Opinion ID: 787501
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 11 We may review the denial of Marriott's motion to compel arbitration under 9 U.S.C. § 16(a)(1)(B), which provides for jurisdiction over appeals from orders denying a petition under [9 U.S.C. § 4] to order arbitration to proceed[.] 12 Marriott questions whether we have jurisdiction over CTF's cross-appeal of the District Court's stay, and has moved to dismiss CTF's appeal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Marriott argues that the stay is not a final order and is therefore not appealable. We agree that a stay is usually not a final order because it provides only a temporary respite from litigation. Marcus v. Twp. of Abington, 38 F.3d 1367, 1370 (3d Cir.1994). However, when a stay amounts to an effective dismissal of the underlying suit, it may be subjected to appellate review. Cheyney State Coll. Faculty v. Hufstedler, 703 F.2d 732, 735 (3d Cir.1983) (citing Moses H. Cone Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 103 S.Ct. 927, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983)); see also United States v. Spears, 859 F.2d 284, 287 (3d Cir.1988) (holding that appellate review was effectively foreclosed unless we exercised pendent jurisdiction because the issues would become moot and untouchable because of the procedural limbo in which the decision placed the case). We have also recognized that an indefinite stay order that unreasonably delays a plaintiff's right to have its case heard is appealable. Hufstedler, 703 F.2d at 735; see also Haberern v. Lehigh & New England Ry., 554 F.2d 581, 584 (3d Cir.1977) (holding that a stay order of indefinite length which singles out a claim for extended delay, while others of a similar nature proceed, is appealable). 13 Here, the District Court decided two important legal issues. First, it found the 1999 agreement did not require CTF to arbitrate the Molloy and audit disputes in CTF's complaint. Second, it delayed CTF's litigation so that it would not proceed until after the arbitration between HPI and Marriott was resolved. In a very practical sense, CTF—which admittedly has the right to bring suit in the federal court—has been blocked from proceeding in that forum until the issues are resolved in the arbitration. 14 The stay order at issue here is not indefinite per se because the District Court stated that it would reconsider [the stay] if it appears that the arbitration is not proceeding apace. There is, however, no way of foretelling how long CTF's suit must remain in limbo. Moreover, we see no way for CTF to attempt to expedite HPI's arbitration with Marriott because CTF is not a party to it. 15 If CTF's suit must suffer indeterminate delay pending the outcome of HPI's arbitration with Marriott, CTF will be without any way of challenging the propriety of the District Court's stay or the procedural limbo that inevitably results from it. CTF will certainly not be able to challenge the order at the conclusion of that arbitration because the stay will become moot and unreviewable. Time only runs in one direction. Accordingly, we can not correct any error the District Court may have made in staying CTF's suit unless we review it now. 16 We have recognized the concept of pendent appellate jurisdiction where a case is rife with special circumstances which bring it outside the general rule and so limit its precedential value as to not measurably weaken our continued aversion to piecemeal appeals. Haberern, 554 F.2d at 584. However, in Swint v. Chambers Cty. Comm'n., 514 U.S. 35, 48, 115 S.Ct. 1203, 131 L.Ed.2d 60 (1995), the Supreme Court counsel[ed] resistance to expansion of appellate jurisdiction . . .. In doing so, however, the Court noted that it had not universally required courts of appeals to confine review to the precise decision independently subject to appeal. Id. at 50, 115 S.Ct. 1203 (citing Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 476 U.S. 747, 755-57, 106 S.Ct. 2169, 90 L.Ed.2d 779 (1986)). Swint did not resolve whether or when it may be proper for a court of appeals, with jurisdiction over one ruling, to review, conjunctively, related rulings that are not themselves independently appealable. 514 U.S. at 50-51, 115 S.Ct. 1203. 17 Following Swint, we concluded that the Supreme Court had limited the doctrine of pendent appellate jurisdiction to two circumstances: inextricably intertwined orders or review of the non-appealable order where it is necessary to ensure meaningful review of the appealable order. E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co. v. Rhone Poulenc Fiber & Resin Intermediates, S.A.S., 269 F.3d 187, 203 (3d Cir.2001). As Judge Smith correctly points out, the merits of the District Court's stay order here involve consideration of myriad factors affecting judicial economy, the `hardship or inequity' that Marriott would face in going forward with the litigation, and the injury that a stay would inflict on CTF. Concurring and Dissenting Op. at 140 (citing Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254-55, 57 S.Ct. 163, 81 L.Ed. 153 (1936)). As our colleague also points out, those considerations are distinct from the questions of contract interpretation presented in Marriott's appeal. Id. The fact that they are distinct does not mean, however, that they are not intertwined. 18 Since the District Court's stay order would be unreviewable and moot at the conclusion of HPI's arbitration with Marriott, the umbilical connection between it and the District Court's stay is not neatly severed. As will be evident from our discussion below, there is sufficient overlap in the facts relevant to both the appealable and non-appealable issues to warrant plenary review. Palcko v. Airborne Express, Inc., 372 F.3d 588, 594 (3d Cir.2004) (emphasis in original) (quoting E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co., 269 F.3d at 203). The case is therefore rife with special circumstances allowing for appellate review without running afoul of this court's continued aversion to piecemeal appeals[,] Haberern, 554 F.2d at 584, or the Supreme Court's holding in Swint. In addition, at this point of the proceedings, we are unable to determine what preclusive effect, if any, the arbitration may have on CTF's suit in the District Court. Accordingly, we hold that we may properly exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction over the District Court's order staying that suit while HPI proceeds with its arbitration against Marriott.