A federal appeals court has referred a writ petition to a motions panel that challenges U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s pretrial orders preventing lawyers in a case against Logitech Inc. from engaging in settlement talks before class certification.

Thursday’s order, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, came after Alsup, of the Northern District of California, defended his pretrial orders as necessary to protect the interests of absent class members.