Opinion ID: 182100
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: The district court has jurisdiction over this forfeiture action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1345 and 1355. We have interlocutory jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1) to review the district court's denial of preliminary injunctive relief. That jurisdiction does not extend to the district court's denial of Defendants' motion to dismiss, however, which is neither a final order appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, nor an interlocutory order immediately appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1292. Thus, although Defendants dedicate the greater portion of their briefs to the merits of their motion to dismiss, we may not reach that issue unless it falls within our pendent appellate jurisdiction, the scope of which we recently summarized as follows: The doctrine of pendent appellate jurisdiction allows an appellate court, in its discretion, to exercise jurisdiction over issues that are not independently appealable, but are inextricably intertwined with matters over which the appellate court properly and independently has jurisdiction. Chambers v. Ohio Dep't of Human Servs., 145 F.3d 793, 797 (6th Cir.1998). However, the inextricably intertwined requirement is not meant to be loosely applied as a matter of discretion. Id. Rather, the inextricably intertwined requirement is satisfied only if the resolution of the properly appealable issue necessarily and unavoidably decides the non-appealable issue. Wedgewood Ltd. P'ship I v. Twp. of Liberty, 610 F.3d 340, 348 (6th Cir.2010). A pendent appellate claim can be regarded as `inextricably intertwined' with a properly reviewable claim only if the pendent claim is `coterminous with, or subsumed in, the claim before the court on interlocutory appeal.' O'Bryan v. Holy See, 556 F.3d 361, 378 n. 7 (6th Cir.2009) (quoting Chambers, 145 F.3d at 797). Bates v. Dura Auto. Sys., Inc., 625 F.3d 283, 286-87 (6th Cir.2010). Because we are able to resolve the appealable issue, the propriety of the district court's denial of preliminary injunctive relief without reaching the non-appealable issue, its denial of Defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint, we cannot say that the two are inextricably intertwined. Therefore, we find no basis to review the motion to dismiss as part of this appeal.