Ortiz v. Dodge

• Decision Date: 03 October 1997
• Docket Number: No. 97-7023,97-7023
• Citation: 126 F.3d 545
• Parties: Edwin ORTIZ; Santiago Camacho (Intervenor in D.C.), v. Sylvia DODGE, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 545

126 F.3d 545

Edwin ORTIZ; Santiago Camacho (Intervenor in D.C.), v. Sylvia DODGE, Appellant.

No. 97-7023.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued April 9, 1997.

Decided Oct. 3, 1997.

Bethany J. Vazzana, (Argued), Law Offices of Wilfredo A. Geigel, Christiansted, St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, Attorney for Appellee.

Lolita d'Jones de Paiewonsky, (Argued), Christiansted, United States Virgin Islands, Attorney for Appellant.

Before: BECKER, ROTH and WEIS, Circuit Judges.

ROTH, Circuit Judge:

OPINION OF THE COURT

In this case, we are asked to review a decision of the Appellate Division of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, reversing in part an order of the Virgin Islands Territorial Court and remanding for further proceedings. The appellate division's decision involves complicated questions about the scope and application of the Virgin Islands homestead exemption and the procedures available for undoing a confirmation order of a judgment sale. See 5 V.I.C. § 478, 489. We will not address the merits of this appeal, however, because we do not believe the decision, which remanded the case to the territorial court for further proceedings on the merits, qualifies as a "final decision" within the meaning of 48 U.S.C. § 1613a(c).

I. FACTS

In 1989, Sylvia Dodge, the appellant in this case, lost an action brought by Edwin Ortiz to collect a debt. Ortiz obtained a judgment in territorial court against Dodge for the amount of $4,982.91, plus interests and costs.

Ortiz did not succeed in two attempts to collect on the judgment. A territorial marshal then issued a writ, attaching Dodge's property at 122 Estate Ruby, St. Croix. The marshal eventually conducted an execution sale, and the property was purchased by Santiago Camacho, the intervenor appellee in this case, for a bid of $9,300. The territorial court entered an order confirming the sale of Dodge's property on September 24, 1991. Dodge apparently did not receive a copy of Camacho's motion to confirm the judgment sale.

Nearly one year later, Dodge filed a motion with the territorial court to annul the Confirmation Order and set aside the sale on the grounds that she had been improperly denied a homestead exemption prior to the sale of her property and that she had been given improper notice of the motion to enter a confirmation order of that sale. See 5 V.I.C. § 478. ¹ The territorial court agreed with Dodge, vacated the confirmation order, and set aside the sale.

Camacho appealed to Appellate Division of the District Court of the Virgin Islands. See 48 U.S.C. § 1613a. On appeal, Camacho argued that (1) Dodge had failed t o provide appropriate notice to the marshals that her property qualified for the homestead exemption; (2) even if Dodge was entitled to the homestead exemption, it protected, at most, only her equity in the property, which was less than the amount paid out by Camacho; and (3) Dodge failed to meet the standards of Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in bringing her motion to annul the confirmation and vacate the sale and confirmation order.

The appellate division affirmed the territorial court's decision to annul the Confirmation Order, but it did so pursuant to Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, ² rather than pursuant to 5 V.I.C. § 489, which sets forth the circumstances under Virgin Islands law for confirmation of a judgment sale. ³ See Camacho v. Dodge, 947 F.Supp. 886, 894 (D.Virgin Islands 1996).

Although the appellate division affirmed the territorial court's annulment of the Confirmation Order, it did not uphold the territorial court's decision to set aside the judgment sale. According to the appellate division, the fact that Dodge had properly invoked her homestead exemption under Virgin Islands law did not resolve the question of whether the sale should be set aside. See Camacho, 947 F.Supp. at 893. The appellate division therefore remanded the case to the territorial court to give Dodge "the opportunity to have the extent of her entitlement to the homestead exemption determined by the trial court.... The court's ruling on the remanded homestead issue will determine whether or not the entire execution sale must be set aside." Id.

Dodge's attorney now appeals the appellate division's reversal of the territorial court's decision to set aside the judgment sale. ⁴

II. DISCUSSION

A. Final Decision

We need not address the merits of Dodge's appeal because we lack appellate jurisdiction over this case. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 48 U.S.C. § 1613a(c), our jurisdiction is limited to "final decisions" from the District Court of the Virgin Islands. ⁵ See In re A.M., 34 F.3d 153, 155 (3d Cir.1994). A final order is one that "ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment." Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233, 65 S.Ct. 631, 633, 89 L.Ed. 911 (1945). See also Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 467, 98 S.Ct. 2454, 2457, 57 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978); Bryant v. Sylvester, 57 F.3d 308, 311 (3d Cir.1995).

