Fort Wayne Women's Health Organization v. Brane

895 F. Supp. 1080, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20825, 1990 WL 614594
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Fort Wayne Women's Health Organization v. Brane. Read the opinion of the Court — 734 F. Supp. 849
District Court, N.D. Indiana·Decided May 8, 1990·No. Civ. No. F90-66·Published

Opinion

ORDER

WILLIAM C. LEE, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction filed on April 25, 1990, along with plaintiffs’ complaint against the defendants in which they seek to permanently enjoin defendants from various activities at the Fort Wayne Women’s Health Organization facility (the Clinic) located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which activities are alleged to be unlawful. In an order entered on April 26, 1990, this court denied plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order also filed on April 25,1990, because there was time to conduct a hearing with all parties present before any alleged unlawful action by the defendants was expected to occur and the court wished to give the defendants an opportunity to be heard before considering a grant of any emergency relief. A hearing on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction was held on May 3, 1990, at which the plaintiffs presented the testimony of several persons employed by the Clinic, including Susan Hill, president of the National Women’s Health Organization and vice-president of the Fort Wayne Clinic; Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, the Clinic physician and Helen Sims, an LPN who is also administrator of the Clinic. Plaintiffs also presented the testimony of a Fort Wayne police officer; two former patients of the Clinic and a videotape of the defendants’ activities on August 25, 1989. Defendants presented a videotape of the news media coverage of the August 25, 1989 activities along with the testimony of Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke and Mary Yoder, a mother of four children.

Preliminary Injunction Standard, 1

The Seventh Circuit has outlined the non-discretionary actions that a district judge must take when considering a motion for preliminary injunction. Darryl H. v. Coler, 801 F.2d 893, 898 (7th Cir.1986).

1. He must evaluate the traditional factors enumerated in the case law; whether there is an adequate remedy at law, a danger of irreparable harm, some likelihood of success on the merits. See Roland Machinery Co. v. Dresser Industries, Inc., 749 F.2d 380, 386-88 (7th Cir.1984).
2. He must make factual determinations on the basis of a fair interpretation of the evidence before the court.
3. He must draw legal conclusions in accord with a principled application of the law.

Id. at 898. The court went on to state that “the district court must somehow balance the nature and degree of the plaintiffs injury, the likelihood of prevailing at trial, the possible injury to the defendant if the injunction is granted, and the wild card that is the public interest.” Id. (emphasis added). Additionally, “the statutory grant of the power to issue a preliminary injunction carries with it the power to issue whatever ancillary equitable relief is necessary to the effective exercise of the granted power.” Federal Trade Com’n v. Elders Grain, Inc., 868 F.2d 901, 907 (7th Cir.1989).

In Lawson Products, Inc. v. Avnet, Inc., 782 F.2d 1429, 1432-35 (7th Cir.1986), the Seventh Circuit reviewed two of its prior opinions on the law of preliminary injunctions. See Roland Machinery Co. v. Dresser Industries, Inc., 749 F.2d 380 (7th Cir.1984) [1082]*1082and American Hospital Supply Corp. v. Hospital Products Limited, 780 F.2d 589 (7th Cir.1986). The court in Lawson, noted that both Roland and American Hospital make it clear that while preliminary injunctions are an equitable form of relief, they are an exercise of far-reaching power. Lawson, 782 F.2d at 1438. This court recognizes that preliminary injunctive relief invokes a far reaching power:

The idea underlying these equivalent approaches is that the task for the district judge in deciding whether to grant or deny a motion for preliminary injunction is to minimize errors: the error of denying an injunction to one who will in fact (though no one can know this for sure) go on to win the case on the merits, and the error of granting an injunction to one who will go on to lose. The judge must try to avoid the error that is more costly in the circumstances.

Roland, 749 F.2d at 388. See also American Hospital, 780 F.2d at 593. Thus, this court must choose the course of action that will minimize the costs of being mistaken.

Lawson, Roland, and American Hospital, all adopted a “sliding scale” approach where the possibility of mistake would be minimized by weighing the costs of injunctive relief against the benefits. This principle was stated in mathematical terms, in American Hospital, 780 F.2d at 593. The preliminary injunction should be granted if, but only if:

P x Hp > (1 - P) x Hd

The left hand of the equation is the magnitude of erroneously denying the injunction, arrived at by multiplying the probability that plaintiff will prevail at trial (P) by the harm to the plaintiff caused by the denial of the injunction (Hp). The right hand represents the magnitude of an erroneously granted injunction measured by multiplying the probability that the defendant will prevail at trial (1—P, the inverse of the plaintiffs probability of success) by the harm to the defendant caused by the granting of the motion (Hd). Id. at 593-94; Lawson, 782 F.2d at 1433-34. Obviously this formula is not a substitute for, but an aid to, judgment. Id. at 1434. A figure representing the probability of success, for example, can only be arrived at through subjective estimate by the court. Nevertheless, the “sliding scale” approach is helpful and will be considered in determining whether plaintiffs are entitled to a preliminary injunction.

It is well established in the Seventh Circuit that the plaintiff has the burden of proving each of the factors enumerated in Coler, above. Palmer v. City of Chicago, 755 F.2d 560, 576 (7th Cir.1985); Godinez v. Lane, 733 F.2d 1250, 1257 (7th Cir.1984); Technical Pub Co. v. Lebhar-Friedman, Inc., 729 F.2d 1136, 1138-39 (7th Cir.1984). These factors were set forth again by the Seventh Circuit in Curtis v. Thompson, 840 F.2d 1291 (7th Cir.1988) as:

(1) that [she] has no adequate remedy at law;
(2) that [she] will suffer irreparable harm if the preliminary injunction is not issued;
(3) that the irreparable harm [she] will suffer if the preliminary injunction is not granted is greater than the irreparable harm the defendant will suffer if the injunction is granted;

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Fort Wayne Women's Health Organization v. Brane, 895 F. Supp. 1080, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20825, 1990 WL 614594 (N.D. Ind. 1990).

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