Martin v. International Olympic Committee

• Decision Date: 16 July 1984
• Docket Number: No. 84-5859,84-5859
• Citation: 740 F.2d 670
• Parties: 35 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,705 Lisa MARTIN, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 670

740 F.2d 670

35 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,705

Lisa MARTIN, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 84-5859.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted June 8, 1984.

Decided June 21, 1984.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied July 16, 1984.

Daniella Sapriel, Santa Monica, Cal., Gilbert Gaynor, Susan D. McGreivy, Fred Okrand, Paul Hoffman, ACLU Foundation of So. California, Elaine Burton, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Anthony B. Gordon, James W. Colbert, O'Melveny & Myers, Los Angeles, Cal., Richard G. Kline, Edward T. Colbert, Beveridge, DeGrandi & Kline, Washington, D.C., for Olympic Committee & Athletic Congress.

Ira Reiner, Marcia Haber Kamine, Thomas C. Bonaventura, Los Angeles, Cal., for L.A. Memorial Coliseum Commission.

Thomas L. Waddell, Parker, Stanbury, McGee, Babcock & Combs, John Missing, Max L. Gillam, Thomas M. Mustin, Latham & Watkins, Los Angeles, Cal., for L.A. Olympic Committee.

Russell J. Frackman, Robert N. Block, Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, Los Angeles, Cal., Samuel Pisar, John I. Huhs, Pisar & Huhs, New York City, for International Olympic Committee.

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

Before WALLACE, PREGERSON, and ALARCON, Circuit Judges.

WALLACE, Circuit Judge:

Certain women runners and runners' organizations (the women runners) appeal the denial by the district court of their motion for a preliminary mandatory injunction to require the organizers of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games to include 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter track events for women. The women runners claim that the failure to include these events constitutes gender-based discrimination that violates their equal protection rights under the fifth and fourteenth amendments and the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal.Civ.Code Sec. 51 (West 1982) (the Act) ¹. The district court ruled that the women runners had not met all of the requirements for preliminary injunctive relief. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(a)(1). We affirm.

I

The women runners are two runners' organizations and eighty-two ² women from twenty-seven countries who compete in 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter track races. In August 1983, they filed this action in a California state court against the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), the United States Olympic Committee, The Athletic Congress of the United States, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, and the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission, as well as various directors and officials of those entities (the Olympics organizations). The Olympics organizations removed the action to the United States District Court for the Central District of California. In March 1984, the women runners requested preliminary injunctive relief against the Olympics organizations. In a lengthy opinion, the district judge denied relief. The women runners appeal and ask us to remand with instructions to the district court to issue a mandatory preliminary injunction for the inclusion of 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter women's track events in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.

According to the women runners, the process used to select new Olympic events has resulted in the continuation of an historical pattern of discrimination against women participants in the Olympic Games. The district court's opinion extensively reviewed the history of women's participation in the Games and concluded that the women runners made a strong showing that the early history of the modern Olympic Games was marred by blatant discrimination against women. The district court also found that women's participation in the Olympics has increased markedly during the past thirty-six years. Although there is not parity between men and women in either the number of competitors or the number of events, the district court found that women were progressing in both of these areas. For example, three new women's track and field events--the 3,000 meters, the 400 meter hurdles, and the marathon--will be included for the first time in the 1984 Games.

Although the pertinent background extends to the beginning of this century, the critical occurrence for this lawsuit occurred in 1949, when the IOC adopted rules to slow the rapid growth in the number of Olympic events within recognized sports. The successor rule of that effort, which is at issue in this litigation, is rule 32 of the 1970 Olympic Charter. It provides:

The IOC in consultation with the IFs [International Federations] concerned shall decide the events which shall be included in each sport, in bearing with the global aspect of the Olympic programme and statistical data referring to the number of participating countries in each event of the Olympic programme, of the world championships, of Regional Games and all other competitions under the patronage of the IOC and the patronage of the IFs for a period of one olympiad (four years).

