Opinion ID: 2226623
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Dismissal of Dakota Title as Party Defendant

Text: For an appellate court to acquire jurisdiction of an appeal, there must be a final order entered by the court from which the appeal is taken. Conversely, an appellate court is without jurisdiction to entertain appeals from nonfinal orders. Currie v. Chief School Bus Serv., 250 Neb. 872, 553 N.W.2d 469 (1996); City of Lincoln v. Twin Platte NRD, supra . Three types of final orders may be reviewed on appeal: (1) an order which affects a substantial right and which determines the action and prevents a judgment, (2) an order affecting a substantial right made during a special proceeding, and (3) an order affecting a substantial right made on summary application in an action after a judgment is rendered. Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 25-1902 and 25-1911 (Reissue 1995); Currie v. Chief School Bus Serv., supra ; Rohde v. Farmers Alliance Mut. Ins. Co., 244 Neb. 863, 509 N.W.2d 618 (1994); Jarrett v. Eichler, 244 Neb. 310, 506 N.W.2d 682 (1993). However, to be final, an order must dispose of the whole merits of the case. When no further action of the court is required to dispose of a pending cause, the order is final. If the cause is retained for further action, the order is interlocutory. Olsen v. Olsen, 248 Neb. 393, 534 N.W.2d 762 (1995). In Currie v. Chief School Bus Serv., supra , we held that a district court order sustaining the defendant's motion for summary judgment which dismissed the plaintiff's negligence claim with prejudice is a final, appealable order because it affects substantial rights of the plaintiff and was made during a special proceeding, notwithstanding the fact the district court still had pending before it the defendant's counterclaim. Tess asserts that the May 4, 1995, district court order was a final, appealable order because, in effect, it dismissed with prejudice his negligence cause of action against both appellees and, at the same time, dismissed with prejudice Dakota Title as a defendant in the lawsuit. Appellees argue that the district court order was not a final, appealable order because the court did not completely dispose of all matters alleged in the suit. Tess may protect his interest by appealing the court's order at the conclusion of the litigation with respect to Tess' contract cause of action against Lawyers Title still pending before the district court. In Green v. Village of Terrytown, 188 Neb. 840, 199 N.W.2d 610 (1972), we held that an order which effects a dismissal with respect to one of multiple defendants in a negligence action was a final, appealable order as to the defendant dismissed. In Green, this court recognized the competing interests at stake. [A] paramount consideration is to be liberal in permitting appeals, but, on the other hand, that piecemeal or successive appeals are not desirable. It would appear there is a further consideration, namely that where there are multiple defendants and the action is dismissed as to one defendant, that defendant no longer has a voice in the determination of the litigation and if the remaining parties permit the litigation to drag on for months or years, he has no way of bringing an end to the litigation or ascertaining whether or not it has been finally determined as to him. This is a very important consideration in determining whether or not such an order of dismissal is a final order. Id. at 841, 199 N.W.2d at 611. Green controls the instant case. The district court order sustaining appellees' motion for summary judgment completely dismissed Dakota Title from the lawsuit. Accordingly, the order was a final, appealable order, and Tess is correct to assert that the Court of Appeals erred in dismissing his appeal in regard to Dakota Title.