Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-16-04093/USCOURTS-ca10-16-04093-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Perkumpulan Investor Crisis Center Dressel WBG
Appellee
Jared Sherer
Appellant
Michelle Sherer
Appellant

Document Text:

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

_________________________________

PERKUMPULAN INVESTOR CRISIS 

CENTER DRESSEL WBG, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

JARED SHERER; MICHELLE SHERER, 

 Defendants - Appellants.

No. 16-4093

(D.C. No. 2:12-CV-00952-DN)

(D. Utah)

_________________________________

ORDER

_________________________________

Before LUCERO, MATHESON, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________

This matter is before us sua sponte to consider whether we have jurisdiction to 

consider this appeal. Michelle and Jared Sherer seek to appeal the “Amended Judgment 

in a Civil Case for Attorney’s Fees” entered by the clerk of the district court on April 20, 

2016. The district court first awarded attorney’s fees on August 6, 2013. The amended 

judgment incorporated additional attorney’s fees awarded by the district court on May 12, 

2015. The Sherers filed their notice of appeal on May 18, 2016. Because we conclude 

the notice of appeal was untimely, we dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

***

The timely filing of a notice of appeal is both mandatory and jurisdictional. 

Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007). In a civil case, the notice of appeal “must 

FILED

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit

May 25, 2016

Elisabeth A. Shumaker

Clerk of Court

Appellate Case: 16-4093 Document: 01019627284 Date Filed: 05/25/2016 Page: 1 
2

be filed with the district clerk within 30 days after entry of the judgment or order 

appealed from.” Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A). 

The date of entry of judgment for purposes of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 

4(a) depends on whether a separate document is required by Federal Rule of Civil 

Procedure 58(a). Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(7). A separate document is not required for an 

order disposing of a motion for attorney’s fees. Fed. R. Civ. P. 58(a)(3); Zinna v.

Congrove, 755 F.3d 1177, 1181 n.2 (10th Cir. 2014); see also Feldman v. Olin Corp., 

673 F.3d 515, 516-17 (7th Cir. 2012) (explaining that, since the 2002 amendment to Rule 

58, an award of attorney’s fees is the type of judgment for which a separate document is 

not required). Thus, judgment entered for purposes of Rule 4(a) on May 12, 2015, when 

the district court entered its order granting the plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees. Fed. 

R. App. P. 4(a)(7)(A)(i).

On May 21, 2015, the Sherers filed a motion to reconsider the May 12 order. This 

motion suspended the time to appeal until the district court denied it on May 26, 2015. 

Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(4)(A) (providing when a party timely files any of the enumerated 

motions, the time to appeal runs from entry of the order disposing of the last such 

motion). The time to appeal expired 30 days later, on June 25, 2015. The Sherers’ notice 

of appeal, filed May 18, 2016, was not timely to appeal the May 12 award of attorney’s 

fees.

Moreover, even if a separate document were required for an award of attorney’s 

fees, judgment would have entered by operation of rule on October 9, 2015, 150 days 

after entry of the district court’s May 12, 2015 order. Fed. R. Civ. P. 58(c)(2); Fed. R. 

Appellate Case: 16-4093 Document: 01019627284 Date Filed: 05/25/2016 Page: 2 
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App. P. 4(a)(7)(A)(ii). The time to appeal would have expired 30 days after that, on 

November 9, 2015. The Sherers’ notice of appeal would still be untimely.

For purposes of the timeliness of this appeal, it does not matter that the clerk of the 

district court actually entered an amended judgment by separate document on April 20, 

2016. When a separate document is required by Rule 58(a), Federal Rule of Appellate 

Procedure 4(a)(7) provides that judgment enters when the earlier of these two events 

occurs:

• The judgment or order is set forth on a separate document, or

• 150 days have run from entry of the judgment or order in the civil docket under 

Fed. R. Civ. P. 79(a).

Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(7)(A)(ii). October 9, 2015, being earlier than April 20, 2016, is the 

date that would be used for calculating the time to appeal if a separate document were 

required.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

Entered for the Court

ELISABETH A. SHUMAKER, Clerk

by: Jane K. Castro

 Counsel to the Clerk

Appellate Case: 16-4093 Document: 01019627284 Date Filed: 05/25/2016 Page: 3