A June 17 filing in the Fourth Circuit could stop appeal No. 26-1014 before merits briefing ever begins. In No. 25 MOTION, Debra Campbell, the City of Asheville, and Esther Elizabeth Manheimer ask the court to dismiss the appeal outright—a reminder that appellees do not always need to wait for full briefing to challenge whether an appeal belongs in federal appellate court at all.
Although the docket entry provides only the motion’s caption-level description, the filing appears to be a classic threshold attack on the appeal itself. In practice, motions to dismiss an appeal in the court of appeals typically argue one or more of the following: lack of appellate jurisdiction, untimeliness under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, appeal from a non-final order, mootness, or another procedural defect that deprives the court of authority to hear the case. When governmental defendants file this kind of motion, they are often seeking an early exit from appellate proceedings before incurring the cost and risk of full merits litigation.
The broader significance is procedural as much as substantive. Appellate jurisdiction is not a technical afterthought; it is often the decisive battleground. If the order being appealed is not final under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, does not fit within an interlocutory exception, or was not properly noticed, the appeal can be dismissed regardless of the underlying claims. For municipal parties like Asheville and its officials, an early dismissal can preserve a favorable lower-court posture and prevent the appeal from becoming a vehicle for broader precedent.
Litigators should pay close attention to these motions because they can reshape case strategy immediately. A well-timed motion to dismiss can narrow issues, delay or avoid briefing obligations, and frame the case around jurisdictional defects instead of merits arguments. On the other side, appellants must be ready to defend appealability from day one—especially in cases involving partial dismissals, remands, immunity rulings, or other orders that may not neatly qualify for immediate review.
For practitioners tracking the Fourth Circuit, this filing is a useful example of how appellees can use procedural tools aggressively and early. Even when the merits may be hotly contested, the first and most important question in an appeal is often whether the court can hear it at all.