Herx v. Diocese of Ft. Wayne-South Bend, Inc.

Ct. of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider defendant-Catholic Diocese’s appeal of Dist. Ct. order denying its motion for summary judgment in Title VII action by plaintiff-teacher, alleging that defendant failed to renew her teaching contract on account of her gender, where Dist. Ct. found that: (1) religious-exemptions did not apply to plaintiff’s Title VII action, which did not raise religious discrimination claim; and (2) ministerial exception did not apply to plaintiff’s lay language arts teaching position. Ct. of Appeals found that collateral-order doctrine did not apply to give it jurisdiction over defendant’s otherwise interlocutory appeal, where instant case concerned only interests of private parties, and where defendant failed to show that its proposed Title VII exemptions or its First Amendment interests generally provided it with immunity from trial, as opposed to ordinary defense to lawsuit.