Cochran Firm, P.C. v. Cochran Firm Los Angeles, LLP

MEMORANDUM

Appellants appeal the district court’s order granting Appellee’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Because the parties are familiar with the factual background and procedural history of this case, we need not discuss them here. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (a)(1), and we reverse and remand.

I. At the outset, we reject Appellants’s argument that Appellee lacks standing to bring this suit. When an Alabama corporation changes its name, it does not alter its legal entitlements or obligations. See, e.g., N. Birmingham Lumber Co. v. Sims & White, 157 Ala. 595 , 48 So. 84, 85 (1908); Richard Thigpen, Alabama Corporation Law § 3:5 (4th ed.). That Appellee filed this suit in a name it had mistakenly failed to register with the Alabama Secretary of State is thus entirely irrelevant to its constitutional standing, especially given that it subsequently assumed the name in which this suit was filed.

2. “The district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction is reviewed for abuse of discretion and should be reversed if the district court based its decision on an erroneous legal standard or on clearly erroneous findings of fact.” Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky, 586…