Latest Case: Sargeant v. Hall (Civil Procedure)

Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: The Supreme Court Considers Whether an Independent Agency with a Single Director Who Can Be Removed Only “For Cause” is Constitutional

RODGER CITRON

Rodger Citron, Associate Dean for Research & Scholarship and Professor of Law at Touro Law, comments on a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument this week that presents the question whether an independent agency with a single director who can be removed only “for cause” violates the separation of powers principle enshrined in the Constitution. Citron notes that the decision to hear the case is unusual in that there is no conflict among the federal appeals courts, but he points out that that the government’s support of the cert. petition and then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s dissent on the issue when it came before the D.C. Circuit likely helped the present case come before the Court.

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Sargeant v. Hall

Docket: 18-15205

Opinion Date: March 2, 2020

Judge: Jordan

Areas of Law: Civil Procedure

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(d) does not apply when a plaintiff, after dismissing the first federal action, files a subsequent action in state court. In this case, after voluntarily dismissing his federal action, plaintiff filed a second action in state court against defendant based on or including the same claim. The Eleventh Circuit held that the district court correctly determined that defendant was not entitled to costs under Rule 41(d) because plaintiff filed the second action against him in state court.