Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog

Call for Submissions: SEALS Works-In-Progress Series

Below is the call for submissions for the Southeastern Association of Law Schools Works-In-Progress series, which will occur at the 2021 SEALS Annual Conference (July 26 - August 1, Amelia Island, Florida).

The deadline to submit an abstract is February 5, 2021.

Download 2021 Works-in-Progress Letter (Second Revision)

(H/T: Lou Virelli)

 

 

 

 

 

Bartholomew on Lammon on FRCP 23(f) Class Certification Appeals

Today on the Courts Law section of JOTWELL is Christine Bartholomew’s essay, The Reality of Class-Action Appeals. Christine reviews Bryan Lammon’s recent article, An Empirical Study of Class-Action Appeals.

 

 

 

SCOTUS Goes Full Munsingwear on the Trump Emoluments Cases

Yesterday’s Supreme Court order list included orders in two cases, Trump v. CREW and Trump v. District of Columbia, in which the plaintiffs have alleged that Donald Trump’s business activities while serving as President violated the Emoluments Clauses. In both cases, the Supreme Court granted Trump’s cert petition, vacated the judgment, and remanded with instructions to dismiss the case as moot—citing United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36 (1950). Although the Court provided no further explanation, it appears that these claims were moot because Trump is no longer President. (The cases sought only declaratory and injunctive relief.)

Unfortunately, the Munsingwear mootness vacatur wipes out a thoughtful Fourth Circuit en banc majority opinion rejecting Trump’s petition for a writ of mandamus. One particularly intriguing question—which was one of the questions presented in Trump’s cert petition—is whether the court of appeals may use mandamus to require the district court to certify an order for an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). If folks are interested, I discuss that issue—and other questions of appellate jurisdiction that have arisen in the Trump Emoluments litigation—in a recent article that was part of the Akron Law Review’s recent symposium on federal appellate procedure.

SCOTUS Dismisses Arbitration Case From December Argument Calendar

Today the Supreme Court decided Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc. (See our earlier coverage here). The case was argued in December, and the per curiam ruling dismisses the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted.

Today’s DIG (dismissed as improvidently granted) leaves in place a Fifth Circuit decision on whether arbitration contracts delegate questions of arbitrability to the arbitrator.

 

SCOTUS denies cert in 7th Circuit case on Bristol-Myers, personal jurisdiction & class actions

Today’s lengthy Supreme Court order list includes a denial of certiorari in IQVIA Inc. v. Mussat. The Seventh Circuit’s decision below (covered earlier here) had concluded that “the principles announced in Bristol-Myers do not apply to the case of a nationwide class action filed in federal court under a federal statute.”

The question presented in the cert petition was “[w]hether a district court with jurisdiction coextensive with a state court in the district can exercise personal jurisdiction over absent class members’ claims as part of a putative class action when the court concededly could not exercise personal jurisdiction over the absent class members’ claims if they had been brought in individual suits.”

 

 

 

Mullenix on Russell on Frivolous Defenses

Today on the Courts Law section of JOTWELL is Linda Mullenix’s essay, A Non-Frivolous Challenge to Frivolous Defenses. Linda reviews Thomas Russell’s recent article, Frivolous Defenses.