Opinion ID: 340548
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction and the Scope of Review

Text: 7 It is clear that the appeal before us is an interlocutory one. (Indeed, a trial date had been set for late November, but this date has since been cancelled and the case transferred to another district Judge). Our jurisdiction to hear the appeal is not thereby impaired, 4 for the lower court's March 10 order that an interim board be elected is properly appealable under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1292(a)(1) (1966). The order is not styled as injunctive relief, but in the classification of an order as an injunction, the essential effect and character of an order, rather than the terminology applied to it, are decisive. See McCoy v. Louisiana State Bd. of Educ., 345 F.2d 720, 721 (5th Cir. 1965) (per curiam ); cf. 7B Moore's Federal Practice ch. 83, at JC-422 (2d ed. 1976). Whether characterized as a denial of a mandatory injunction (which would have ordered the election plaintiffs sought), or as a modification of a mandatory injunction effectively imposed by the court's previous order of January 9, 1976, this order is therefore appealable. 8 CHI asserts, however, that the appeal is moot. It is not contended, of course, that there is no active controversy between plaintiffs and CHI. 5 But when suit was filed, the applicable law was 42 U.S.C.A. § 247d (1974) and CHI argues that the provisions of the old law are without legal effect. On July 29, 1975, section 247d was thoroughly revised by Title IV, section 401(a) of the Special Health Revenue Sharing Act of 1975, Pub.L. No. 94-63, 89 Stat. 304, 334-41 (codified at 42 U.S.C.A. § 247d (1976)). Whatever the impact of this amendment upon grants for the fiscal year which began July 1, 1975, it is clear that grants for the present fiscal year must be governed by the new law. But the change in the applicable law does not moot the case. Rather, even when the events of a case transpire before such a change in the law, the rule is that if the new law takes effect in the course of a lawsuit, the action can be adjudicated according to the new provisions, unless to do so might produce manifest injustice. See Bradley v. School Bd. of Richmond, 416 U.S. 696, 714-17, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974); Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham, 393 U.S. 268, 281-83, 89 S.Ct. 518, 21 L.Ed.2d 474 (1969). Here, in any event, our decision need only apply to events the continued use of migrant funds by CHI occurring after the new law's enactment. Moreover, the record below indicates that as early as its order of January 9, 1976, the trial court viewed the new provisions as the relevant law (though its view may later have changed). 9 Our action in this case could be more seriously constrained by the fact that various aspects of plaintiffs' theories supporting entitlement under the new law apparently have not been previously presented to the lower court. It is frequently said that appellate courts should not consider issues raised for the first time on appeal. See, e. g., Guerra v. Manchester Terminal Corp.,498 F.2d 641, 658 n. 4 (5th Cir. 1974). But even if this rule is pertinent here, it can give way when a pure question of law is involved and a refusal to consider it would result in a miscarriage of justice. Evans v. Triple R Welding & Oil Field Maintenance Corp., 472 F.2d 713 (5th Cir. 1973). Plaintiffs here have now pursued their claim for an 18-month-period time enough for migrants, dispersing from the South Dade area when suit was filed, to return and leave again, and now to be converging once more on this region. If their rights in the governance of CHI have been violated, it is incumbent upon the courts to remedy this violation. The power of this Court to give such a remedy is limited by the fact that appellate inquiry into the merits of an interlocutory decision on injunction relief ordinarily seeks only to ascertain whether the lower court has abused its discretion, see Di Giorgio v. Causey,488 F.2d 527 (5th Cir. 1973). But, if necessary, the court may also exercise a residual power  'to do what plainly ought to be done.'  Mercury Motors Express, Inc. v. Brinke, 475 F.2d 1086, 1091 (5th Cir. 1973), quoting 9 Moore's Federal Practice P 110.25(1) (2d ed. 1972).