Opinion
No. 10-7405.
Submitted: December 16, 2010.
Decided: December 29, 2010.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Roanoke. Jackson L. Riser, Senior District Judge. (7:10-cv-00239-jlk-mfu).
Timothy R. Mueller, Appellant Pro Se. John Michael Parsons, Assistant Attorney General, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.
Before GREGORY, DUNCAN, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
Timothy R. Mueller seeks to appeal the district court's order denying his motions to appoint counsel, for class certification, and to amend his complaint. No final judgment has been entered in the underlying case, which remains pending in the district court.
This court may exercise jurisdiction only over final orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (2006), and certain interlocutory and collateral orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (2006); Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b); Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-46, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949). To the extent that Mueller seeks to appeal the district court's denial of his motions for appointment of counsel and to amend his complaint, we lack jurisdiction over the appeal in the absence of a final judgment. Further, although an interlocutory appeal of the denial of a motion for class certification may proceed with leave of this court, Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(f); see Fed.R.App.P. 5, Mueller has not properly petitioned this court for such leave.
Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We deny Mueller's motion to this court for appointment of counsel. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED.