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Majority on divided three-judge Fifth Circuit panel holds that notice of appeal specifying that the plaintiff was appealing from the dismissal of a claim against only two of the five individual defendants sufficed to appeal against all five

Majority on divided three-judge Fifth Circuit panel holds that notice of appeal specifying that the plaintiff was appealing from the dismissal of a claim against only two of the five individual defendants sufficed to appeal against all five: You can access Thursday's ruling, which the court posted online yesterday, at this link. Because the court affirmed the dismissal, the dispute over whether the notice of appeal should be construed more broadly than its plain text will not have any lasting consequence in this case.

Nevertheless, this decision does demonstrate two important things. First, no step in the appellate process is so easy that it cannot be fouled-up due to inadequate attention. And, second, the decision demonstrates that deciding what to appeal, and ensuring that the notice of appeal will effectuate that decision, are among the most critical steps in the appellate process.

Full post as published by How Appealing on January 30, 2010 (boomark / email).