Opinion ID: 615771
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Remedy: Permanent Injunction

Text: The district court permanently enjoined the Roadless Rule on a nationwide basis. Wyoming, 570 F.Supp.2d at 1353-55. Although the district court acknowledged that the issuance of a permanent injunction is an extraordinary remedy, it nevertheless found that a permanent injunction was proper. Id. at 1353. In order to obtain a permanent injunction, a party must prove: (1) actual success on the merits; (2) irreparable harm unless the injunction is issued; (3) the threatened injury outweighs the harm that the injunction may cause the opposing party; and (4) the injunction, if issued, will not adversely affect the public interest. Sw. Stainless, LP v. Sappington, 582 F.3d 1176, 1191 (10th Cir.2009) (quoting Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation v. Wagnon, 476 F.3d 818, 822 (10th Cir.2007)) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review a district court's grant of a permanent injunction for an abuse of discretion, Accusearch Inc., 570 F.3d at 1201, examining its factual findings for clear error and its legal determinations de novo, Australian Gold, Inc. v. Hatfield, 436 F.3d 1228, 1242 (10th Cir. 2006). A district court abuses its discretion where it commits a legal error or relies on clearly erroneous factual findings, or where there is no rational basis in the evidence for its ruling. Davis, 302 F.3d at 1111 (citations omitted). The first requirement is dispositive in this action. As discussed above, Wyoming failed to demonstrate that the Forest Service's promulgation of the Roadless Rule violated the Wilderness Act, NEPA, MUSYA, or NFMA. Thus, the district court abused its discretion in permanently enjoining the Roadless Rule on a nationwide basis because the court's action was based on the erroneous legal conclusion that Wyoming had succeeded on the merits of its claims.