Opinion ID: 437448
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The District Court's Authority to Issue a Preliminary Injunction

Text: 25 The parties invite us to treat the district court's order as a preliminary injunction issued on the basis of appellees' challenge under the APA to the validity of the amended regulation. We find that the district court's order cannot be sustained on that basis. 26 The standards governing the granting of interim relief in this circuit are well established. See Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission v. Holiday Tours, Inc., 559 F.2d 841 (D.C.Cir.1977); Virginia Petroleum Jobbers Association v. FPC, 259 F.2d 921 (D.C.Cir.1958). Before issuing a preliminary injunction, the district court must consider four factors: 1) whether the party seeking relief is likely to prevail on the merits; 2) whether that party will suffer irreparable harm if preliminary relief is not granted; 3) whether harm to other parties will result if the relief is granted; and 4) whether the public interest will be served if relief is granted. Virginia Petroleum Jobbers, 259 F.2d at 925. The district court did not include any such analysis in its order issuing the injunction. Under the circumstances presented here, that failure requires us to reverse the September order. Although we do not always require the district court to set out its reasoning in detail when it grants preliminary relief, in this case, it would be inappropriate for us to extrapolate the analysis missing from the district court's own order. Several factors compel us to reach that conclusion. 27 First, the plain language of the September order makes clear that it was issued to prevent the Labor Department from violating the court's injunction in NAACP II. The order began by referring to plaintiffs' motion for further relief to enforce the Court's order of June 28, 1983.... Thus appellees' motion for interim relief was not based on a new complaint challenging the amended regulation; it was a motion to enforce the district court's prior injunction. 28 Second, the context in which the September order was issued suggests that the district court was responding to a history of reluctance on the part of DOL to adhere to the letter and spirit of the court's prior rulings, not to the validity of the new rule promulgated by the agency. The first determination made by the court in its September order was a finding that defendants have certified, agreed to certify, and intend to certify the applications of growers who offer piece rates lower than those required by the court's earlier injunction. In fact, the agency's alleged violation of NAACP II during the summer of 1983 is the subject of contempt proceedings now pending before the district court. The September order--including, in particular, the escrow requirements for growers who were not parties to any of the proceedings below--permitted the district court to freeze the status quo and prevent what appeared to the court to be another in a series of actions taken by DOL to avoid providing the relief sought by appellees throughout the earlier phases of this litigation. 29 Finally, we are reluctant to make even a preliminary finding on the merits of appellees' APA claims on the basis of the record before us. The district court's sole reference to the merits of appellees' challenge to the amended regulation was its statement that there was substantial doubt that the regulation published on September 2, 1983, purportedly amending 20 C.F.R. Sec. 655.207(c) was adopted in conformity with the Administrative Procedure Act .... Appellees raised both procedural and substantive claims against the regulation and the court's order does not indicate which of those claims it was considering. The district court's substantial doubt concerning whether the amended regulation was promulgated in accordance with APA requirements reads like an afterthought to its more pressing concern that DOL not flout the court's prior orders. 30 Because the district court apparently issued the injunction on the basis of its authority to enforce a prior mandate, its failure to analyze whether preliminary injunctive relief was warranted under the Virginia Petroleum Jobbers factors leaves the injunction without a sufficient underpinning. Although in some cases, we will flesh out that analysis on appeal, we think that the proceedings below preclude such an effort on our part. Nor do we think it appropriate to remand the preliminary injunction motion so that the district court can apply the proper test. Cf. Adams v. Vance, 570 F.2d 950, 955 n. 10 (D.C.Cir.1977) (Under some circumstances, having found that the District Court had applied the wrong test, we would remand for reconsideration in light of the correct test.) Instead, we direct the district court to avoid the perils of trying to rehabilitate a very dubious interim relief proceeding; it should proceed immediately to a final determination on the merits of appellees' substantive and procedural challenges to the amended regulation. 31 Consistent with their invitation to have us treat the district court's order as a preliminary injunction based on appellees' APA claims, both sides urged this court to leap to a final determination on the validity of the amended regulation. We similarly decline the invitation to finally resolve the validity of the new regulation. That issue is not before us properly, and we believe that the district court should rule on the merits of appellees' claims in the first instance. Appellees have filed a motion for a permanent injunction in the district court and the parties' motions for summary judgment on the validity of the rule are currently pending there. The validity of the amended regulation turns on whether the agency adhered to the APA's procedural and substantive requirements and, in particular, on whether the agency supplied a reasoned basis for changing its regulation. We defer to the district court to conduct that analysis in the first instance. In this regard, the district court should treat appellees' motion challenging the amended regulation as a supplemental complaint, not as a motion to enforce the court's prior order.