Opinion ID: 604138
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Mellon Bank appeal

Text: 16 As noted above, Mellon instituted multiple actions in Pennsylvania state court that were removed to federal court on the basis of diversity and then consolidated. Nevertheless, the record suggested to us that one of the consolidated cases, Mellon Bank, N.A. v. Ferdinand C. Rodriguez and Maelecora P. Rodriguez; and Victor C. Rivera and Milagres Rivera, Civ.A. No. 90-796, had been removed improperly because the Riveras and Mellon are all Pennsylvania citizens. At oral argument the parties confirmed our suspicion. Thus, there is incomplete diversity in the consolidated Mellon Bank case. 17 However, this problem does not require us to dismiss the entire appeal. Rather, we exercise our discretion pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 21 to dismiss the action against the nondiverse, dispensable parties so that it otherwise may continue. See Newman-Green, Inc. v. Alfonzo-Larrain, 490 U.S. 826, 837, 109 S.Ct. 2218, 2225-26, 104 L.Ed.2d 893 (1989). Accordingly, we will vacate the judgment in Mellon Bank, N.A. v. Rodriguez, Civ.A. No. 90-796, and we instruct the district court to remand that case to the state court. 18 There is, however, a further jurisdictional problem in Mellon Bank. As noted above, the district court first granted Mellon summary judgment on the purchasers' fraud counterclaims, and thereafter granted Mellon summary judgment on its complaint. The latter opinion rejected the purchasers' affirmative defenses relating to Mellon's involvement in the alleged fraud. Mellon, relying on Elfman Motors, Inc. v. Chrysler Corp., 567 F.2d 1252, 1254 (3d Cir.1977), argues that we lack jurisdiction to hear the purchasers' appeal of the dismissal of the counterclaims because their notice of appeal did not state that they were appealing from that order of dismissal. However, the purchasers' appeal of the rejection of the affirmative defenses requires us to consider Mellon's involvement in the fraud and thus, as a practical matter, we can hardly avoid considering the merits of the purchasers' counterclaims. In these unique circumstances, and in keeping with the general rule of liberal construction of notices of appeal, we conclude that we have jurisdiction over the purchasers' appeals from the dismissal of the counterclaims. See Drinkwater v. Union Carbide Corp., 904 F.2d 853, 858 (3d Cir.1990) (construing notice of appeal from order granting summary judgment on remaining claims as including count on which summary judgment was granted earlier); Williams v. Guzzardi, 875 F.2d 46, 49-50 (3d Cir.1989) (construing notice of appeal from order dismissing post-trial motion for judgment n.o.v. as including unspecified prior order denying directed verdict motion); Gooding v. Warner-Lambert Co., 744 F.2d 354, 357 n. 4 (3d Cir.1984) (construing notice of appeal from order granting summary judgment on remaining claim as including prior order dismissing other claim).