Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 1
FILED
United States Court of Appeals
PUBLISH Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS August 28, 2026
Christopher M. Wolpert
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court
FRED A. FISCHER; ROGER A.
FISCHER,
Plaintiffs - Appellants,
and
CHIEFTAIN ROYALTY COMPANY,
Plaintiff,
v. No. 25-7072
XTO ENERGY, INC. (including
predecessors, successors, and
affiliates),
Defendant - Appellee,
and
EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION;
EXXONMOBIL OIL
CORPORATION,
Movants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Oklahoma
(D.C. No. 6:11-CV-00029-DES)
Ryan C. Hudson (Rex A. Sharp, Scott B. Goodger, and Hammons P. Hepner, with him on the briefs), of Sharp Law, LLP, Prairie Village, Kansas, for Plaintiffs/Appellants.
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 2
Reagan M. Brown of Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, Houston, Texas (L. Mark Walker and John J. Griffin, Jr. of Crowe & Dunlevy, P.C., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Marla Broaddus of McGinnis Lochridge, Austin, Texas, with him on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee and Movants-Appellees.
Before PHILLIPS and MORITZ, Circuit Judges, and GARCIA, District Judge. ∗
PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge.
We lack appellate jurisdiction to address questions that a district court
hasn’t finished answering. So when a litigant appeals too early, we dismiss the
appeal to allow the district court to complete its work.
This is one such case. In a post-judgment order, the district court gave
the Fischer family a choice: stop violating an earlier injunction or show cause
for their violation. The Fischers immediately appealed. But a post-judgment
civil contempt order isn’t final unless the court makes a contempt finding and
imposes a specific, unavoidable sanction. Because the district court’s order did
neither, we lack appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We also lack
jurisdiction under the Fischers’ alternative theories. Thus, we dismiss.
∗
The Honorable Matthew L. Garcia, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, sitting by designation.
2
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 3
BACKGROUND
In 2002, the Fischer family 1 sued Exxon Mobil 2 in Oklahoma state court
(“Fischer”). The Fischers alleged that putative class members owned rights to
oil, gas, and other minerals in Oklahoma; that Exxon Mobil operated or helped
construct wells to extract those minerals; and that Exxon Mobil underpaid
royalties from the minerals’ sale. The complaint articulated nearly a dozen
state-law claims arising between 1985 and 2017.
Exxon Mobil later acquired XTO Energy, Inc. A few months after that,
Chieftain Royalty Company sued XTO and its “predecessors, successors and
affiliates” in Oklahoma state court (“Chieftain”). App. vol. I at 43. As in
Fischer, the Chieftain plaintiff alleged that putative class members owned
rights to gas and gas constituents in Oklahoma, that XTO operated wells to
extract those minerals or sold the minerals for other operators, and that XTO
underpaid royalties from the minerals’ sale. XTO removed the case to the
Eastern District of Oklahoma.
Eventually the Eastern District of Oklahoma approved a settlement and
entered final judgment in Chieftain. The settlement covered royalty-related
1
Fred A. Fischer sued as a general partner in the Fischer Family Farms Family Limited Partnership. Roger A. Fischer sued as an agent for the Allan and Carolyn Fischer Family Limited Partnership.
2
The Fischers sued Exxon Mobil Corporation, which later argued that the Fischers hadn’t sued the right member of the Exxon Mobil corporate family. For simplicity, we refer to members of that family as “Exxon Mobil.”
3
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 4
claims arising between May 1, 2002, and May 31, 2017. The court permanently
enjoined the settling class members from prosecuting similar claims against
XTO and other released parties. The Fischers didn’t opt out of the settlement
class, and they received nearly a thousand dollars.
After Chieftain settled, Exxon Mobil moved for summary judgment in
Fischer, arguing in part that Chieftain released Exxon Mobil from liability on
any Fischer claims arising during the Chieftain claim period. The Fischer court
denied the motion.
A few months later, Exxon Mobil asked the Chieftain court to block the
Fischers from pursuing certain Fischer claims. Exxon Mobil asked the court to
either (1) “enforce its existing injunction by requiring the Fischers to show
cause for violating that injunction by pursuing released claims in a state court
lawsuit” or (2) “issue a new injunction specifically prohibiting the Fischers
from pursuing the released claims in state court.” App. vol. II at 160.
The court partially granted and partially denied the motion. Chieftain
Royalty Co. v. XTO Energy, Inc., No. 11-CV-29, 2025 WL 2491191, at *1 (E.D.
Okla. Aug. 29, 2025). Though it declined to issue a new injunction, the court
ruled that “the Fischers’ continued pursuit of released claims in state court
violates the Judgment and should be enjoined.” Id. at *5. It then ordered the
Fischers to either (1) “show cause within ten days for their violation of the
[existing] injunction by pursuing released claims in a state court lawsuit” or
4
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 5
(2) “agree to abide by the existing injunction . . . and dismiss the Released
Claims they are pursuing in state court against the Released Parties.” Id.
The Fischers appealed the district court’s order. The same day, they
responded to that order by agreeing not to “prosecute or advance the Released
Claims during the pendency of the appeal.” 3 App. vol. VI at 91.
We abated the Fischers’ appeal “pending the district court’s disposition
of its show cause order.” Dkt. No. 18 at 2. Two weeks later, the district court
entered a two-line order deeming the Fischers’ response “sufficient.” App. vol.
VI at 98. We then un-abated the appeal.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
We analyze our appellate jurisdiction de novo. W. Watersheds Project v.
Rollins, 179 F.4th 1233, 1236 (10th Cir. 2026). The appellant bears the burden
of establishing jurisdiction. Id.
DISCUSSION
The Fischers argue three grounds for appellate jurisdiction: final-order
jurisdiction, jurisdiction under the collateral-order doctrine, and jurisdiction
based on the modification of an injunction. None is persuasive. We dismiss for
lack of jurisdiction.
3
By “Released Claims,” the Fischers meant claims against Exxon Mobil arising during the Chieftain claim period. The Fischers said they “intend[ed] . . . to continue prosecuting” claims arising outside that period. App. vol. VI at 91.
5
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 6
I. Final-Order Jurisdiction
We have jurisdiction to review “all final decisions of the district courts.”
28 U.S.C. § 1291. A final decision “signal[s] that the district court’s business is
done, that it has disassociated itself from the case, [and] that we may act
without stepping on the district court’s toes.” McClendon v. City of
Albuquerque, 630 F.3d 1288, 1294 (10th Cir. 2011). In a post-judgment
proceeding like this one, an order becomes final once “it disposes of all the
issues raised in the motion that initially sparked [the] proceeding[].” In re
Syngenta AG MIR 162 Corn Litig., 61 F.4th 1126, 1172 (10th Cir. 2023)
(citation omitted).
The Fischers appeal the district court’s order requiring them to either
stop violating the Chieftain injunction or show cause for their violation.
Though the order didn’t mention contempt, the parties see the order as a first
step in civil contempt proceedings. We see it that way, too, because courts
usually initiate contempt proceedings with show-cause orders. See, e.g., SEC v.
Hyatt, 621 F.3d 687, 695–96 (7th Cir. 2010); United States v. Ford, 514 F.3d
1047, 1050 (10th Cir. 2008).
A post-judgment civil contempt order is final once the district court
“(1) ma[kes] a finding of contempt and (2) impose[s] specific, unavoidable
sanctions.” FTC v. Zurixx, 26 F.4th 1172, 1177 (10th Cir. 2022) (citation
modified). We apply this rule strictly. For example, in Zurixx, the district court
found a nonparty in contempt for violating an injunction. Id. at 1175. But the
6
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 7
court’s order “contained no specifics about the amount of the possible
sanction.” Id. at 1178. The order also gave the nonparty a chance to purge the
contempt finding. Id. at 1175, 1178. Because the court did not impose “a
specific, unavoidable sanction,” its contempt order was not final, and we
dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction. Id. at 1178.
Likewise, in United States v. Gonzales, 531 F.3d 1198 (10th Cir. 2008),
we dismissed an appeal from multiple orders directing a defendant to provide
information to the IRS. See id. at 1200, 1203. One order held the defendant in
contempt but gave him a chance to purge the contempt finding by testifying,
which he did. Id. at 1200. A second order stated that if the defendant did not
provide other information to the IRS, he could again be held in contempt. Id.
