Court Opinion

ID: 996722
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 00:54:54.258247+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:46:52.139466
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

DEVEREUX FOUNDATION,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

THE BALTIMORE BAIS DIN, a/k/a
Rabbi Mordecai Schuchatowitz,
Rabbinical Judge,
Party in Interest-Appellant,

BERTRAND G. FINK; LOUISE FINK;
                                                               No. 97-1992
DAVID A. GREENBERG; PATRICIA
GREENBERG; JONAH GREENFIELD;
CHERYL L. GREENFIELD; STANLEY
LABOVITZ; RANESSA LABOVITZ; JACK
ROSENBLOOM; PAUL WALTER;
MARILYN W. WALTER; RAY
WEINSTEIN; ADEAN ZAPINSKY;
JUDITH CJ ZAPINSKY,
Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.
Benson E. Legg, District Judge.
(CA-95-2977-L)

Submitted: September 29, 1998

Decided: October 30, 1998

Before WILKINS and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges, and
BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
COUNSEL

Baltimore Bais Din, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. James F.
Rosner, David Kevin Gildea, WHITEFORD, TAYLOR & PRES-
TON, Towson, Maryland, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Irvin and Miriam Fischer leased a home in Baltimore to the Dever-
eux Foundation (the Foundation) for use as a therapeutic group home
for children with mental and emotional disabilities. A group of neigh-
borhood homeowners, including Bertrand Fink, objected to the
intended use of the property. They took their concerns to a rabbinical
court, or Bais Din, which found for the Fischers, and then to the Cir-
cuit Court of the City of Baltimore, which determined that enforce-
ment of restrictive covenants on the property would violate federal
fair housing laws.

The Foundation then filed this action against Fink and other neigh-
bors, claiming that their various actions violated the Fair Housing
Act. As part of discovery, the Foundation sought the deposition of
Rabbi Mordecai Schuchatowitz, one of three rabbis who presided at
the Bais Din, as well as various documents pertaining to that proceed-
ing. The district court granted the motion to compel the deposition of
the rabbi and the production of all documents pertaining to the rabbin-
ical court proceeding.

Rabbi Schuchatowitz, on behalf of the Baltimore Bais Din, seeks
to appeal the district court's order. We dismiss the appeal for lack of
jurisdiction. This court may exercise jurisdiction only over final
orders, see 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1994), and certain interlocutory and

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collateral orders, see 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (1994); Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b);
Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541 (1949). The
order at issue here does not fall within the narrow exception of
Cohen. See MDK, Inc. v. Mike's Train House, Inc., 27 F.3d 116, 121-
22 (4th Cir. 1994) (appellate courts lack jurisdiction to review orders
compelling discovery of nonparties; to obtain review of discovery
order, nonparty must refuse to comply with order, be held in con-
tempt, and appeal the contempt order).

We therefore dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are fully presented in the
materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional
process.

DISMISSED

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