Bad Mistake.  In Gusler v. City of Long Beach, the plaintiff brought an action, claiming retaliation for making statements about his employer, the Long Beach Fire Department. The action was brought against the City of Long Beach, the police department, the volunteer fire department and eleven individuals. The individuals moved to dismiss, in part, on the ground of qualified immunity. The Court denied the motion on that ground, but dismissed as to certain of the individuals on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to state a valid cause of action against them. After the motion (and the death of one of the defendants), only three of the individuals remained in the action. The remaining individuals filed a notice of appeal within the 30-day period, however, the notice of appeal stated that it was Nassau County, which was not a party to the action, that was appealing. After the 30-day period for filing a notice of appeal had passed, an amended notice of appeal, properly naming all of the individuals – both those who had been dismissed and those who had not -- as the appealing parties was filed. The Second Circuit dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The notice of appeal did not meet the requirements of Rule 3(c)(1)(A), which requires a notice of appeal to specify who is taking the appeal. The Court found that the notice of appeal did not meet the requirement of the rule.

Interestingly, the Court's opinion does not list the name of the attorneys involved.

The decision in this case can be found here.








It is interesting that the opinion, unlike most Second Circuit opi