Eighth Circuit Holds that an Order Remanding to an ERISA Plan Administrator Is Not an Appealable Final Order

The Eighth Circuit in Borntrager v. Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, 425 F.3d 1087 (8th Cir. Oct. 10, 2005) recently rejected an invitation to hold that an order remanding a case to an ERISA plan administrator for further proceedings is an appealable final order. Consistent with other circuits, the court held that such orders are "interlocutory in nature and therefore not immediately appealable." The court indicated that to be appealable, the order would have to satisfy the collateral order standard, under which an interlocutory order is immediately appealable if it conclusively "resolve[s] an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action" and is "effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment."

Applying the collateral order standard, the court concluded that "the district court has not conclusively resolved an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action that would be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment."