On December 1, 2021, several welcome amendments to Rule 3 of the
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure will take effect (barring
highly unlikely Congressional action). These changes clarify and
simplify the requirements for notices of appeal.
First, the amendments make clear that a notice of appeal
encompasses all interlocutory orders that merge into the designated
judgment or appealable order. Appellants need not specifically
designate such interlocutory orders in the notice.
Those provisions eliminate a waiver trap that some courts had
created by holding that an appellant's designation of certain
interlocutory orders in the notice of appeal excluded review of
undesignated orders. The amendments provide that designations of
specific orders will not limit the scope of the notice of appeal
without an express statement that the notice is so limited.
