Legacy Recovery Services, LLC, dba Legacy House, et al. v. City of Monroe, Louisiana, et al.
Do federal courts have authority to create pleading requirements beyond the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and when does a Rule 12 dismissal order become sufficiently 'final' for appellate review?
1. Do the lower federal courts have authority to create pleading requirements for civil rights complaints above what is required under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure? 2. Is a complaint subject to dismissal under Rule 12 where the dismissal order announced heighten pleadings standards while denying plaintiffs any chance to amend the dismissed claims to conform to the new pleading standard s and no reason was given for refusal to permit amendment ? 3. Is the erroneous refusal to permit amendment of claims dismissed with prejudice under Rule 12 sufficiently “final” for the purposes of invoking appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291? 4. Does Rule 15’s mandate to grant leave to amend “when justice so requires”, confer appellate jurisdiction, ipso facto , over erroneous denials of that mandate? 5. Is a result described by this Court as “entirely contrary to the spirit of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure” a sufficiently “important public interest” or “value of high order” to warrant review under the collateral order doctrine? 6. Should this Court resolve disagreement among the Circuits to harmonize the finality rule as it relates to amendment, particularly in terms of claims dismissed under Rule 12 ?