Elizabeth Kerwin v. Trinity Health Grand Haven Hosp. -Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Reversed
The Sixth Circuit addressed whether a district court properly granted a §10(j) preliminary injunction ordering Trinity Health to resume bargaining with its employees’ union after the hospital withdrew recognition. Applying the Supreme Court’s recent Starbucks decision, the panel held that although the NLRB Director was likely to succeed on the merits, she failed to make a clear, evidence-based showing of irreparable harm, so the injunction was improper and must be vacated.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether, in National Labor Relations Act §10(j) proceedings, a district court may infer irreparable harm from the nature of an employer’s alleged unfair-labor practice (such as refusal to bargain) without independent factual evidence, or must require a clear evidentiary showing of likely irreparable harm under the Winter standard.
Circuit Positions
Permit district courts to draw permissive inferences of irreparable harm in §10(j) cases based on the nature of the unfair-labor practice, even without extensive independent evidence.
Require a clear evidentiary showing of irreparable harm; no special inference from the violation itself is allowed under §10(j).
Conflict Summary
Several circuits (2d, 4th, 9th) permit district courts to draw permissive inferences that an employer’s refusal to bargain will likely cause irreparable harm to the NLRB’s remedial powers even if the Director offers minimal independent proof. The Sixth Circuit, in this opinion, rejects that approach and holds that the Board must make a ‘clear showing’ of irreparable harm supported by concrete evidence, disallowing special inferences in §10(j) cases.