Opinion ID: 165825
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Dichter's Appeal

Text: 127 In addition to appealing the denial of their motion to intervene, which we have dismissed as moot, see discussion supra Part III.A, Dichter, not a party to the original proceeding, is attempting to appeal the final judgment entered in favor of Appellees. 32 The rule that only parties to a lawsuit, or those that properly become parties, may appeal an adverse judgment is well settled. Marino v. Ortiz, 484 U.S. 301, 304, 108 S.Ct. 586, 98 L.Ed.2d 629 (1988) (per curiam). In Devlin v. Scardelletti, the Supreme Court excepted from this general rule unnamed class members who have objected to a class settlement at the fairness hearing because [t]o hold otherwise would deprive nonnamed class members of the power to preserve their own interests in a settlement that will ultimately bind them, despite their expressed objections before the trial court. 536 U.S. 1, 10, 122 S.Ct. 2005, 153 L.Ed.2d 27 (2002); see also In re Integra Realty Res., Inc., 354 F.3d 1246, 1256-58 (10th Cir.2004) (discussing the import of Devlin ). Dichter is not objecting to a class settlement but instead attempting to challenge subject matter jurisdiction. This court must address subject matter jurisdiction regardless of Dichter's appeal, thus the rationale behind the exception in Devlin does not apply. Moreover, because we have already granted Dichter's motion to intervene in Elliott's appeal and also determined that the district court erroneously relied on a theory of aggregation when it concluded subject matter jurisdiction existed over the putative class, Dichter's primary argument in support of their right to appeal is, as a practical matter, moot. The motion to dismiss those portions of Dichter's appeal that do not relate to the district court's denial of Dichter's motion to intervene is therefore granted.