Opinion ID: 437078
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Underlying Controversy

Text: 12 Appellants contend that there is a continuing dispute between the parties concerning the Board's authority to acquire a new national headquarters on behalf of the Union. They claim that at least one appellee has threatened future litigation if the Board proceeds with any new transaction and argue that the district court's opinion has placed a cloud on the Board's authority to enter into agreements with outside parties. Specifically, appellants express concern that they will be subject to future liability if they proceed with the acquisition of a new headquarters. 13 It is well settled that [f]ederal courts lack jurisdiction to decide moot cases because their constitutional authority extends only to actual cases or controversies. Iron Arrow Honor Society v. Heckler, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 373, 374, 78 L.Ed.2d 58 (1983). Article III prohibits federal courts from issuing advisory opinions. We are not empowered to decide moot questions or abstract propositions, or to declare, for the government of future cases, principles or rules of law which cannot affect the result as to the thing in issue in the case before [us]. California v. San Pablo & Tulare Railroad, 149 U.S. 308, 314, 13 S.Ct. 876, 878, 37 L.Ed. 747 (1893). 14 In general, a case becomes moot where the activities for which an injunction is sought have already occurred and cannot be undone. In this case, appellees obtained all the relief that they sought: the Board was enjoined from proceeding with the particular headquarters project under challenge until after the National Convention had met in August, 1982. Because that Convention has long since adjourned, there is no relief we can grant that could undo the effects of the district court's injunction. 15 Appellants contend, however, that the issue of declaratory relief is still live because the parties disagree over the Board's authority to commit the Union to the sale or acquisition of a national headquarters. While it is true that the complaint sought both injunctive and declaratory relief, it explicitly sought such relief only until these issues can be considered and decided by the members of the APWU at the August 1982 National Convention.... The district court's order did not provide any declaratory relief and enjoined the Board from acting only until the Convention adjourned. The court's ruling on the motion for a new trial demonstrates that its initial order was limited to enjoining the Board from acting on that one particular project until the Convention adjourned. The relief sought and granted by the district court has expired on its own terms; there is nothing left for us to review. See Alton Southern Railway Co. v. International Association of Machinists, 463 F.2d 872, 882 (D.C.Cir.1972) (The expiration of the decree appealed from means that the Union has no absolute right to maintenance of the appeal, and the court has no corresponding obligation to decide the appeal.). 16 We also reject appellants' argument that the underlying controversy is capable of repetition, yet evading review, and, therefore, should not be dismissed as moot. Southern Pacific Terminal Co. v. ICC, 219 U.S. 498, 515, 31 S.Ct. 279, 283, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911); see Carroll v. President and Commissioners of Princess Anne, 393 U.S. 175, 179, 89 S.Ct. 347, 350, 21 L.Ed.2d 325 (1968). We recently outlined the two elements of the Southern Pacific doctrine:  '(1) the challenged action [is] in its duration too short to be fully litigated prior to its cessation or expiration, and (2) there [is] a reasonable expectation that the same party would be subjected to the same action again.'  Environmental Defense Fund v. Gorsuch, 713 F.2d 802, 810 (D.C.Cir.1983) (quoting Weinstein v. Bradford, 423 U.S. 147, 149, 96 S.Ct. 347, 348, 46 L.Ed.2d 350 (1975)). The first element is not met in this case. The entire procedure for the acquisition of a new headquarters is not in its duration too short to be fully litigated prior to its cessation or expiration. Id. Moreover, the interpretative resolution adopted at the 1982 National Convention suggests that the second element also may be lacking, for that resolution may materially affect the Board's legal authority under the constitution. See 29 U.S.C. Sec. 501(a) (officers may expend union funds only in accordance with [the union's] constitution and bylaws and any resolutions of the governing bodies adopted thereunder ...) (emphasis added). Thus, if a new lawsuit were to arise, the legal issues presented might be different. 17 We also find that appellants' reliance on cases where the defendants have voluntarily discontinued the behavior sought to be enjoined is misplaced. See County of Los Angeles v. Davis, 440 U.S. 625, 631, 99 S.Ct. 1379, 1383, 59 L.Ed.2d 642 (1979); United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Association, Inc., 393 U.S. 199, 203, 89 S.Ct. 361, 364, 21 L.Ed.2d 344 (1968); United States v. W.T. Grant Co., 345 U.S. 629, 632-33, 73 S.Ct. 894, 897, 97 L.Ed. 1303 (1953). In such cases, courts have refused to apply the mootness doctrine if there is some cognizable danger of recurrent violation.... W.T. Grant, 345 U.S. at 633, 73 S.Ct. at 897. Where the defendants' actions would appear to moot a controversy, [d]efendants face a heavy burden to establish mootness ... because otherwise they would simply be free to 'return to [their] old ways' after the threat of a lawsuit had passed. Iron Arrow, 104 S.Ct. at 375 (quoting W.T. Grant, 345 U.S. at 632, 73 S.Ct. at 897). There is no danger of recurrent violation in this case because the district court was able to grant appellees full relief. Here, the defendants did not voluntarily refrain from going ahead with the headquarters project; they were under court order to do so until the National Convention had adjourned. Appellees have received the only relief they sought--an opportunity for the membership to consider the headquarters project at the National Convention in 1982. Unless some collateral issue keeps the case alive, the appeals must be dismissed as moot.