Opinion ID: 3050856
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Standard for Granting Stay Pending Appeal

Text: In Hilton v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 776 (1987), the Supreme Court set forth “the factors regulating the issuance of a stay” as follows: “(1) whether the stay applicant has made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay; (3) whether issuance of the stay will substantially injure the other parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the public interest lies.” Consistent with these factors, we had previously articulated the standard for granting a stay pending appeal in Lopez v. Heckler, 713 F.2d 1432, 1435-36 (9th Cir. 1983). See also L.A. Mem’l Coliseum Comm’n v. Nat’l Football League, 634 F.2d 1197, 1200-01 (9th Cir. 1980). In ruling on a motion for a stay pending appeal, we employ “two interrelated legal tests” that “represent the outer reaches of a single continuum.” Lopez, 713 F.2d at 1435 (internal quotation marks omitted). “At one end of the continuum, the moving party is required to show both a probability of success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable injury.” Id. We have recently applied, as an alternative test at this end of the continuum, a test originally formulated for granting a preliminary injunction: “(1) a strong likelihood of success on the merits, [and] (2) -5- the possibility of irreparable injury to plaintiff if preliminary relief is not granted[.]” Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Winter, 502 F.3d 859, 862 (9th Cir. 2007). “At the other end of the continuum, the moving party must demonstrate that serious legal questions are raised and that the balance of hardships tips sharply in its favor.” Lopez, 713 F.2d at 1435. “These two formulations represent two points on a sliding scale in which the required degree of irreparable harm increases as the probability of success decreases.” Winter, 502 F.3d at 862. Further, we “consider ‘where the public interest lies’ separately from and in addition to ‘whether the applicant [for stay] will be irreparably injured absent a stay[.]” Id. at 863 (quoting Hilton, 481 U.S. at 776) (first alteration in Winter). When the court decides the appeal of the district court’s grant of summary judgment, it will review that decision de novo. Aguilera v. Baca, --- F.3d --- , No. 05-56617, 2007 WL 4531990, at , slip op. at 16795 (9th Cir. Dec. 27, 2007); Cleghorn v. Blue Shield of Cal., 408 F.3d 1222, 1225 (9th Cir. 2005). We are mindful of that standard of review in determining the likelihood that the City and Intervenors will succeed on the merits of their appeal. Cf. Lopez, 713 F.2d at 1436. The Association contends that the City must meet a higher standard than that articulated in Lopez and Winter because, in its view, a stay would change the status quo. We disagree that a higher standard applies. -6- First, the Supreme Court in Hilton did not include preservation of the status quo among the “factors regulating the issuance of a stay.” See 481 U.S. at 776; see also Abbassi v. INS, 143 F.3d 513, 514 (9th Cir. 1998). Rather, the Court recognized that “the traditional stay factors contemplate individualized judgments in each case, [and] the formula cannot be reduced to a set of rigid rules.” Hilton, 481 U.S. at 777. Maintaining the status quo is not a talisman. As the Fifth Circuit wrote in Canal Authority of Florida v. Callaway, 489 F.2d 567, 576 (5th Cir. 1974): It must not be thought . . . that there is any particular magic in the phrase ‘status quo.’ The purpose of a preliminary injunction is always to prevent irreparable injury so as to preserve the court’s ability to render a meaningful decision on the merits. It often happens that this purpose is furthered by preservation of the status quo, but not always. If the currently existing status quo itself is causing one of the parties irreparable injury, it is necessary to alter the situation so as to prevent the injury . . . . The focus always must be on prevention of injury by a proper order, not merely on preservation of the status quo. See also Tanner Motor Livery, Ltd. v. Avis, Inc., 316 F.2d 804, 809 (9th Cir. 1963) (observing that the principle that a preliminary injunction should preserve the status quo is “not to be understood as . . . [a] hard and fast rule[ ], to be rigidly applied to every case regardless of its peculiar facts”). Second, despite the Association’s argument to the contrary, granting a stay in this case would, in a real sense, preserve rather than change the status quo. In the absence of the district court injunction on December 26, 2007, the provisions of the -7- Ordinance that were scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2008, would now be part of the status quo. As the D.C. Circuit has recognized, “it sometimes happens that the status quo is a condition not of rest, but of action, and the condition of rest is exactly what will inflict the irreparable injury upon complainant.” Friends for All Children, Inc. v. Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 746 F.2d 816, 830 n.21 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge v. Camblos, 116 F.3d 707, 721 (4th Cir. 1997) (Luttig, J.). Further, we note that several of our sister circuits, in reviewing preliminary injunctions enjoining implementation of new legislation, have granted motions for stays of those injunctions pending appeal without weighing whether a stay would disturb or preserve the status quo. See, e.g., Coal. to Defend Affirmative Action v. Granholm, 473 F.3d 237, 244-53 (6th Cir. 2006); Camblos, 116 F.3d at 721.