Chase Manhattan Mortg. Corp. v. Moore

Decision Date04 May 2006
Docket NumberNo. 05-2941.,05-2941.
Citation446 F.3d 725
PartiesCHASE MANHATTAN MORTGAGE CORP., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James E. MOORE, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Patrick J. McCann, Noonan & Lieberman, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

James E. Moore, Chicago, IL, pro se.

Before POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

Chase Manhattan brought this diversity suit against Moore to foreclose its mortgage on his home, order the home sold, and, if the proceeds of the sale were insufficient to satisfy Chase's debt, enter a deficiency judgment for the unpaid balance. Chase moved for summary judgment, which the district judge denied. But on Chase's motion to reconsider, the judge, upon discovering that the documents Moore had submitted in opposition to the motion to show that he'd paid off the mortgage were fake, granted summary judgment for Chase, and entered judgment. Moore appeals.

Chase argues that we do not have jurisdiction of the appeal because the judge did not enter a final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. But she did: the judgment order states that judgment is awarded to Chase Manhattan. It is true that the order describes the judgment as merely the grant of "summary judgment on Chase's foreclosure claim." And it is also true that such a judgment does not grant the plaintiff any relief. The judgment does not order Moore to do anything or to pay anything.

But that does not negate finality. The test is not the adequacy of the judgment but whether the district court has finished with the case. If it has, ending the lawsuit, the judgment can be appealed, for otherwise a plaintiff who had received a favorable ruling but no relief would have to ask the court of appeals to mandamus the district judge. And so in Munson Transportation, Inc. v. Hajjar, 148 F.3d 711, 714 (7th Cir.1998), we concluded that the district court's order was final, despite not addressing all the claims before the court, because it contained language "calculated to conclude all the claims before the district court" and indeed said "this case is terminated." Similarly, Moreau v. Harris County, 158 F.3d 241, 244 (5th Cir.1998), explains that a judgment is final when it is "couched in language calculated to conclude all claims before [the district court]." The statement in Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 467, 98 S.Ct. 2454, 57 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978), quoting Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233, 65 S.Ct. 631, 89 L.Ed. 911 (1945), that a final judgment is one that "ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment," is, when wrenched from its context (always a perilous thing to do), overbroad. Coopers & Lybrand involved an explicitly interlocutory order, namely a class certification order; and in Catlin the district court had been explicit that the case was not over in that court.

The only oddity here is that Chase, which got nothing, is not appealing, whereas Moore, who was not ordered to do or pay anything and thus remains in possession of his house despite his having defaulted on the mortgage, is appealing. In arguing that the judgment of the district court is not final, Chase must be expecting to go back to the district judge and ask her for an order foreclosing its mortgage, selling the mortgaged property, and, if necessary, entering a deficiency judgment. Mistakenly supposing that there was no final judgment and therefore that the case must still be alive in the district court, Chase missed the rather elementary point that there is no longer any lawsuit pending in that court. If we affirm, Chase will either have to file a new lawsuit, again demanding foreclosure, but risking encountering the bar of res judicata, or move under Rule 60(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to set aside the original judgment. What Chase should have done was, after reading the judgment order, to ask the district judge to amend it to add an order of foreclosure.

The judgment is radically defective. It's as if the judge had said midway through the case "I am tired of this case so I'm entering a judgment terminating it." It would be a final order but not a proper disposition. But can we do anything about it? Chase Manhattan has not appealed, so we cannot alter the district court's judgment in its favor. El Paso Natural Gas Co. v. Neztsosie, 526 U.S. 473, 479, 119 S.Ct. 1430, 143 L.Ed.2d 635 (1999); Mother & Father v. Cassidy, 338 F.3d 704, 713 (7th Cir.2003); Adkins v. Mid-American Growers, Inc., 167 F.3d 355, 360 (7th Cir. 1999). Moore is the appellant; but if he was not harmed by the judgment, he lacks standing to appeal.

If he was not harmed: in LaBuhn v. Bulkmatic Transport Co., 865 F.2d 119, 122 (7th Cir.1988), we noted, citing Schwartzmiller v. Gardner, 752 F.2d 1341, 1345 (9th Cir.1984), that there is authority that a winning party can appeal in order to challenge an adverse finding by the trial court that might form the basis for a plea of collateral estoppel in a subsequent suit. But against that we pointed out that a finding which a party had no incentive, other than fear of collateral estoppel, to appeal, because he had won, has no collateral estoppel effect; so his fear is baseless. Field v. Mans, 157 F.3d 35, 41 (1st Cir. 1998); Concerned Citizens of Cohocton Valley, Inc. v. N.Y. State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 127 F.3d 201, 205-06 (2d Cir.1997); Bath Iron Works Corp. v. Coulombe, 888 F.2d 179 (1st Cir. 1989) (per curiam); Balcom v. Lynn Ladder & Scaffolding Co., 806 F.2d 1127 (1st Cir.1986) (per curiam); Gelb v. Royal Globe Ins. Co., 798 F.2d 38, 44 (2d Cir. 1986); Restatement of Judgments (Second) § 27, comment h (1982); see generally 15 Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3902, at pp. 401-06 (1976).

That seems right in general, but this case is unusual. For it is not as if Moore had really won in the district court. The only ruling the court made went against him — the ruling that he really did owe Chase Manhattan the money that Chase was trying to...

To continue reading

Request your trial
26 cases
  • Outley v. City of Chi.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois
    • 9 Septiembre 2019
    ..., 920 F.3d 499, 503 (7th Cir. 2019) —in other words, when "the district court has finished with the case," Chase Manhattan Mortg. Corp. v. Moore , 446 F.3d 725, 726 (7th Cir. 2006). Critically here, a district court need not "use certain magic words" to enter a final judgment, Paganis v. Bl......
  • Gibson v. Am. Cyanamid Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • 21 Agosto 2014
    ...has finished with the case.’ ” Minnesota Life Ins. Co. v. Kagan, 724 F.3d 843, 847 (7th Cir.2013) (quoting Chase Manhattan Mortg. Corp. v. Moore, 446 F.3d 725, 726 (7th Cir.2006)). In a similar prior decision, we concluded that, in a case where two of the four defendants had filed for bankr......
  • Morales v. Bezy
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • 24 Agosto 2007
    ...the court was through with it, which is the meaning of finality for purposes of determining appealability. Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp. v. Moore, 446 F.3d 725, 726 (7th Cir.2006); Moreau v. Harris County, 158 F.3d 241, 244 (5th Cir.1998). The fact that a separate action — the petition for......
  • Grede v. FCStone, LLC
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • 14 Agosto 2017
    ...F.3d 767, 776 (7th Cir. 2009)(bankruptcy order modifying discharge injunction was final and appealable); Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp. v. Moore , 446 F.3d 725, 728 (7th Cir. 2006) (district court order entering summary judgment in bank's favor but failing to order foreclosure was neverthel......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT