From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Coco v. Incorporated Village of Belle Terre

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
May 8, 2006
448 F.3d 490 (2d Cir. 2006)

Summary

finding that if Rule 23(f) "is a claim-processing rule, it is quite clearly an `inflexible one'"

Summary of this case from Harper v. American Airlines

Opinion

Docket No. 05-6669-MV.

Submitted: May 4, 2006.

Decided: May 8, 2006.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Spatt, J.

Jonathan Scott, Scott Scott LLP, Smithtown, NY, for Plaintiff-Respondent.

Terry Rice, Rice Amon, Suffern, NY, for Defendants-Petitioners.

Before: MESKILL, STRAUB and KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.


Petitioners seek leave, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f), to appeal the order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Arthur D. Spatt, Judge) certifying a class in this case. Under Rule 23(f), "[a] court of appeals may in its discretion permit an appeal from [such an order] if application is made to it within ten days after entry of the order." Petitioners failed to file their application within the ten day time limitation of Rule 23(f). Plaintiff Coco objects to the untimely filing of the petition and urges us to dismiss it for lack of jurisdiction.

While we have not previously considered the nature of Rule 23(f)'s ten day filing requirement, the Fifth, Seventh and Eleventh Circuits have all treated it as jurisdictional. See McNamara v. Felderhof, 410 F.3d 277, 279-81 (5th Cir. 2005); Shin v. Cobb County Bd. of Educ., 248 F.3d 1061 (11th Cir. 2001); Gary v. Sheahan, 188 F.3d 891 (7th Cir. 1999). However, the Supreme Court's recent decision in Eberhart v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 403, 163 L.Ed.2d 14 (2005) calls the jurisdictional nature of Rule 23(f) into question. In Eberhart, the Supreme Court held that the time limitation for filing a motion for a new trial under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33, previously held to be jurisdictional, is actually a non-jurisdictional "claim processing" rule, although "one that is admittedly inflexible." Id. at 407. See also Kontrick v. Ryan, 540 U.S. 443, 456, 124 S.Ct. 906, 157 L.Ed.2d 867 (2004) (holding that the time limitations of Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure 4004 and 9006 are non-jurisdictional claim-processing rules).

We do not need to decide here whether Rule 23(f) is a jurisdictional or claim-processing rule, because if it is a claim-processing rule, it is quite clearly an "inflexible" one. See Rule 26(b)(1) (expressly prohibiting courts from extending time to file a petition for permission to appeal). Because Coco objects to the untimely filing, we are compelled to deny the petition. See Eberhart, ___ U.S. at ___, 126 S.Ct. at 407 ("These claim-processing rules thus assure relief to a party properly raising them, but do not compel the same result if the party forfeits them.").

For the foregoing reasons, the petition is denied.


Summaries of

Coco v. Incorporated Village of Belle Terre

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
May 8, 2006
448 F.3d 490 (2d Cir. 2006)

finding that if Rule 23(f) "is a claim-processing rule, it is quite clearly an `inflexible one'"

Summary of this case from Harper v. American Airlines

declining to decide whether Rule 23(f) is jurisdictional, but noting that Eberhart "calls the jurisdictional nature of Rule 23(f) into question"

Summary of this case from Lambert ex rel. Situated v. Nutraceutical Corp.

reserving the question in similar circumstances

Summary of this case from Colella's Super Mkt., Inc. v. SuperValu, Inc. (In re Wholesale Grocery Prods. Antitrust Litig.)

discussing Eberhart's effect on whether the timeliness of a petition under Rule 23(f) is jurisdictional

Summary of this case from Harper v. American Airlines

noting that Rule 23(f) is "inflexible"

Summary of this case from Gutierrez v. Johnson
Case details for

Coco v. Incorporated Village of Belle Terre

Case Details

Full title:Robert M. COCO., individually and on behalf of all others similarly…

Court:United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

Date published: May 8, 2006

Citations

448 F.3d 490 (2d Cir. 2006)

Citing Cases

Harper v. American Airlines

As noted by other circuits, however, the Supreme Court's decision in Eberhart v. United States, 546 U.S. 12,…

Gutierrez v. Johnson

Rule 23(f) requires that a petition requesting permission to appeal an order granting or denying class…