Opinion ID: 2134533
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: We first consider whether the trial court's order disqualifying Ehlers' privately retained counsel is a final, appealable order. It is the duty of an appellate court to determine whether it has jurisdiction over the matter before it. State v. Lauck, supra . We have not previously considered whether an order disqualifying privately retained counsel in a criminal case is a final, appealable order. We have held that an order disqualifying court-appointed counsel in a criminal case is not a final, appealable order. See State v. Schlund, 249 Neb. 173, 542 N.W.2d 421 (1996). State v. Schlund , however, is applicable only in a criminal case involving court-appointed counsel. When a defendant in a criminal case chooses to privately retain counsel, he or she has a constitutional right to representation by the counsel of his or her choice. Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 108 S.Ct. 1692, 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988). In the civil context, we have held that an order disqualifying privately retained counsel generally is not a final order. See Richardson v. Griffiths, 251 Neb. 825, 560 N.W.2d 430 (1997). But, we have also held in civil cases that if an appeal from an order of disqualification involves issues collateral to the basic controversy and if an appeal from a judgment dispositive of the entire case would not be likely to protect the client's interests, interlocutory review is appropriate. Id. See, Mutual Group U.S. v. Higgins, supra ; Detter v. Schreiber, 259 Neb. 381, 610 N.W.2d 13 (2000); Hawkes v. Lewis, 255 Neb. 447, 586 N.W.2d 430 (1998). We conclude that this rule is applicable to the disqualification of privately retained counsel in a criminal case. In this case, delaying the appeal until after a dispositive judgment on the criminal charges would not protect Ehlers' constitutional interest in the counsel of his own choosing. We conclude that interlocutory review is appropriate and that we have jurisdiction over this appeal.