Court Opinion

ID: 9943214
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-22 21:01:37.814132+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:46:37.400487
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 23-1836     Doc: 35         Filed: 02/21/2024   Pg: 1 of 4

                                           UNPUBLISHED

                              UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                  FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 23-1836

        CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU; COMMONWEALTH OF
        MASSACHUSETTS; PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, by Letitia
        James, Attorney General of the State of New York; COMMONWEALTH OF
        VIRGINIA, ex rel. Attorney General of Virginia,

                            Plaintiffs - Appellees,

                     v.

        NEXUS SERVICES, INC.; LIBRE BY NEXUS, INC.; MICHEAL DONOVAN;
        RICHARD MOORE; EVAN AJIN,

                            Defendants - Appellants.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at
        Harrisonburg. Elizabeth Kay Dillon, District Judge. (5:21-cv-00016-EKD-JCH)

        Submitted: February 15, 2024                               Decided: February 21, 2024

        Before KING, WYNN, and RICHARDSON, Circuit Judges.

        Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Zachary Lawrence, LAWRENCE LAW FIRM PLLC, Cold Brook, New
        York, for Appellants. Seth Frotman, General Counsel, Steven Y. Bressler, Deputy General
        Counsel, Kristin Bateman, Assistant General Counsel, Stephanie B. Garlock,
        CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU, Washington, D.C.; Andrea Joy
        Campbell, Attorney General, David C. Kravitz, Deputy State Solicitor, OFFICE OF THE
USCA4 Appeal: 23-1836      Doc: 35         Filed: 02/21/2024    Pg: 2 of 4

        ATTORNEY GENERAL, Boston, Massachusetts; Letitia James, Attorney General, Jane
        Azia, Bureau Chief, Laura Levine, Deputy Bureau Chief, Andrea W. Trento, Assistant
        Solicitor General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, New York, New York;
        Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General, Charles H. Slemp, III, Chief Deputy Attorney General,
        Steven G. Popps, Deputy Attorney General, Richard S. Schweiker, Jr., Chief and Senior
        Assistant Attorney General, James E. Scott, Assistant Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE
        ATTORNEY GENERAL, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellees.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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        PER CURIAM:

               Appellants Nexus Services, Inc., Libre by Nexus, Inc., Micheal Donovan, Richard

        Moore, and Evan Ajin seek to appeal the district court’s order denying as moot their motion

        for judgment on the pleadings and the court’s subsequent order denying their Fed. R. Civ.

        P. 54(b) motion to reconsider that order or, alternatively, to certify this interlocutory appeal

        pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

               This court may exercise jurisdiction only over final orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and

        certain interlocutory and collateral orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1292; Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b); Cohen

        v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-46 (1949). Appellants contend the

        district court’s orders are immediately appealable collateral orders. “[U]nder the collateral

        order doctrine, appellate jurisdiction extends to a narrow class of decisions that do not

        terminate the litigation, but are sufficiently important and collateral to the merits that they

        should nonetheless be treated as final.” United States ex rel. Citynet, LLC v. Gianato, 962

        F.3d 154, 158 (4th Cir. 2020) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Specifically, we have

        jurisdiction over an order if it conclusively determines the disputed question, resolves an

        important issue completely separate from the merits of the action, and would be effectively

        unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment.” Nero v. Mosby, 890 F.3d 106, 121 (4th

        Cir. 2018) (internal quotation marks omitted). An order must satisfy all three requirements

        to be immediately appealable, and “the collateral-order doctrine must never be allowed to

        swallow the general rule that a party is entitled to a single appeal, to be deferred until final

        judgment has been entered.” In re Grand Jury 2021 Subpoenas, 87 F.4th 229, 244-45 (4th

        Cir. 2023) (internal quotation marks omitted).

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               The district court’s orders do not satisfy the requirements of the collateral order

        doctrine. “[T]he entire category of orders to which” these orders belong is not comparable

        to those that have previously been authorized for immediate appeal under the collateral

        order doctrine. See Cobra Nat’l Res., LLC v. Fed. Mine Safety & Health Rev. Comm’n,

        742 F.3d 82, 87 (4th Cir. 2014) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also id. at 91-92

        (collecting cases). And deferring review of the district court’s orders would not “so

        imperil[] the interest” Appellants seek to vindicate “as to justify the cost of allowing

        immediate appeal of the entire class of relevant orders.” Mohawk Indus., Inc. v. Carpenter,

        558 U.S. 100, 108 (2009); see also id. at 108-09 (noting courts “routinely require litigants

        to wait until after final judgment to vindicate valuable rights”).

               Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We dispense with oral

        argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

        before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                                       DISMISSED

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