United States First Circuit

In this case, defendants allege that the district court exceeded the bounds of its authority when it issued civil contempt sanctions after defendants violated the court's preliminary injunction order. Defendants also allege that the district court should have vacated the underlying preliminary injunction. The judgment is affirmed but remanded to direct the district court to amend the sanction order so that the fines cease to accrue at some determinate total amount, where: 1) defendants' submissions in support of their Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 60(b) motion to vacate the preliminary injunction fail to demonstrate that the preliminary injunction, already affirmed by this court, warrants extraordinary relief under Rule 60(b)(6) or is void under Rule 60(b)(4); 2) the district court acted well within its discretion in setting out a "prospective, conditional fine" as a sanction to achieve compliance; and 3) the amount of the cumulative fine far exceeds the amount of the original judgment that plaintiff is attempting to collect.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/11/2015
• Published 03/11/2015

Judges

• Stahl

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel