In the Matter of Dean Patterson v. Barbara B. Crabb, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

We are asked to issue a writ of mandamus in unusual circumstances. On August 3, 1988, this panel dismissed Dean Patterson’s appeal from the dismissal, on immunity grounds, of a civil rights damages claim arising out of his discharge from a tenured teaching position at a state university. The ground of our action was the absence of a final judgment order required by Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Patterson v. Portch, 853 F.2d 1399, 1402-04 (7th Cir.1988). In fact, there was such an order; we had overlooked it. Neither party brought the oversight to our…