Kenneth Lucero v. Wayne Early

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:13-cv-01036-JFM. Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999749923].. [15-1305]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-1305

KENNETH LUCERO,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
WAYNE A. EARLY; MAYOR AND CITY
BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT,

COUNCIL

OF

BALTIMORE;

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Baltimore.
J. Frederick Motz, Senior District
Judge. (1:13-cv-01036-JFM)

Submitted:

December 22, 2015

Decided:

February 5, 2016

Before SHEDD, DUNCAN, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Sean R. Day, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant.
George A.
Nilson, Steven J. Potter, Glenn R. Marrow, Ashley E. McFarland,
BALTIMORE
CITY
LAW
DEPARTMENT,
Baltimore,
Maryland,
for
Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Kenneth Lucero seeks to appeal the district court’s order
dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2012) complaint against the
Mayor

and

City

Council

of

Baltimore

and

the

Baltimore

Police Department (collectively, “municipal Defendants”).
court

may

exercise

jurisdiction

only

over

final

City
This

orders,

28

U.S.C. § 1291 (2012), and certain interlocutory and collateral
orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (2012); Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b); Cohen v.
Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-46 (1949).
Because Lucero’s claims against Officer Wayne Early remain
pending in the district court, the order Lucero seeks to appeal
is not a final order. *
collateral order.

Nor is it an appealable interlocutory or

Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack

*

The parties dispute whether the claims against Officer
Early, contained in Counts 1, 4, and 5 of the amended complaint,
remain pending in the district court.
In those Counts, Lucero
challenged Officer Early’s enforcement of Baltimore’s policy
restricting leafletting in certain areas, including a claim that
Officer Early selectively enforced the policy based on the
viewpoint of the leafletters. We find that the district court’s
order is ambiguous regarding its finality.
Although the court
stated, “This action is dismissed,” it did not specifically
address the claims against Officer Early in its opinion and the
motion it granted only sought dismissal of the claims against
the municipal Defendants.
We conclude that the court’s
ambiguous order is insufficient to confer jurisdiction to this
court.
See Reinholdson v. Minnesota, 346 F.3d 847, 849 (8th
Cir. 2003) (“To be final, an order or judgment must reflect some
clear and unequivocal manifestation by the trial court of its
belief that the decision made, so far as the court is concerned,
is the end of the case.” (brackets and internal quotation marks
omitted)).

2

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of jurisdiction.
facts

and

materials

legal
before

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We dispense with oral argument because the
contentions

are

adequately

this

and

argument

court

presented

would

not

in

the

aid

the

decisional process.
DISMISSED

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