Court Opinion

ID: 9499434
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:48:19.561259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:30.206107
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree completely with the majority, but write separately to comment in greater detail on what I think is an important aspect of the confusing issue of appellate jurisdiction. The consent judgment here specified that in the event that we “decline to rule for any reason on all of the issues concerning” the judgment (presumably because we hold that the order is nonfinal *870and dismiss the appeal),1 then all of the parties’ claims and defenses “reignite”: the order “will be considered void and unenforceable ... and the parties are placed back into the same position they were in prior to entering this offer of judgment.” In this way, the judgment permits the parties to test without risk whether the order is an appealable “final decision[ ],” 28 U.S.C. § 1291, that is, without committing themselves to any consequences if we determine that it is not.
Superficially, such a disposition might seem similar to the nonfinal orders discussed in the majority opinion, which are characterized by parties attempting to test parts of their case on appeal without risking consequences involving other parts of their case. See Majority Op. at 867-68, citing Horwitz v. Alloy Automotive Co., 957 F.2d 1431 (7th Cir.1992). Orders are not final unless they leave nothing for the district court to do (absent whatever is called for by reversal on appeal or by the application of Rule 59(e) or 60). Green Tree Fin. Corp. v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79, 86, 121 S.Ct. 513, 148 L.Ed.2d 373 (2000). Consequently, a consent order is not final unless the parties “gamble” by “staking] the[ir] entire case” on the outcome of the appeal from it. First Health Group Corp. v. BCE Emergis Corp., 269 F.3d 800, 801-02 (7th Cir.2001). Attempting to provide for more litigation in the event of reversal than the holding on appeal calls for renders the order nonfinal. See Union Oil Co. of Cal. v. John Brown E & C (Unocal), 121 F.3d 305 (7th Cir.1997).
As the majority points out, what distinguishes from cases such as Horwitz the parties’ present attempt to risklessly test appellate jurisdiction is that whether an order purporting to resolve a case is final is not itself part of the case; obviously appellate jurisdiction is not an issue before the district court. The present case involves the Sims’ product liability claims against EGA, and the consent judgment definitively resolved them. The outcome will be altered and the litigation will reignite in the event that we find we lack jurisdiction. While modification of a final order is strictly circumscribed, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) & 60, nonfinal orders are generally modifiable, see, e.g., Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b) (“[T]he order or other form of decision is subject to revision at any time before the entry of judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties.”). If the reignition provision were to be activated, it would be perfectly supported by our holding of finality, rather than at war with it. See Majority Op. at 867 (“[I]f we think the decision not final, it must be not final and the litigation must continue.”).
By limiting appealable orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1291 serves, among other things, to promote efficient judicial administration and conserve scarce judicial resources. Cunningham v. Hamilton County, 527 U.S. 198, 204, 119 S.Ct. 1915, 144 L.Ed.2d 184 (1999); Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 325, 60 S.Ct. 540, 84 L.Ed. 783 (1940); Unocal, 121 F.3d at 310. But “efficient judicial administration” is not synonymous with “forbidding as many appeals as possible.” Permitting parties to risk-lessly test appellate jurisdiction may encourage some improper appeals from non-final judgments, but in other cases, such as this one (where an order is clearly appealable absent the provision allowing for reig-*871nition), allowing the test will hasten final resolution.
At any rate, Congress has made its determination as to which appeals will best promote efficient adjudication; it has prescribed appeals from “final decisions.” Decisions are final, appropriately enough, if they end litigation in the district court, leaving it nothing more to do. Appellate jurisdiction is not an issue before the district court, and the provisions of the judgment triggered by lack of appellate jurisdiction give the district court no task to perform. The consent judgment here is therefore final and appealable.

. Other situations, such as an untimely appeal, might have triggered the reignition provision as well. However, because those situations can no longer arise, they are irrelevant and we need not address them. See First Health Group Corp. v. BCE Emergis Corp., 269 F.3d 800, 802 (7th Cir.2001) (holding that a party’s waiver of a right to pursue claims that had been dismissed without prejudice cured any jurisdictional defect).