Glenwood Bridge, Inc. v. City of Minneapolis

• Citation: 940 F.2d 367
• Decision Date: 31 October 1991
• Docket Number: No. 91-1442,91-1442
• Parties: 137 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3001, 60 USLW 2146, 119 Lab.Cas. P 10,859 GLENWOOD BRIDGE, INC., Appellant, v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS; John Doe; John Smith; Other Known Entities and Individuals; Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Page 367

940 F.2d 367

137 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3001, 60 USLW 2146,

119 Lab.Cas. P 10,859

GLENWOOD BRIDGE, INC., Appellant, v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS; John Doe; John Smith; Other Known Entities and Individuals; Appellees.

No. 91-1442.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 13, 1991.

Decided Aug. 2, 1991.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Denied Oct. 31, 1991.

Timothy Sullivan, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.

Jerome Fitzgerald, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellees.

Before WOLLMAN and BEAM, Circuit Judges, and HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

Glenwood Bridge, a Minnesota bridge-builder, appeals from the district court's order of March 7, 1991, denying its motion for a preliminary injunction. Glenwood Bridge seeks to restrain the City of Minneapolis from rejecting its low bid on the Fifth Street North Bridge Project and awarding the contract, after rebidding, to another contractor. The City's actions may or may not violate federal labor law. We think that Glenwood Bridge has shown a sufficient likelihood of success on the merits, however, that, together with a showing of irreparable harm, makes it entitled to preliminary relief. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

On December 5, 1990, the City advertised for bids to build a new Fifth Street bridge. Glenwood Bridge submitted a bid which, when the bids were opened on January 22, 1991, proved to be low. Nine days later, however, the City's purchasing department, in a letter to the chairman of the city council's transportation and public works committee, suggested that the city council reject all bids. As the letter-writer explained, "After reviewing the bids, it was determined that there was no project labor agreement in place for this bid." Letter from Richard L. Straub to Tony Scallon When Glenwood Bridge was made aware of the City's concerns, it notified the City that its collective bargaining agreement with its union, the Christian Laborers Association Local No. 78 (CLA), an NLRB-certified labor organization, contained a no strike/no lockout clause. The city attorney advised the transportation and public works committee that this agreement was not good enough. "We have reviewed the Agreement and it is our opinion that it is not the kind of labor agreement which would protect the City from both strikes and lockouts." Letter from Robert J. Alfton to Tony Scallon (Feb. 7, 1991). The city attorney's letter specified no reasons why the agreement was insufficient. Indeed, Glenwood Bridge was later advised that its contract with the CLA providing for no strikes or lockouts would satisfy the City's concerns. See Transcript of Hearing on Motion for Preliminary Injunction at 9 (March 6, 1991) (Hearing Transcript).

                (Jan. 31, 1991).  The City claims that its review of the original bidding documents convinced it that without a labor stabilization agreement, the project might not be completed by November 15, 1991, in time for the holiday shopping season.  Accordingly, the director of public works "recommended that we obtain a project labor agreement and ensure against any ... strikes or lockouts."    Id
                

Glenwood Bridge was so advised, however, only after the city council rejected all bids on February 8, 1991, and voted to readvertise the project. The City determined that it could best avoid strikes or lockouts by executing its authority under a Minnesota statute permitting the City to "enter into agreements ... with appropriate labor organizations and contractors which provide that no strike or lockout may be ordered during the term of the agreements." 1989 Minn.Sess.Law Serv. Ch. 54, sec. 2 (West). Accordingly, the City entered into a project labor stabilization agreement with the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, which provides for no strikes or lockouts. The City then incorporated this agreement into its new bidding documents.

Glenwood Bridge did not submit a new bid, but instead filed this action in federal district court on February 13, 1991, alleging that the City's actions were preempted by federal labor law, and seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. Specifically, Glenwood Bridge asked the court to prohibit the City from readvertising for bids and from incorporating the AFL-CIO labor stabilization agreement into the new bidding documents. Glenwood Bridge also asked the court to mandate that the City award it the bridge contract under its original bid. On February 15, Glenwood Bridge filed a motion for a temporary restraining order.