Because the second order lacked a contempt finding and both orders lacked a
sanction, we held that they were merely “a step along the way in the contempt
process” and couldn’t be appealed. See id. at 1202 (citation omitted).
The show-cause order here lacks both elements of finality. The order
gave the Fischers a choice: “show cause . . . for their violation” or “agree to
abide by the existing injunction.” Chieftain, 2025 WL 2491191, at *5. It neither
found the Fischers in contempt nor imposed a sanction. If the Fischers failed to
show cause or abandon their state-court claims, the district court could then
hold them in contempt and consider sanctions. Only after doing so would the
court’s “business [be] done” and its order final. McClendon, 630 F.3d at 1294.
7
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 8
This situation resembles the appellant’s situation in Thomas v. Blue
Cross & Blue Shield Ass’n, 594 F.3d 823 (11th Cir. 2010). In Thomas, the
district court approved a class settlement and enjoined the class from bringing
“Released Claims against one or more Released Parties.” Id. at 827. A class
member later sued one of the released parties in state court, then asked the
district court to declare that the injunction did not bar his state-court claims. Id.
The district court denied his request in a summary order that “did not expressly
rule” whether the state claims were barred. Id. at 829–30.
The Eleventh Circuit held that the order “lack[ed] the finality required”
for jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Id. at 829. Though the order didn’t
mention contempt, the circuit characterized the order as a prelude to contempt
because “injunctions are enforced through the civil contempt power.” Id. at
830. Based on that characterization, the circuit held that the order wasn’t final,
because the order “did not hold [the class member] in contempt or impose any
sanction for violating the injunction.” Id. (citation modified).
The Fischers try to distinguish Thomas by noting that it “analyzed a state
court lawsuit filed after the date of the original []class action.” Fischers’ 28(j)
Ltr. at 1. They note that the state and federal cases in Thomas “targeted and
named the same defendant.” Id. And they insist that, unlike the cryptic order in
Thomas, the show-cause order here “directly concluded that the Fischers’ state
court claims were released.” Id. at 3.
8
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 9
We don’t see how these details affect the show-cause order’s finality.
Either way, the order lacks a contempt finding and sanction. And without a
contempt finding and sanction, we lack appellate jurisdiction—even when the
district court “advised [a class member] that [its] claims [were] released and
that [it was] enjoined from prosecuting them.” Thomas, 594 F.3d at 830. 4
The Fischers next observe that the final-order rule “receives a ‘practical
rather than a technical construction.’” Fischers’ 28(j) Ltr. at 4 (quoting Moya v.
Schollenbarger, 465 F.3d 444, 449 (10th Cir. 2006) (citation omitted)). Relying
on that principle, they say the minute order deeming their response “sufficient”
made the show-cause order final by eliminating any “further work or action for
the district court to perform until this appeal is resolved.” Id.
But the law is clear—for post-judgment contempt proceedings, work
remains until the district court makes a contempt finding and imposes a
specific, unavoidable sanction. Zurixx, 26 F.4th at 1177. And like the show4
A leading treatise calls Thomas’s approach “questionable” and contrary to the goals of the final-order rule. See 16 Wright & Miller’s Federal Practice & Procedure § 3924.2 n.37 (3d ed.) (last updated Apr. 2026); 15B Wright & Miller’s Federal Practice & Procedure § 3916 n.18 (3d ed.) (last updated June 9, 2026). Yet the treatise also endorses the rule, adopted by several circuits, that contempt orders aren’t final without a contempt finding and sanction. See 15B Wright & Miller’s Federal Practice & Procedure § 3917 (3d ed.) (last updated Apr. 2026); e.g., Amara v. Cigna Corp., 53 F.4th 241, 251–52 (2d Cir. 2022); In re U.S. Bureau of Prisons, 918 F.3d 431, 437 (5th Cir. 2019); Motorola, Inc. v. Comput. Displays Int’l, 739 F.2d 1149, 1154 (7th Cir. 1984); In re Tetracycline Cases, 927 F.2d 411, 413 n.1 (8th Cir. 1991); Plata v. Schwarzenegger, 560 F.3d 976, 981 (9th Cir. 2009). The treatise doesn’t explain how Thomas conflicts with that rule.
