Evert v. Srb, 308 Neb. 895

The Everts sued the Srbs in Lincoln County Court under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 34-112.02 seeking contribution to construct a division fence along an unfenced portion of their adjoining grazing land.
The county court found the Everts met statutory prerequisites and ordered the Srbs to state within 10 days whether they would build their equitable portion.
The order provided that if the Srbs refused or failed to respond, the Everts could enter the Srbs’ land, remove obstacles, build the fence, and submit an itemized statement; the Srbs could request a hearing within 10 days to contest the claimed amount.
The county court limited the Srbs’ monetary liability to an equitable one-half of costs but left the exact amount contingent on future work and submissions.
The Srbs appealed to the district court; the district court affirmed but remanded to the county court to determine the contribution amount. The Srbs appealed that decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
The Nebraska Supreme Court held the county court’s June 14, 2019 order was a conditional order (not a final judgment), so the district court lacked appellate jurisdiction; the Supreme Court reversed the district court, vacated its order, and remanded with directions to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Everts)	Defendant's Argument (Srbs)	Held
Whether the county court order was a final, appealable judgment	Order was conditional and did not fix parties’ rights now; not appealable	Order disposed of the entire claim and required no further court action; appealable	County court order was conditional, not final; not appealable
Whether the district court had jurisdiction to hear the appeal from county court	District court lacked jurisdiction because county court entered no final order	District court had jurisdiction because county court’s order was final	District court lacked jurisdiction; its decision vacated
Whether conditional judgments/orders are appealable	Conditional orders that look to future action are not appealable	Conditional order may become appealable if conditions are met (Srbs argued it already was)	Conditional orders that do not perform in praesenti have no force as final orders and are not appealable
Whether the county court determined monetary contribution	County court did not fix the amount; left it contingent on work, itemization, and potential hearing	County court had effectively established entitlement to contribution and could be reviewed	County court left amount to future events; order was conditional and did not determine final contribution

In re Estate of Abbott-Ochsner, 299 Neb. 596 (jurisdictional question of law)
Village of Orleans v. Dietz, 248 Neb. 806 (county court ruling that is not a judgment leaves appellate court without jurisdiction)
Deuth v. Ratigan, 256 Neb. 419 (when cause is retained for further action, order is interlocutory)
Stevens v. Stevens, 292 Neb. 827 (orders conditioned on future action are not appealable)
Custom Fabricators v. Lenarduzzi, 259 Neb. 453 (conditional orders that do not perform in praesenti are not final)
Fitzgerald v. Community Redevelopment Corp., 283 Neb. 428 (conditional judgments are void and not appealable)
Francisco v. Gonzalez, 301 Neb. 1045 (appellate power to vacate void orders and remand with directions)
Omaha Expo. & Racing v. Nebraska State Racing Comm., 307 Neb. 172 (appellate court may dismiss for lack of jurisdiction)