Opinion ID: 760166
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Factors Four and Five: Oft-repeated error and new

Text: 27 questions of law. 28 The fourth and fifth Bauman factors are the opposite sides of the same coin, Admiral Ins., 881 F.2d at 1491, but it is certainly possible that, as here, neither of them might exist in a particular case. The fifth factor--the existence of a new and important question of law--is not present because this court's decision in Beeler (which was decided prior to Kelly III ) had already confirmed the availability of equitable tolling of the AEDPA's time bar. Thus, the district court's invocation of tolling in this case is merely the application of Beeler to a particular set of facts. It does not support the existence of the fifth Bauman factor. 29 The fourth factor is not present either, despite the disagreement between the district court and the three-judge panel about how broadly to read the panel's opinion in Kelly III. The district court apparently took Kelly III to foreclose only those grounds for tolling actually discussed in Kelly III, while the panel majority gave Kelly III a much broader reading. See Kelly IV, 1998 WL 309923. A disagreement about the scope of a prior appellate ruling is not an uncommon occurrence in a hierarchical judicial system, and it does not normally merit correction by mandamus. If such a disagreement happened repeatedly, we might label it an oft-repeated error or a persistent disregard of the federal rules, Bauman, 557 F.2d at 655, thereby justifying mandamus. But that has not happened in these cases. 30