Opinion ID: 745299
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Agreed Stay Order

Text: 58 The plaintiffs next argue that the district court erred in lifting its January 4, 1994 order staying the state criminal prosecutions. Both parties appear to agree that the stay and consolidation order was agreed to by the parties as an alternative to proceeding to an evidentiary hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. Thus, in effect, the stay order operated as a preliminary injunction of the underlying state prosecutions pending the outcome of the district court's resolution of the plaintiffs' challenge to those prosecutions. On April 28, 1995, following the district court's order giving full faith and credit to the underlying state findings, the district court determined that the stay would remain in effect until the resolution of the plaintiffs' post-judgment motions. Then, on July 27, 1995, after determining that there were no unresolved pre- or post-judgment disputes regarding the merits of this lawsuit, the district court vacated the January 4, 1994 stay order and allowed the state criminal cases to proceed. Aplts' Br. att. G, at 1 (Dist. Ct. Order dated July 27, 1995). 59 We review the district court's lifting of the stay in this case as the denial of a preliminary injunction under an abuse of discretion standard. See Walmer v. United States Department of Defense, 52 F.3d 851, 854 (10th Cir.1995). Our review requires that we examine whether the district court committed an error of law or relied on clearly erroneous fact findings. Id. In order to obtain preliminary injunctive relief, the moving party must establish: (1) the movant will suffer irreparable injury unless the injunction issues; (2) the threatened injury to the movant outweighs whatever damage the proposed injunction may cause the opposing party; (3) the injunction, if issued, will not be adverse to the public interest; and (4) a substantial likelihood that the movant will succeed on the merits. Id. Furthermore, under the Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2283, [a] court of the United States may not grant an injunction to stay proceedings in a State court except as expressly authorized by Act of Congress, or where necessary to aid in its jurisdiction, or to protect or effectuate its judgments. 28 U.S.C. § 2283. The Supreme Court has made clear that the statute imposes an absolute ban on federal injunctions against pending state court proceeding, in the absence of one of the recognized exceptions in the law. See Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 228-29, 92 S.Ct. 2151, 2154-55, 32 L.Ed.2d 705 (1972). 60 There is no basis for the plaintiffs' contention that the district court erred in lifting the agreed stay order. The plaintiffs do not discuss the Anti-Injunction Act or its exceptions, and our review of the record and applicable case law reveals no basis for applying one of the statutory exceptions. For this reason alone, we would uphold the district court's dissolution of the stay order. In addition, however, we conclude that under the traditional preliminary injunction factors--which the plaintiffs also fail to discuss--the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate to the district court a substantial likelihood that they would succeed on the merits of this appeal. The district court determined that the plaintiffs' federal claims were barred by the Full Faith and Credit Act and issued its final order and judgment in the case. Therefore, we conclude that the stay, which operated as a preliminary injunction, no longer served any purpose and the district court did not commit an error of law or abuse its discretion in dissolving that order. 61