George Washington Home Owners Associations v. Widnall

863 F. Supp. 1423, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13998, 1994 WL 531555
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedSeptember 29, 1994
DocketCiv. A. No. 94-S-1944
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 863 F. Supp. 1423 (George Washington Home Owners Associations v. Widnall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
George Washington Home Owners Associations v. Widnall, 863 F. Supp. 1423, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13998, 1994 WL 531555 (D. Colo. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

SPARR, District Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction filed August 19, 1994. The Defendants responded to the motion on September 7, and the Intervenors Lowry Economic Redevelopment Authority (LERA) and the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), filed their responses on September 7, and September 8, respectively. Plaintiffs filed their reply to the responses on September 16, and the Defendants and CCH also filed surreplies. The matter is amply briefed. The Court held oral argument on September 23, 1994, and will incorporate its comments made in colloquy. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will now DENY the Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction.

[1425]*1425The Plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction which would postpone the civilian reuse of Lowry Air Force Base (LAFB) scheduled to commence after closing of the base on September 30, 1994 until such time as additional information can be gathered through further studies and analysis of the environmental conditions at LAFB. The Defendants and Intervenors seek to preserve the hard-fought compromise agreement in which numerous parties participated. That agreement, as well as other documents, provide for civilian reuse of the base which is designed to revitalize economic and community development on the base and its surrounding areas. Intervenor LERA is an entity separate from the two cities of Denver and Aurora which surround the base, and it is charged with, by virtue of an agreement between Denver and Aurora, the responsibility of facilitating economic development, providing housing to the homeless, and other redevelopment efforts. The Intervenor CCH will provide transitional housing to eighty-five families at LAFB, and the city of Denver will receive $5 million from the-U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide homeless housing throughout the Denver metropolitan area. Aurora, like Denver, has participated in the formulation of the Lowry Reuse Plan and the Recommended Lowry Disposition Plan, and it intends to immediately utilize some of the educational facilities at LAFB through the Community College of Aurora.

I. Preliminary Injunction Standard

A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy; it is the exception rather than the rule. GTE Corp. v. Williams, 731 F.2d 676, 678 (10th Cir.1984). The primary function of a preliminary injunction is to preserve the status quo pending a final determination of the rights of the parties, Lundgrin v. Claytor, 619 F.2d 61, 63 (10th Cir.1980), in order to preserve the power to render a meaningful decision on the merits. Tri-State Generation & Transmission Ass’n v. Shoshone River Power, Inc., 805 F.2d 351, 355 (10th Cir.1986). The general basis for injunctive relief in the federal courts has always been irreparable injury and the inadequacy of legal remedies. Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U.S. 305, 312, 102 S.Ct. 1798, 1803, 72 L.Ed.2d 91 (1982); Rondeau v. Mosinee Paper Corp., 422 U.S. 49, 61, 95 S.Ct. 2069, 2077, 45 L.Ed.2d 12 (1975). In order to obtain preliminary injunctive relief, the moving party must establish:

(1) substantial likelihood that the movant will eventually prevail on the merits;
(2) a showing that the movant will suffer irreparable injury unless the injunction issues;
(3) proof that the threatened injury to the movant outweighs whatever damage the proposed injunction may cause the opposing party; and
(4) a showing that the injunction, if issued, would not be adverse to the public interest.

SCFC ILC, Inc. v. Visa USA Inc., 936 F.2d 1096, 1098 (10th Cir.1991) (citation omitted).

A Burden of Proof

It frequently is observed that a preliminary injunction is an extraordinary and drastic remedy, one that should not be granted unless the movant, by a clear showing, carries the burden of persuasion. The right to relief must be clear and unequivocal. Id. (citation omitted). In the present case, the movants’ burden of proof in establishing the four factors is different from the more typical preliminary injunction. In the SCFC ILC case, the Tenth Circuit listed the following types of preliminary injunctions as disfavored and which require that the movant satisfy an even heavier burden of showing that the- four factors listed above weigh heavily and compellingly in the movant’s favor before such an injunction may be issued:

(1) a preliminary injunction that disturbs the status quo;
(2) a preliminary injunction that is mandatory as opposed to prohibitory; and
(3) a preliminary injunction that affords the movant substantially all the relief he may recover at the conclusion of a full trial on the merits.

The preliminary injunction requested by Plaintiffs here falls under both (1) or (3) above, and therefore the heightened standard is applicable to Plaintiffs’ showing. A preliminary injunction that alters the status quo goes beyond the traditional purpose for pre[1426]*1426liminary injunction, which is only to preserve the status quo until a trial on the merits may be had. SCFC ILC, 936 F.2d at 1099, citing Otero Savings and Loan Association v. Federal Reserve Bank, 665 F.2d 275, 277 (10th Cir.1981). In the present case, the status quo is not capable of being preserved as LAFB will close on September 30, 1994. The status quo which Plaintiffs describe involves prohibiting civilian reuse and leaving the base and its facilities vacant until an undetermined date. With regard to the issue presented by the declaratory judgment action being substantially similar and largely indistinguishable from the injunctive relief sought, the Tenth Circuit in SCFC ILC likened the preliminary injunction which awards the movant substantially all the relief to which he may be entitled to if successful on the merits to the “Sentence First — Verdict Afterwards” type of procedure parodied in Alice in Wonderland. Such procedure is anathema to our system of jurisprudence. 936 F.2d at 1099. SCFC ILC, Inc. v. Visa USA Inc., 936 F.2d at 1098-99. With these considerations, the Court will now look at each particular element of the requisite showing.

B. Analysis of Requisite Factors

1. Substantial Likelihood That Movants Will Eventually Prevail on the Merits

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Related

GEO. WASHINGTON HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATIONS v. Widnall
863 F. Supp. 1423 (D. Colorado, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
863 F. Supp. 1423, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13998, 1994 WL 531555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/george-washington-home-owners-associations-v-widnall-cod-1994.