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581 F.2d 1181

Docket No. 78-1276.

Miller v. Reighter

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals

Submitted Sept. 15, 1978.

Decided Sept. 20, 1978.

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1978-09-20

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently December 1988

9 federal appellate ·

2 counsel of record

Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))

Relies on Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · United States v. Ryan · Gialde v. Time, Inc.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by (per_curiam) · Decided 1978-09-20

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Marilyn Hutchinson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lincoln, Neb., for appellant; Paul L. Douglas, Atty. Gen., Lincoln, Neb., on brief.

¶2Brian J. Waid, Legal Services of S. E. Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., for appellee.

¶3Before HEANEY and STEPHENSON, Circuit Judges and HANSON, Senior District Judge.*

¶5PER CURIAM.

¶6Robért P. Miller brought a class action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Dr. Kenneth Reighter and others seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in respect to psychiatric care at the Penitentiary Unit of the Nebraska State Penal and Correction Complex. Reighter is presently seeking review, of an order entered on February 7, 1978 in which the District Court allowed Miller’s attorneys and experts to examine certain medical and psychiatric records maintained by Reighter. Reighter argues that these records are privileged,

¶7Miller argues that this Court lacks jurisdiction to review this order. Reighter argues, however, that this was a final order because it is a final disposition of a claimed *1182right which is not an ingredient of the cause of action and does not require consideration with it. See Cohen v. Beneficial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949). We disagree. Ordinarily, a discovery order directed to the production of documents, and which imposes no sanctions, is not a final order appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Gialde v. Time, Inc., 480 F.2d 1295, 1300 (8th Cir. 1973). Denial of immediate review of the District Court’s discovery order would not render meaningful review at a subsequent time impossible. See United States v. Ryan, 402 U.S. 530, 533, 91 S.Ct. 1580, 29 L.Ed.2d 85 (1971). Thus, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

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