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Limits on federal court review

Ricky Kamdem-Ouaffo v. Colgate Palmolive

Updated Nov 12, 2026

In brief

Where it stands
Petition Pending

Awaiting an order on the petition

No decision timeline until the Court agrees to hear the case.

What it’s about
Ricky Kamdem-Ouaffo filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review what he describes as the Federal Circuit’s refusal to consider motions to undo rulings in separate federal patent and fraud-on-the-court cases.
What's at stake
Kamdem-Ouaffo says the Federal Circuit’s approach blocked review of his separate patent, trade-secret and fraud-on-the-court claims; the Supreme Court has not agreed to hear the case.

Summary: written with AI from the case record.

What it's about

He argues that the remand-review bar was improperly applied across cases, affecting his challenges to state-court orders and his patent and trade-secret claims.

The petition asks how a federal law limiting appeals from orders sending cases back to state court applies to claims in separate federal cases.

Question presented

1. Whether 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d)’s appellate-review bar permits a court of appeals to deny review of Rule 60(b)(4) and Rule 60(b)(6) motions in separate original federal patent and fraud-on-the-court actions by giving cross-suit preclusive effect to an unreviewable remand order, despite the twelve-circuit consensus that unreviewable remand orders and remand-related jurisdictional findings carry no such preclusive effect, and this Court’s decision in Royal Canin U.S.A., Inc. v. Wullschleger, recognizing that a post-removal amended complaint may establish federal jurisdiction going forward. 2. Whether a court of appeals may treat a challenge to a state court’s total lack of subject-matter jurisdiction as waived or forfeited, thereby permitting 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d) to shield state-court orders entered during the mandatory 28 U.S.C. § 1446(d) removal stay—orders this Court’s precedents treat as “absolutely void,” ultra vires, and coram non judice. 3. Whether Article III and the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause permit lower federal courts to expand 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d)’s remand-review bar into a cross-suit shield that forecloses merits adjudication and appellate review of independent original federal patent, trade-secret, and fraud-on-the-court claims, where that expansion allegedly deprived Petitioner of an Article III forum and caused the uncompensated loss of protected trade-secret and patent-related property interests.

What happens next

The Court must decide whether to hear the case. No oral argument or decision date is set.

Documents

1

Docket activity

6
  • Case data updated: title

    Nov 12, 2026 · Court records

  • New analysis added

    Nov 12, 2026 · Court records

  • AI analysis generated: Case Briefing

    Nov 12, 2026 · Generated

  • Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata

    Nov 12, 2026 · Court records

  • Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata

    Nov 12, 2026 · Court records

Show 1 more
  • Brief added: Petition

    Oct 5, 2026 · Court records

Sources

Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.

Checked Nov 12, 2026Methodology

Court records and filings

Reporting and analysis