Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Com'n v. National Football League

• Decision Date: 12 December 1980
• Docket Number: 80-5159,Nos. 80-5156,s. 80-5156
• Citation: 634 F.2d 1197
• Parties: 1980-81 Trade Cases 63,674 LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, an Unincorporated Association; Baltimore Football Club, Inc.; Buffalo Bills, Inc.; Chargers Football Company; Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc.; Cincinatti Bengals, Inc.; Cleveland Browns, Inc.; etc., et al., Defendants-Appellants. LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, etc., et al., Defendants, and Los Angeles Rams Football Company, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1197

634 F.2d 1197

1980-81 Trade Cases 63,674

LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, an Unincorporated Association;

Baltimore Football Club, Inc.; Buffalo Bills, Inc.; Chargers

Football Company; Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc.;

Cincinatti Bengals, Inc.; Cleveland Browns, Inc.; etc., et

al., Defendants-Appellants.

LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, etc., et al., Defendants, and Los Angeles Rams Football Company, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 80-5156, 80-5159.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted May 7, 1980.

Decided Dec. 12, 1980.

Rodney E. Nelson, Nelson, Ritchie & Gill, Los Angeles, Cal., for L. A. rams.

Joseph L. Alioto, Alioto & Alioto, San Francisco, Cal., Maxwell M. Blecher, Los Angeles, Cal., for Raiders.

Patrick Lynch, Los Angeles, Cal., for NFL.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before WALLACE and POOLE, Circuit Judges, and MacBRIDE, ^* Senior District Judge.

POOLE, Circuit Judge:

The National Football League (NFL) and certain of its members appeal from a preliminary injunction which restrained them from applying section 4.3 of the League's Constitution and Bylaws to a proposed transfer by the Oakland Raiders Ltd., football team (Raiders) of their home game playing site from Oakland to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (the Coliseum). Suit was filed by the appellee, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission (Commission), seeking an adjudication that by adopting and enforcing section 4.3 the League and its members had violated the antitrust laws of the United States and asking that the defendants be enjoined from applying that rule. The district court granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the League from invoking section 4.3 to prevent transfer of an NFL franchise to Los Angeles.

After careful consideration of the decision and the record in this case, we reverse because the district court abused its discretion in granting the preliminary injunction under circumstances where there was no showing of irreparable injury. We decline at this time to consider the merits of the antitrust claims, although that is strenuously urged by the parties. Those issues have not yet been fully addressed or finally decided by the district court.

FACTS

NFL is an unincorporated association of 28 member teams, each located in a designated metropolitan area where its "home games" are played. The League's Constitution and Bylaws provide that most important decisions must be approved by a vote of three-fourths of the owners of the member teams. Appellants estimate that 95% of NFL's decisions require such a vote, and In July 1978 the Los Angeles Rams football team announced its intention to move from the Los Angeles Coliseum where it had played since 1946 to Anaheim Stadium in Orange County. Anaheim is less than 40 miles from the Coliseum and is within the same greater metropolitan area. The move was to commence at the beginning of the 1980-81 football season. Faced with the prospect of having no professional football tenant in the Coliseum for the first time in many years, the Commission which operates the facility began to seek a replacement team. It perceived sections 4.3 and 3.1 as potential obstacles to its attainment of a new tenant either through a new franchise or relocation of an existing one.

                counsel for the Commission concede that a three-quarters majority vote requirement "is now relatively uniform" in NFL matters.  Several provisions of the Bylaws relate to matters affecting the home locations of the member teams.  Section 4.3, the rule involved here, requires a three-fourths vote of team owners before any member club may transfer the location of its franchise or playing site to a different city.  1  Section 3.1 requires similar approval before a new member club may be admitted to NFL
                

The Commission brought an antitrust action against the NFL and its member teams under Section 16 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 26, ² to enjoin enforcement of these provisions, charging that they violate Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2. In February 1979 the district court denied the Commission's motion for partial summary judgment and dismissed the complaint for lack of standing, with leave to amend. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission v. National Football League, 468 F.Supp. 154 (C.D.Cal.1979). ³

After filing an amended complaint which contained language tracking the Court's suggested cure of the standing defects, the Commission moved in January 1980 for a preliminary injunction to restrain defendants from invoking section 4.3 or taking other action specifically to prevent transfer of the Oakland Raiders' home site to the Los Angeles Coliseum. There had been negotiations in late 1979 between the Coliseum and Raiders' officials which contemplated a transfer effective for the 1980 season. The Commission's motion alleged that enforcement of section 4.3 threatened to block final agreement on the transfer. Neither the Raiders nor the Coliseum ever requested a vote or other action by the League before the preliminary injunction was sought; nor had the League taken action one way or the other.

