Group One Ltd. v. Gte Gmbh

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Decided: September 26, 2022
• Docket: 22-1602
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 22-1602 Document: 18 Page: 1 Filed: 09/26/2022

NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

GROUP ONE LTD., Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

GTE GMBH, RALF WEIGEL, Defendants

UNITED STATES TENNIS ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED, Respondent-Appellee ______________________

2022-1602 ______________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in No. 1:20-cv-02205-MKB- JRC, Chief Judge Margo K. Brodie. ______________________

Before DYK, REYNA, and TARANTO, Circuit Judges. REYNA, Circuit Judge. ORDER Group One Ltd. seeks to appeal from the district court’s order denying its request to enforce a temporary restrain- ing order and hold a non-party, the United States Tennis Association, Incorporated, in civil contempt. Having Case: 22-1602 Document: 18 Page: 2 Filed: 09/26/2022

received Group One’s response to this court’s July 6, 2022 show cause order, we now dismiss this appeal. Generally, this court has jurisdiction over only “final decision[s]” of the district courts. 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1). The Supreme Court “long has stated that as a general rule a district court’s decision is appealable under [§ 1295(a)(1)] only when the decision ‘ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judg- ment.’” Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Mayacamas Corp., 485 U.S. 271, 275 (1988) (quoting Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233 (1945)). A denial of a motion for con- tempt while the case is still ongoing generally fails to end the litigation on the merits and is not immediately appeal- able. Cf. Doyle v. London Guar. & Accident Co., 204 U.S. 599, 603 (1907) (noting that a prejudgment civil contempt order involving a party generally is not immediately ap- pealable). Group One cites no contrary authority that allows a party to appeal (pre-judgment) from denial of civil con- tempt. It cites only decisions authorizing a non-party to appeal (pre-judgment) from imposition of civil contempt. The rationale for allowing non-parties to appeal in such cir- cumstances is that a non-party contemnor “has no right to appeal from the entry of final judgment,” FTC v. Zurixx, 26 F.4th 1172, 1177 (10th Cir. 2022) (citing Bessette v. W.B. Conkey Co., 194 U.S. 324, 329–30 (1904)), and “for the non- party, the adjudication in contempt usually is the ‘final de- cision,’” Clev. Hair Clinic, Inc. v. Puig, 106 F.3d 165, 167 (7th Cir. 1997). Group One has failed to show how that underlying rationale would justify a pre-judgment appeal from a party that may seek appellate review of the district court’s order after final judgment in the case. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED THAT: (1) The appeal is dismissed. Case: 22-1602 Document: 18 Page: 3 Filed: 09/26/2022

GROUP ONE LTD. v. GTE GMBH 3

(2) Each side shall bear its own costs. FOR THE COURT

September 26, 2022 /s/ Peter R. Marksteiner Date Peter R. Marksteiner Clerk of Court