Opinion ID: 202766
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: gnaps' mandate argument

Text: 24 GNAPs' first argument is procedural: it contends that the district court could not act on Verizon's motion to release the security until the mandate issued in GNAPs II. See United States v. Ferris, 751 F.2d 436, 440 (1st Cir.1984) (explaining that during the pendency of an appeal, a district court lacks jurisdiction to proceed with respect to any matters involved in the appeal). The district court implicitly found that it had jurisdiction to act as it did, and we review that conclusion de novo. See Baella-Silva v. Hulsey, 454 F.3d 5, 10 (1st Cir.2006). 25 The short answer to GNAPs' argument is that the district court in fact did not act to release any funds until after the mandate was issued. If there is anything to GNAPs' argument, it cannot be that the district court lacked jurisdiction to release the funds. Rather, GNAPs' only plausible grievance can be with the fact that the district court accepted Verizon's arguably premature motion, an acceptance which then triggered an impending deadline for GNAPs to respond. 26 We see no jurisdictional problem with the district court's acceptance of Verizon's motion. There are some exceptions to the rule that only one court at a time has jurisdiction, such as for transparently frivolous appeals, see, e.g., United States v. Brooks, 145 F.3d 446, 456 (1st Cir.1998), certain modifications of forfeiture orders, see United States v. Hurley, 63 F.3d 1, 23-24 (1st Cir.1995), and the posting of a supersedeas bond, see Trs. of the Chi. Truck Drivers, Helpers & Warehouse Workers Union (Indep.) Pension Fund v. Cent. Transp., Inc., 935 F.2d 114, 119 (7th Cir.1991), among other ancillary matters. As these examples illustrate, and as the Seventh Circuit has recognized, the proposition that only one court at a time has jurisdiction is a qualified rule designed to prevent conflict among tribunals, as well as to prevent the waste of time and money that occurs if a court changes a judgment while a case is pending in another court. Wis. Mutual Ins. Co. v. United States, 441 F.3d 502, 504 (7th Cir.2006); see also Hurley, 63 F.3d at 24 (explaining that the purpose of the rule is to avoid interference and inconsistency, and suggesting that it is unwise to extend this [rule] further than its own rationale). 27 The key point of Verizon's April 18 motion was that it sought to demonstrate its damages from the injunction. That damages calculation involved no conflict with the appeal that was still technically pending in this court. 28 GNAPs nonetheless contends that Verizon's motion did present a conflict, because irrespective of the amount of damages, GNAPs could not be deemed liable on the security until it was determined that GNAPs in fact owed access charges to Verizon — an issue that GNAPs says was pending in this court until we issued the mandate in GNAPs II. But we had vacated the injunction before the mandate issued; there was no realistic potential conflict. GNAPs could have been expected to treat GNAPs II as good law, notwithstanding the ministerial fact that the mandate had not yet issued. Cf. Wedbush, Noble, Cooke, Inc. v. SEC, 714 F.2d 923, 924 (9th Cir.1983) (explaining that a court of appeals decision has stare decisis effect even before the mandate issues in a case). It is well established in this circuit that a district court can proceed, notwithstanding the technical pendency of an appeal, when it is clear that the appeal constitutes a transparently frivolous attempt to impede the progress of the case. Brooks, 145 F.3d at 456. By like token, the district court could easily have concluded that GNAPs' procedural objection (i.e. its refusal to contest Verizon's calculations until the mandate issued) was an effort to delay. 29 If we thought that GNAPs had been disadvantaged somehow by the district court's acceptance of Verizon's filing on April 18, after we had vacated the injunction, that might be another issue (although not a jurisdictional one). But GNAPs was well aware from the date of our decision in GNAPs II, April 11, that it most likely would have to pay up on the security it had posted. GNAPs had adequate time to prepare its evidence and argument, and in fact it had over three weeks to prepare the opposition it did file on May 5.