Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/424/737/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 08:35:27+00:00

Document:
Interlocutory appeals under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) are appropriate only in cases involving multiple claims.
Wetzel sued the insurance provider of her employer, Liberty Mutual, on the grounds that it violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against women with regard to its employee insurance benefits and maternity leave rules. She sought money damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees, among other remedies. The trial court judge granted partial summary judgment to Wetzel, finding that there was no issue of material fact in dispute with regard to Liberty Mutual's liability. Later, the court issued an order of final judgment on this issue, but it neglected to grant any of the remedies that Wetzel had sought. She brought an interlocutory appeal, which the appellate court ruled that it could hear under 28 U.S.C. Section 1291. It affirmed the decision of the lower court.
There was only a single claim in this complaint, and it was based on one set of facts and one legal theory. The declaratory judgment issued by the lower court failed to address the remedies of damages, an injunction, and attorney fees that had been requested by the plaintiff. The order could be interpreted as an order refusing an injunction, since it failed to include the requested injunction, but it did not deny the injunction. Therefore, it could not have been heard by the appellate court on an interlocutory appeal.
The general rule is that only final judgments can be appealed, since an unsuccessful appeal imposes unnecessary costs. One could argue that prohibiting an interlocutory appeal also creates unnecessary costs because of the extra time and expense involved at the trial level, but trial judges are affirmed far more often than they are reversed, so the balance of potential costs favors this rule.
Respondents filed a complaint alleging that petitioner's employee insurance benefits and maternity leave regulations discriminated against its women employees in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and seeking injunctive relief, damages, costs, and attorneys' fees. After ruling in respondents' favor on their motion for a partial summary judgment on the issue of petitioner's liability under the Act, the District Court, upon denying petitioner's motion for reconsideration, issued an amended order stating that injunctive relief would be withheld because petitioner had filed an appeal and had asked for a stay of any injunction, and directing that, pursuant to Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 54(b), final judgment be entered for respondents, there being no just reason for delay. The Court of Appeals, holding that it had jurisdiction of petitioner's appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, affirmed on the merits.
1. The District Court's order was not appealable as a final decision under § 1291. Pp. 424 U. S. 742-744.
(a) Even assuming that the order was a declaratory judgment on the issue of liability, it nevertheless left unresolved and did not finally dispose of any of the respondents' prayers for relief. P. 424 U. S. 742.
(b) The order did not become appealable as a final decision pursuant to § 1291 merely because it made the recital required by Rule 54(b), since that Rule applies only to multiple claim actions in which one or more but less than all of the claims have been finally decided and are found otherwise ready for appeal, and does not apply to a single-claim action such as this one, where the complaint advanced a single legal theory that was applied to only one set of facts. Pp. 424 U. S. 742-744.
damages or other relief remain to be resolved, cannot be considered "final" within the meaning of § 1291. P. 424 U. S. 744.
2. Nor was the order appealable pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292's provisions for interlocutory appeals. Pp. 424 U. S. 744-745.
(a) Even if the order, insofar as it failed to include the requested injunctive relief, could be considered an interlocutory order refusing an injunction within the meaning of § 1292(a)(1), and thus would have allowed respondents then to obtain review in the Court of Appeals, there was no denial of any injunction sought by petitioner, and it could not avail itself of that grant of jurisdiction. Pp. 424 U. S. 744-745.
(b) Even if the order could be considered as an order that the District Court certified for immediate appeal pursuant to § 1292(b) as involving a controlling question of law as to which there was substantial ground for difference of opinion, it does not appear that petitioner applied to the Court of Appeals for permission to appeal within 10 days as required by § 1292(b); moreover, there can be no assurance, had the other requirements of § 1292(b) been met, that the Court of Appeals would have exercised its discretion to entertain the interlocutory appeal. P. 424 U. S. 745.
granted certiorari, 421 U.S. 987 (1975), and heard argument on the merits. Though neither party has questioned the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals to entertain the appeal, we are obligated to do so on our own motion if a question thereto exists. Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan R. Co. v. Swan, 111 U. S. 379 (1884). Because we conclude that the District Court's order was not appealable to the Court of Appeals, we vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals with instructions to dismiss petitioner's appeal from the order of the District Court.
"(a) requiring that defendant establish nondiscriminatory hiring, payment, opportunity, and promotional plans and programs;"
"(b) enjoining the continuance by defendant of the illegal acts and practices alleged herein;"
"(c) requiring that defendant pay over to plaintiffs and to the members of the class the damages sustained by plaintiffs and the members of the class by reason of defendant's illegal acts and practices, including adjusted backpay, with interest, and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, and exemplary damages;"
"(d) requiring that defendant pay to plaintiffs and to the members of the class the costs of this suit and a reasonable attorneys' fee, with interest; and"
"(e) such other and further relief as the Court deems appropriate."
