Law360, New York (October 22, 2014, 10:11 AM EDT) -- On Aug. 4, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a bankruptcy court order denying a request for relief from the automatic stay to continue certain prepetition litigation was not "final" under 28 U.S.C. § 158(d)(1) and accordingly dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The First Circuit's decision represents a split from the vast majority of other circuits that have reviewed the matter, which consider all stay relief denials to be "final" and therefore appealable as of right. In rejecting a bright-line rule for stay relief denials, Pinpoint IT Services LLC v. Rivera (In re Atlas IT Export Corp.), No. 13-9003, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 14949 (1st Cir. Aug. 4, 2014) injects uncertainty into these bankruptcy appeals even prior to any consideration of the merits....