Aurora Bancshares Corp. v. Weston, No. 85-2759
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | Before CUDAHY, ESCHBACH and POSNER; PER CURIAM |
| Citation | 777 F.2d 385 |
| Parties | AURORA BANCSHARES CORPORATION and Ralph L. Egeland, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Roger L. WESTON and John A. Sheldon, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Docket Number | No. 85-2759 |
| Decision Date | 22 November 1985 |
Page 385
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Roger L. WESTON and John A. Sheldon, Defendants-Appellees.
Seventh Circuit.
Decided Nov. 22, 1985.
Page 386
Paul E. Freehling, Pope, Ballard, Shepard & Fowle, Ltd., Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Nathan H. Dardick, Dardick & Denlow, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.
Before CUDAHY, ESCHBACH and POSNER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM.
We have before us two motions in this appeal which raise procedural issues of some significance. The plaintiffs, a corporation and its president, brought suit under the federal securities laws to prevent the defendants from buying a potentially controlling interest in the corporation. The details and merits of the suit have no bearing on the issues brought before us by these two motions, so we shall not belabor them. It is enough that the plaintiffs moved the district judge for a preliminary injunction to stop the defendants from buying shares of the corporation and that the district judge dismissed the motion without a hearing, on two grounds: dismissal was an appropriate sanction for the plaintiffs' alleged violation of discovery orders; and the grant of an injunction was barred by the plaintiffs' "unclean hands" in having violated an oral agreement with the defendants not to take certain measures, pending a hearing, to impede the defendants' efforts to take control of the corporation. The oral agreement was represented to be that "the plaintiff will not take any actions between now and the date of that hearing to do any poison pill mechanisms or anything kinky that would jeopardize or dilute the interest of the defendant." The plaintiffs have filed an appeal under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(a)(1) from the dismissal of their request for a preliminary injunction. The merits of the appeal are not before us; before us are two motions: the plaintiffs' motion for an injunction pending appeal, and the defendants' motion to dismiss the appeal as outside our appellate jurisdiction.
We shall take up the defendants' motion first. The defendants argue that the dismissal of the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction is not appealable because discovery sanctions are not appealable and because a dismissal as distinct from denial of a preliminary injunction is not within the scope of section 1292(a)(1), which allows the immediate appeal of interlocutory orders granting, refusing, modifying, etc. injunctions.
It is true that most orders imposing sanctions for abuses of discovery, like most (other) orders respecting discovery, are not appealable, but that is because they are not final, and because discovery orders are not deemed injunctions within the meaning of section 1292(a)(1) even though they have the form of an order to do or not do something. But if an order respecting discovery is final, as would be an order dismissing a lawsuit as a sanction for abuse of discovery, then it is appealable under section 1291; and if, as here, the order is the denial (or grant, etc.) of an injunction, then it is appealable under section 1292(a)(1) even though nonfinal. The fact that the order grows out of a dispute over discovery is irrelevant. Moreover, the order of which the plaintiffs complain was only partly a sanction for violation of discovery orders; it was also a sanction for the plaintiffs' violation of the standstill agreement.
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Robinson v. Tanner, No. 85-7456
...abuses of discovery 4 are not appealable until after final judgment except under limited circumstances. Aurora Bancshares Corp. v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir.1985); Meche v. Dan-Tex International, Inc., 681 F.2d 264, 265 (5th Cir.1982); In re Underwriters at Lloyd's, 666 F.2d 55, 58......
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In re: Joseph H. Golant, No. 00-1205
...1569, 1573 (7th Cir. 1987) (order in civil case dismissing complaint for untimely service is "final"); Aurora Bancshares Corp. v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir. 1985) (order in civil case dismissing suit as a sanction for discovery abuse is "final"). Consequently, regardless of how Cun......
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States v. Lewis, No. 13–2214.
...Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. 100, 107–09, 130 S.Ct. 599, 175 L.Ed.2d 458 (2009); Aurora Bancshares Corp. v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir.1985) (per curiam); International Products Corp. v. Koons, 325 F.2d 403, 406–07 (2d Cir.1963) (Friendly, J.)), it “g[a]ve or aid[e......
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Allendale Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bull Data Systems, Inc., No. 94-2752
...injunctions within the meaning of section 1292(a)(1). Reise v. Board of Regents, 957 F.2d 293 (7th Cir.1992); Aurora Bancshares v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir.1985) (per curiam); International Products Corp. v. Koons, 325 F.2d 403, 406 (2d Cir.1963) (Friendly, J.); Casey v. Planned P......
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Robinson v. Tanner, No. 85-7456
...abuses of discovery 4 are not appealable until after final judgment except under limited circumstances. Aurora Bancshares Corp. v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir.1985); Meche v. Dan-Tex International, Inc., 681 F.2d 264, 265 (5th Cir.1982); In re Underwriters at Lloyd's, 666 F.2d 55, 58......
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In re: Joseph H. Golant, No. 00-1205
...1569, 1573 (7th Cir. 1987) (order in civil case dismissing complaint for untimely service is "final"); Aurora Bancshares Corp. v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir. 1985) (order in civil case dismissing suit as a sanction for discovery abuse is "final"). Consequently, regardless of how Cun......
-
States v. Lewis, No. 13–2214.
...Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. 100, 107–09, 130 S.Ct. 599, 175 L.Ed.2d 458 (2009); Aurora Bancshares Corp. v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir.1985) (per curiam); International Products Corp. v. Koons, 325 F.2d 403, 406–07 (2d Cir.1963) (Friendly, J.)), it “g[a]ve or aid[e......
-
Allendale Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bull Data Systems, Inc., No. 94-2752
...injunctions within the meaning of section 1292(a)(1). Reise v. Board of Regents, 957 F.2d 293 (7th Cir.1992); Aurora Bancshares v. Weston, 777 F.2d 385, 386 (7th Cir.1985) (per curiam); International Products Corp. v. Koons, 325 F.2d 403, 406 (2d Cir.1963) (Friendly, J.); Casey v. Planned P......