Posts in category “Appellate Decisions”

Update: For my full post on the argument in Williams, see The Fifth Circuit & the Finality Trap.

The en banc Fifth Circuit heard argument this morning in Williams v. Taylor Seidenbach, Inc. The case addresses the finality and appealability of an action when some claims have been decided on the merits but others have been voluntarily dismissed without prejudice.…

The courts of appeals occasionally struggle with appellate jurisdiction when parties dismiss some of their claims without prejudice. The issue comes up when a district court has resolved some of the claims in a multi-claim suit and parties try to transform that non-final decision into a final one by dismissing their remaining claims without prejudice.…

In 2017’s Microsoft Corp. v. Baker, the Supreme Court held that plaintiffs seeking to bring a class action could not voluntarily dismiss their individual claims and immediately appeal the denial of class certification. In doing so, the Supreme Court abrogated a line of Ninth Circuit decisions that allowed this voluntary-dismissal tactic.…

In United States v. 60 Automotive Grilles, the Eleventh Circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction to immediately review a decision denying intervention as of right. That was because the district court correctly denied intervention. Practically speaking, the court reviewed and affirmed the district court’s decision. But under the “anomalous rule” that the Eleventh Circuit and other courts apply, appellate jurisdiction in intervention appeals turns on whether the district court correctly denied intervention.…

In In re Williams-Sonoma, Inc., a district court had ordered a defendant to produce a list of its customers so opposing counsel could identify a lead plaintiff to pursue a class action. A split panel of the Ninth Circuit concluded that this discovery order was clearly erroneous and warranted reversal via mandamus.…

In Williams v. Catoe, the en banc Fifth Circuit held that orders denying appointed counsel in § 1983 suits are not immediately appealable via the collateral-order doctrine. The court concluded that these orders were effectively reviewable in an appeal from a final judgment. In doing so, the Fifth Circuit overruled its decision in Robbins v.…

In last week’s Henson v. Fidelity National Financial, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held that plaintiffs could use Rule 60(b)(6) to undo voluntary dismissals they had entered to facilitate appellate review. Before the Supreme Court’s decision in Microsoft Corp. v. Baker, the Ninth Circuit allowed plaintiffs had to use these dismissals to secure review of orders denying class certification.…

In Vergara v. City of Chicago, the Seventh Circuit untangled a procedural mess involving multiple missed deadlines. The notice of appeal was late (though understandably so), as was the objection to the late notice. But none of these missed deadlines went to the court’s jurisdiction. They were claims-processing rules—one mandatory but not properly invoked, the other not mandatory and forfeited.…

In Sprint Nextel Corp. v. Wireless Buybacks Holdings, LLC, the Fourth Circuit addressed one of Sprint’s suits against cell-phone arbitrageurs. But before reaching the merits, the court had to assure itself of its jurisdiction. After the district court had granted partial summary judgment to Sprint on liability, the parties stipulated to the amount of damages and the defendant appealed.…

In last week’s Stallworth v. Bryant, the Fifth Circuit allowed Mississippi legislators to appeal a discovery order that rejected their claim of legislative privilege. It appears that those legislators were never held in contempt. This is odd; litigants normally must first be held in contempt for disobeying a discovery order before they can appeal it.…