Opinion ID: 719789
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Michigan Injunction

Text: 25 The constitutional full faith and credit principle requires that federal courts give the same faith and credit to a state court judgment as would the state court in which it was rendered. U.S. Const. Art. IV, § 1; 28 U.S.C. § 1738. See also Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Epstein, --- U.S. ----, ----, 116 S.Ct. 873, 877, 134 L.Ed.2d 6 (1996). GM asserts that the district court violated this principle in allowing the plaintiffs to take Ronald Elwell's deposition and in allowing him to testify at trial. GM argues that the district court should instead have given full faith and credit to the Michigan injunction barring Elwell's testimony. Because the district court's decision to not extend the injunction full faith and credit involves a question of law, we review it de novo. See In re Garner, 56 F.3d 677, 679 (5th Cir.1995); Southeast Resource Recovery Facility Auth. v. Montenay Int'l Corp., 973 F.2d 711, 712 (9th Cir.1992). 26 The district court refused to give the Michigan injunction full faith and credit because it believed: (1) a public policy exception to full faith and credit allowed Elwell's testimony, and (2) full faith and credit implies the same faith and credit; therefore, an injunction which is modifiable in Michigan is modifiable in Missouri. We first address the district court's reliance on a public policy exception to full faith and credit. 27 The district court found that the Michigan injunction violated Missouri's public policy, as evidenced by Missouri's Rules of Civil Procedure, which favors full disclosure of all nonprivileged, relevant information. See, e.g., Mo.R.Civ.P. 56. Because the Michigan injunction bars Elwell from testifying even as to nonprivileged information, the district court refused to extend full faith and credit to the injunction. Assuming, arguendo, that a public policy exception to the full faith and credit command exists, 10 we conclude that the district court improperly relied on such an exception in this case because of Missouri's equally strong public policy in favor of full faith and credit. 28 Missouri public policy embraces the theory of full faith and credit, as evidenced by the references to it in the state's statutes. See, e.g., Mo.Rev.Stat. §§ 511.760; 511.778. Missouri case law also contains numerous discussions of the importance of the full faith and credit requirement. See, e.g., Roseberry v. Crump, 345 S.W.2d 117, 119 (Mo.1961); In re Veach, 365 Mo. 776, 287 S.W.2d 753, 759 (1956); Bastian v. Tuttle, 606 S.W.2d 808, 809 (Mo.Ct.App.1980); Corning Truck & Radiator Serv. v. J.W.M., Inc., 542 S.W.2d 520, 524 (Mo.Ct.App.1976). Under this doctrine, Missouri courts must give full faith and credit to judgments of sister state courts unless it can be shown that there was lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, failure to give due notice, or fraud in concoction of the judgment. Bastian, 606 S.W.2d at 809. No such allegations have been made in this case. It is therefore difficult to see how Missouri's public policy is any less supportive of full faith and credit than it is of full and fair discovery. Consequently, the district court incorrectly used Missouri's interest in full and fair discovery to override its interest in giving full faith and credit to a sister state's judgment. 29 The district court's reliance on the modification argument is also problematic. The district court found that the injunction was subject to modification in Michigan. It then held that because the injunction was modifiable in Michigan it need not be given full faith and credit in Missouri, but only the same faith and credit as given by the issuing state's court. U.S. Const. Art. IV, § 1; 28 U.S.C. § 1738. See also Matsushita, --- U.S. at ----, 116 S.Ct. at 877. However, the mere fact that an injunction remains subject to modification in one state does not render it unworthy of full faith and credit in another. See Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 109 (1988 revisions) (judgment entitled to full faith and credit despite fact that it remains modifiable in rendering state). 30 The full faith and credit clause is not so weak that it can be evaded by mere mention of the word modification. Howlett v. Rose, 496 U.S. 356, 383, 110 S.Ct. 2430, 2446, 110 L.Ed.2d 332 (1990). This is especially true on facts such as those presented here. First of all, although the appellees claim that the injunction may be modified by the Michigan court, they presented no evidence that they requested a modification from that court. Secondly, although it has been asked on several occasions to modify the injunction, the Michigan court has yet to do so. Thirdly, the district court found that Michigan law required a change in circumstances to warrant modification of the injunction, see, e.g., First Protestant Reformed Church v. De Wolf, 358 Mich. 489, 100 N.W.2d 254, 257 (1960), but further found that there had been no classical change in circumstances between GM and Elwell in this case. Therefore, appellees have simply not presented sufficient evidence to show that the Michigan court would modify this injunction. 31 To avoid its finding of unchanged circumstances, the district court emphasized the importance of other interests, such as the discovery rights of litigants, of which it believed the Michigan court was unaware when it entered the injunction. 11 Baker ex rel. Cress v. General Motors Corp., No. 91-0991 (W.D. Mo. June 18, 1993) (reproduced in Addendum to Appellant's Brief at 11). We find no evidence in the record to support such a statement. A stipulation in which GM expressly approved of Elwell's testimony in another case then pending was executed concurrently with the injunction. The Michigan court was, therefore, aware of the existence of at least some other parties' interests. The district court also would have assumed, as did the parties, that other similar litigation would follow; the injunction would otherwise have been unnecessary. Consequently, we find that the appellees failed to establish that the Michigan injunction was not entitled to full faith and credit.