Opinion ID: 765093
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 17 The district judge concluded that jurisdiction did not exist under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a) because Judge Eisenberg's order on the lien issue in the plan proceeding was not an appealable final order. 4 Had it been final, the court added, the appeal from it would not have been timely under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 8001, which provides that a notice of appeal must be filed within ten days. 18 Judge Eisenberg's order was in fact not final when issued and had not become final by the date of Tudisco's appeal because the plan proceeding had not then concluded. Perhaps as a result, Tudisco never appealed from it. 5 Accordingly, we agree that the district court lacked jurisdiction to review any part of the plan proceeding. 19 The fact that the district court lacked jurisdiction over Judge Eisenberg's order in the plan proceeding, does not, however, mean that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the lien issue. Tudisco's complaint in the adversary proceeding raised both the dischargeability question and the lien issue. In order for Judge Conrad to dismiss the case with prejudice -- which he did -- he had to reach a decision on the merits of all the issues in Tudisco's complaint. Cf. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) (providing that an involuntary dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits). Therefore, a rejection of Tudisco's position on the lien issue was necessarily, if only implicitly, a part of the final dismissal order of the bankruptcy court. As a result, the district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158(a), and we, in turn, have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158(d) (giving the courts of appeals jurisdiction over final decisions by district courts).