The Appellate Record : Texas Appellate Lawyer & Attorney Kendall Gray for Fifth Circuit & Supreme Court Appeals

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The Fightin' Fifth Circuit had not yet begun to fight as of this morning's post.  Several more published opinions this evening, one of which might be of interest to civil practitioners.  And even better, an order for en banc review.

• Jurisdiction and procedure nerds will want to read Martin v. Halliburton (pdf) in which the Court dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction.  The defendants, contractors in the Iraq War, asserted various immunity defenses, but the district court denied their motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.  The Fifth Circuit dismissed the interlocutory appeal, most significantly because it found the immunity defenses were not the type that would be subject to the collateral order doctrine. Judge King wrote the opinion.

And finally, the Court ordered rehearing en banc in Castellanos-Contrera v. Decatur Hotels LLC (pdf), which involves FLSA rights of guest workers providing services in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The Panel Opinion (pdf), by Judge Jolly, characterized the issues as:

three issues of first impression for this court: whether, under the FLSA, an employer must reimburse guest workers for (1) recruitment expenses, (2) transportation expenses, or (3) visa expenses, which the guest workers incurred before relocating to the employer’s location.

The panel concluded that the FLSA did not require an employer to reimburse any of these expenses, but now the whole court will get to share the fun.