FEDERAL PROCEDURE-JURISDICTION-NO APPEAL ALLOWED UNDER RULE 54(b) WHEN SEPARATED CLAIM NOT FINAL

Authors

Wilber M. Brucker, Jr. S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Flegenheimer sued Manitoba Sugar Co., a Canadian Corporation, in a Vermont state court for breach of an employment contract to gain jurisdiction, Flegenheimer attached parcels of beet pulp which he claimed were the property of the Manitoba Co. After this action was removed to the federal district court, General Mills, Inc., was granted leave to intervene to establish ownership of the beet pulp. The claim of General Mills was dismissed after being heard on the merits. The order dismissing the claim contained a determination that "no just reason for delay" existed, and it therefore directed an "entry of judgment" under federal rule 54(b). From this order General Mills appealed. The Court of Appeals on its own motion held, appeal dismissed. Rule 54(b) was not intended to give the district courts power to make "final," and therefore appealable, that which was not "final" before. Since the dismissal on the merits of an intervenor's claim would not be a "final'' order, the "determination and direction" by the district court would be of no avail. Flegenheimer v. General Mills, (2d Cir. 1951) 191 F.(2d) 237.

Recommended Citation

Wilber M. Brucker, Jr. S.Ed., FEDERAL PROCEDURE-JURISDICTION-NO APPEAL ALLOWED UNDER RULE 54(b) WHEN SEPARATED CLAIM NOT FINAL, 51 Mich. L. Rev. 300 (1952).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol51/iss2/14