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No. 25-7506October Term 2025Before Arguments

Docket 25-7506October Term 2025 (2025–2026)

Sheila Foster, Petitioner v. Robert Jesel, et al.

from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Case status

Current stage
Before Arguments
Latest event
Accepted by the Court
Decision timing
No window until argument is scheduled.
Case AcceptedUpcoming
Arguments AheadUpcoming
Decision ReleasedUpcoming
What it's about

from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Question presented

1. Whether the six-month statute of limitations for a duty-of-fair-representation claim under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., is subject to equitable tolling when a union and its representatives repeatedly misrepresent that they are pursuing arbitration of an employee's grievance, thereby inducing the employee's reasonable delay in filing suit? 2. Whether a district court abuses its discretion by dismissing a complaint with prejudice on statute-of-limitations grounds, without permitting discovery or leave to amend, when the plaintiff has pleaded specific facts showing ongoing union misrepresentations and diligent inquiry that could support tolling under Del Costello v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151 (1983), and Fifth Circuit precedent? 3. Whether the Railway Labor Act's duty-of-fair-representation doctrine preempts state-law claims for breach of contract and misrepresentation when those claims arise solely from a union's failure to perform representational duties expressly set forth in a collective-bargaining agreement, or whether courts may instead apply uniform federal standards without selective invocation of preemption or choice-of-law principles?

Case path

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit / Accepted by the Court

Area

Business and Regulation

Timing

Expected by late June 2026, if argued this term

The Court granted review but has not yet scheduled oral argument. Once argued, the median case reaches a decision in 94 days. Nearly all cases are decided by the end of the term in which they are argued.

The Court does not announce decision dates in advance.Argument and decision days

Grounding

Grounding
Primary-source trail available.
Note
Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
Checked
Sep 1, 2026
Primary materials3