Dorothy Ann Artis v. England Associates, LP

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 20-13885
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 1:18-cv-04620-LMM
DOROTHY ANN ARTIS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
ENGLAND ASSOCIATES, LP,
d.b.a. New London Health Center,
Defendant-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
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(February 17, 2021)
Before WILSON, ROSENBAUM, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
England Associates, LP, moves this Court to dismiss Dorothy Ann Artis’s
appeal for lack of jurisdiction. For the reasons below, we grant the motion.
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“The timely filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case is a jurisdictional
requirement.” Green v. Drug Enf’t Admin., 606 F.3d 1296, 1300 (11th Cir. 2010)
(cleaned up) (quoting Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007)). To be timely, a
notice of appeal must be filed “within thirty days after the entry of [the challenged]
judgment, order or decree.” 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a). Upon receiving a motion “filed not
later than thirty days after the expiration of the time otherwise set for bringing
appeal,” a district court may “extend the time for appeal upon a showing of excusable
neglect or good cause.” 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c). For pro se appellants, this Court
construes these jurisdictional requirements liberally, and it may construe a document
as a notice of appeal if that document is “the functional equivalent” of what Federal
Rule of Appellate Procedure 3 requires. Rinaldo v. Corbett, 256 F.3d 1276, 1278–
79 (11th Cir. 2001) (cleaned up).
Here, the district court entered a final order and judgment dismissing Artis’s
amended complaint on July 23, 2020. Her thirty-day deadline for filing a notice of
appeal was therefore August 24th. On September 3rd, Artis filed a motion for
extension of time to file a notice of appeal. The district court granted her motion and
extended her time to file a notice of appeal until October 5th. Artis, however, did not
file the instant notice of appeal until October 14th.
Consequently, Artis’s October 14th notice of appeal is untimely because it
was filed over a week after her extended October 5th deadline. Even if this Court
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liberally construed her September 3rd motion as itself being a notice of appeal, that
filing would still be late by more than a week because of the original August 24th
deadline.
Giving Artis every benefit of the doubt, her September 3rd motion was either
an untimely notice of appeal or a timely motion to extend followed by an untimely
notice of appeal on October 14th. For these reasons, England Associates’ motion to
dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction is GRANTED.
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