Randy Brown v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (ORDER), 18-7174

Appellant Randy Brown appealed a district court’s November 6, 2018 interlocutory minute order denying his motion for leave to amend his complaint and denying his request for reconsideration.
Brown sought to amend his complaint to address alleged improper disallowance of his race-discrimination claims and also moved for a preliminary injunction in this court.
The D.C. Circuit issued an order to show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and received briefing from both sides.
The court concluded Brown did not show any basis for immediate appellate jurisdiction over the interlocutory denial of leave to amend.
The court discharged the show-cause order, dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, and dismissed Brown’s preliminary-injunction motion as moot.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the collateral-order doctrine permits immediate appeal of denial of leave to amend	Brown argued the denial was immediately appealable under the collateral-order doctrine	Appellees argued denial of leave to amend is not a collateral order and is reviewable after final judgment	Denied: collateral-order doctrine does not apply to denials of leave to amend
Whether Forgay v. Conrad permits immediate appeal because the order affected property rights	Brown invoked Forgay to claim the order affected his property rights and thus was appealable	Appellees disputed applicability and effect on property rights	Denied: Brown failed to show the order affected property rights; court had doubts about Forgay as independent jurisdictional ground
Whether 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a) (interlocutory appeals re injunctions) provides jurisdiction	Brown sought relief tied to injunction-review statute	Appellees noted the order did not grant/modify/deny an injunction	Denied: §1292(a) inapplicable because the order did not concern injunctions
Whether preliminary-injunction motion in this court should proceed	Brown sought preliminary relief pending appeal	Appellees opposed; court concluded appeal lacked jurisdiction	Dismissed as moot given dismissal of appeal

Mohawk Indus. Inc. v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. 100 (2009) (defines collateral-order doctrine criteria)
Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541 (1949) (foundational statement on finality and collateral orders)
Bridges v. Dep’t of Maryland State Police, 441 F.3d 197 (4th Cir. 2006) (denial of leave to amend is not immediately appealable)
Bradshaw v. Zoological Soc. of San Diego, 662 F.2d 1301 (9th Cir. 1981) (orders denying amendment merge into final judgment for review)
Forgay v. Conrad, 47 U.S. 201 (1848) (historic rule on interlocutory appeals affecting property rights)
Pigford v. Veneman, 369 F.3d 545 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (expresses doubt that Forgay creates an independent jurisdictional ground)