PHILIP A. BRIMMER, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on plaintiff's Notice of Interlocutory Appeal and Collateral-Order Doctrine [Docket No. 65]. Plaintiff requests permission to appeal an interlocutory order, entry of final judgment, and a stay pending appeal. Docket No. 65. The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
Plaintiff is a federal prisoner at the Florence Prison Camp ("FPC") in Florence, Colorado. Docket No. 13 at 2. He brings this lawsuit against Food Service Supervisor Tammy Ruda and several correctional officers, alleging that defendants violated his constitutional and statutory rights by failing to provide him with an adequate gluten-free diet at FPC. See id. at 4-7, 17-20. On September 28, 2018, the Court accepted in part and rejected in part the magistrate judge's report and recommendation on defendants' motion to dismiss, thereby dismissing several of plaintiff's claims. See Docket No. 57. However, the Court granted plaintiff leave to amend his Eighth Amendment claims against defendants Harrison, Thomas, McClendon,
The right to pursue an interlocutory appeal may be granted pursuant to either Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b) or 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).
Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). Entry of final judgment is appropriate under this rule only if the Court concludes (1) "that its judgment is final," and (2) that "no just reason for delay of entry of its judgment exists." Stockman's Water Co., LLC v. Vaca Partners, L.P., 425 F.3d 1263, 1265 (10th Cir. 2005). In making these determinations, the Court considers "whether the claims under review are separable from the others remaining to be adjudicated and whether the nature of the claims already determined are such that no appellate court would have to decide the same issues more than once even if there were subsequent appeals." Id. (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted).
Section 1292(b) of Title 28 provides:
Pursuant to the terms of this statute, four criteria must be met before a district court may certify an issue for appeal: "(1) the action must be a civil action; (2) the court must conclude that the order involves a controlling question of law; (3) there must be substantial ground for difference of opinion as to the resolution of that question; and (4) it must appear that an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation." Carbajal v. Keefer, 51 F.Supp.3d 1065, 1068 (D. Colo. 2014) (citing In re Grand Jury Proceedings June 1991, 767 F.Supp. 222, 223 (D. Colo. 1991)).
The Court finds that the relevant factors do not support entry of final judgment under Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). The issue under Rule 54(b) is whether plaintiff's dismissed claims are "distinct and separable from the claims left unresolved." Jordan v. Pugh, 425 F.3d 820, 826 (10th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted). This inquiry turns on
Id. at 827 (quoting Lawyers Title Ins. Corp. v. Dearborn Title Corp., 118 F.3d 1157, 1162 (7th Cir. 1997)). Applying this test here, the claims plaintiff seeks to appeal are not separable from those left unresolved. All of plaintiff's claims arise out of the same underlying conduct — namely, defendants' failure to provide plaintiff with an adequate, gluten-free diet. See Oklahoma Turnpike Auth. v. Bruner, 259 F.3d 1236, 1243 (10th Cir. 2001) (holding that "the facts giving rise to [plaintiff's] four claims [were] so overlapping that the certification under Rule 54(b) of an order disposing of only two of the claims was error"). Many claims also involve common legal issues, including the question of whether defendants' actions violated plaintiff's rights under the First and Eighth Amendments. Thus, were the Court to enter final judgment at this juncture, the Tenth Circuit would likely be presented with the same issues more than once in the event of a later appeal. See Jordan, 425 F.3d at 827 ("To determine whether separate appeals will be redundant, courts consider whether the allegedly separate claims turn on the same factual questions . . . [or] involve common legal issues. . . .").
For similar reasons, the Court declines to grant certification under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). Even if plaintiff could show that the issues sought to be appealed involve a controlling question of law for which there is a substantial ground for difference of opinion, several claims remain in this lawsuit, the majority of which would not be affected by an immediate appeal. Separate appeals would therefore not "advance the ultimate termination of the litigation." Carbajal, 51 F. Supp. 3d at 1068.
For the foregoing reasons, it is