Opinion ID: 795600
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 16 We have jurisdiction to review final decisions of the district courts of the United States pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. In general, an order of civil contempt 2 is not final within the meaning of Section 1291 but is interlocutory and therefore may not be appealed until the entry of a final judgment in the underlying litigation. Int'l Bus. Machs. Corp., 493 F.2d at 114-15. Exceptions to this rule are rare, but where they occur it is because the interlocutory nature of the order is no longer present. Hence, civil contempts against non-parties are immediately appealable because the appeal does not interfere with the orderly progress of the main case. Id. at 115 n. 1 (emphasis added). However, civil contempt orders against parties are interlocutory and therefore not immediately appealable. Rather, they must await the termination of the underlying litigation. See In re von Bulow, 828 F.2d 94, 98 (2d Cir.1987). 17 Clare's status in the underlying litigation is therefore critical to whether we have jurisdiction over this appeal at this juncture. If he is a party, we may not now entertain his appeal, but if he is not a party, we may. As the district court recognized, and all parties have agreed, Clare is in fact not a party to the underlying litigation. Even the district court, who treated Clare as a party for the limited purposes of discovery, did not deem Clare a party for all purposes; thus, it is clear that Clare is not actually a party to the underlying litigation, and the contempt order is final, 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We therefore have jurisdiction over his appeal.