Harold Stanley v. Honorable Jack Grate

314 F. App'x 910

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: March 17, 2009
• Docket: 07-3728
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Harold Stanley appeals the district court’s 1 dismissal of his civil rights complaint. After careful review, we conclude that the court’s judgment was not a final, appealable order because it did not dispose of the counterclaim raised by Marcia Stanley in her answer. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (courts of appeals shall have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of district courts); Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b) (any order that adjudicates fewer than all claims does not end action as to any claims or parties); Miller v. Special Weapons, L.L.C., 369 F.3d 1033, 1034-35 (8th Cir.2004) (noting problems with allowing counterclaims that are “dead but undismissed” or are substantively resolved by non-final orders, to proceed; dismissing appeal for lack of jurisdiction where district court failed to rule on counterclaim even though it was necessarily disposed of by summary judgment order); Thomas v. Basham, 931 F.2d 521, 522-23 (8th Cir.1991) (jurisdictional issues will be raised sua sponte when there is indication that jurisdiction is lacking; court lacked jurisdiction over appeal from summary judgment order because defendant’s counterclaims were outstanding at time of order).

Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

1 . The Honorable Gary A. Fenner, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri.