Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided an interesting appellate issue involving a case that was part of an MDL proceeding. In Gelboim v. Bank of America Corp., the plaintiffs brought a class action alleging a federal antitrust claim against multiple banks. Their case was put into an MDL proceeding with about 60 other cases. The district court later dismissed the plaintiffs' claim on the ground that they had not suffered an antitrust injury. The plaintiffs appealed, but the Second Circuit dismissed their appeal, essentially holding that the plaintiffs had no final, appealable judgment because the rest of the MDL was still proceeding.
The Supreme Court unanimously disagreed, holding that the plaintiffs had a right to appeal under 28 U.S.C. section 1291, which authorizes appeals from final judgments. The Court reasoned that because the case had been consolidated into the MDL solely for pretrial purposes, the case retained its separateness. As a result, when the case was dismissed, it became final for purposes of an appeal on the merits.
Thus, the plaintiffs had a right to an immediate appeal, and did not have to wait until the entire MDL was completed. Fortunately, their appellate counsel was on top of the case and filed a timely appeal. Had counsel waited until the entire MDL was over, the appeal would have been waived.
Click here to read the opinion.
-- Scott Stolley, Thompson & Knight
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