Brian Hutchcroft-Darling v. Jerry Vander Sanden, No. 20-2312 (8th Cir. 2021)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: [Per Curiam - Before Gruender, Wollman and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Civil rights. There is no final judgment in the matter, and the court lacks jurisdiction; appeal dismissed as premature. [ March 16, 2021 ]
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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 20-2312 ___________________________ Brian Hutchcroft-Darling lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant v. Justin Boecker lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant Jerry A. Vander Sanden lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellee City of Cedar Rapids lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant Linn County, Iowa lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellee ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Cedar Rapids ____________ Submitted: March 11, 2021 Filed: March 17, 2021 [Unpublished] ____________ Before GRUENDER, WOLLMAN, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Brian Hutchcroft-Darling appeals following the district court’s1 adverse grant of partial summary judgment in his civil rights action. Although the parties have not raised the issue, we conclude that we lack jurisdiction to entertain this appeal. See Huggins v. FedEx Ground Package Sys., Inc., 566 F.3d 771, 773 (8th Cir. 2009) (stating that where it appears jurisdiction is lacking, appellate courts are obligated to consider sua sponte jurisdictional issues). Specifically, there is no final judgment because Hutchcroft-Darling has claims still pending in the district court, see 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (stating that courts of appeals have jurisdiction of appeals from final decisions); Thomas v. Basham, 931 F.2d 521, 523 (8th Cir. 1991) (stating that an appeal was premature when some claims remained pending), and none of the exceptions to the final-judgment rule apply, see Huggins, 566 F.3d at 775 (interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b)); Krein v. Norris, 250 F.3d 1184, 1187 (8th Cir. 2001) (collateral-order doctrine); Thomas, 931 F.2d at 523 (Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b) certification). Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal as premature. ______________________________ 1 The Honorable Leonard T. Strand, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. -2-
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