82
Opinion of the Court
(1982) (per curiam), where we dismissed the writ of certiorari for want of jurisdiction. See ibid. ("Because the Colorado Supreme Court remanded this case for trial, its decision is not final 'as an effective determination of the litigation.' " (citation omitted)).
Petitioners contend that this case comes within the "limited set of situations in which we have found finality as to the federal issue despite the ordering of further proceedings in the lower state courts." Ibid. We do not agree. This is not a case in which "the federal issue, finally decided by the highest court in the State, will survive and require decision regardless of the outcome of future state-court proceedings." Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469, 480 (1975). Resolution of the state-law claims could effectively moot the federal-law question raised here. Most notably, the City maintains that its fire department responded promptly to the call reporting that Ms. Jefferson's residence was in flames, but that Ms. Jefferson was already dead when they arrived. On the City's view of the facts, its personnel could have done nothing more to save Ms. Jefferson's life. See App. 45-47. If the City prevails on this account of the facts, then any § 1983 claim will necessarily fail, however incorrect the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling, for the City will have established that its actions did not cause Ms. Jefferson's death.
Nor is this an instance "where the federal claim has been finally decided, with further proceedings on the merits in the state courts to come, but in which later review of the federal issue cannot be had, whatever the ultimate outcome of the case." Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S., at 481. If the Alabama Supreme Court's decision on the federal claim ultimately makes a difference to the Jeffersons—in particular, if they prevail on their state claims but recover less than they might have under federal law, or if their state claims fail for reasons that do not also dispose of their federal claims—they will be free to seek our review once the state-
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