Case ID: f-appx_698/html/0138-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Lorenzo Deshon STEPHENS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.
    No. 17-6192
    United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
    Submitted: September 27, 2017
    Decided: October 4, 2017
    Lorenzo Deshon Stephens, Appellant Pro Se. Marshall Prince, II, Assistant United States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina', for Appellee.
    Before KING, AGEE, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.
   Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:

Lorenzo Deshon Stephens seeks to appeal the district court’s order adopting in part the magistrate judge’s report, granting the Defendant’s motion to dismiss, and dismissing Stephens’ complaint without prejudice. This court may exercise jurisdiction only over final orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (2012), and certain interlocutory and collateral orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (2012); Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b); Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-46, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949). The district court identified deficiencies in two of Stephens’ claims that Stephens may be able to remedy by filing an amended complaint. Specifically, the district court dismissed Stephens’ breach of confidentiality claim for failure to allege that the person committing the wrongful act was a physician, and dismissed the negligence claim for failure to plead facts substantiating Stephéns’ alleged damages. Because Stephens might be able to cure these defects by filing an amendment to the complaint, we conclude that the order Stephens seeks to appeal is neither a final order nor an appealable interlocutory order. See Goode v. Cent. Va. Legal Aid Soc’y, Inc., 807 F.3d 619, 623-24 (4th Cir. 2015); Domino Sugar Corp. v. Sugar Workers Local Union 392, 10 F.3d 1064, 1066-67 (4th Cir.'1993). Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction and remand the case to the district court with instructions to allow Stephens to amend his complaint. Goode, 807 F.3d at 630. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED AND REMANDED