McCook Metals LLC v. Alcoa, Incorporated, 4th Cir. (2001)
McCook Metals LLC v. Alcoa, Incorporated, 4th Cir. (2001)
McCook Metals LLC v. Alcoa, Incorporated, 4th Cir. (2001)
v.
ALCOA, INCORPORATED,
Defendant-Appellee,
No. 00-1333
and
REYNOLDS METALS COMPANY,
Party in Interest-Appellee.
COUNSEL
ARGUED: Jodi Rosen Wine, JENKENS & GILCHRIST, P.C., Chicago, Illinois, for Appellant. Warren Eugene Zirkle, MCGUIREWOODS, L.L.P., McLean, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:
OPINION
NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:
This appeal is taken from an order in an ancillary discovery proceeding commenced to enforce a subpoena that issued from the Eastern District of Virginia in connection with an underlying action filed
in the Northern District of Illinois. Because jurisdiction in the underlying action is based in part on 28 U.S.C. 1338, which confers jurisdiction upon district courts in patent matters, we conclude that any
review of this ancillary discovery ruling must be sought from the
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit under 28
U.S.C. 1292(c) and 1295(a). Rather than dismissing this appeal,
however, we invoke 28 U.S.C. 1631 to transfer it to the Federal Circuit, despite any uncertainty that might exist as to the appealability of
this type of discovery order, based on the fact that the Federal Circuit
will ultimately have jurisdiction to review the merits of the underlying
action.
I
McCook Metals L.L.C. ("McCook") commenced an action against
Alcoa, Inc., a competitor of McCook in the manufacture and sale of
commercial aircraft wing components, in the Northern District of Illinois. In that action, McCook alleged that Alcoa interfered with
McCooks customer contracts and prospective business advantage in
violation of state law, that Alcoa monopolized the relevant product
market in violation of the Sherman Act, and that two of Alcoas patents for making high strength aluminum alloy nos. 4,828,631 and
4,954,188 were neither valid nor enforceable. McCook invoked the
district courts subject matter jurisdiction based on the patent and
antitrust claims.
review the order entered by the Eastern District of Virginia. See Dorf
& Stanton Communications, Inc. v. Molson Breweries, 56 F.3d 13,
14-15 (2d Cir. 1995); see also Haworth, Inc. v. Herman Miller, Inc.,
998 F.2d 975, 977 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (noting that the Federal Circuit
applies the law of the regional circuit from which a discovery order
is appealed).
III
Our determination that we do not have appellate jurisdiction, however, does not lead inexorably to the conclusion that we must dismiss
this appeal. Section 1631 of Title 28 authorizes us to transfer it to the
Federal Circuit if (1) to do so would be "in the interest of justice" and
(2) the appeal "could have been brought" in the Federal Circuit when
it was initially filed in our court.
The first prong of this test is readily met. McCooks erroneous filing of an appeal in the wrong circuit is "just the type of good faith
mistake that Congress intended 28 U.S.C. 1631 to remedy." Kopp
v. Dir., Office of Workers Comp. Programs, 877 F.2d 307, 309 (4th
Cir. 1989). Moreover, were we to dismiss this appeal now, McCook
might be denied the opportunity to urge review of this ancillary discovery order because the 30-day time limit for taking an appeal may
have run. See 28 U.S.C. 2107; Fed. R. App. P. 4(a). For these reasons, a transfer to the Federal Circuit would be "in the interest of justice."
It is less obvious, however, that McCooks appeal "could have been
brought" in the Federal Circuit at the time when it was filed or noticed
in our court. 28 U.S.C. 1631. Appellate review is as a general matter
limited by 28 U.S.C. 1291 to final orders those that "end[ ] the
litigation on the merits and leave nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment." Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233 (1945).
A discovery order, in contrast, is inherently interlocutory. Given the
sheer number of discovery orders that are issued in any given case,
appellate courts are justifiably reluctant to review them. "Allowing
immediate appeal of the orders resolving discovery disputes would
only disrupt and delay district court proceedings and clog the courts
of appeals with matters more properly managed by trial courts famil-
iar with the parties and their controversy." MDK, Inc. v. Mikes Train
House, Inc., 27 F.3d 116, 119 (4th Cir. 1994).
