Court Opinion

ID: 9473484
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:31:13.660151+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:33.597806
License: Public Domain

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent from the majority’s view that because paragraph 1 of the injunction is unlimited in time it must necessarily be vacated. I agree that an injunction against otherwise legal activity should not be continued indefinitely. However, it should continue until its original purpose of preventing the legal activity from contributing to the illegal activity has been served. The record is a vacuum. There has been no hearing to determine whether Alonim has conformed his importation practices to the requirements of the Clean Air Act or whether he has continued his blatant disregard of the law — importing nonconforming automobiles and selling them without bringing them into compliance. Because the termination of the injunction at this time may be premature, I would remand to allow the district court to determine whether Alonim’s post-injunction behavior warrants the continuance or discontinuance of the injunction. In light of the total absence of any record as to Alonim’s recent compliance, no other decision seems possible. No one, including Alonim, suggests that an injunction was not warranted initially. If the district court found the injunction was still required, it could limit the prospective application of the injunction to some reasonable period. See Sandura Co. v. FTC, 339 F.2d 847, 861 (6th Cir.1964).
I also disagree with the majority’s view that paragraphs 1 and 2 of the injunction are fatally inconsistent. The meaning and intent of the injunction are clear — paragraph 1 was meant to prevent Alonim from using regulations that allow the import of non-conforming automobiles provided they are brought into conformance upon arrival, paragraph 2 was designed to force Alonim to comply with the regulations regardings the vehicles he did import. Yet, even if the injunction is open to interpretation, we should not, as the majority suggests, simply eliminate paragraph 1, but rather should remand so that the injunction could be appropriately clarified by the district court.
I would therefore remand for a hearing.