Opinion ID: 445255
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the injunction against the claim in the louisiana court

Text: 39 The status of the claim made by appellant, Sharon Heartfield, in the Louisiana state court is a challenge to the visitation orders issued by the Texas court. A majority of the panel concludes that the district court was in error in issuing a temporary injunction against Sharon pursuing her claim in the Louisiana court on the ground that a true impasse situation has not occurred which would justify the exercise of jurisdiction directed against specific Louisiana court activity. 40 The facts of this case are in contrast to such cases as Flood v. Braaten, supra, 727 F.2d 303 (3rd Cir.1984). In that case each state had specifically ruled that it had jurisdiction and each party had been held in contempt. The courts of the two states had each concurrently issued conflicting custody decrees. In this case the Louisiana court has not ruled on Sharon's motion concerning visitation rights. A confrontation between the courts of Texas and Louisiana has not yet occurred. Until it does, the exercise of the power to enjoin Sharon Heartfield from pursuing her claim in the Louisiana court is premature. There was a lack of jurisdiction to issue the preliminary injunction. 41 The federal court should not assume that a state court will make an improper decision by enjoining a movant from undertaking to get the court to do so. In the delicate and critical relationships which exist between the courts of different states, each of which obviously has jurisdiction over some aspects of the particular controversy, the federal court should not exercise its otherwise proper jurisdiction to enjoin a party to the dispute from undertaking to create a jurisdictional conflict which may never occur. The federal jurisdiction under PKPA, as we have outlined it above, does not require a vindication until the impasse between the state courts has actually been reached. Lacking such an impasse in this case, the court had no authority to enjoin Sharon Heartfield from pursuing her motion concerning visitation rights in the Louisiana state court until such time as the Louisiana court made a decision which was in violation of the valid orders of the Texas state court. Only then does the jurisdiction to enjoin arise. It follows that the issuance of the temporary injunction by the district court was in error and must be reversed. 42 REVERSED. 43