Opinion ID: 158015
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction Over Drivers’ Cross-Appeal

Text: The City sought and received permission to pursue an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). The drivers did not seek permission to file their cross-appeal. Thus, we must consider whether we have jurisdiction over the cross-appeal. “In order to consider the cross-appeal, we must exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction.” Armijo v. Wagon Mound Public Schs., 159 F.3d 1253, 1264 (10th Cir. 1998). The exercise of pendent appellate jurisdiction is discretionary. Id. We have observed that the Supreme Court has held that “pendent appellate jurisdiction generally should not be exercised over otherwise interlocutory appeals.” Id. (citing Swint v. Chambers County Comm’n, 514 U.S. 35, 50-51 (1995)). We, however, interpret Swint to permit the exercise of jurisdiction over such appeals in limited circumstances: “‘pendent appellate jurisdiction might still be appropriate where the otherwise nonappealable decision is “inextricably intertwined” with the appealable decision, or where review of the nonappealable decision is “necessary to ensure meaningful review” of the appealable one.’” Id. -8- (quoting Moore v. City of Wynnewood, 57 F.3d 924, 930 (10th Cir. 1995) (quoting Swint, 514 U.S. at 51)). We have further interpreted “inextricably intertwined” to include only situations where “the pendent claim is coterminous with, or subsumed in, the claim before the court on interlocutory appeal–that is, where the appellate resolution of the collateral appeal necessarily resolves the pendent claim as well.” Moore, 57 F.3d at 930. In this case, the City’s interlocutory appeal, properly before us, challenges the district court’s conclusion that the shuttle time to and from relief points at either end of a split shift period is compensable. The drivers’ cross-appeal challenges the district court’s conclusion that the entire split shift period is not compensable, as well as its conclusion that shuttle time to and from relief points for the first and last shifts of the day is not compensable. While it is clear that resolution of the issue of compensability for the entire split shift period could subsume the issue of whether a part of that period (the shuttle time to or from a relief point at the beginning or end of the split shift period) is compensable— particularly if we hold that the entire period, from the end of a driver’s first run to the beginning of his second run is compensable—it is less obvious that the converse is true. We nonetheless hold that we have jurisdiction over the drivers’ cross-appeal because it is inextricably intertwined with the City’s appeal. This is -9- so because the resolution of the City’s appeal requires us to analyze the drivers’ entire work day, including any and all time shuttling to and from driving shifts. As indicated, the City’s appeal addresses the two periods of time at the beginning and end of the split shift period. Thus, it involves an analysis of two sub-periods of time within the entire split shift period. Resolution of the compensability of those two sub-periods necessarily requires an analysis of the entire period, if only because we begin our analysis by considering how we characterize that entire split shift period. Moreover, the district court’s conclusion, challenged by the City’s interlocutory appeal, that only those two subperiods are compensable necessarily includes the conclusion that the remainder of the split shift period is not compensable. If we affirm the district court’s conclusion that only those two sub-periods are compensable, we have by implication held that something less than the entire split shift period is compensable. However, the drivers’ cross-appeal also challenges the district court’s conclusion that shuttle time to relief points for the drivers’ first or only bus run of the day and from their last or only bus run of the day is excluded from a driver’s compensable work day under the Portal-to-Portal Act. We have observed that “the ‘narrow avenue for the continued use of pendent appellate jurisdiction left open by Swint’ does not apply if a ‘ruling on the merits’ of the interlocutory -10- appeal does not resolve all of the remaining issues presented by the pendent appeal.’” Armijo, 159 F.3d at 1265 (quoting Moore, 57 F.3d at 930) (emphasis added). Accordingly, to assume jurisdiction over the drivers’ cross-appeal, we must find that this issue also is inextricably intertwined with the City’s appeal. We hold that it is. To resolve the issue of the compensability of the shuttle time to and from a beginning or ending or only bus run, we must analyze the structure of the drivers’ entire work day—i.e., two shifts separated by a split shift, with the drivers beginning and/or ending at relief points. Characterizing the work day, for purposes of compensation under the FLSA and/or the Portal-to-Portal Act, necessarily involves characterizing each part of the drivers’ day, including all shuttle time to and from relief points. We therefore conclude that all issues raised in this appeal and cross-appeal are inextricably intertwined and require a comprehensive analysis of the structure of the drivers’ work day. 6 6 Cases in which we and other courts have declined to exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction are distinguishable because, unlike this case, they involved separate claims under separate statutory schemes or legal theories. In Armijo, for example, the plaintiffs sued the defendants for alleged violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400-1487 (“IDEA”). The defendants filed an interlocutory appeal from the district court’s denial of their summary judgment motion seeking qualified immunity from the “danger creation” § 1983 claim, and the plaintiffs sought to cross-appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants on the IDEA and failure to train §1983 claims. (continued...) -11-