On orders, final orders, and judgments

Perhaps no issue more consistently perplexes litigants (and sometimes, it must be said, judges) than whether a particular order is merely an order, a "final order," or a "judgment." The distinction matters a great deal, and in this case it (for now, at least) cost the plaintiff a shot at almost 8 million bucks.

Burnham v. Cleveland Clinic - Supreme Court limits prior holding restricting appellate jurisdiction

Yesterday the Supreme Court issued its decision in Burnham v. Cleveland Clinic, holding 6-1 that an order compelling the production of attorney-client privileged material is immediately appealable. This is good news. That such an order is appealable might seem obvious at first blush, but it was very much in doubt after the Court's holding last year in Smith v. Chen.