Golden State Transit Corporation, Etc. v. City of Los Angeles

The City of Los Angeles (City) appeals from the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction enjoining the City from allowing the taxicab franchise of Golden State Transit Corporation d/b/a Yellow Cab of Los Angeles (Yellow Cab) to terminate or from treating the franchise as if it had expired. See Golden State Transit Corp. v. City of Los Angeles, 520 F.Supp. 191 (C.D.Cal.1981). Yellow Cab alleged that the City’s refusal to grant a renewal of Yellow Cab’s taxicab franchise constituted unlawful interference with the ongoing collective bargaining between Yellow Cab and Teamsters Local No. 572 and deprived Yellow Cab of due process and equal protection of the law in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . We agree with the district court’s conclusion, 520 F.Supp. at 193 , that the balance of hardships in this case tips sharply in Yellow Cab’s favor. Nonetheless, since Yellow Cab does not have a fair chance of success on the merits, see Benda v. Grand Lodge of International Ass’n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, 584 F.2d 308, 315 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. dismissed, 441 U.S. 937 , 99 S.Ct. 2065 , 60 L.Ed.2d 667 (1979), we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in granting…