Buckingham

We consider whether we have jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal from an order disapproving a class settlement.

Facts

Plaintiffs were employees of the Montana Power Company and participated in its retirement plan. Defendants were the plan’s trustee and directors of Montana Power. Plaintiffs allege that defendants mismanaged the plan, in breach of their fiduciary duty. Plaintiffs and the directors negotiated a class settlement, the core of which was a cash payment of nearly all the funds remaining in the directors’ fiduciary liability insurance policy. The settlement also included two conditions: First, the directors agreed to cooperate in the ongoing suit against the plan trustee; second, the district court had to bar suits for contribution or indemnity against the di rectors. The court disapproved the settlement and the parties seek to appeal.

Analysis

1. We normally review only “final decisions of the district courts of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . This reflects a preference against piecemeal appeals as old as the first Judiciary Act. Baltimore Contractors, Inc. v. Bodinger, 348 U.S. 176, 178 , 75 S.Ct. 249 , 99 L.Ed. 233 (1955), rev’d on other grounds,…