As you probably know by now, the Sixth Circuit vacated the stay of OSHA’s vaccine mandate on Friday evening, allowing OSHA to move enforce its regulation, with an substantial, careful opinion by Judge Stranch (who was joined by Judge Gibbons) finding that OSHA has the statutory authority to issue and enforce the emergency temporary standard. … Continue Reading
We’ve previously discussed the procedural arguments for and against taking the case en banc that Judge Moore and Chief Judge Sutton (briefly) debated in their respective concurrence and dissent. As we noted in our earlier post, the Court split evenly on the en-banc issue, keeping these cases with the current three-judge panel. This post reviews … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit has denied en banc review in the OSHA vaccine mandate cases. The vote was a close one, with eight judges voting in favor of initial hearing en banc. But that’s not enough under the circuit’s rules, which require a majority of the 16 active judges to vote for en banc treatment. As … Continue Reading
Over the next week, we expect a flood of amicus briefs opposing and supporting OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard. There are already ten such briefs on the main docket, with many more listed amici yet to file, and many more preparing to appear. We expect that many amicus parties will want to weigh in on OSHA’s … Continue Reading
Employers across the United States are wondering whether they need to comply with OSHA’s original, rapidly-approaching December 6th and January 4th deadlines. And while no-one yet knows with 100% certainty, probably including the judges themselves, a few things seem clear from the Sixth Circuit’s approach in this consolidated appeal. The Circuit has not ordered parties … Continue Reading
At 2:28 a.m. this morning, OSHA filed an (overlength) emergency motion to dissolve the Fifth Circuit’s stay of OSHA’s vaccine mandate, taking three distinct positions. OSHA principally argues, as expected, that it is likely to succeed on the merits because, OSHA reasonably concluded that the standard is necessary to address a grave danger, the Fifth … Continue Reading
It’s been only three days since the Sixth Circuit won the JPML lottery to consolidate and adjudicate every appeal nationwide challenging OSHA’s vaccine mandate. Yet there have already been interesting developments. Many petitioners in the original Sixth Circuit cases have now moved for initial en banc review—which would bypass panel review entirely and send the … Continue Reading
Sometimes federal courts of appeals get to play the lottery. The prize is not millions of dollars, but the chance to adjudicate every challenge to a particular federal agency action filed in federal circuit court. The Sixth Circuit won that lottery yesterday afternoon. At issue is OSHA’s highly controversial vaccine mandate. On November 5, 2021, OSHA promulgated … Continue Reading
In our previous post, we discussed the difficulties of succeeding with a Section 1292(b) petition in both the district court in the circuit court. We also noted that while the Sixth Circuit’s rate of acceptance of orders already certified by district courts has been higher than average for federal circuit courts. We then reviewed decision … Continue Reading
It’s been almost a decade since this blog discussed the likelihood that the Sixth Circuit would accept a discretionary appeal under 18 U.S.C. §1292(b). That the section that gives a district court the discretion to certify an order for appeal if the issue involves an important question of law for which there is substantial ground … Continue Reading
We keep up on statistics important to our clients, such as the time it takes to decide appeals, and we were especially interested to see how the pandemic had affected the Sixth Circuit. Our gut feeling was that things might have slowed down a little in more complicated cases, but that the circuit had generally … Continue Reading
Prior posts have discussed the comparative rarity of certified questions of state law in the Sixth Circuit (here and here). This post gives practical pointers to improve your odds of success with certified questions both in the Sixth Circuit and in the state courts.… Continue Reading
In our prior post, we noted that the Sixth Circuit seldom grants motions to certify questions of state law. And even though the circuit grants less than 20% of such motions, the questions still have to be accepted by the state supreme court. But the certification process is often a rough road. No recent case … Continue Reading
Nearly every state allows federal courts to certify questions of state law to obtain definitive answers from state supreme courts on unsettled issues of state law. The United States Supreme Court has explained that certifications “saves time, energy, and resources and helps build a cooperative judicial federalism.” All states, except North Carolina, have rules or … Continue Reading
Last month, we explained that the settlement between the plaintiffs and Michigan’s Governor Whitmer in Gary B. v. Whitmer might end up ultimately vacating the Sixth Circuit’s pathbreaking right-to-literacy ruling in that case. The parties informed the Court of the settlement and the plaintiffs promised to file a motion to dismiss. But some defendants had … Continue Reading
Judge Nathaniel Jones passed away yesterday. He was a Cincinnati icon, having served as the first African American AUSA in the Northern District of Ohio, leading the civil rights litigation efforts of the NAACP during the 1970s, and serving on the Sixth Circuit for more than twenty years. For those wishing to review his career, … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit has granted a rare panel rehearing in Lucas v. Telemarketer Calling from (407) 476-5680 & Other Tel. Nos., a case filed under the Telemarketing Consumer Protection Act. Our sister SPB blog, TCPAWorld, one of the web’s leading sources for intelligence and lawyering on TCPA defense, has a detailed post here. The panel … Continue Reading
Employers in the Sixth Circuit may want to review their employment contracts following a recent decision in which the court ruled that employers cannot contractually shorten the statutory limitations period for Title VII claims—except in the arbitration context. In Logan v. MGM Grand Detroit Casino, Judge Bush (with Judges Boggs and Gibbons joining) explained that Title … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit denied Flint, Michigan’s petition for en banc review of a panel decision allowing citizens exposed to contaminated water to sue city and state officials. The order drew two concurrences, one dissent, and plenty of skepticism about the plaintiffs’ case—which is nevertheless allowed to proceed in the district court. The plaintiffs’ theory is … Continue Reading
We are pleased to announce that Squire Patton Boggs’ appellate practice group has two new co-chairs: Benjamin Beaton and Lauren Kuley. Lauren and Ben have deep experience with winning big appeals and critical motions in courts around the country. They follow Pierre Bergeron who, our readers know, is now a judge on the Ohio First … Continue Reading
“How long will my appeal take?” A question clients always ask and lawyers often resist (and which always depend heavily on the individual facts of the case). But the data also shows that the average has continued to decline in the Sixth Circuit. In 2011, the average Sixth Circuit appeal took 15.5 months from the … Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the Sixth Circuit released an interesting opinion addressing the use of representative evidence in “collective actions” brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act. As discussed below, the Court held that uniform testimony from dozens of individual employees can establish liability without the need for statistical evidence. At the same time, the decision … Continue Reading
Recently we discussed academic criticism claiming that circuit courts may respond to increased caseload pressure by spending less time per case or lengthening the appeals process. We found evidence suggesting that this is not occurring at the Sixth Circuit. One interesting side note that our analysis showed is that the percentage of written decisions has … Continue Reading
When welcoming his (many) new colleagues, Judge Sutton has sometimes mentioned his court’s long-lost nickname: “The Learned Sixth.” Many of its earliest judges—Taft, Day, Lurton, Howell Jackson—served as diplomats or law school deans, cooled their heels at the Sixth Circuit, and proceeded to the Supreme Court. Is the Sixth Circuit recovering its name and reputation? … Continue Reading
