Background
In May 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas entered judgment dismissing Madeline Nicole Brown’s complaint against Daniel Eugene Abney. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit later dismissed Brown’s appeals as untimely.
On May 8, 2026, Brown filed a submission in the district court, which docketed it as a notice of appeal directed to the Federal Circuit. After no party responded to its July 23, 2026 show-cause order, the Federal Circuit considered whether it had jurisdiction over the appeal.
The Court’s Holding
The Federal Circuit dismissed the appeal as untimely. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a) and Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4, a notice of appeal generally must be received by the district court within 30 days after entry of the final judgment being appealed.
Brown’s notice of appeal, filed nearly two years after the district court’s May 2024 judgment, did not satisfy that deadline. Relying on Bowles v. Russell, the court explained that the statutory deadline is mandatory and jurisdictional and cannot be excused on equitable grounds. Because no court of appeals would have jurisdiction over the clearly untimely appeal, the court dismissed it and directed each party to bear its own costs.
Key Takeaways
- A notice of appeal from a district-court judgment generally must be received within 30 days after entry of judgment.
- The statutory deadline for filing a notice of appeal is mandatory and jurisdictional, leaving courts without authority to create equitable exceptions.
- An appeal filed nearly two years after judgment must be dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction.
Why It Matters
The nonprecedential order underscores that a late notice of appeal presents a jurisdictional defect, not merely a procedural irregularity. Litigants cannot rely on equitable considerations to revive an appeal filed outside the statutory period.