Erie CROWDER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellant

The general rule is that a judgment by a district court remanding a case to an administrative agency is nonfinal and hence nonappealable, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, unless all that remains to be done on remand is a mechanical or otherwise “ministerial” task, requiring no judgment or discretion. In re Riggsby, 745 F.2d 1153, 1156 (7th Cir.1984). We asked the parties to brief the question whether this rule requires us to dismiss the appeal. The plaintiff, Mrs. Crowder, had sought disability benefits under the Social Security Act, had been turned down by the Social Security Administration on the basis of…