Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca4-16-01954/USCOURTS-ca4-16-01954-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Eileen Haase
Appellee
Johns Hopkins Universities
Appellee
Nicole Rena McCrea
Appellant
Dexter Smith
Appellee

Document Text:

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 16-1954

NICOLE RENA MCCREA,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITIES, Office of Institutional Equity 

Vice Provost of Institutional Equity; JOHNS HOPKINS 

UNIVERSITIES, Office of the Vice President and General 

Counsel; DEXTER SMITH; EILEEN HAASE,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of 

Maryland, at Baltimore. James K. Bredar, District Judge. 

(1:15-cv-00579-JKB)

Submitted: November 22, 2016 Decided: November 29, 2016

Before DIAZ and THACKER, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior 

Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Nicole Rena McCrea, Appellant Pro Se. Elena D. Marcuss, Adam 

Thomas Simons, MCGUIREWOODS, LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, for 

Appellees. 

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:

Nicole Rena McCrea seeks to appeal three of the magistrate 

judge’s discovery orders and the district court’s order denying 

her motion to certify an interlocutory appeal and for a stay 

pending appeal in her civil rights action. After McCrea filed 

her notice of appeal, the district court granted summary 

judgment for all Defendants and closed the case.

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 (1949). When a notice of appeal is premature, the entry of 

final judgment can cure the resulting jurisdictional defect 

under the doctrine of cumulative finality, but only if the 

appealed order could have been certified for intermediate appeal 

under Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). In re Bryson, 406 F.3d 284, 287-89

(4th Cir. 2005); Equip. Fin. Grp. v. Traverse Computer Brokers, 

973 F.2d 345, 347 (4th Cir. 1992).

The orders McCrea seeks to appeal are neither final orders

nor appealable interlocutory or collateral orders. Further, 

because the district court could not have certified these orders 

for immediate appeal under Rule 54(b), the cumulative finality 

doctrine cannot apply. Accordingly, we deny leave to proceed in 

forma pauperis and dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. 

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We deny McCrea’s motion for transcript at government expense and 

Defendants’ motion to place the case in abeyance. 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

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