Opinion ID: 3020033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: This Court Lacks Jurisdiction Over the Appeal

Text: This Court lacks jurisdiction over the appeal. Generally, only final orders of the district court are appealable. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Here, no final order has been issued. Moreover, the collateral order doctrine articulated in Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541 (1949), and its progeny is inapplicable. Often, orders denying qualified immunity are immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526-27 (1985). The instant order does not, however, deny the Governor’s qualified immunity; rather, it focuses on the Governor’s lack of irreparable injury and his delay in seeking summary judgment, all in the context of discovery. As such, the order does not “conclusively determine the disputed question” of 3 the Governor’s immunity and, therefore, is not appealable. Id. at 527 (quoting Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 468 (1978)); see also Schrob v. Catterson, 967 F.2d 929, 938 (3d Cir. 1992) (noting that “the finality aspect of the collateral order doctrine is not satisfied” when the order “conclusively determined the immunity issue [only] to the extent that it requires the appellants to engage in such limited discovery proceedings.”). Finally, the Governor’s argument that the District Court lacks jurisdiction over the case due to Blake’s failure to obtain a Right-to-Sue letter is best left to the District Court in the first instance.