Opinion ID: 790378
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Standing To Appeal Dismissal of the Third-Party Complaint

Text: 39 The third-party defendants contend also that St. Paul lacks standing to appeal from so much of the district court's decision as dismissed UBS's third-party complaint against them. We agree. 40 Ordinarily, only a party aggrieved by a judgment or order of a district court may exercise the statutory right to appeal therefrom. Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326, 333, 100 S.Ct. 1166, 63 L.Ed.2d 427 (1980). Federal appellate jurisdiction is limited by the appellant's personal stake in the appeal. Id. at 336, 100 S.Ct. 1166. A party ordinarily has no standing to appeal from part of a judgment that dismisses a claim to which it was not a party. See, e.g., Bryant v. Technical Research Co., 654 F.2d 1337, 1343 (9th Cir.1981) (dismissing for lack of standing the defendant's appeal from so much of the judgment as dismissed two third-party defendants against which the defendant had not asserted a claim); see also St. Pierre v. Dyer, 208 F.3d 394, 399 (2d Cir.2000) (where third-party defendant had not been sued by the plaintiff, it had no status as a party to [the plaintiff's] appeal). 41 In the present case, UBS's third-party complaint asserted that TIG, AIU, and Royal were obligated to defend UBS with respect to claims asserted against it by St. Paul and to indemnify it if St. Paul prevailed. Although St. Paul seeks to challenge the dismissal of those claims, St. Paul was not a party to those claims. Application of the above principles leads to the conclusion that St. Paul lacks standing to challenge the dismissal of the third-party complaint. 42 St. Paul argues that it should be allowed to appeal the dismissal of the third-party claims because it has an interest in seeing that any judgment it wins against UBS will be collectible. However, under New York law, St. Paul does not have an interest sufficient to allow it to assert claims directly against TIG, AIU, or Royal as insurers of UBS unless St. Paul first obtains a judgment against UBS. See, e.g., Lang v. Hanover Insurance Co., 3 N.Y.3d 350, 352, 787 N.Y.S.2d 211, 212, 820 N.E.2d 855 (2004) (a judgment against the tortfeasor is a statutory condition precedent to a direct suit against the tortfeasor's insurer); id. at 355, 787 N.Y.S.2d at 214, 820 N.E.2d 855 (until it obtains a judgment against the tortfeasor, an injured party lacks standing to sue a tortfeasor's insurer). Given St. Paul's lack of standing to sue the third-party defendants directly, we surely see no reason to depart from the general principle that one lacks standing to challenge a judgment adjudicating a claim to which it was not a party. 43 In any event, given our conclusion in Part III below that St. Paul's claims were properly dismissed, any interest St. Paul may have had in the collectibility of a judgment upholding those claims is moot.