Brian Hutchcroft-Darling v. Jerry Vander Sanden ( 2021 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 20-2312
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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
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the Northern District of Iowa - Cedar Rapids
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Submitted: March 11, 2021
Filed: March 17, 2021
[Unpublished]
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Before GRUENDER, WOLLMAN, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.
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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.
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1
The Honorable Leonard T. Strand, Chief Judge, United States District Court
for the Northern District of Iowa.
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