Court Opinion

ID: 9929728
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-03 21:00:43.597451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:46:55.449109
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 23-1974      Doc: 24         Filed: 02/02/2024    Pg: 1 of 3

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 23-1974

        SUNDAY EGAHI,

                            Plaintiff - Appellant,

                     v.

        MERRICK GARLAND, Attorney General of the United States; ALEJANDRO
        MAYORKAS, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; DANIEL M.
        RENAUD, Director of the USCIS Vermont Service Center; SUSAN DIBBINS,
        Director, USCIS Administrative Appeals Office; UR JADDOU, Director, United
        States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS),

                            Defendants - Appellees.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.
        Lydia Kay Griggsby, District Judge. (1:21-cv-02938-LKG)

        Submitted: January 30, 2024                                       Decided: February 2, 2024

        Before KING, AGEE, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

        Remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        Simon Yehuda Sandoval-Moshenberg, MURRAY OSORIO PLLC, Fairfax, Virginia, for
        Appellant. Shane Alan Young, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
        Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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        PER CURIAM:

               Sunday Egahi seeks to appeal the district court’s order granting Defendants’ motion

        to dismiss Egahi’s civil action filed under the Administrative Procedure Act. Defendants

        move to dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction, asserting that the notice of appeal was

        not timely filed. Egahi opposes dismissal.

               When the United States or its officer or agency is a party in a civil case, parties are

        accorded 60 days after the entry of the district court’s final judgment or order to note an

        appeal, Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(B), unless the district court extends the appeal period under

        Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(5), or reopens the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6). “[T]he

        timely filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case is a jurisdictional requirement.” Bowles

        v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007).

               The district court entered its dispositive order on July 12, 2023. Egahi did not file

        his notice of appeal until September 12, 2023—the day after the appeal period expired, but

        within the 30-day excusable neglect period. While he did not request an extension of the

        appeal period in the pro se notice of appeal, Egahi’s counseled response in opposition to

        Defendants’ motion to dismiss expressly seeks additional time to appeal and offers reasons

        to excuse the untimely filing.

               We construe Egahi’s response as a motion for an extension of time under Rule

        4(a)(5) and remand the case to the district court for a determination of whether Egahi has

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USCA4 Appeal: 23-1974      Doc: 24         Filed: 02/02/2024     Pg: 3 of 3

        shown excusable neglect or good cause warranting an extension of the appeal period. ∗ The

        record, as supplemented, will then be returned to this court for further consideration. We

        defer acting on Defendants’ motion to dismiss.

                                                                                     REMANDED

               ∗
                 Under Rule 4(a)(5), the district court may extend the time to appeal if (i) a party
        moves for an extension of time within 30 days of the expiration of the appeal period and
        (ii) shows excusable neglect or good cause.

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