DON’T APPEAL YOUR TEMPORARY INJUNCTION RULING; TRY YOUR CASE.

Arch Resorts, LLC v. City of McKinney
Dallas Court of Appeals, No. 05-15-01108-CV (May 26, 2016)
Justices Bridges, Lang (Opinion), and O’Neill

Kelli Hinson

The Dallas Court of Appeals foiled the parties’ apparent plan to obtain an advance ruling on the merits of their case through appeal of the trial court’s denial of temporary injunctions. Both parties sought temporary injunctions, the trial court denied both, and both parties appealed. At oral argument, both sides conceded they had delayed the trial date “for the express purpose of awaiting [the] Court’s opinion and determination of this interlocutory appeal.” Not cool, said the Court.

The purpose of a temporary injunction is simply to preserve the status quo until a final decision on the merits, and so the appeal of a temporary injunction or its denial should not be cause for delaying that final decision. “The fastest way to cure the hardship of an unfavorable preliminary order is to try the case on the merits.” The Court declined the parties’ invitation to rule on the merits, dismissed the appeal, and told them to come back after they had tried the case.