiction, things have picked up. A new cert petition asks the Supreme Court to address appeals after appellants voluntarily dismiss some of their claims with prejudice. The D.C. Circuit divided over when—if ever—a conditional dismissal becomes final and appealable without a subsequent district court order.…

District courts sometimes dismiss a case with leave to refile within a certain amount of time. The courts of appeals have split on when—if ever—these dismissals become final and appealable. Last week, in North American Butterfly Association v. Wolf, the D.C. Circuit weighed in on the issue. In a split decision, the court held that a plaintiff can appeal after the time to amend expires.…

There’s little to report from last week.…

Last week was relatively uneventful in the world of federal appellate jurisdiction. The Supreme Court granted cert on the scope of remand appeals when an exception to § 1447(d) applies, an issue I’ve been following for a while. Beyond that, there’s not much to report. A divided Tenth Circuit discussed the propriety of hearing a § 1292(b) appeal.…

Last week, the Fifth Circuit issued a new opinion in Edwards v. 4JLJ, L.L.C. and treated the standard 30-day civil-appeal deadline as jurisdictional. The previous opinion in Edwards—which held that the deadline was not jurisdictional—baffled me a few weeks ago.

In other news, the First Circuit dealt with a judgment that was neither final nor a judgment.…

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure define a “judgment” as any decree or order from which an appeal lies. But just because a district court calls something a “judgment” does not mean that the court has entered a final, appealable decision. (And the rule that anything appealable is a “judgment” is not really followed.)…

A few weeks ago, in Edwards v. 4JLJ, L.L.C., the Fifth Circuit held that an appellee could forfeit an objection to the timeliness of a civil appeal. That struck me as odd. Appeal deadlines that come from statutes are jurisdictional. The 30-day deadline for civil appeals comes from a statute: 28 U.S.C.…

Last week saw several qualified-immunity appeals, most of which were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Beyond that, the week was relatively uneventful. The Eleventh Circuit heard an appeal from a voluntarily dismissed claim, as the district court had made an interlocutory decision that required the voluntary dismissal. The Seventh Circuit treated bankruptcy’s 14-day appeal deadline as jurisdictional, following that circuit’s caselaw on the issue.…