United States Ninth Circuit

In an action challenging certain provisions of the newly enacted San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance, arguing that they are preempted by federal law, a motion to stay an injunction preventing implementation and enforcement of the disputed provisions is granted as: 1) the city and intervenors have a probability, even a strong likelihood, of success in their argument that the ordinance is not preempted by ERISA; 2) the balance of hardships tips sharply in favor of city and intervenors; and 3) the public interest will be served by a stay.

Appellate Information

• Argued 04/17/2008
• Decided 01/09/2008
• Published 01/10/2008

Judges

• WILLIAM A. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:, Before: ALFRED T. GOODWIN, STEPHEN REINHARDT, and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Stephen P. Berzon, Scott A. Kronland and Stacey M. Leyton, Altshuler Berzon, Vince Chhabria, Office of the City Attorney, San Francisco, CA, Jeffrey Lewis, Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C., Oakland, CA, for appellants., Leslie Robert Stellman, Hodes, Pessin & Katz, Towson, MD, for amicus National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation., Jon W. Breyfogle, Groom Law Group, Washington, D.C., for amicus American Benefits Council., James P. Baker, Jones Day, San Francisco, CA, for amicus Employers Group., Jeffrey A. Berman, Sidley Austin, Los Angeles, CA, for amicus California Chamber of Commerce., Thomas L. Cubbage, Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C., for amici ERISA Industry Committee and National Business Group of California., Edward D. Sieger, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C., for amicus Secretary of Labor., Thomas M. Christina, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Greenville, SC, for amici International Franchise Association, National Association of Manufacturers, and Society for Human Resource Management, Michael D. Peterson, Washington, D.C., for amicus HP Policy Association., Eugene Scalia, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Washington D.C., for amici Retail Industry Leaders Association and Chamber of Commerce of the United States., Barbara Jones, Jay E. Sushelsky, Mary Ellen Signorille, AARP Foundation Litigation, Pasadena, CA, for Amicus AARP., Edmund G. Brown Jr., Attorney General, Douglas M. Press, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Gordon Burns, Deputy Solicitor General, Karin S. Schwartz, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Beverley R. Meyers, Sarah E. Kurtz, Hadara R. Stanton, Benjamin J. Riley, Deputy Attorneys General, for Amicus Curiae State of California.


• For Appellees:
  
• Curtis A. Cole and Joshua Traver, Cole Pedroza, LLP, Pasadena, CA, Richard C. Rybicki, Dickenson, Peatman, & Fogarty, Napa, CA, Patrick Sutton, Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty, Santa Rosa, CA, for appellee.