Jeffrey Ratchford v. Gladys Evans, No. 12-1503 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Civil Case - injunctive relief. District court did not abuse its discretion in denying interlocutory motion for injunctive relief because plaintiffs failed to demonstrate a threat of irreparable harm. [ August 08, 2012
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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 12-1503 ___________________________ Jeffrey Scott Ratchford; Charles E. Butler; Robert R. Heffernan; Dellemond Cunningham lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiffs - Appellants v. Gladys M. Evans, Program Specialist, Varner Unit, ADC; Barbara Smallwood, Business Manager, Varner Unit, ADC; James Banks, Warden, Varner Unit, ADC; Ray Hobbs, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants - Appellees ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Pine Bluff ____________ Submitted: August 3, 2012 Filed: August 9, 2012 [Unpublished] ____________ Before WOLLMAN, MELLOY, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Jeffrey Scott Ratchford, Charles E. Butler, Robert R. Heffernan, and Dellemond Cunningham appeal the district court s1 interlocutory order denying their motions seeking injunctive relief and denying their motion for class certification. At this time, we have jurisdiction to review only the denial of injunctive relief. See 28 U.S.C. ยงยง 1291 (final-judgment rule), 1292(a)(1) (courts of appeals have jurisdiction from appeals of interlocutory orders from district courts refusing injunctions); Reinholdson v. Minnesota, 346 F.3d 847, 849 (8th Cir. 2003) (interlocutory appeal of denial of class certification not proper where plaintiffs did not seek permission under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(f) to appeal such denial or invoke any of recognized exceptions to final-judgment rule). We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying appellants injunctive relief, because they failed to demonstrate that they faced a threat of irreparable harm. See Phelps-Roper v. Troutman, 662 F.3d 485, 488 (8th Cir. 2011) (per curiam) (standard of review); Roudachevski v. All-American Care Ctrs., Inc., 648 F.3d 701, 705 (8th Cir. 2011) (factor in determining whether preliminary injunction should issue is threat of irreparable harm to movant); see also Hartsfield v. Nichols, 511 F.3d 826, 831-32 (8th Cir. 2008) (to prove violation of right of access to courts, prisoner must establish state has not provided opportunity to litigate claim, resulting in actual injury, i.e., hindrance of nonfrivolous and arguably meritorious underlying legal claim). Accordingly, we affirm the denial of injunctive relief. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________ 1 The Honorable D.P. Marshall Jr., United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas, adopting the report and recommendations of the Honorable Jerome T. Kearney, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. -2-
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