Firstier Mortgage Company, Aka Realbanc, Inc. v. Investors Mortgage Insurance Company

Decided January 15, 1991. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 89-1063 · 498 U.S. 269 (1991) · Cited 362 times

Holding

Rule 4(a)(2) permits a notice of appeal filed from a nonfinal decision to serve as an effective notice of appeal from a subsequently entered final judgment when a district court announces a decision that would be appealable if immediately followed by the entry of judgment.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Foman v. Davis · 371 U.S. 178 (1962)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Catlin v. United States · 324 U.S. 229 (1945)
• Torres v. Oakland Scavenger Co. · 487 U.S. 312 (1988)
• United States v. F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co. · 356 U.S. 227 (1958)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Parrish v. United States · 605 U.S. 376 (2025)
• Manrique v. United States · 581 U.S. 116 (2017)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1991). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).