WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked former aerospace workers from appealing the dismissal of their long-running age discrimination lawsuit against the Boeing Co. and Spirit AeroSystems.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren said Wednesday that the plaintiffs’ attorneys have not shown “excusable neglect” for failing to file their notice of appeal on time. He also says the court has lost confidence in the reliability of anything plaintiffs’ counsel tells it.

The attorneys had sought to appeal Melgren’s decision in January that tossed out the claims of the remaining 26 plaintiffs as a sanction for their refusal to obey a court order to give their tax returns to the companies.

The case has spanned nine years. When the courts rejected the collective action claims, the former workers filed individual age discrimination complaints.