Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog

SCOTUS Decision in Republic of Sudan v. Harrison: Service of Process on a Foreign State under the FSIA

Today the Supreme Court issued an 8-1 decision in Republic of Sudan v. Harrison (covered earlier here). Justice Alito’s majority opinion begins:

This case concerns the requirements applicable to a particular method of serving civil process on a foreign state. Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA), a foreign state may be served by means of a mailing that is “addressed and dispatched . . . to the head of the ministry of foreign affairs of the foreign state concerned.” 28 U. S. C. §1608(a)(3). The question now before us is whether this provision is satisfied when a service packet that names the foreign minister is mailed to the foreign state’s embassy in the United States. We hold that it is not. Most naturally read, §1608(a)(3) requires that a mailing be sent directly to the foreign minister’s office in the minister’s home country.

Justice Thomas dissented, writing: “I would hold that respondents complied with the FSIA when they addressed and dispatched a service packet to Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs at Sudan’s Embassy in Washington, D. C.”

 

 

Steinman on Burbank & Wolff on Erie, Federal Common Law, and the American Pipe Rule

Now on the Courts Law section of JOTWELL is my essay, When American Pipe Met Erie. I review a recent article by Steve Burbank and Tobias Wolff, Class Actions, Statutes of Limitations and Repose, and Federal Common Law, 167 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1 (2018).

 

 

SCOTUS Decision in Frank v. Gaos

Today the Supreme Court issued its decision in Frank v. Gaos (covered earlier here). The Court had initially granted certiorari to decide “[w]hether, or in what circumstances, a cy pres award of class action proceeds that provides no direct relief to class members supports class certification and comports with the requirement that a settlement binding class members must be ‘fair, reasonable, and adequate.’” Following oral argument, however, the Court ordered supplemental briefing on whether any plaintiff had Article III standing under the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Spokeo v. Robins.

Today’s per curiam opinion remands the case for the lower courts to consider the standing question:

After reviewing the supplemental briefs, we conclude that the case should be remanded for the courts below to address the plaintiffs’ standing in light of Spokeo. The supplemental briefs filed in response to our order raise a wide variety of legal and factual issues not addressed in the merits briefing before us or at oral argument. We “are a court of review, not of first view.” Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. 709, 718, n. 7 (2005). Resolution of the standing question should take place in the District Court or the Ninth Circuit in the first instance. We therefore vacate and remand for further proceedings. Nothing in our opinion should be interpreted as expressing a view on any particular resolution of the standing question.

Justice Thomas dissented. He would have found that the plaintiffs’ allegations were sufficient to establish standing but that “the class action should not have been certified, and the settlement should not have been approved.”

 

 

 

The Federal Bar Association's National Community Outreach Project For April 2019

The Federal Bar Association has announced its 4th Annual National Community Outreach Project for April 2019. This year's project focuses on educating youth about the judicial system by letting them see first hand how courthouses operate. Here's the FBA press release: 

Arlington, VA – The Federal Bar Association announces its fourth annual National Community Outreach Project, reaching out to youth and other communities coast to coast to open the federal judicial system for the public to see.  In these times when communities, especially youth, have lost confidence in our judicial system, the FBA’s NCOP seeks to instill confidence in the judicial system in middle and high-school students and other communities by bringing them into the courthouses, meeting with lawyers, observing court proceedings, and talking directly to federal judges. 

In recent years, Federal Bar Association chapters across the United States participated, spreading the word throughout the country and involving the federal judiciary in districts throughout the nation. This program has made a lasting effect on the communities they serve.

The Federal Bar Association’s mission statement includes a commitment to the communities in which their members serve. With events like tours of the federal courts, viewing federal court proceedings, tours of federal agencies and providing citizens with free legal advice, the Federal Bar Association has reached out in a variety of creative ways to fulfill this commitment.  

Sponsored by the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association, the NCOP is back this year, even bigger than last year, undoubtedly with an even bigger impact. Through the NCOP, the FBA is making every April the “National Community Outreach” month. The National Community Outreach Project of 2019 will kick off in April. For more information, please visit: www.fedbar.org/NCOP

More than 25 chapters and sections in multiple districts across the country have agreed to participate in the fourth annual National Community Outreach Project.

FBA Links:

Main Website: www.fedbar.org

NCOP Link: www.fedbar.org/NCOP

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FederalBar/

Twitter:www.twitter.com/federalbar

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/company-beta/114338/ 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/federal_bar/

FBA Blog:https://blog.fedbar.org/

2018 Federal Caseload Data

Today the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts published its Judicial Business 2018 report, which includes data for the U.S. Courts of Appeals, District Courts, and Bankruptcy Courts.

