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ROBERT J. SCHULER, husband; NANCY D. SCHULER,
wife; WINDEMERE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION,
INC., a Michigan non-profit corporation,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
ROBERT P. ADAMS, husband; CAROL A. ADAMS, wife,
Defendants-Appellants,
MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, GREAT
LAKES AND ENERGY; UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF
ENGINEERS,
Third-Party Defendants-Appellees. |
No. 21-1613 |
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids.
No. 1:21-cv-00827—Hala Y. Jarbou, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: March 7, 2022
Before: SILER, CLAY, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
_________________________
MURPHY, Circuit Judge. It is black-letter law that federal courts of appeals generally
have jurisdiction only over “final decisions” of federal district courts. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. It is
also black-letter law that, as one exception to this rule, parties may immediately appeal a district
court’s nonfinal order granting a preliminary injunction. Id. § 1292(a)(1). But what happens if a
state court grants the preliminary injunction, and a defendant then removes the case to federal
court? Does the right to an early appeal of an injunction order cover the state court’s order too?
This appeal raises that question—one that falls in a gray area between these two black-letter
principles.
Robert and Carol Adams want to build a home on their property, but their neighbors,
Robert and Nancy Schuler, believe that their plans violate a restrictive covenant running with the
land. A state court granted the Schulers a preliminary injunction stopping the construction.
After the court’s order, the Adamses filed a third-party complaint against the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, which responded by removing the case to federal court. The Adamses then filed a
notice of appeal of the state court’s injunction order. But we have jurisdiction only over
injunction orders “of” district courts, not state courts. Id. So we dismiss this appeal for lack of
appellate jurisdiction. |
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