Preventing enforcement of a district court judgment pending an appeal.

I previously discussed injunctive relief and the basics of an appeal. In appealing a district court judgment, a party can move to stay or for an injunction of the judgment until the appeal is completed. In this context, a stay of the judgment is effectively the same as an injunction. Both prevent the winning party from enforcing the district court judgment until the appeal is over.

A motion to stay or for an injunction of the judgment is generally filed in district court. Such a motion is only filed with the court of appeals if it is impracticable to file it in district court, or if the motion has already been denied in district court. If a party files neither a motion to stay nor for an injunction, the district court judgment is effective on appeal.

In deciding whether to grant a stay or injunction pending appeal, the court's considerations include the likelihood of success on appeal. If the same judge who presided over the case in district court rules on the motion (which is likely), he or she will not likely consider the likelihood of success on appeal to be very high. This weighs in favor of filing the motion in the court of appeals. However, if you file the motion in district court first, you get two chances for the motion to be granted. This weighs in favor of filing the motion in district court.

What is injunctive relief?

The most common remedy in a lawsuit is money damages. Everyone is familiar with this, because money is the basis for trade in our society. Sometimes, a plaintiff will request "preliminary and permanent injunctive relief" along with money damages. Injunctive relief, or an injunction, is a court order preventing a defendant (or other party) from doing something or enforcing rights it would otherwise have under law.

Preliminary injunctive relief is often requested in intellectual property litigation and high-dollar business disputes. In patent litigation, a plaintiff may request a preliminary injunction to prevent a defendant from selling infringing products that competitively damage the plaintiff's business. A plaintiff must show a likelihood of success at trial before obtaining a preliminary injunction. So, in high-stakes cases lasting several years, a preliminary injunction hearing can turn into a mini-trial, due to the possible business consequences of getting or not getting a preliminary injunction.

Injunctions are available even when money damages are not requested. Sometimes, standalone injunctions are the best remedy for preventing enforcement of a bad law or policy, because they can be obtained relatively quickly. You cannot get an injunction without notice to the other party and a hearing, but the whole process of getting an injunction can take a matter of weeks. Getting money damages can take years.