In re Recticel Foam Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
859 F.2d 1000 (1st Cir. 1988)
After a fire set by disgruntled hotel employees killed 96 people and injured 140 more, roughly 2,000 plaintiffs sued 200 defendants in consolidated litigation, and the district court issued a broad case-management order to handle discovery, including allocating among all served defendants a portion of the $600,000 cost of producing certain photos and videos once the party holding them agreed to waive a work-product objection in exchange for reimbursement. Recticel Foam Corp. (RFC), one of the defendants, objected to the cost-sharing arrangement; after the court denied reconsideration, RFC appealed to the First Circuit.
Whether, under federal law, circuit courts may exercise jurisdiction over a matter before a district court has issued a final decision.