Opinion ID: 789340
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Landis Stay

Text: 44 A district court has discretionary power to stay proceedings in its own court under Landis v. North American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254, 57 S.Ct. 163, 81 L.Ed. 153 (1936). In Landis, two holding companies sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the District Court for the District of Columbia to enjoin enforcement of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 on the ground that it was unconstitutional. Numerous similar suits were filed, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, against the SEC. The SEC filed a complaint in the district court for the Southern District of New York to compel other holding companies to comply with the terms of the Act. The District of Columbia district court stayed its suit, indicating that the stay would last until the New York district court suit was decided on appeal by the Supreme Court or was otherwise finally resolved. The Supreme Court reversed: 45 [A party seeking] a stay must make out a clear case of hardship or inequity in being required to go forward, if there is even a fair possibility that the stay for which he prays will work damage to some one else. Only in rare circumstances will a litigant in one cause be compelled to stand aside while a litigant in another settles the rule of law that will define the rights of both. 46 Id. at 255, 57 S.Ct. 163. The Court noted that resolution of the New York district court suit could help narrow the issues considerably: 47 True, a decision in the cause then pending in New York may not settle every question of fact and law in suits by other companies, but in all likelihood it will settle many and simplify them all. 48 Id. at 256, 57 S.Ct. 163. Nonetheless, the Court held that a stay lasting until the New York district court suit was finally resolved exceeded the limits of a fair discretion. Id. It then held that, in the circumstances now confronting it, where the New York district court had already had its case for a year, a stay lasting only until the New York district court decided the case might be appropriate. Id. at 256-57, 57 S.Ct. 163. It therefore remanded to the District of Columbia district court to consider whether to grant a stay of what was now likely to be fairly short duration. Id. at 259, 57 S.Ct. 163. 49 We have sustained, or authorized in principle, Landis stays on several occasions. In CMAX, Inc. v. Hall, 300 F.2d 265 (9th Cir.1962), CMAX, a common carrier by air, sued Drewry, a shipper, in federal district court to recover $12,696.00, contending that Drewry had not paid the full amount of the government-approved tariff. At least a dozen other suits were later filed in the same district court, in which CMAX sued shippers on the same ground. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) then instituted an administrative enforcement proceeding against CMAX, contending that CMAX had charged numerous shippers, including Drewry, more than the approved tariff. The district court stayed CMAX's suit against Drewry. CMAX sought mandamus. 50 Citing Landis, we set out the following framework: 51 Where it is proposed that a pending proceeding be stayed, the competing interests which will be affected by the granting or refusal to grant a stay must be weighed. Among those competing interests are the possible damage which may result from the granting of a stay, the hardship or inequity which a party may suffer in being required to go forward, and the orderly course of justice measured in terms of the simplifying or complicating of issues, proof, and questions of law which could be expected to result from a stay. 52 Id. at 268. We denied mandamus. Applying the framework, we noted that CMAX sought only damages. It alleged no continuing harm and sought no injunctive or declaratory relief. Delay of CMAX's suit would result, at worst, in a delay in its monetary recovery, with possible (though by no means certain) loss of prejudgment interest. Further, we noted that the CAB proceeding would provide considerable assistance in resolving CMAX's suit against Drewry, as well as CMAX's other suits in the district court: 53 [A]t the very least, the [CAB] proceeding will provide a means of developing comprehensive evidence bearing upon the highly technical tariff questions which are likely to arise in the district court case. Moreover, if that proceeding should result in a revocation of CMAX's operating authority, the district court will be enabled to explore the effect thereof on that carrier's standing to collect past undercharges. 54 ... 55 To these considerations must be added the fact that several other similar cases are now pending in the same district court, and more are likely to be filed in the near future. In the interests of uniform treatment of like suits there is much to be said for delaying the front runner. 56 Id. at 269. 57 In Leyva v. Certified Grocers of California, Ltd., 593 F.2d 857 (9th Cir.1979), truck drivers sued their employer for unpaid wages under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (count I), and under their collective bargaining agreement (count II). The district court stayed both counts under the Federal Arbitration Act. On appeal, we held that the collective bargaining count was subject to arbitration, but that the FLSA count was not. We nonetheless held that a stay of the FLSA count might be justified under Landis and related cases: 58 [S]ound reasons may exist ... to support the district court's determination to stay the action under the powers to control its own docket and to provide for the prompt and efficient determination of the cases pending before it. 59