December 29, 1994 [NOT FOR PUBLICATION] [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
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Nos. 94-1410
94-1441
IN RE: TWO APPEALS ARISING OUT OF THE
SAN JUAN DUPONT PLAZA HOTEL FIRE LITIGATION.
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APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Raymond L. Acosta, U.S. District Judge] ___________________
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Before
Selya, Circuit Judge, _____________
Bownes, Senior Circuit Judge, ____________________
and Cyr, Circuit Judge. _____________
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Judith Resnik, with whom Dennis E. Curtis, Richard A. ______________ _________________ ___________
Bieder, and Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, P.C. were on brief, for ______ ________________________________
appellants Bieder, et al.
Jose E. Fernandez-Sein on brief for appellant Nachman. ______________________
Steven C. Lausell, with whom Jimenez, Graffam & Lausell were _________________ __________________________
on brief, for appellee Jimenez, Graffam & Lausell.
Will Kemp, with whom Stanley Chesley, Wendell Gauthier, John _________ _______________ ________________ ____
Cummings, David Indiano and Harrison, Kemp & Jones, Chtd. were on ________ _____________ _____________________________
brief, for remaining appellees.
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Per Curiam. These two appeals were consolidated for Per Curiam. __________
oral argument with a number of other appeals. ("the Fee
Appeals"). Unlike the Fee Appeals, which are concerned primarily
(albeit not exclusively) with a global, end-of-litigation award
of attorneys' fees, these two appeals involve only an order in
respect to costs.1 Moreover, the order appealed from resolves
only one isolated component of the dispute over costs in this
massive litigation. In other orders anent costs, e.g., Order No. ____
478; Order No. 510-A, the district court has limned its preferred
approach for resolving certain other aspects of the overall
inquiry into costs. However, most of the issues relating to
costs remain pending, unresolved, in the court below.
While we have appellate jurisdiction over the global
fee award, see In re Nineteen Appeals, 982 F.2d 603, 608-10 (1st ___ ______________________
Cir. 1992), there is as yet no global costs award. In the
ordinary course, the court of appeals may hear appeals only from
final orders, see 28 U.S.C. 1291, and the orders entered to ___
date in respect to costs are not sufficiently final to qualify
under that rubric.
To be sure, there are exceptions to the finality
principle but none are applicable here. In particular, we
reject appellant's suggestion that the "common fund" exception,
see In re Nineteen Appeals, 982 F.2d at 609, pertains. We think ___ _______________________
that the exception, when other requirements are satisfied,
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1The two appeals in question are both appeals from Order No.
520 (involving the so-called "Foulds' expense"). Neither notice
of appeal raises any other issues.
2
applies to global awards, not to piecemeal interim orders. If
every link in the chain could be appealed separately, chaos would
result.
We need go no further. We dismiss these two appeals,
without prejudice, for want of appellate jurisdiction.2 The
issues raised therein may be raised anew in appeals taken from
the district court's final (global) order in respect to costs
when such an order is entered.
Appeals dismissed. Appeals dismissed. _________________
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2To the extent that the Fee Appeals attempt to raise claims
related to costs, e.g., Appeal No. 94-1156, which purports to be ____
an appeal from two orders anent costs (No. 478 and No. 510-A), as
well as from the global award of fees, we will, when we release
our opinion covering those cases, dismiss without prejudice the
portions of the appeals relating to the cost orders.
3