An ex-vice president of Fox News Latino lost an appeal of the dismissal of his fraud claims against the network’s owner, and now his attorney must convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that he should not face penalties for filing a frivolous appeal.

The panel in the case—composed of Circuit Judges Pierre Leval and Susan Carney, with District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sitting by designation—delivered setbacks to Francisco Cortes and also to his counsel, private attorney J.A. Sanchez-Dorta.