Posts in category “Monthly Roundup”

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

March was a busy month. Let’s start with the Supreme Court’s decision holding that appellate courts had jurisdiction to review hardship determinations in immigration appeals.…

Decisions from last month raised some interesting questions about the role of the collateral-order doctrine, particularly when it comes to immunities and criminal appeals. In other developments, the Eleventh Circuit deemed an appeal untimely after concluding that—in hindsight—a post-judgment motion was not really a Rule 59 motion. The Ninth Circuit split on what it means to determine “rights and liabilities” for purposes of admiralty appeals.…

An especially busy January means I didn’t have a lot of time to post about decisions from last month. But there were still several worth talking about. Below is a brief roundup of what I found interesting.…

The last month of 2023 produced several decisions of note. Two courts addressed whether a single filing could serve the dual functions of both a motion to reopen the appeal deadline and a notice of appeal. The courts of appeals have split on this issue, though both courts to address it last month held that a single notice of appeal could perform these multiple functions.…

Last month’s major appellate-jurisdiction development involved another court narrowing the availability of Perlman appeals. In other decisions, the Fifth Circuit carved a new, video-evidence exception to the scope of qualified-immunity appeals. The Third Circuit addressed what to do with a partial objection to an untimely criminal appeal. The Ninth Circuit applied Dupree to part of a summary-judgment denial.…

Last month produced a wide variety of appellate-jurisdiction decisions. The Eleventh Circuit issued more opinions on whether and when claimants can voluntarily dismiss (or, in one case, “abandon”) claims to create a final decision. The Ninth Circuit held that defendants can appeal from the denial of PREP Act immunity. And the Eleventh Circuit addressed the meaning of claims (versus counts) in the context of Rule 54(b).…

September saw more drama over Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 3(c), as the Eleventh Circuit appeared to use Rule 3(c)(6) to revive the old practice of limiting the scope of an appeal to the designated order. The courts of appeals also addressed manufactured finality in the bankruptcy context, a discovery appeal implicating the Speech or Debate Clause, and the appealability of decisions on substituting counsel.…

I spent most of August busy or sick or both. So there weren’t many posts about decisions. But the month was still full of interesting developments.…

July produced two opinions in Rule 23(f) appeals from class-certification decisions. One addressed whether a FLSA collective-action decision could tag along via pendent appellate jurisdiction, and the other thought that an appeal was proper due to the district court’s inadequate explanation. There were also some pendent appellate jurisdiction decisions involving sovereign immunity.…