Opinion
DA 22-0317
06-21-2022
JAYLENE CECELIA PHILLIPS, Petitioner and Appellee, v. LEONIE CANDICE WEBB, Respondent and Appellant.
ORDER
Respondent and Appellant Leonie Candice Webb, via counsel, appeals from the June 3, 2022 Order on Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction from the Seventeenth Judicial District Court, Phillips County, entered in that court's Cause No. DR-2021-18.
Webb filed her Notice of Appeal in this matter on June 13, 2022. In that Notice, Webb states that "this is an appeal from an order certified as final under Rule 54(b), M.R.Civ.P." Webb further states that "a true and correct copy of the District Court's certification order is attached hereto."
Without proper certification, we are without jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. Kohler v. Croonenberghs, 2003 MT 260, 317 Mont. 413, 77 P.3d 531. This Court may sua sponte raise the issue of whether an appeal has come to this Court prematurely and should therefore be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Farmers Union Mut. Ins. Co. v. Horton, 2003 MT 79, ¶ 19, 315 Mont. 43, 67 P.3d 285 (Gray, CJ, concurring) (citing Litigation Relating to Riot, 283 Mont. 277, 281, 939 P.2d 1013, 1016 (1997)).
The order attached to Webb's Notice of Appeal is the June 3, 2022 Order Denying Webb's Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction. We have reviewed this Order and it does not contain any certification pursuant to M. R. Civ. P. 54(b). We obtained a Case Register Report from the Clerk of the Valley County District Court, and no such order is delineated in the Register of Actions.
Since Webb has presented this as an appeal "from an order certified as final under Rule 54(b)," the issue of the timeliness or appealability of the District Court's Order without Rule 54(b) certification is not before us and we make no determination as to those issues.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that this appeal is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.