A plaintiffs firm that was disqualified from handling a high-profile lawsuit against Uber Technologies got a step closer to being let back into the case Wednesday when a federal appellate court asked the ride-hailing company to weigh in on the firm's appeal.

Two judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asked Uber's lawyers to address arguments raised by the Keller Lenkner law firm, which was knocked out of the case in January due to one of the firm's lawyer's prior work alongside Uber on cases during an earlier stint as the top appellate counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Ninth Circuit order, issued by Judges Diarmuid O'Scannlain and Paul Watford, said the firm's petition for review “raises issues that warrant an answer.” The court gave Uber's lawyers at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius two weeks to file a response. The Ninth Circuit also offered U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California, who issued the order disqualifying Keller Lenkner, the option of responding to the firm's arguments under the same deadline.