The district court granted, in part, the motion for temporary restraining order on February 21, 1991. In its order, the district court allowed the City to readvertise the project and to receive new bids, but "restrained and enjoined [the City] from opening the bids submitted in response to its readvertisement for bids." Glenwood Bridge v. City of Minneapolis, Civ. No. 3-91-85, Temporary Restraining Order (Feb. 21, 1991). ¹ The district court considered preliminary injunctive relief at a hearing on March 6, 1991, at which hearing the court concluded that it did not have the authority under Minnesota law to "order the City to award the contract to Glenwood." Hearing Transcript at 13. Because it could not award the contract, "a preliminary injunction [pre]serving the status quo until the matter is resolved would therefore be of no point." Id. Thus, the district court denied the motion for preliminary injunction on March 7, but extended the temporary restraining order until 9:00 a.m. on March 11. Glenwood Bridge v. City of Minneapolis, Civ. No. 3-91-85, Order On May 10, 1991, we filed an opinion affirming the district court's denial of Glenwood Bridge's motion for a preliminary injunction, vacating our earlier order extending the temporary restraining order pending appeal, and denying as moot the City's motion to modify the temporary restraining order. 932 F.2d 1239 On May 17, 1991, Glenwood Bridge filed a petition for rehearing with suggestion for rehearing en banc and a motion seeking an injunction to prohibit the City from either awarding the contract or beginning work on the project pending disposition of the petition for rehearing. By order of May 20, 1991, we issued an injunction "prohibiting [the City] from awarding the contract at issue and/or commencing work on the project contract until disposition of [Glenwood Bridge's] motion for rehearing and the suggestion for rehearing en banc." On May 23, 1991, the City filed a motion to increase the amount of the bond filed by Glenwood Bridge, and to allow the City to demolish the existing Fifth Street Bridge with its own forces. By order of May 28, 1991, we modified our May 20 injunction to do these things. Now, by this opinion, we grant rehearing by the panel, vacate the May 10 panel opinion, and substitute this opinion reversing the judgment of the district court.

(March 7, 1991). Glenwood Bridge appealed from the district court's order to this court on March 7. We extended, on March 8, the temporary restraining order pending appeal and heard oral argument on March 13, 1991. After argument, on March 27, the City filed a motion to modify the temporary restraining order to allow demolition of the existing bridge.

II. DISCUSSION

We review the district court's denial of injunctive relief for abuse of discretion. Modern Computer Sys. v. Modern Banking Sys., 871 F.2d 734, 737 (8th Cir.1989) (en banc) ("Unless the district court's denial of injunctive relief is the product of an abuse of discretion or misplaced reliance on an erroneous legal premise, we may not reverse on appeal."). As indicated, the district court concluded that because, under Minnesota law, it could not mandate that the City award the contract to Glenwood Bridge, Glenwood Bridge suffered no irreparable injury; the only relief that could compensate Glenwood Bridge would be declaratory relief and money damages. ² See Hearing Transcript at 13, 32. Glenwood Bridge, however, did not ask only that the district court award it the bridge contract; it also sought a preliminary injunction prohibiting the City from incorporating the AFL-CIO labor stabilization agreement into the bidding documents. See id. at 30-31 ("[I]f [the court is] not comfortable mandating the award, then the city should not be allowed to bid this project with an illegal specification."). In other words, the relief Glenwood Bridge still seeks--not explicitly addressed by the district court--would prohibit the City from awarding to any contractor a contract containing an arguably illegal pre-hire agreement. After careful consideration, we think that Glenwood Bridge is entitled to this relief.

In Dataphase Sys. v. C L Sys., 640 F.2d 109, 114 (8th Cir.1981) (en banc), this court set forth the now-familiar criteria governing preliminary injunctions.

[W]hether a preliminary injunction should issue involves consideration of (1) the threat of irreparable harm to the movant; (2) the state of balance between this harm and the injury that granting the injunction will inflict on other parties litigant; (3) the probability that movant will succeed on the merits; and (4) the public interest.

These criteria were reaffirmed en banc in Modern Computer Sys., 871 F.2d at 737-38. In essence, the inquiry is an equitable one, requiring that we consider "whether the balance of equities so favors the movant that justice requires the court to intervene to preserve the status quo until the merits are determined." Dataphase, 640 F.2d at 113 (footnote omitted). While "no single factor is determinative" of this inquiry, see id., two factors stand out in this case--the likelihood that Glenwood Bridge will prevail on the merits and the threat of irreparable injury. We begin with them.

On the merits, Glenwood Bridge presents important and troubling questions about the City's conduct in this matter. Glenwood Bridge argues that the City's actions constitute...