Background
In June two thousand eighteen, Irvin E. Caraway, II, filed a complaint alleging his personal information was stolen in the two thousand seventeen Equifax data breach. The case was transferred to the Northern District of Georgia for multidistrict litigation and settled in two thousand twenty. In late two thousand twenty-four, Caraway moved to transfer the case back to the Northern District of Ohio, a motion the district court denied, stating it lacked authority to transfer the case.
The court’s reasoning
The court first determined that the appeal was timely because the initial unsigned notice of appeal was cured by a subsequent signed filing. However, the court concluded it lacked jurisdiction to review the district court’s denial of the transfer motion. The court held that a transfer order is not appealable as a final order under Section twelve ninety-one of Title twenty-eight of the United States Code.
What it means going forward
This ruling clarifies that parties cannot appeal district court orders denying requests to transfer cases out of multidistrict litigation proceedings, as such orders are not final judgments.