Opinion ID: 431648
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Remainder of the District Court Decision

Text: 17 The remaining portions of the district court opinion concern the adequacy of Treasury's explanation of No. 94, and related issues. The Department did not appeal as to these aspects of the decision, though the Wine Institute and the Council have urged this Court to hold the agency's explanation accompanying No. 94 to have been adequate. 18 There is no reason for this Court to take any action whatsoever with respect to the remainder of the district court decision. Treasury did not appeal from it. The Wine Institute and the Council can no longer complain that the court's ruling has injured them, because the invalidated rule, No. 94, has been superseded by subsequent agency action. See Iron Arrow Society v. Heckler, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 373, 78 L.Ed.2d 58 (1983) (dismissing case as moot when an appellate decision could not possibly accord appellant relief from the wrong of which it complains); Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U.S. 26, 38, 96 S.Ct. 1917, 1924, 48 L.Ed.2d 450 (1976). No. 94 is a dead letter, and cannot be revived in favor of intervenors. Any appellate pronouncement on the validity of that rule would be meaningless. 19 Nor should the remaining portion of the district court decision be vacated. Appellants cannot accomplish through a motion to vacate that which they could not achieve through a direct appeal. Each of the appellants urges the Court to remand to the district court, with instructions to vacate the district court decision and dismiss the complaint, in accordance with United States v. Munsingwear, supra. 4 The purpose of the order in Munsingwear, however, was to clear[ ] the path for future relitigation of the issues between the parties [and to] eliminate[ ] a judgment, review of which was prevented through happenstance. 340 U.S. at 39-40, 71 S.Ct. at 106-107. In the case at bar, review was prevented, not by happenstance, but by the deliberate action of the losing party before the district court, the Treasury. Circuit courts have recognized that in such a case, the district court should not be ordered to vacate its decision. Ringsby Truck Lines v. Western Conference of Teamsters, 686 F.2d 720, 721-23 (9th Cir.1982); Cover v. Schwartz, 133 F.2d 541, 546-47 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 319 U.S. 748, 63 S.Ct. 1158, 87 L.Ed. 1703 (1942); accord 1B J. Moore, J. Lucas & T. Currier, Moore's Federal Practice p 0.416 at 543-44 (2d ed. 1983); cf. CFTC v. Board of Trade, 701 F.2d 653, 658 (7th Cir.1983) (preliminary district court decision need not be vacated). When the appellant, here the Department, causes the dismissal of its own appeal, it is in no position to complain that [its] right of review of an adverse lower court decision has been lost. Ringsby, supra, 686 F.2d at 722. Conversely, the prevailing party, here the Center, ought to be left in the same position as if no appeal had been taken. 20 For the foregoing reasons, the Court dismisses the intervenors' appeals as to the remainder of the district court decision, i.e., the invalidation of the rescission. We do not vacate that part of the decision, but let it stand as is. We express no opinion whatsoever as to the merits of the district court's analysis and conclusions concerning that issue. 5