Opinion ID: 2176374
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Balancing the Harms to the Parties

Text: As we noted above, before awarding injunctive relief the trial court must determine that more harm will result to the movant from the denial of the injunction than will result to the nonmoving parties from its grant. That was not the case here, however. Comparing the possible effects of an injunction on QDP with the harm that GIA might suffer in the absence of an injunction, the trial court found only that neither party will be harmed appreciably more than the other by the court's decision. Furthermore, the trial court should have added into this calculus not only the extra time and effort that would be expended by the District in rebidding the contract, but also the substantial confusion and claim-processing delays that the District's employees would suffer as a result of this process. See Amalgamated Transit Union v. Donovan, 554 F.Supp. 589, 599 (D.D.C.1982) (court must consider harm not only to party opposing injunctive relief but also to those parties not before court who may be interested in proceedings). The trial court acknowledged these problems in considering the public interest test but failed to consider them in balancing the equities between the parties. When one adds these factors to what was, in the trial court's view, a fairly even situation, it becomes apparent that in reality the harm the injunction was likely to impose upon QDP, the District, and the District's employees in processing their claims significantly outweighed the potential harm faced by GIA in the absence of an injunction.