Chapter § 5.09 Appeal of Class Certification Ruling

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Publication year: 2020

§ 5.09 Appeal of Class Certification Ruling

Rule 23(f) authorizes circuit courts to hear an interlocutory appeal of “an order granting or denying class-action certification.”¹⁹³ To perfect the appeal, a party must “file a petition for permission to appeal with the circuit clerk within 14 days” after the court enters the order granting or denying certification or “within 45 days after the order is entered if any party” is the United States or one of its officers or employees.¹⁹⁴ In Nutraceutical Corporation v. Lambert,¹⁹⁵ the Supreme Court held that the time limits under Rule 23(f) are “not amenable to equitable tolling,” because, among other reasons, Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 26(b), which generally permits extensions of time, includes “this express carveout: A court of appeals ‘may not extend the time to file . . . a petition for permission to appeal.’ ”¹⁹⁶ An appeal under Rule 23(f) doesn’t stay the district court action unless “the district judge or the court of appeals so orders.”

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Notes:

^[193] Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(f).

^[194] Id. (emphasis added).

^[195] 139 S. Ct. 710, __ U.S. __, at 715 (2019).

^[196] Id. (quoting Fed. Rule App. Proc. 26(b)(1)).