Blog

April was a very busy month, with dozens of decisions and developments worth mentioning. Let’s get started.…

The general, well-known, and riddled-with-exceptions rule is that a decision is not final until the district court has resolved all of the parties’ claims. So what should courts do when the district court overlooks a claim or theory of relief that one of the parties had pleaded? A handful of recent decisions have raised this question.…

In New York State Telecommunications Association v. James, the Second Circuit split over an attempt at manufacturing finality. The district court had granted a preliminary injunction after concluding that federal law preempted a New York state law. The parties then stipulated to entry of a final judgment. A majority of the Second Circuit determined that this preemption decision effectively resolved the action, meaning the state could appeal.…

In Coomer v. Make Your Life Epic LLC, the Tenth Circuit held that denials of anti-SLAPP motions under Colorado law are not immediately appealable via the collateral-order doctrine.

The court drew an interesting line between appeals involving primarily legal issues—which can warrant immediate appeal—and those involving primarily factual issues—which don’t.…

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 second notice of appeal after that motion is granted.…

In Chavez v. McDonough, the Federal Circuit reviewed an order of the Veterans Court that remanded an action for further proceedings. Veterans Court remand orders normally are not immediately appealable. But these orders can be final and thus appealable when they (among other things) involve an argument that the Veterans Court lacked authority to order the remand.…

In McGruder v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County, the Sixth Circuit said that it would address a judicial-estoppel defense raised for the first time after the defendant had filed its notice of appeal.

The Sixth Circuit framed this issue as one implicating the content and timing requirements for a notice of appeal.…

In Chaney-Snell v. Young, the Sixth Circuit held that Heck v. Humphrey issues are outside the scope of qualified-immunity appeals. In doing so, the Sixth Circuit joined the majority of circuits in the (lopsided) split on this matter. The court went on, however, to extend pendent appellate jurisdiction to a judicial-estoppel argument.…

In Shaiban v. Jaddou, the Fourth Circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the denial of an immigrant’s application for permanent residence under 8 U.S.C. § 1159(b). Under 18 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), courts lack jurisdiction to review certain discretionary decisions in the immigration context. And the government has discretion when it comes to adjusting an asylee’s status to that of permanent resident.…

In In re Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, a divided Fifth Circuit held that the delay in resolving a preliminary-injunction motion effectively denied that motion. The court thought that the context of the case—impending changes to regulations—required quick action. So when the district court did not decide the preliminary-injunction request by the plaintiffs’ desired date, the Fifth Circuit treated that delay as an appealable denial of a preliminary injunction under 28 U.S.C.…