Neither of the parties has addressed whether the decision of the appellate division of the district court constitutes a final decision within the meaning of § 1291 or § 1613a. Because we are a court of limited jurisdiction, however, we must resolve this threshold issue sua sponte. See FW/PBS Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 230, 110 S.Ct. 596, 607-08, 107 L.Ed.2d 603 (1990). We cannot treat a non-final order as immediately appealable simply because we think it might be erroneous and might wish to expedite resolution of the case. See Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Risjord, 449 U.S. 368, 378, 101 S.Ct. 669, 675, 66 L.Ed.2d 571 (1981).

This case presents a complicated jurisdictional question because the case has already received "appellate" review from the district court. In this jurisdictional scheme of a court of appeals reviewing the decision of a territorial district court, acting in its appellate capacity, the Ninth Circuit has elected to treat the court of appeals' position as analogous to that of the Supreme Court when a party petitions for certiorari from a judgment of the highest court of a state. See e.g. Guam v. Kingsbury, 649 F.2d 740, 742 (9th Cir.1981) (comparing appellate review of decisions of district court of Guam to Supreme Court's review of judgments of highest state court); Guam v. Quinata, 704 F.2d 1085, 1086 (9th Cir.1983) (noting imperfect fit of analogy). In In re Alison, 837 F.2d 619, 622 (3d Cir.1988), however, we rejected this analogy as inconsistent with the language and spirit of § 1613a(c), the statute governing appeals from the Territorial Court and the District Court of the Virgin Islands, and we refused to accept an "interlocutory appeal" of a reversal of a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal. See In re Alison, 837 F.2d at 622 (rejecting argument that Court of Appeals is functional equivalent of Supreme Court under Virgin Islands judicial scheme). Subsequently, with regard to the question of finality, we have treated appeals from the Appellate Division of the District Court of the Virgin Islands no differently than appeals taken from any other federal district court. See e.g. Government of Virgin Islands v. Blake, 118 F.3d 972, 974-75 (3d Cir.1997); In re A.M., 34 F.3d at 155.

In this case, the appellate division affirmed the territorial court's determination that Sylvia Dodge had triggered her homestead exemption under Virgin Islands law and that she was entitled to have the Confirmation Order annulled, but the court remanded the case to the territorial court to determine the exact extent of Dodge's exemption. In a footnote, the appellate division explained:

Without getting into the details of the statute and procedure for claiming premises as a homestead entitled to the exemption, we note that the homestead "shall not exceed thirty thousand dollars in value." 5 V.I.C. § 478(a). We further point out that Dodge had claimed in her bankruptcy filings that the property had a value of $50,000 although this claim was not contemporaneous with the judicial sale.

Camacho, 947 F.Supp. at 893 n. 12. We infer from this statement that the appellate division remanded the case to the territorial court to allow it to hear evidence regarding the value of Dodge's equitable interest in her homestead, since the value of Dodge's home had not been made a part of the record. ⁶ The appellate division's decision cannot, therefore, be described as a "final decision." The proceedings in this case are ongoing, and the merits--whether Dodge is entitled to have the court set aside her judgment sale--have not yet been conclusively determined. As the appellate division explained, "The [territorial] court's ruling on the remanded homestead issue will determine whether or not the entire execution sale must be set aside." Camacho, 947 F.Supp. at 893 (emphasis added). The operative word in this sentence is "will." Clearly, the appellate division did not "finally resolve" the question whether the execution sale should be set aside.

Moreover, by remanding this case, the appellate division handed to the territorial court the onerous task of determining the value of Sylvia Dodge's exemption. Since the territorial court's role is hardly ministerial, we cannot characterize the appellate division's decision as "final." See Martin v. Brown, 63 F.3d 1252, 1259 (3d Cir.1995) (order generally not final "until it is reduced to a determinate amount"); Isidor Paiewonsky Associates, Inc. v. Sharp Properties, Inc., 998 F.2d 145, 150 (3d Cir.1993) (final judgment is "one which disposes of the whole subject, gives all the relief that was contemplated, provides with reasonable completeness for giving effect to the judgment and leaves nothing to be done in the cause save to superintend, ministerially, the execution of the decree") (citation omitted).

Because the appellate division's decision is not final, we cannot consider any of the...