New Cert Petition on Derivative Sovereign Immunity Appeals
A new cert petition asks whether the denial of derivative sovereign immunity is immediately appealable via the collateral-order doctrine.
Derivative sovereign immunity (also sometimes referred to as the Yearsly doctrine) is a defense that government contractors sometimes raise to defeat claims stemming from work the contractors did for the government. The courts of appeals have split on whether a denial of that defense is immediately appealable.
I’ve covered a few of those decisions in prior roundups. Among them is the Sixth Circuit’s decision in ACT, Inc. v. Worldwide Interactive Network, Inc., which I thought focused too much whether a defense is an immunity and overlooked the rest of the collateral-order doctrine. There’s also the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Childs v. San Diego Family Housing LLC, in which the court said that the interests protected by derivative sovereign immunity aren’t sufficiently important to be effectively unreviewable in normal post-final-judgment appeal. And then there’s the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Menocal v. GEO Group, Inc., from which this petition stems. I think the Tenth Circuit’s decision is particularly interesting, as the court said that the defense is not sufficiently separate from the merits to be appealable via the collateral-order doctrine.
The case is GEO Group, Inc. v. Menocal. The response is due February 18, 2025. Also of note, the Supreme Court denied cert on this issue a few years ago.
Petition for Writ of Certiorari, GEO Group, Inc. v. Menocal, (Jan. 13, 2025), available at the Supreme Court and Westlaw
Final Decisions PLLC is an appellate boutique and consultancy that focuses on federal appellate jurisdiction. We partner with lawyers facing appellate-jurisdiction issues, working as consultants or co-counsel to achieve positive outcomes on appeal. Contact us to learn how we can work together.
Learn More ContactRelated Posts
Recent Posts
In City of Martinsville v. Express Scripts, Inc., a divided Fourth Circuit held that a court must stay proceedings—and not process a remand order—if the defendant appeals before the district court can send the remand order to the state court. The majority thought that the rule of Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co.—particularly as the […]
Continue reading....
Perlman Appeals in the Grand Jury Context In In re Grand Jury Subpoeans Dated Sep. 13, 2023, the Second Circuit held that the target of a grand jury investigation could appeal an order directing the target’s attorneys to disclose documents over a claim of attorney-client privilege. The order was appealable via the Perlman doctrine, which generally […]
Continue reading....
In Fleming v. United States, the Eleventh Circuit became the fifth court of appeals to reject pure Bivens appeals. The court held that federal officials cannot immediately appeal the Bivens question without also appealing the denial of qualified immunity. Unlike some of the prior decisions, this one was unanimous. And it puts the government’s record […]
Continue reading....
Last month produced decisions involving a variety of appellate-jurisdiction issues. The Fifth Circuit decertified a § 1292(b) appeal. Judge Pillard of the D.C. Circuit explained that appellate “standing” does not require re-establishing standing in the court of appeals. The Sixth Circuit said that qualified immunity and an action’s merits are intertwined, which suggests (perhaps unintentionally) […]
Continue reading....
A new cert petition asks whether the denial of derivative sovereign immunity is immediately appealable via the collateral-order doctrine. Derivative sovereign immunity (also sometimes referred to as the Yearsly doctrine) is a defense that government contractors sometimes raise to defeat claims stemming from work the contractors did for the government. The courts of appeals have […]
Continue reading....