On February 21, 1980, after a hearing, the district court granted the Commission's motion and entered an order enjoining defendants Defendants immediately appealed and obtained from this Court an order staying the preliminary injunction. ⁴ We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). Shortly thereafter, the Commission and Raiders signed a memorandum of agreement on lease terms, and Raiders' officials publicly announced their intention to proceed with the move to Los Angeles. Following the appointment of a special committee to evaluate the proposed move, the League took a formal vote of its members which disapproved the transfer by 22 against, none in favor, and five abstaining.

from enforcing section 4.3, as then "currently written," to prevent the Raiders or any other NFL team from transferring the location of its home games to the Coliseum. The order was accompanied by a memorandum Opinion indicating that the allegations of the amended complaint were sufficient to overcome the standing problem, that the plaintiff's showing on the motion satisfied the conditions for a preliminary injunction, but that the record was insufficient to permit summary judgment. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission v. National Football League, 484 F.Supp. 1274 (C.D.Cal.1980).

LEGAL STANDARDS FOR GRANTING AND REVIEWING THE PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

We deem it important to emphasize at the outset in this highly publicized dispute that we are reviewing the grant of a preliminary injunction, not a final decision on the merits. We start with the general principle that an order issuing or denying a preliminary injunction will normally be reversed only if the lower court abused its discretion or based its decision upon erroneous legal premises. City of Anaheim v. Kleppe, 590 F.2d 285, 288 n.4 (9th Cir. 1978); William Inglis & Sons Baking Co. v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 526 F.2d 86, 88 (9th Cir. 1975). The reviewing court must determine whether the district court employed the proper legal standard in issuing the injunction and whether it abused its discretion in applying that standard. Miss Universe, Inc. v. Flesher, 605 F.2d 1130, 1133-34 (9th Cir. 1979); Benda v. Grand Lodge of International Association of Machinists, etc., 584 F.2d 308, 315 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. dismissed, 441 U.S. 937, 99 S.Ct. 2065, 60 L.Ed.2d 667 (1979). An injunction may also be set aside if the court relied on erroneous legal premises in its application of the standard, such as in its preliminary review of the merits. Kennecott Copper Corp., etc. v. Costle, 572 F.2d 1349, 1357 (9th Cir. 1978); California ex rel. Younger v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 516 F.2d 215, 217 (9th Cir.) cert. denied, 423 U.S. 868, 96 S.Ct. 131, 46 L.Ed.2d 97 (1975); Douglas v. Beneficial Finance Co. of Anchorage, 469 F.2d 453, 454 (9th Cir. 1972); cf. Miss Universe Inc. v. Flesher, supra, 605 F.2d at 1133 n.5.

Under the Clayton Act which is involved here injunctive relief is provided under the same conditions and principles as such relief is granted generally by courts of equity. 15 U.S.C.A. § 26 (1979). A fundamental principle applied in such courts is that the basic function of a preliminary injunction is to preserve the status quo ante litem pending a determination of the action on the merits. Larry P. v. Riles, 502 F.2d 963, 965 (9th Cir. 1974); Washington Capitols Basketball Club, Inc. v. Barry, 419 F.2d 472, 476 (9th Cir. 1969); Tanner Motor Livery, Ltd. v. Avis, Inc., 316 F.2d 804 (9th Cir.) cert. denied, 375 U.S. 821, 84 S.Ct. 59, 11 L.Ed.2d 55 (1963). The traditional equitable criteria for granting preliminary injunctive relief are (1) a strong likelihood of success on the merits, (2) the possibility of irreparable injury to plaintiff if the preliminary relief is not granted, (3) a balance of hardships favoring the plaintiff, and (4) advancement of the public interest (in certain cases). Sierra Club v. Hathaway, 579 F.2d 1162, 1167 (9th Cir. 1978); Munoz v. County of Imperial, 604 F.2d 1174, 1175-76 (9th Cir The district court concluded that the plaintiff was unlikely to show that the balance of hardships tipped sharply in its favor, and it therefore rested its grant of preliminary injunction on a finding that plaintiff qualified for relief under the first half of this alternate formulation. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, supra, 484 F.Supp. at 1275-76. We conclude that the court erred in issuing a preliminary injunction because there was no showing of irreparable injury. In so holding, we treat the two reported opinions of the district court so far as pertinent to this decision as its findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52 of the...