Under this rule, an event must be recognized internationally through national championships and international competition during the four years before the time it is first considered for inclusion, and the decision on whether to include an event is made four years before the games in which it will first appear. Thus, the critical qualifying time period for races to be run for the first time in 1984 was from 1976 to 1980.

Track and field is a recognized Olympic sport. The IAAF is the body charged with regulating international track and field competition. The IAAF determines which track and field events will be included in international competition and for which events world records will be established. The IOC has also made the IAAF responsible for recommending new track and field events for inclusion in the Olympic Games. To assist in providing more women's events, the Women's Committee of the IAAF was organized. Although the IAAF may recommend new track and field events for inclusion in the games, the final decision on inclusion rests solely with the IOC.

The 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter track races have been a part of the men's Olympic program since 1912. In 1978, the Women's Committee of the IAAF requested that the IAAF grant world record status for women's competition in these two events and include them in international competition. The IAAF recognized an increased interest in the events but rejected the request on the grounds that world-wide participation was not yet on a high enough level. It was agreed to monitor progress "with a view to ... recommending their introduction as soon as this was justified." In 1980, the IAAF granted world record status to the two events but did not include them in world championship competition. Because the races were not yet sanctioned by the IAAF for international competition in 1980 when decisions about the 1984 Games were being made, the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter women's races were not eligible under rule 32 for inclusion in the 1984 Games.

II

Our review in this appeal is very limited. We may not reverse the district court's denial of the preliminary injunction unless the district court abused its discretion or relied on an erroneous legal premise. Sports Form, Inc. v. United Press International, Inc., 686 F.2d 750, 752 (9th Cir.1982) (Sports Form ); Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission v. National Football League, 634 F.2d 1197, 1200 (9th Cir.1980). We must therefore determine whether "the decision was based on a consideration of the relevant factors and whether there has been a clear error of judgment," Sports Form, 686 F.2d at 752, quoting Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 416, 91 S.Ct. 814, 823 (1971), as well as whether the district court followed the appropriate legal standard governing the issuance of preliminary injunctions, or misapprehended the law with respect to the underlying issues in applying those standards. Sports Form, 686 F.2d at 752; Wright v. Rushen, 642 F.2d 1129, 1132 (9th Cir.1981).

In this circuit, a party seeking preliminary injunctive relief must meet one of two tests. Under the first, a court may issue a preliminary injunction if it finds that:

(1) the [moving party] will suffer irreparable injury if injunctive relief is not granted, (2) the [moving party] will probably prevail on the merits, (3) in balancing the equities, the [non-moving party] will not be harmed more than [the moving party] is helped by the injunction, and (4) granting the injunction is in the public interest.

William Inglis & Sons Baking Co. v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 526 F.2d 86, 87 (9th Cir.1975). Alternatively, a court may issue a preliminary injunction if the moving party demonstrates "either a combination of probable success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable injury or that serious questions are raised and the balance of hardships tips sharply in his favor." Id. at 88 (emphasis in original), quoting Charlie's Girls, Inc. v. Revlon, Inc., 483 F.2d 953, 954 (2d Cir.1973). Under this last part of the alternative test, even if the balance of hardships tips decidedly in favor of the moving party, it must be shown as an irreducible minimum that there is a fair chance of success on the merits. Sports Form, 686 F.2d at 753. There is one additional factor we must weigh. In cases such as the one before us in which a party seeks mandatory preliminary relief that goes well beyond maintaining the status quo pendente lite, courts should be extremely cautious about issuing a preliminary injunction. See, e.g., Anderson v. United States, 612 F.2d 1112, 1114 (9th Cir.1980).

In the present case, the district judge applied the correct legal standard governing the issuance of preliminary injunctions. After citing several of the controlling precedents referred to above, the district judge weighed the women runners' request for injunctive relief under the alternative...