"In its Order, the court stated it would enjoin the continuance of practices which the court found to be in violation of Title VII. The Plaintiffs were invited to submit the form of the injunction order, and the Defendant has filed Notice of Appeal and asked for stay of any injunctive order. Under these circumstances, the court will withhold the issuance of the injunctive order and amend the Order previously issued under the provisions of Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b), as follows:"
Plaintiffs upon these claims of Plaintiffs' Complaint; there being no just reason for delay."
Counsel for respondents when questioned during oral argument in this Court, suggested that at least the District Court's order of February 20 amounted to a declaratory judgment on the issue of liability pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2201. Had respondents sought only a declaratory judgment, and no other form of relief, we would, of course, have a different case. But even if we accept respondents' contention that the District Court's order was a declaratory judgment on the issue of liability, it nonetheless left unresolved respondents' requests for an injunction, for compensatory and exemplary damages, and for attorneys' fees. It finally disposed of none of respondents' prayers for relief.
The District Court and the Court of Appeals apparently took the view that, because the District Court made the recital required by Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 54(b) that final judgment be entered on the issue of liability, and that there was no just reason for delay, the orders thereby became appealable as a final decision pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We cannot agree with this application of the Rule and statute in question.
action. . . . It is limited expressly to multiple claims actions in which 'one or more but less than all' of the multiple claims have been finally decided and are found otherwise to be ready for appeal."
under the Rule, had it been applicable, those findings do not in a case such as this make the order appealable pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. See Mackey, supra at 351 U. S. 437-438.
We turn to consider whether the District Court's order might have been appealed by petitioner to the Court of Appeals under any other theory. The order, viewed apart from its discussion of Rule 54(b), constitutes a grant of partial summary judgment limited to the issue of petitioner's liability. Such judgments are by their terms interlocutory, see Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 56(c), and where assessment of damages or awarding of other relief remains to be resolved have never been considered to be "final" within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1291. See, e.g., Borges v. Art Steel Co., 243 F.2d 350 (CA2 1957); Leonidakis v. International Telecoin Corp., 208 F.2d 934 (CA2 1953); Tye v. Hertz Drivurself Stations, 173 F.2d 317 (CA3 1949); Russell v. Barnes Foundation, 136 F.2d 654 (CA3 1943). Thus, the only possible authorization for an appeal from the District Court's order would be pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1292.
order refusing an injunction within the meaning of § 1292(a)(1). But even if this would have allowed respondents to then obtain review in the Court of Appeals, there was no denial of any injunction sought by petitioner, and it could not avail itself of that grant of jurisdiction.
Nor was this order appealable pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). [Footnote 6] Although the District Court's findings made with a view to satisfying Rule 54(b) might be viewed as substantial compliance with the certification requirement of that section, there is no showing in this record that petitioner made application to the Court of Appeals within the 10 days therein specified. And that court's holding that its jurisdiction was pursuant to § 1291 makes it clear that it thought itself obliged to consider on the merits petitioner's appeal. There can be no assurance that had the other requirements of § 1292(b) been complied with, the Court of Appeals would have exercised its discretion to entertain the interlocutory appeal.
and the defendant would thereupon be permitted to appeal to the court of appeals without satisfying any of the requirements that Congress carefully set forth. We believe that Congress, in enacting present §§ 1291 and 1292 of Title 28, has been well aware of the dangers of an overly rigid insistence upon a "final decision" for appeal in every case, and has in those sections made ample provision for appeal of orders which are not "final" so as to alleviate any possible hardship. We would twist the fabric of the statute more than it will bear if we were to agree that the District Court's order of February 20, 1974, was appealable to the Court of Appeals.
The portion of the District Court's order concerning petitioner's hiring and promotion policies was separately appealed to a different panel of the Court of Appeals. The judgment rendered by the Third Circuit upon that appeal is not before us in this case. See Wetzel v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 508 F.2d 239, cert. denied, 421 U.S. 1011 (1975).
"Judgment upon multiple claims or involving multiple parties."
Following Mackey, the Rule was amended to insure that orders finally disposing of some but not all of the parties could be appealed pursuant to its provisions. That provision is not implicated in this case, however, to which Mackey's exposition of the Rule remains fully accurate.
We need not here attempt any definitive resolution of the meaning of what constitutes a claim for relief within the meaning of the Rules. See 6 J. Moore, Federal Practice ¦¦ 54.24, 54.33 (2d ed.1975). It is sufficient to recognize that a complaint asserting only one legal right, even if seeking multiple remedies for the alleged violation of that right, states a single claim for relief.
"The courts of appeals shall have jurisdiction of appeals from:"
"(1) Interlocutory orders of the district courts of the United States, the United States District Court for the District of the Canal Zone, the District Court of Guam, and the District Court of the Virginia Islands, or of the judges thereof, granting, continuing, modifying, refusing or dissolving injunctions, or refusing to dissolve or modify injunctions, except where a direct review may be had in the Supreme Court."

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