Procedural complexity = Appellate-deadline complexity

During the course of a long-running contract dispute, the Fifth Circuit remanded the case for further development of the record about diversity jurisdiction. Problems with appellate deadlines for a later appeal ensued; in reviewing the parties’ arguments the Court noted:

• “Full” v. “partial” remand. “It is true that in some cases where this court has remanded with a specific directive to the district court, we have retained jurisdiction over the appeal, obviating the need for the appellant to file a new notice of appeal after the district court’s remand proceedings. However, in those cases, this court specified that we retained jurisdiction over the appeal.”
• Effect of an attorneys-fee appeal. “[W]hen the merits judgment has already become final and unappealable, a mere delay of that judgment is no longer possible, and the court lacks any authority under FRAP 4(a)(4)(A)(iii) and FRCP 58[(e)] to modify the finality or the effect of the merits judgment.” (citation omitted).
• Good cause is not GOOD CAUSE. “Rule 4(a)(5), unlike Rule 4(a)(4)(A)(iii) and Rule 58(e), does allow a district court to revive an untimely notice of appeal after the original time to appeal has expired. … Pathway’s motion cannot be construed as a Rule 4(a)(5) motion, however. The extension motion cites Rule 58(e) rather than Rule 4(a)(5), and its arguments are relevant only to the former ….”

Midcap Media Finance LLC v. Pathway Data, Inc., No. 20-50259 (April 20, 2021).