No. 25-7506October Term 2025Before Arguments
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.
- 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.
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Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Sep 1, 2026
- Method
- Methodology