9
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 10
cause order, the minute order does neither. So the minute order doesn’t support
appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 5
II. Jurisdiction Under the Collateral-Order Doctrine
The collateral-order doctrine is an outgrowth of the final-order rule,
authorizing jurisdiction over “a small class of collateral rulings that, although
they do not end the litigation, are appropriately deemed final.” Mohawk Indus.
v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. 100, 106 (2009) (citation modified). Under the
collateral-order doctrine, we may review orders that (1) are “conclusive on the
question[s] [they] decide[],” (2) “resolve[] important questions separate from
the merits,” and (3) are “effectively unreviewable if not presented in an
interlocutory appeal.” Coomer v. Make Your Life Epic LLC, 98 F.4th 1320,
Seemingly only one circuit has taken jurisdiction over a post-judgment
5
enforcement order without a contempt finding or sanction. In Interdynamics, Inc. v. Firma Wolf, 698 F.2d 157 (3d Cir. 1982), a company asked the district court whether the company’s new product would infringe another company’s patent in violation of a consent decree. Id. at 160. The court ruled that the first company “would be [in] contempt” of the consent decree if it made or sold the product, and that company appealed. Id. (citation modified). Though the Third Circuit “doubt[ed] whether” the district court’s order was final, it held that in that “procedurally unusual patent case,” the order could be appealed as a declaratory judgment. Id. at 164. The Third Circuit later reached the same conclusion in an antitrust and contract case. See Thermice Corp. v. Vistron Corp., 832 F.2d 248, 251–52 (3d Cir. 1987).
We decline to follow that reasoning here. In Interdynamics, the Third Circuit’s characterization of the district court’s order relied on the unusual procedural posture and the “special role” of declaratory judgments in patent cases. 698 F.2d at 165. Because neither is present here, we reserve the issue for a future case. For its part, Thermice saw itself as bound by Interdynamics. 832 F.2d at 251. Yet the only cases that bind us require a contempt finding and a sanction. E.g., Zurixx, 26 F.4th at 1177. We stick with that approach today.
10
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 11
1323 (10th Cir. 2024) (citation modified). We apply these conditions not to the
specific order on appeal but to “the category of orders” it represents. Tucker v.
Faith Bible Chapel Int’l, 36 F.4th 1021, 1035 (10th Cir. 2022) (citation
modified).
A post-judgment order to show cause for violating a court order usually
conclusively decides that a violation occurred. But even if such an order meets
the collateral-order doctrine’s first condition, it fails to meet the others.
To start, post-judgment show-cause orders like this one don’t resolve
issues “separate from the merits.” Coomer, 98 F.4th at 1323 (citation omitted).
We treat post-judgment proceedings as “distinct from the suit[s] that generated
the underlying judgment[s].” In re Syngenta AG, 61 F.4th at 1172 (citation
omitted). In the post-judgment context, the “merits” are “the issues raised in
the motion that initially sparked the postjudgment proceedings.” Id. at 1172
(citation omitted); e.g., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Asia Pulp & Paper Co.,
707 F.3d 853, 868 (7th Cir. 2013). So, for example, if a litigant brings a postjudgment motion to enforce an order against another party, the merits question
is whether the second party violated the order. Motorola, Inc. v. Comput.
Displays Int’l, 739 F.2d 1149, 1152–54 (7th Cir. 1984). And that means the
collateral-order doctrine doesn’t support an immediate appeal of a ruling on
that question. Id. at 1154; Coomer, 98 F.4th at 1323; Tucker, 36 F.4th at 1034.
Post-judgment show-cause orders like this one also aren’t “effectively
unreviewable if not presented in an interlocutory appeal.” Coomer, 98 F.4th at
11
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 12
1323 (citation modified). Again, appellate review is available once such orders
ripen into final orders with contempt findings and sanctions. Zurixx, 26 F.4th at
1177; Motorola, 739 F.2d at 1154. Besides, an interlocutory order satisfies the
“effectively unreviewable” condition “only if delaying review . . . would
imperil a substantial public interest.” Vivos Therapeutics, Inc. v. Ortho-Tain,
Inc., 142 F.4th 1262, 1266 n.2 (10th Cir. 2025) (citation modified). To that end,
“the Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to extend collateral-order treatment
to orders stemming from litigation between private parties.” Id.
The Fischers argue that the show-cause order is effectively unreviewable
“because unless this appeal proceeds, [they] will return to state court in a state
of jurisdictional purgatory.” Fischers’ 28(j) Ltr. at 5. They note that the showcause order is stayed pending appeal and contend that “if [they] were to dismiss
their state court claims to avoid being held in contempt, they could never
reinstate th[eir] 2002–17 claims because of the statute of limitations.” Id.
That argument wrongly assumes that a litigant should not have to be held
in contempt for us to exercise appellate jurisdiction. But as we and the Supreme
Court have recognized, contempt is often an acceptable—and sometimes the
only—method of securing appellate review. See, e.g., Mohawk Indus., 558 U.S.
at 111; Church of Scientology of Cal. v. United States, 506 U.S. 9, 18 n.11
(1992); Zurixx, 26 F.4th at 1177–78; Gonzales, 531 F.3d at 1202–03. So rather
than being stuck in a “jurisdictional purgatory,” the Fischers have a clear path
for challenging the show-cause order while preserving their state-court claims.
12
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 13
III. Jurisdiction Based on the Modification of an Injunction
We have jurisdiction to review “[i]nterlocutory orders of the district
courts . . . granting, continuing, modifying, refusing or dissolving injunctions,
or refusing to dissolve or modify injunctions.” 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). In the
Fischers’ view, § 1292(a)(1) gives us jurisdiction here because the only way the
district court could rule that the Chieftain injunction bars the Fischers’ statecourt claims is by modifying what the injunction said.
Whether an order triggers jurisdiction under § 1292(a)(1) depends on the
order’s “actual, practical effect,” not its “captions and vocabulary.” Pimentel &
Sons Guitar Makers v. Pimentel, 477 F.3d 1151, 1153 (10th Cir. 2007). But
“the benchmark for when an order modifies an injunction is a high one.”
Southern Ute Indian Tribe v. Leavitt, 564 F.3d 1198, 1209 (10th Cir. 2009). To
avoid “collaps[ing] the jurisdictional inquiry into a decision on the merits,” we
ask only whether the order “gross[ly] or blatant[ly] misinterpret[s] . . . the
original injunction.” Id. (citation omitted).
The show-cause order does not grossly or blatantly misinterpret the
Chieftain injunction. The order first concludes that Exxon Mobil meets the
settlement’s definition of “Released Parties” because Exxon Mobil is both a
“predecessor” and an “affiliate” of XTO. Chieftain, 2025 WL 2491191, at *2–3.
The order then concludes that the Fischer claims meet the settlement’s
definition of “Released Claims,” which the court read as “cover[ing] every
conceivable claim based on allegations that gas royalties were underpaid on
13
Appellate Case: 25-7072 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 08/28/2026 Page: 14
Class Wells during the Class Period.” Id. at *3–4. Correct or not, these
interpretations are reasonably supported by the settlement’s language. Any
misinterpretations are “subtle,” not flagrant. Pimentel, 477 F.3d at 1155
(citation omitted). And that’s enough to defeat jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1292(a)(1). See id. at 1154–55; Southern Ute Indian Tribe, 564 F.3d at 1209.
CONCLUSION
We dismiss the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction. 6
6
We also deny the Fischers’ Rule 42(b)(2) motion to dismiss. Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b)(2) gives us “broad discretion” to grant or deny voluntary motions to dismiss. In re Nexium Antitrust Litig., 778 F.3d 1, 2 (1st Cir. 2015) (citation omitted). Because we dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, the Fischers’ request for dismissal is now moot. Another “relevant factor” is our “investment of time in preparing a decision.” Id.; e.g., Albers v. Eli Lilly & Co., 354 F.3d 644, 646 (7th Cir. 2004) (denying a Rule 42(b)(2) motion “[a]fter a draft of th[e] opinion had been written”); Ford v. Strickland, 696 F.2d 804, 807 (11th Cir. 1983) (en banc) (denying a Rule 42(b)(2) motion “[a]fter full briefing, extended oral argument, and several months of deliberation during which the judges . . . sought to resolve and reconcile the various issues”). The Fischers moved to dismiss more than three months after oral argument, and by then we had finalized a draft opinion. Given the “public resources already devoted to this litigation,” “[w]e think it best . . . to carry through so that the investment . . . will have some return.” Albers, 354 F.3d at 646.
14