Nicholas Services v. Glassdoor

── Nicholas Services v. Glassdoor ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: May 20, 2026 Category: Private Civil Diversity Case: 25-60327 Document: 58-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/20/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED May 20, 2026 No. 25-60327 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Nicholas Services, L.L.C., doing business as Nicholas Air; Corr Flight S., Incorporated, Plaintiffs—Appellants, versus Glassdoor, L.L.C., Defendant—Appellee. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi USDC No. 3:23-CV-448 ______________________________ Before Stewart, Graves, and Oldham, Circuit Judges. Andrew S. Oldham, Circuit Judge:1 The principal question presented is whether a party can lose a transfer motion in our circuit, wait until the transferred case is litigated to judgment in our sister circuit, and then use § 1291 jurisdiction to undo the long-ago- transferred-and-now-final decision. We hold it cannot. _____________________ 1 This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 25-60327 Document: 58-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/20/2026 No. 25-60327 I Nicholas Services, L.L.C., d/b/a Nicholas Air and Corr Flight S., Inc. own and operate a private aviation company based in Oxford, Mississippi. Nicholas Air holds the operating certificate and serves as the brand name, while Corr Flight employs the people who work for the business. Defendant Glassdoor L.L.C.’s website allows current and former employees to review their employers. The website invites employees to fill out a questionnaire that asks them to “rate” employers from one to five stars, and confirm whether they “recommend” their employer “to a friend” and “approve of the CEO.” ROA.172. (citations modified). It also asks them to list the pros and cons of working for the employer. If an employer has a pre- existing company profile, its employees’ reviews will attach to that profile. If not, Glassdoor creates a company profile that the employer can claim later. Nicholas Air and Corr Flight discovered a company profile for Nicholas Air on Glassdoor’s website. The profile featured negative reviews from supposed employees. Nicholas Air asked Glassdoor to take down the reviews. When that effort failed, Nicholas Air claimed its company profile so it could respond to the reviews. In doing so, Nicholas Air signed Glassdoor’s Terms of Use agreement, which has a forum selection clause that requires all relevant disputes to be litigated in California state court or the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Nonetheless, Nicholas Air and Corr Flight sued Glassdoor and thirty unnamed defendants in Mississippi state court. Relevant here, Nicholas Air and Corr Flight alleged that the negative reviews defamed them. Glassdoor removed the suit to federal court, then filed a motion to either dismiss or, in the alternative, to transfer the suit to the Northern District of California. 2  Case: 25-60327 Document: 58-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 05/20/2026