Virginia Business Law Update : Virginia Business Lawyers & Attorneys : PCT Law Group : Litigation Defenses, Contract Disputes, Business Formation : Northern Virginia, Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

An associate professor at the University of Virginia College at Wise was informed that his employment as a faculty member was going to be terminated. Professor James Holbrook had served as an assistant professor for three years at the time he was told his employment was being terminated. Feeling that his imminent job termination was unjust, Professor Holbrook filed suit against the College alleging statutory and constitutional violations and seeking a preliminary injunction barring his termination during the pendency of the lawsuit.Holbrook v. the University of Virginia.

However, Chief Judge James P. Jones of the Western District of Virginia denied the injunction citing the relatively new injunction standard set forth by the Supreme Court in 2008. The Court cited Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., and stated that the Supreme Court had “narrowed the grounds” upon which a party may obtain a preliminary injunction. In Winter, the Supreme Court held that in order to obtain a preliminary injunction, a plaintiff had to establish,

1. that he is likely to succeed on the merits,
2. that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief,
3. that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and
4. that an injunction is in the public interest.

Chief Judge Jones noted that in light of this new standard, the Fourth Circuit in The Real Truth About Obama, Inc. v. FEC, had essentially “repudiated” the traditional balancing of the hardships test found in Blackwelder Furniture Co. of Statesville v. Seilig Manufacturing Co., 550 F.2d 189 (4th Cir. 1977), and required courts in this Circuit to now apply all four prongs of the preliminary injunction standard as set forth in Winter. Finding that the new standard was more rigid and lacked the flexibility of the prior Blackwelder standard, the Court held that it could only find in favor of the plaintiff if he clearly met all four prongs of the Winter test. As such, the Court held that Professor Holbrook did not make an adequate showing of irreparable harm since he could obtain monetary damages as a form of relief during the underlying case without the necessity of imposing an injunction at the outset of the litigation. Therefore, Professor Holbrook’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction was denied.

© Copyright, PCT Law Group 2010, all rights reserved.