COOPER v. GLICKMAN LLC (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.2021-05-10No. No. 20-3413

Summary · law.co

Holding. The appeal was dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction.

Catrice Cooper and Kimberly Landy appealed a district court order dismissing their employment case pursuant to a joint motion filed by both parties. The appellate court determined it lacked the authority to hear the appeal because the parties had voluntarily agreed to dismiss the case without conditions that would have prejudiced their legal rights. Under established appellate principles, parties who jointly seek dismissal generally cannot appeal that dismissal unless the court imposed harmful conditions on the dismissal that they did not accept.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Whether appellate courts have jurisdiction over appeals from voluntary joint dismissals
Whether parties can appeal a dismissal order they jointly requested
Whether appellants demonstrated legal injury from the dismissal order

Procedural posture

Appellants appealed the district court's grant of their own joint motion to dismiss.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

[Unpublished]

In this employment action, Catrice Cooper and Kimberly Landy appeal after the district court

granted the parties’ joint motion to dismiss without judicial review. After careful review, we conclude we lack jurisdiction over this appeal. See Belle-Midwest v. Mo. Prop. & Cas. Ins. Guar. Assn, 56 F.3d 977, 978-79 (8th Cir. 1995) (generally, plaintiffs may not appeal order granting voluntary dismissal, except where plaintiffs were legally prejudiced by conditions imposed by district court in granting voluntary dismissal, and they did not acquiesce to conditions); see also Food Marketing Inst. v. Argus Leader Media, ––– U.S. ––––, 139 S. Ct. 2356, 2362, 204 L.Ed.2d 742 (2019) (to show standing, appealing litigant must demonstrate it has suffered actual or imminent injury that is fairly traceable to judgment below that could be redressed by favorable ruling). Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. FOOTNOTES

. The Honorable Billy Roy Wilson, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

PER CURIAM.