Opinion ID: 518812
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Injunction Enjoining Enforcement of State Court Order

Text: 31 The Supreme Court has allowed the NLRB to file suit in federal district court to restrain the enforcement of a state court order which regulated conduct protected under the NLRA. See NLRB v. Nash-Finch Co., 404 U.S. 138, 141, 92 S.Ct. 373, 375, 30 L.Ed.2d 328 (1971). In Nash-Finch, the Court held that a federal court could enjoin a state court's order which restrained peaceful union picketing because the NLRA governed such conduct. The Court has reasserted this position, noting that Nash-Finch permits a federal injunction of state court proceedings when the plaintiff in the federal court is the United States itself or a federal agency asserting 'superior federal interests.'  Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 235-36, 92 S.Ct. 2151, 2158-59, 32 L.Ed.2d 705, 714 (1972). 32 This court has relied on the Nash-Finch decision in allowing the NLRB to obtain a federal injunction to prevent an employer from using a state court order to regulate a labor activity within the NLRB's jurisdiction. See Florida Board of Business Regulation v. NLRB, 686 F.2d at 1366 (NLRB has implied authority to obtain a federal court injunction to enjoin an employer from using a state law to regulate a labor activity within the NLRB's jurisdiction). Because the state court injunction enforcing the Florida fifteen-day notice provision interfered with an activity which the NLRA regulates, the district court properly granted injunctive relief to enjoin the state court order.