Robin James, a Married Person in Her Separate Capacity v. Price Stern Sloan, Inc., a Delaware Corporation Penguin Putnam, Inc., a Delaware Corporation

Robin James is a successful artist. For five years, from 1977 to 1982, she illustrated a series of children’s books published by Price Stern Sloan, Inc. As the books became popular, the originals of James’s illustrations rose in value. Years later, James requested that Price Stern return her original artwork. Price Stern complied by returning all the artwork that it could locate. Having eventually returned about half of the illustrations, Price Stern informed James that the remaining artwork had been irretrievably lost.

James sued Price Stern, claiming compensation for the lost artwork. Price Stern countered by arguing that the contracts governing James’s work between 1977 and 1982 assigned the ownership of the artwork to Price Stern. The district court granted Price Stern’s motion for partial summary judgment with respect to claims related to those contracts. James appeals and we must determine whether we have jurisdiction.

The partial summary judgment disposed only of the claims brought under the contracts concluded between 1977 and 1982; it did not adjudicate claims related to two posW1982 book series. After the district court granted partial summary judgment for Price Stern,…