202
Opinion of the Court
Although proceedings in the District Court were ongoing, petitioner immediately appealed the District Court's order affirming the Magistrate Judge's sanctions award to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Court of Appeals, over a dissent, dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Starcher v. Correctional Medical Systems, Inc., 144 F. 3d 418 (1998). It considered whether the sanctions order was immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine, which provides that certain orders may be appealed, notwithstanding the absence of final judgment, but only when they "are conclusive, . . . resolve important questions separate from the merits, and . . . are effectively unreviewable on appeal from the final judgment in the underlying action." Swint v. Chambers County Comm'n, 514 U. S. 35, 42 (1995) (citing Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U. S. 541, 546 (1949)). In the Sixth Circuit's view, these conditions were not satisfied because the issues involved in petitioner's appeal were not "completely separate" from the merits. 144 F. 3d, at 424. As for the fact that petitioner had been disqualified as counsel, the court held that "a non-participating attorney, like a participating attorney, ordinarily must wait until final disposition of the underlying case before filing an appeal." Id., at 425. It avoided deciding whether the order was effectively unre-viewable absent an immediate appeal but saw "no reason why, after final resolution of the underlying case . . . a sanctioned attorney should be unable to appeal the order imposing sanctions." Ibid.
The Federal Courts of Appeals disagree over whether an order of Rule 37(a) sanctions against an attorney is immediately appealable under § 1291. Compare, e. g., Eastern Maico Distributors, Inc. v. Maico-Fahrzeugfabrik, G.m.b.h., 658 F. 2d 944, 946-951 (CA3 1981) (order not immediately appealable), with Telluride Management Solutions, Inc. v. Telluride Investment Group, 55 F. 3d 463, 465 (CA9 1995) (order immediately appealable). We granted a writ of cer-
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