For appellate junkies only

This is a case for appellate junkies. The Court of Appeals decides whether it even has jurisdiction -- or authority -- to resolve the appeal. Actually, this is not just for appellate junkies. If you handle cases in the district court only, you have to know what to do to preserve your client's appellate rights. 

The case is Peralto v. New York City Dept. of Education, a summary order issued on September 16. This case involves the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), which grants certain rights to disabled students, including an Individual Education Plan (IEP). Plaintiff sought a preliminary injunction in the district court. On June 26, 2025, the SDNY said it did not resolve that motion and a decision will issue in due course. But plaintiff filed a notice of appeal on July 10, 2025, even before the court issued a ruling on the injunction. On July 15, the court formally denied the injunction. Two weeks later, plaintiff filed a motion in the Second Circuit to expedite appellate review, noting that plaintiff was challenging the district court's injunction ruling and explaining why that ruling was incorrect. Plaintiff never filed a formal notice of appeal.

Normally, we take up an appeal by filing a notice of appeal. That confers appellate jurisdiction upon the Court of Appeals. Without a formal notice of appeal, does the Second Circuit have the power to decide the appeal? Yes, says the Second Circuit (Calabresi, Carney and Perez). This is because courts will liberally construe the requirements under Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 3(c), which governs the filing of notices of appeal. The Court notes that "a document not styled as a notice of appeal may therefore serve as one if it is timely and gives the notice required by Rule 3."

The motion to expedite the appeal qualifies as a notice of appeal under FRAP 3 because it was timely and it identifies the denial of the preliminary injunction as the ruling plaintiff sought to challenge. It does not matter that the motion to expedite was filed in the Second Circuit and not the district court. While we are supposed to file the notice of appeal in the district court, filing that document in the Court of Appeals is not fatal under FRAP 4(d).

On the merits, plaintiff loses. The Court of Appeals finds the district court did not improperly deny the injunction request over the student's private school placement.