Ingram Barge Co. v. Parfait Family
Ingram Barge Co. v. Parfait Family
Opinion
We agree with Defendant-Appellee the United States of America that we lack appellate jurisdiction over these consolidated cases. There is no appealable final decision under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Moreover, the appellants did not seek, nor did the District Court issue, a Rule 54(b) certification. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b); Huckeby v. Frozen Food Express, 555 F.2d 542, 544-46, 550 (5th Cir. 1977). And assuming arguendo that all claims raised herein sound in admiralty, there is no appealable interlocutory decision under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(3) because the District Court “d[id] not determine [the] parties’ substantive rights or liabilities” and therefore the orders at issue “are not appealable under section 1292(a)(3), even if those orders have important procedural consequences.” Allen v. Okam Holdings, Inc., 116 F.3d 153, 154 (5th Cir. 1997) (quoting In re Complaint of Ingram, Towing Co., 59 F.3d 513, 517 (5th Cir. 1995)) (emphasis in original).
Our decision today neither conflicts with Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 951 F.2d 92 (5th Cir. 1992) nor with Loeber v. Bay Tankers, Inc., 924 F.2d 1340 (5th Cir. 1991). Although we exercised Section 1292(a)(3) jurisdiction over District Court decisions dismissing admiralty claims for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, neither the Courts nor the parties in those cases raised jurisdiction. Because the Bethlehem and Loeber Courts thus assumed that they had jurisdiction, neither made any holding concerning Section 1292(a)(3).
The parties have not raised nor do we find any other basis for jurisdiction over this appeal. Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction, and the appeal is DISMISSED.
Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.