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Civil appellate, criminal appellate, and criminal trial lawyer at 704 North Thompson Street, #157, Conroe, Texas 77301-2578, (936) 494-1393.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Finality in Federal District Judgments for Purposes of Appeal: the General Rule

Federal courts of appeals have jurisdiction of final U.S. district court judgments except where a decision may be directly reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.  SCOTUS said, in Hall v. Hall, No. 16-1150, Mar. 27, 2018, which I have cleaned up: "A final decision ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment. The archetypal final decision is one that triggers the entry of judgment. Appeal from such a final decision is a matter of right. Under §1291, any litigant armed with a final judgment from a lower federal court is entitled to take an appeal, which generally must be filed within 30 days."