Opinion ID: 383662
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Giambrone

Text: 26 The treatment of Giambrone is somewhat more complex. The federal defendants argue that the appeals taken before Giambrone was dismissed gave this Court no jurisdiction, but that the docketing of those attempted appeals made ineffective the district court's November 19 attempt to amend its September 21 order to reflect the dismissal of Giambrone. In addition they contend that even if the September 21 order were deemed amended by Judge Burke's November 19 letter, no appeal would lie because the dismissal of Giambrone was never embodied in a judgment. 11 We are not persuaded. 27 As originally entered, the orders of September 21 and October 25 were not appealable because neither of them dealt with the claims against Giambrone. We agree that in those circumstances the attempted appeals did not give us jurisdiction. Judge Burke's letter of November 19, however, authorized the Clerk of the district court to correct a typographical error in the order of September 21, to include the dismissal of the complaint as against Giambrone. The question is whether the district court had retained jurisdiction to make the correction. 28 Normally the filing of a timely and sufficient notice of appeal immediately transfers jurisdiction, as to any matters involved in the appeal, from the district court to the court of appeals. Once a proper appeal is taken, the district court may generally take action only in aid of the appeal or to correct clerical errors as allowed by the Federal Rules of Civil (or Criminal) Procedure. 12 See 9 Moore's Federal Practice P 203.11 (2d ed. 1980). Whether or not the filing of a notice of appeal from a non-appealable order also immediately divests the district court of jurisdiction to proceed as to the matters involved in the purported appeal is not answered by the Rules themselves, and the courts which have considered the question have divided. 13 Compare United States v. Hitchmon, 602 F.2d 689 (5th Cir. 1979) (en banc); Hodgson v. Mahoney, 460 F.2d 326, 328 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1039, 93 S.Ct. 519, 34 L.Ed.2d 488 (1972); Ruby v. Secretary of the United States Navy, 365 F.2d 385, 388-89 (9th Cir. 1966) (en banc), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 1011, 87 S.Ct. 1358, 18 L.Ed.2d 442 (1967); Euziere v. United States, 266 F.2d 88, 91 (10th Cir. 1959), vacated on other grounds, 364 U.S. 282, 80 S.Ct. 1615, 4 L.Ed.2d 1720 (1960), holding that the district courts retained jurisdiction, with Williams v. Bernhardt Bros. Tugboat Serv., Inc., 357 F.2d 883 (7th Cir. 1966); District 65, Distributive, Processing & Office Workers Union v. McKague, 216 F.2d 153 (3d Cir. 1954), holding to the contrary. District courts in this circuit have taken the position that such an attempted appeal does not deprive them of the power to proceed, Browning Debenture Holders' Committee v. DASA Corp., 454 F.Supp. 88 (S.D.N.Y.1978); Weisman v. Darneille, 79 F.R.D. 389 (S.D.N.Y.1978); Lowenschuss v. Kane, 392 F.Supp. 59 (S.D.N.Y.1974), 14 and we find this to be the preferable view. While greater certainty as to district court power results from the more rigid rule that any filing of a notice of appeal divests the district court of jurisdiction as to the matters covered by the notice, we see no efficiency to be gained by allowing a party arbitrarily to halt the district court proceedings by filing a plainly unauthorized notice which confers on this Court the power to do nothing but dismiss the appeal. Hence we conclude that the district court retained power to correct the judgment of September 24 to reflect its dismissal of the action against Giambrone. 29 A related question is whether we are deprived of jurisdiction to hear the appeal from the now final order below on the ground that the notice of appeal was premature. Some courts have taken a strict view that the court of appeals must have jurisdiction of the appeal, if at all, at the time the notice is filed. See, e. g., Williams v. Bernhardt Bros. Tugboat Serv., Inc., supra. Others have deemed premature appeals to be validated by subsequent events. See, e. g., Lemke v. United States, 346 U.S. 325, 74 S.Ct. 1, 98 L.Ed. 3 (1953); Richerson v. Jones, 551 F.2d 918, 922 (3d Cir. 1977); Tilden Financial Corp. v. Palo Tire Serv. Inc., 596 F.2d 604, 606-07 (3d Cir. 1979); Plummer v. United States, 580 F.2d 72 (3d Cir. 1978); Morris v. Uhl & Lopez Eng'rs, Inc., 442 F.2d 1247, 1250-51 (10th Cir. 1971); Markham v. Holt, 369 F.2d 940 (5th Cir. 1966); Ruby v. Secretary of the United States Navy, 365 F.2d 385 (9th Cir. 1966) (en banc), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 1011, 87 S.Ct. 1358, 18 L.Ed.2d 442 (1967). See also 9 Moore's Federal Practice P 204.14 (2d ed. 1980); 15 C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3915 at 599-600 (1976). 