William J. Elliott v. William Thomas, Barbara Propst v. Morton W. Weir

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

These cases present a common question of appellate jurisdiction: whether a court’s refusal to grant summary judgment to a defendant who denies committing any wrong may be appealed immediately as a “collateral order” on the authority of Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 524-29, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2814-17, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). To state this question is to answer it. A defense of no wrongdoing is not collateral to the merits; it is the nub of the case. Accordingly, we dismiss two of the appeals. A third is within our jurisdiction, and we conclude that the defendants…