Posts in category “Appellate Decisions”

In In re Esteva, the Eleventh Circuit dismissed an appeal after concluding that a Rule 41(a)(1)(A) voluntary dismissal was ineffective. The stipulated dismissal purported to dismiss all unresolved claims. But according to the Eleventh Circuit, that’s not allowed—Rule 41(a)(1)(A) permits the voluntary dismissal of only entire actions, not individual claims.…

In Graber v. Doe II, a panel of the Third Circuit split on whether federal officials could immediately appeal the Bivens question without a qualified-immunity appeal. It’s the second decision in recent memory to reject a pure Bivens appeal. And this time, at least one judge was willing to hold that the Bivens issue was immediately appealable via the collateral-order doctrine.…

Since the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr, several courts of appeals have reexamined the scope of their jurisdiction in immigration appeals. Last week produced another example. In Hernandez v. Garland, the Sixth Circuit held that it could review “good moral character” determinations in immigration appeals, as those determinations involve a mixed question of law and fact.…

In Pettibone v. Russell, the Ninth Circuit categorically held that it could address the Bivens question as part of a qualified-immunity appeal. In the course of doing so, the court rejected its older cases holding to the contrary.…

In Bradley v. Village of University Park, the Seventh Circuit determined that defendants had waived an issue by conceding it in a prior appeal. In doing so, the court explained the difference between conceding an issue for purposes of an appeal and waiving the issue such that it could not be disputed on remand.…

In In re Grand Jury Subpoena, the Eleventh Circuit explained that it could not review a contempt decision without a sanction.…

Several courts of appeals have limited the scope of an appeal to the orders designated in a notice of appeal. Recent amendments to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 3(c) were supposed to end that practice. These amendments became effective last December. Yet some courts have overlooked these changes, continuing to apply caselaw that the amendments abrogated.…

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.…