Heckman v. Marchio, 894 N.W.2d 296

Bryan R. Heckman sued Regina M. Marchio seeking paternity, custody, and child support.
Heckman moved to disqualify Marchio’s privately retained counsel; the district court granted the motion.
Marchio filed and lost a motion to reconsider and then attempted to appeal the disqualification order.
The Nebraska Supreme Court had previously allowed interlocutory appeals of attorney-disqualification orders under Richardson v. Griffiths, which adopted a Massachusetts approach permitting immediate review in certain disqualification cases.
The court in this case reviewed whether that Richardson-based interlocutory jurisdiction was consistent with Nebraska statutory and constitutional limits on appellate jurisdiction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether an order disqualifying counsel is immediately appealable under the Richardson exception (interlocutory appeal)	Marchio relied on Richardson to argue the disqualification order is appealable immediately.	Heckman argued appellate jurisdiction requires statutory authorization and the order is not a final order.	The court held the Richardson exception was improperly created; interlocutory appeal was not statutorily authorized and the appeal was dismissed.

Richardson v. Griffiths, 251 Neb. 825 (1997) (origin of Nebraska’s interlocutory-disqualification exception; overruled to extent it authorized appeals absent statutory basis)
Maddocks v. Ricker, 403 Mass. 592 (Mass. 1988) (Massachusetts decision quoting collateral-order rationale that Nebraska borrowed in Richardson)
Richardson-Merrell Inc. v. Koller, 472 U.S. 424 (1985) (U.S. Supreme Court held orders disqualifying counsel in civil cases do not fit federal collateral-order doctrine)
Huskey v. Huskey, 289 Neb. 439 (2014) (reiterates that Nebraska appellate jurisdiction exists only as provided by statute)