Posts in category “Weekly Roundup”

I saw only three decisions of note last week. The Fifth Circuit used pendent appellate jurisdiction to review an interlocutory discovery order. And the Sixth Circuit addressed its appellate jurisdiction in two habeas cases. One concerned an order requiring a petitioner’s transport to a university hospital for medical examination. The other concerned expanding the scope of an initial appeal to excuse the failure to timely file a subsequent appeal.…

Last week, the Seventh Circuit reviewed a dismissal without prejudice, as the plaintiff could not do anything to correct the defects that led to the without-prejudice dismissal. Judge Easterbrook concurred to explain that once a district court is finished with a case, that court has issued a final decision.

In three decisions, courts of appeals addressed various aspects of qualified immunity.…

Quick roundup this week. A split Ninth Circuit divided over the scope of a Rule 23(f) appeal. The majority held that it could review whether a defendant waived a personal-jurisdiction objection to class certification. The dissent thought that personal jurisdiction was outside the scope of review.

In other decisions, the Ninth Circuit said that “heirs” is not specific enough to satisfy Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 3(c)(1)’s party-designation requirement.…

There is lots to talk about from last week, including decisions involving three circuit splits. A divided Second Circuit created a split over the appealability of fugitive-disentitlement orders. The Eighth Circuit held that bankruptcy’s appeal deadline is non-jurisdictional, joining the Sixth Circuit in the split on that issue. And the Fifth Circuit noted that it now stands alone as the only court to allow appeals from denials of antitrust’s state-action defense.…

Last week, the Fourth Circuit held that it could review hardship determinations in immigration appeals. In doing so, the court added to one side of the circuit split on this issue.

In other decisions, the Eleventh Circuit heard an appeal from the denial of immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in a criminal case.…

All of the appellate-jurisdiction action last week was in the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits.

The en banc Eleventh Circuit unanimously overruled its caselaw that allowed defendants to immediately appeal the denial of antitrust’s state-action defense, which is often called “Parker immunity.” The court explained that the defense is not an immunity from suit.…

In a case from a few weeks ago that I just saw, the Fifth Circuit weighed in on the split over reviewing hardship determinations in immigration appeals. The court sided with the Sixth and Eleventh in treating hardship determinations as mixed questions of law and fact that the court had jurisdiction to review.…

Last week saw a possible variation on the Fifth Circuit’s finality trap: the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed some of its claims before the district court dismissed the remainder. Thankfully the Fifth Circuit saw no effort to manufacture an appeal and concluded that the district court’s dismissal was appealable.

In other decisions, the Eighth Circuit reviewed a remand under CAFA’s local-controversy exception.…

Last week saw several decisions tackling difficult appellate-jurisdiction issues. Primary among them was the Seventh Circuit’s decision recognizing the messiness in its decisions reviewing extensions of the appeal deadline for excusable neglect. That court treats the excusable-neglect requirement as jurisdictional, but it reviews these excusable-neglect determinations only for an abuse of discretion.…

Last week, the Seventh Circuit explained the circumstances under which litigants can appeal from Colorado River stays: issues need not be identical, nor must the state court proceedings resolve all of the federal action. The Eleventh Circuit held that it could review a denial of asylum even though an immigration petitioner had been granted withholding of removal.…