Arbitration appeals, the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, appeal deadlines after bankruptcy stays, fact-based qualified-immunity appeals, and more.
July 6, 2023
June was arbitration-appeals month. In its third and last decision of the term relating to appellate jurisdiction, the Supreme Court held that district courts must stay proceedings on the merits pending an interlocutory arbitration appeal. In the courts of appeals, the Third Circuit reviewed the denial of a motion to dismiss that effectively sought arbitration. And the First Circuit dismissed an appeal from an order denying reconsideration of an arbitration denial.
In other decisions, two courts of appeals addressed some nuances of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. The Fourth Circuit explained what notice is required under Rule 4(a)(6). And the Fifth Circuit recognized the amendments to Rule 3(c). There were also decisions on a bankruptcy stay’s effect on the appeal deadline, fact-based qualified-immunity appeals, and the reasonableness of mistakes for Rule 4(a)(2). Plus a new cert grant, denials of cert on appealing church-autonomy defenses, and more.
Two Supreme Court decisions, Rule 41 dismissals of claims and actions, governmental-privilege appeals, and more.
June 6, 2023
May was quite a month for appellate jurisdiction.
We saw two Supreme Court decisions—one on preserving legal issues via denied summary-judgment motions, and one on the non-jurisdictionality of immigration exhaustion. And the government has agreed that cert is appropriate to address the reviewability of exceptional-hardship determinations in immigration appeals.
In the courts of appeals, there were significant decisions on the scope of Rule 41—does it apply only to entire actions or also to discrete claims?—and governmental-privilege appeals. But my favorite decision from last month was probably the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion on the interaction of two appeal-timing provisions: one for when the district court doesn’t set out the judgment in a separate document, and another for the resolution of post-judgment motions.
There were also decisions on pendent appellate jurisdiction over standing, appealing attorney-disqualification orders, Rule 3(c)’s order-designation requirement, the wisdom of the administrative-remand rule, and much more.
Manufactured finality, preservation via denied summary-judgment motions, the standards for (and scope of) class-certification appeals, appealing after dismissals with leave to refile, a slew of new cert petitions, and much more.
May 2, 2023
The two main events in April were probably the Sixth Circuit’s potential expansion of Microsoft Corp. v. Baker and oral argument in the Supreme Court case on preserving issues raised in denied summary-judgment motions.
But there were several other decisions of note. Two courts addressed class-certification appeals under Rule 23(f)—one explaining the standards for granting Rule 23(f) petitions and another holding that it can address standing in those appeals. There seems to be some new tension in the Third Circuit’s caselaw on how litigants can make a dismissal with leave to refile into a final decision. The Ninth Circuit treated the denial of arbitration as an appealable denial of an injunction. And the Eleventh Circuit addressed appellate standing and non-party appeals.
Plus several new cert petitions, the appealability of the Yearsley defense, and much more.
Skipping appellate-jurisdiction issues to address subject-matter jurisdiction, party status for discovery appeals, appealing § 1447(e) remands, arbitration appeals, and more.
April 4, 2023
The highlight from last month is probably the Second Circuit’s conclusion that it did not need to address its own jurisdiction when the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. The decision was an immense, erroneous, and very likely unintentional expansion of federal appellate jurisdiction.
There was also a fascinating D.C. Circuit decision on what it means to be a “party” when appealing discovery orders directed at others. And the Second Circuit addressed both the appealability of § 1447(e) remands and whether appellate courts could look behind the purported reasons for a remand to the actual reasons.
Plus appeals from motions to dismiss that sought only arbitration, another cert petition on appealing church-autonomy defenses, anti-SLAPP appeals, the jurisdictionality of § 3742, the scope of Rule 23(f) appeals, and much more.
The scope of immigration appeals, finality after voluntary dismissals, the appealability of administrative remands, appealing the church-autonomy defense, and more.
March 2, 2023
February produced a variety of decisions and developments of note. I discussed many of these in posts throughout the month, which are summarized and linked below. There were also some developments on the issue of whether denials of church-autonomy defenses are immediately appealable via the collateral-order doctrine—a divided Second Circuit denied rehearing en banc on the issue, and a new cert petition asks the Supreme Court to address these appeals. Plus decisions on appealing foreclosure orders, reviewing factual determinations in immigration appeals, pendent appellate jurisdiction over a fees award, and more.
A cert grant on preserving issues via denied summary-judgment motions, appealing sanction-less contempts, some interesting uses of pendent appellate jurisdiction, and a new cert petition on appealing hardship determinations in immigration cases.
February 9, 2023
I’ve put the weekly roundup on hiatus for a now. In its place, I’m going to try (emphasis on try) more individual posts and monthly roundups.
So here is the first monthly roundup, covering the appellate-jurisdiction highlights of January 2023. It features a cert grant on a long-simmering circuit split, a new circuit split on contempt appeals, some pendent appellate jurisdiction, and a new cert petition on another split.