Opinion ID: 497956
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: a fish out of water?

Text: 8 We turn first to the question of appellate jurisdiction. Because the underlying action remains pending in the district court and future salvage rights remain up for grabs, the order awarding the artifacts to Marshallton is not a final decision[ ] in the sense required by 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291. See Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233, 65 S.Ct. 631, 633, 89 L.Ed. 911 (1945) (A 'final decision' generally is one which ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.). Thus, unless some other statute or rule confers jurisdiction, the appeal is not properly before us. 9 Although the waters are murky in this area of the law, we believe that 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(a)(3) has pertinence to the issue. That section provides as follows: 10 (a) ... the courts of appeals shall have jurisdiction of appeals from: 11