Opinion ID: 1323972
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Authority to Issue an Injunction

Text: The Developer asserts that the Master did not have the authority to issue the preliminary injunction that poured $4.5 million of the Developer's assets into an escrow account. We disagree. The Developer relies on a United States Supreme Court decision, Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo, S.A. v. Alliance Bond Fund, Inc., 527 U.S. 308, 119 S.Ct. 1961, 144 L.Ed.2d 319 (1999), which held that a U.S. District Court was not authorized to issue a preliminary injunction  absent a prior attachment of a money judgment  because the remedy was historically unavailable in a federal court of equity. This decision limiting a federal court's equitable powers is not dispositive of whether a state court judge may restrain a defendant's assets prior to the attachment of a money judgment. There is no federal question here that would cause the Grupo decision to be binding in this state court proceeding. Thus we decline to apply the Grupo analysis to this matter.