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United States v. Cooper

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
Sep 22, 2020
No. 19-6667 (4th Cir. Sep. 22, 2020)

Opinion

No. 19-6667

09-22-2020

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ELLISON LAKELL COOPER, Defendant - Appellant.

Ellison Lakell Cooper, Appellant Pro Se. Everett E. McMillian, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Florence, South Carolina, for Appellee.


UNPUBLISHED

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence. Terry L. Wooten, Senior District Judge. (4:12-cr-00520-TLW-1; 4:16-cv-02418-TLW) Before AGEE, FLOYD, and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges. Dismissed and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion. Ellison Lakell Cooper, Appellant Pro Se. Everett E. McMillian, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Florence, South Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM:

Ellison Lakell Cooper seeks to appeal the district court's order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. Before addressing the merits of Cooper's appeal, we must first be assured that we have jurisdiction. Porter v. Zook, 803 F.3d 694, 696 (4th Cir. 2015). We may exercise jurisdiction only over final orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and certain interlocutory and collateral orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1292; Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b); Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-46 (1949). "Ordinarily, a district court order is not final until it has resolved all claims as to all parties." Porter, 803 F.3d at 696 (internal quotation marks omitted).

Our review of the record reveals that the district court did not adjudicate all of the claims Cooper raised. Specifically, the court failed to address an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, which Cooper raised in a supplemental filing that the district court entered on its docket as "additional attachments" to his § 2255 motion. We conclude that the order Cooper seeks to appeal is neither a final order nor an appealable interlocutory or collateral order. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction and remand to the district court for consideration of the unresolved claim. We express no opinion regarding the merits of that claim.

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED AND REMANDED


Summaries of

United States v. Cooper

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
Sep 22, 2020
No. 19-6667 (4th Cir. Sep. 22, 2020)
Case details for

United States v. Cooper

Case Details

Full title:UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ELLISON LAKELL COOPER…

Court:UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Date published: Sep 22, 2020

Citations

No. 19-6667 (4th Cir. Sep. 22, 2020)