UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,

v.

PAUL E. NEAL, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT

PER CURIAM.

Paul E. Neal appeals an order dismissing his appeal to the district court of four misdemeanor convictions. Defendant asserts error in the ruling that the notice of appeal filed with the district court on June 29, 1984, was insufficient. We have reviewed the notice and have determined its defect did not deprive the district court of appellate jurisdiction.

On June 26, 1984, a United States magistrate sentenced defendant for four misde meanor convictions of failure to pay occupational tax before engaging in the business of accepting wagers [26 U.S.C. § 7203 (1982) ]. Defendant filed on June 26, 1984, a notice of appeal with the Clerk of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The notice erroneously designated the court being appealed to as the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Upon defendant’s conviction before the United States magistrate his appeal of right lay with a judge of the district court. 18 U.S.C. § 3402 (1968).

Defendant’s counsel was apparently informed of the misdesignation by the clerk’s office and then filed an amended notice of appeal on July 20, 1984, properly naming the United States District Court to be the appellate court. The Government thereafter moved to dismiss defendant’s appeal as untimely. The district court held that the misdesignation was not a slight technical error and that it rendered insufficient the notice of appeal filed June 26, 1984. Since there was no showing of excusable neglect for the late filing of the amended notice of appeal on July 20, 1984, the district court granted the Government’s motion and dismissed the defendant’s appeal as untimely.

The question of whether a document is legally sufficient to provide a district court with jurisdiction is one of law and not of fact.

The timely filing of the notice of appeal is mandatory and jurisdictional. Browder v. Director Dept. of Corrections, 434 U.S. 257, 264, 98 S.Ct. 556, 560, 54 L.Ed.2d 521 (1978). The Federal Rules of Procedure “are not, and were not intended to have an inflexible meaning irrespective of the circumstances.” Fallen v. United States, 378 U.S. 139, 142, 84 S.Ct. 1689, 1691, 12 L.Ed.2d 760 (1964).

Rule 1(a) of the Rules of Procedure for the Trial of Misdemeanors before United States Magistrates (Magistrates Rules) delineates the scope of these Rules to include appeals to judges of the district courts. Rule 7(b) of the Magistrates Rules provides: