Opinion ID: 745321
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Permanent Injunction Against the Town

Text: 29 Unlike the individual defendants, the Town cannot avail itself of legislative immunity in defending against a § 1983 claim. Goldberg, 973 F.2d at 74. Below, the defendants sought an injunction against the Town, preventing the town from abolishing its police force. Judge Brieant denied this request. He stated that the plaintiffs could look to the damages trial for redress, and that the plaintiffs retained their rights under N.Y. Civ. Serv. Law § 80 et seq. to reinstatement if, for example, the defendants subsequently hired a new police force. He stated that an adequate remedy at law could be had, and that it would be absurd to require a municipality to continue indefinitely and fund and [sic] activity which it wishes to abandon, simply on the ground that the decision to do so was a product of mixed motives. 30 We review a denial of a request for a permanent injunction for abuse of discretion. See Nikon Inc. v. Ikon Corp., 987 F.2d 91, 94 (2d Cir.1993). Abuse of discretion can be found if the district court relied upon a clearly erroneous finding of fact or incorrectly applied the law. Id. (citing Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. McNeil-P.P.C., Inc., 973 F.2d 1033, 1038 (2d Cir.1992)). Moreover, injunctive relief where an adequate remedy at law exists is inappropriate. Petereit v. S.B. Thomas, Inc., 63 F.3d 1169, 1185 (2d Cir.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1351, 134 L.Ed.2d 520 (1996). 31 The only argument that the plaintiffs offer on appeal in favor of an injunction is the argument that New York law protects civil servants from bad faith abolition of their jobs. This argument is incomplete: it posits a right, but does not explain why a legal, as opposed to equitable, remedy for that right would be inadequate in this case. Presented with no substantive argument as to the impropriety of Judge Brieant's decision, we affirm it.