Nevertheless, federal courts have long recognized that some collateral orders warrant "review even where they do not conclude the litigation in question." MDK, Inc., 27 F.3d at 120 (citing Cohen v.
Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546 (1949)). While we
have not yet been presented with the question, courts in several other
circuits have held that this "collateral order" doctrine renders certain
ancillary discovery orders appealable if the district court supervising
the ancillary proceeding is located in a different circuit from the court
supervising the underlying proceeding. In holding that these orders
are sufficiently final to merit review, these courts have noted that such
orders (1) conclusively determine the issues before the district court,
(2) resolve issues independent of the issues in the underlying litigation, and (3) are unreviewable by the court of appeals having jurisdiction to review the judgment of the district court in the underlying
litigation. See CF & I Steel Corp. v. Mitsui & Co., 713 F.2d 494, 496
(9th Cir. 1983); Natl Life Ins. Co. v. Hartford Accident & Indem.
Co., 615 F.2d 595, 597 (3d Cir. 1980); Republic Gear Co. v. BorgWarner Corp., 381 F.2d 551, 554 (2d Cir. 1967).
Because unreviewability by the court of appeals having appellate
jurisdiction over the final judgment in the underlying case is critical
to the determination that an ancillary discovery order is "final," most
circuit courts have held that an ancillary discovery order is not "final"
when it is entered by a district court within the same circuit as the
court in which the underlying litigation is pending. See Periodical
Publishers Serv. Bureau, Inc. v. Keys, 981 F.2d 215, 217-18 (5th Cir.
1993); Hooker v. Contl Life Ins. Co., 965 F.2d 903, 905 (10th Cir.
1992); Barrick Group, Inc. v. Mosse, 849 F.2d 70, 73 (2d Cir. 1988);
In re Subpoena Served on the Cal. Pub. Utils. Commn, 813 F.2d
1473, 1476-80 (9th Cir. 1987). Because the same court of appeals
can, in such a case, review both the ancillary discovery disputes and
the final judgment on the merits, the discovery order does not become
reviewable in these circuits until the court of appeals reviews the final
judgment. In such cases, the several district court proceedings in the
aggregate are considered analogous to the ordinary case in which the
same district court conducts discovery and considers the merits. In
either situation, discovery orders are not "final" because they may be
reviewed simultaneously with the final judgment.
The case before us presents a peculiar twist because for patent matters, Congress created one national court of appeals to review all the
district courts the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and
thus one district courts ancillary discovery ruling in a patent case is
appealed to the same circuit as is another district courts ruling on the
merits in the same case, even when the district courts are located in
different regional circuits. Because in patent cases the Federal Circuit
reviews both the final judgment on the merits and rulings on discovery, under the majority rule that discovery orders reviewable in the
same court of appeals that reviews the final judgment are not "final"
we could not transfer the case to the Federal Circuit because the
appeal of the discovery order could not have been brought there at
this time. See 28 U.S.C. 1631.
But the Federal Circuit has not always followed the majority rule
in this context and has entertained on more than one occasion interlocutory appeals from ancillary orders denying discovery in patent
cases. See Micro Motion, Inc. v. Kane Steel Co., 894 F.2d 1318, 1320
(Fed. Cir. 1990); Heat & Control, Inc. v. Hester Indus., Inc., 785 F.2d
1017, 1020-22 (Fed. Cir. 1986). Accordingly, under these Federal
Circuit precedents McCook might have been able to obtain immediate
review of the district courts denial of its motion to compel had it
filed its appeal with the Federal Circuit. Even though the wisdom of
allowing such interlocutory appeals may be questionable, we will not
determine the scope of the Federal Circuits jurisdiction for it. Rather,
as a matter of comity, we grant the motion to transfer this proceeding
to the Federal Circuit to permit that court to make its own determination on the issue.
Accordingly, for the reasons given, Reynolds Metals motion to
transfer this case to the Federal Circuit is granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED