General Motors Corp. v. Gibson Chemical & Oil Corp.

786 F.2d 105, 54 U.S.L.W. 2572
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMarch 21, 1986
DocketNo. 132, Docket 85-7410
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 786 F.2d 105 (General Motors Corp. v. Gibson Chemical & Oil Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Motors Corp. v. Gibson Chemical & Oil Corp., 786 F.2d 105, 54 U.S.L.W. 2572 (2d Cir. 1986).

Opinion

VAN GRAAFEILAND, Circuit Judge:

Gibson Chemical and Oil Corporation and its president, Lee J. Roth, appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (McLaughlin, J.) granting appellee General Motors Corporation’s motion for a preliminary injunction and confirming an ex parte order authorizing the seizure of goods which allegedly infringed a General Motors trademark. Appellants contend that the Trademark Counterfeiting Act of 1984, 15 U.S.C. § 1116 and 18 U.S.C. § 2320, which authorizes the ex parte seizure of infringing goods, violates the Fourth and Fifth Amendments; that certain temporary restraining provisions incorporated in the order of seizure violated the First Amendment; that the grounds upon which the seizure order was issued did not meet the statutory requirements, and that it was unlikely that General Motors would prevail on the merits of its suit. Appellants also contend that Roth is not a proper party. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.

In 1984, Daniel Elliott, Director of Security for the General Motors Service Parts Organization, received a number of complaints about an inferior automotive transmission fluid that was being marketed under the name of “Dexron II”, a registered trademark of General Motors. Investigation prompted by the complaints led to the discovery of several cans of what purported to be Dexron II at wholesale and retail automotive supply outlets in the New York area. Those cans bore the notation “Distributed by AF Products, New York, New York”. Although General Motors licenses the manufacture of Dexron II to companies who agree to adhere to General Motors’ specifications, the investigators suspected that the AF Products fluid was counterfeit, because its cans did not display correctly the identification number that was required by General Motors’ licensing agreements. Moreover, GM laboratory tests revealed that the AF Products fluid did not meet GM specifications.

Investigators traced the AF Products transmission fluid to Gibson Chemical and Oil, where they found identical AF Products cans discarded in a dumpster. Investigators also located cans containing the counterfeit fluid at other automotive suppliers and traced them to the Gibson plant.

Based on the evidence obtained through its investigations, GM secured an ex parte [108]*108order temporarily restraining Gibson from distributing its falsely marked fluid and authorizing the seizure of the fluid located at the Gibson plant. After a full hearing, the district court confirmed the order of seizure and enlarged the temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction. It is from these rulings that Gibson and Roth now appeal.

Although appellants make a broadside challenge to the district court’s rulings, we are confronted at the outset with questions -of appealability. The preliminary injunction, which touches on the merits of GM’s claim, is, of course, reviewable. See International Products Corp. v. Koons, 325 F.2d 403, 406-07 (2d Cir.1963); 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). The temporary restraining order, issued ex parte and expiring within ten days, is not. Grant v. United States, 282 F.2d 165, 167 (2d Cir.1960). Accordingly, we need not address appellants’ claim that, insofar as the temporary restraining order prohibited them from notifying their suppliers and customers of the litigation and the actions taken therein, it violated appellants’ First Amendment rights.

Appellants suggest several reasons why the district court’s order confirming the writ of seizure is appealable. They argue first that the order was a final order appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. However, because the order might be modified by the district court, and because it did not determine the rights of the parties with respect to the seized property but only sequestered it pending trial, the order lacks the requisite finality for reviewability. See Weight Watchers of Philadelphia v. Weight Watchers International, Inc., 455 F.2d 770, 772 (2d Cir.1972).

Appellants next contend that, because the essential requirements for obtaining a seizure order and an injunction are the same, the seizure order is the equivalent of a preliminary injunction and therefore should be appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1292. General Motors contends on the other hand that a seizure order is the equivalent of an order of attachment, the grant of which is unappealable in this Circuit. See W.T. Grant Co. v. Haines, 531 F.2d 671, 678 (2d Cir.1976). We see no need to resolve this contest of equivalences. Where, as here, there has been no showing that the district court’s interlocutory order might have a “serious, perhaps irreparable, consequence” and can be “effectually challenged” only by immediate appeal, the order does not meet the statutory requirements for interlocutory appeal. See Carson v. American Brands, Inc., 450 U.S. 79, 84, 101 S.Ct. 993, 996, 67 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981).

Appellants’ invocation of the collateral order doctrine of Cohen v. Beneficial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949), is no more successful. To meet the requirements for reviewability under Cohen, the order must conclusively determine the disputed question, resolve an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action, and be effectively unreviewable on appeal. Richardson-Merrell, Inc. v. Koller, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 2757, 2761, 86 L.Ed.2d 340 (1985). The seizure, order in this instance does not resolve an issue wholly separate from the merits of the action; indeed, a showing of likelihood of success on the merits was required before the seizure order could issue. See 15 U.S.C. § 1116(d)(4)(B)(iii). Moreover, the seizure is reviewable on final appeal, and the statute provides a damages remedy, should the seizure be held to have been wrongful. See id. § 1116(d)(ll).

Finally, appellants urge this Court to exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction over the seizure order. The exercise of pendent jurisdiction to review an otherwise nonappealable order is discretionary with the Court, Marcera v. Chinlund, 595 F.2d 1231, 1236 n. 8 (2d Cir.), vacated on other grounds sub nom. Lombard v. Marcera, 442 U.S. 915, 99 S.Ct. 2833, 61 L.Ed.2d 281 (1979), and in most cases it is a practice better avoided, 16 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3937 at 270-71. We decline to exercise it here.

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786 F.2d 105, 54 U.S.L.W. 2572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-motors-corp-v-gibson-chemical-oil-corp-ca2-1986.