 

 

Grossi & Ides on Class Actions

Simona Grossi and Allan Ides have posted on SSRN a draft of their article, The Modern Law of Class Actions and Due Process. Here’s the abstract:

Our goal in writing this article was to offer helpful insight for a reformed interpretation and application of Rule 23 that would make the Rule serve its intended democratic function. The idea of due process is a promise of the rule of law tempered by reasonableness, fairness, and efficiency. It embraces both the value of individual autonomy and the collective interests of the community. The idea of class actions, premised on due process, is to provide a pragmatic method of dispute resolution that is fair to the individual and responsive to the needs of the community and the challenges generated by widely spread and shared harms. In this respect, class actions operate as a tool of democracy. Rule 23 should be interpreted from this hopeful and effective perspective, one that balances individual autonomy against the legitimate needs of the community. But the Rule is not accomplishing its mission. As we show in the article, it appears to be infused with its framers’ self-doubts, and the Supreme Court treats it as an unwelcome guest in the home of traditional litigation forms—see, for example, our discussions of Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corporation (1999); Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes (2011); Jennings v. Rodriguez (2018); Nutraceuticals Corp. v. Lambert (2019).

 

 

 

 

National Injunctions: What Does the Future Hold? (Conference at Colorado Law, April 5, 2019)

On Friday, April 5, 2019, the University of Colorado Law School’s Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law will host its 2019 Rothgerber Constitutional Law Conference, “National Injunctions: What Does the Future Hold?” The conference is free and open to the public. Register here by March 29.

From the announcement:

This year's conference will feature an exciting panel of diverse scholars and lawyers with remarks by Dean S. James Anaya, University of Colorado Law School; Phil Weiser, Colorado Attorney General; and Professor Suzette Malveaux, University of Colorado Law School. 

Sessions will examine the past, present, and future of national injunctions and the remedy’s impact on immigration, civil rights, separation of powers, and more. Topics include court authority and policy considerations, lessons learned from various models, and other conceptions of national injunctions.

Panelists are:

Continue reading

Michalski on Gluck, Hall & Roberts on Courts and the Opioid Epidemic

Today on the Courts Law section of JOTWELL is Roger Michalski’s essay, A Primer on Opioid-Epidemic Litigation. Roger reviews a recent article by Abbe Gluck, Ashley Hall & Gregory Curfman, Civil Litigation and the Opioid Epidemic: The Role of Courts in a National Health Crisis, 46 J.L. Med. & Ethics 351 (2018).

 

 

 

Mullenix on MDL Non-Class Settlements and the All Writs Act

Linda Mullenix has published Policing MDL Non-Class Settlements: Empowering Judges Through the All Writs Act, 37 Rev. Litig. 129 (2018). Here’s the abstract:

Commentators have identified that one of the most significant problems in current MDL practice is the lack of judicial authority over non-class aggregate settlements. This paper explores the use of the All Writs Act to provide MDL judges with robust authority to manage, supervise, and ultimately review non-class aggregate deals that are the object of much recent criticism. It rejects the thesis that judicial supervision of non-class settlements is unwarranted because these deals are contractual, and that oversight therefore removes claimant autonomy and damages the adversarial system. Several MDL judges already have invoked the All Writs Act to police parallel class action settlements that might jeopardize pending MDL negotiations. This paper explores and endorses the argument that MDL judges may, with equal force, exercise power pursuant to the All Writs Act to police pending non-class settlements in their jurisdiction.

As the MDL non-class settlement paradigm has evolved, some MDL judges have sought to intervene in settlement activities by invoking authority pursuant to three theories: (1) the quasi-class action, (2) the inherent powers of the court, and (3) the All Writs Act. As critics note, the quasi-class action and inherent judicial power have provided weak support for judicial intervention in non-class aggregate settlements. But to date, commentators have paid scant attention to judicial power under the All Writs Act or its use in MDL proceedings.

Continue reading

Ten Years of Iqbal: Perspectives on Policy, Procedure, and Substance (Symposium at Cardozo Law School, March 15, 2019)

On Friday, March 15, 2019, the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Cardozo Law Review, and The Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy are hosting a symposium entitled “Ten Years of Iqbal: Perspectives on Policy, Procedure, and Substance.”

You can find all the details – and register for the symposium (it’s free) – here. Come join us!

From the announcement:

An esteemed group of experts, including the lawyers who argued both sides of the Iqbal case, and leading legal scholars, will examine the decision’s influence on both procedural and substantive law. The conference will examine pleading doctrine, pleading practice, approaches to federal rulemaking and substantive areas of law including national security and civil rights.

The symposium keynote will be given by Arthur R. Miller, Professor at NYU Law, former Bruce Bromley Professor of Law at Harvard Law, and the nation's leading scholar in the field of civil procedure.

Confirmed panelists include:

Continue reading