15 In the absence of prejudice to the nonappealing party, this Court too has declined to dismiss premature notices of appeal where subsequent actions of the district court have imbued the order appealed from with finality. See, e. g., Sanchez v. Maher, 560 F.2d 1105, 1107 n. 2 (2d Cir. 1977) (appeal allowed where notice of appeal filed after the decision but before entry of judgment; judgment not entered until after argument of the appeal); Gumer v. Shearson, Hammill & Co., 516 F.2d 283 (2d Cir. 1974) (appeal allowed where, after notice of appeal had been filed, district court entered Rule 54(b) certification nunc pro tunc ); Kaufman & Ruderman, Inc. v. Cohn & Rosenberger, 177 F.2d 849 (2d Cir. 1949) (appeal decided on merits, with permission granted to seek Rule 54(b) certification, nunc pro tunc ). The defendants in the present case have not indicated any respect in which they would be better off if the appeal had been taken after the November 19 correction, rather than before. We therefore treat the premature notice of appeal as having been timely filed after the dismissals by the district court became final orders. 30 Finally, we do not find the absence of an actual judgment embodying the dismissal of Giambrone fatal to our jurisdiction. Although Fed.R.Civ.P. 58 requires that a judgment be set forth on a separate document, 16 this requirement is intended merely to pinpoint, principally for the benefit of the appellant, the commencement of time for filing a notice of appeal. Thus, in Bankers Trust Co. v. Mallis, 435 U.S. 381, 98 S.Ct. 1117, 55 L.Ed.2d 357 (1978), the Supreme Court held that appellate jurisdiction could properly be assumed even though the separate document requirement had not been met: 31 Certainty as to timeliness, however, is not advanced by holding that appellate jurisdiction does not exist absent a separate judgment. If, by error, a separate judgment is not filed before a party appeals, nothing but delay would flow from requiring the court of appeals to dismiss the appeal. Upon dismissal, the district court would simply file and enter the separate judgment, from which a timely appeal would then be taken. Wheels would spin for no practical purpose. 32 Id. at 385, 98 S.Ct. at 1120 (footnote omitted). The Court in Bankers Trust noted that the district court had clearly intended that its opinion and order be the final decision in the case, (a) judgment of dismissal was recorded in the district clerk's docket, and the appellee did not object to the taking of the appeal in the absence of a separate judgment. In those circumstances, the Court held, the parties should be deemed to have waived the separate document requirement and a court of appeals can properly take jurisdiction. Id. at 387-88, 98 S.Ct. at 1121. See Elfenbein v. Gulf & Western Industries, Inc., 590 F.2d 445, 449 (2d Cir. 1978); Turner v. Air Transport Lodge 1894, 585 F.2d 1180 (2d Cir. 1978). 33 While the facts of the present case are somewhat different, the rationale of Bankers Trust requires that we not spin our wheels here by dismissing for lack of a judgment. Judge Burke clearly intended the September 21 order, as corrected by the November 19 letter, and as supplemented by the October 25 order, to be his final decision in the case, and separate judgments were actually entered prior to his correction of the typographical omission of Giambrone from the September order. All that remained was the ministerial task of making the mandated correction of the September judgment already entered, instruction for which has itself now been entered in the docket. 34 We do not believe the interests of any party will be harmed by our refusal to dismiss at this stage. Giambrone has not objected to the taking of this appeal in the absence of a judgment in his favor. It is true that the federal defendants have objected, but they have not shown any respect in which they have been prejudiced; since final dismissals have been ordered as to all served defendants, it is difficult to see how the temporary technical defect as to Giambrone could prejudice any defendant. We therefore will instruct the Clerk of the district court to make the appropriate correction upon receipt of our mandate, and for present purposes we treat such correction as having been made. We now turn to the merits of the appeal.