Secretary, U.S. Department Of Laborv.Lear Corporation Eeds And Interiors, et al.
The Secretary of Labor sued Lear Corporation under the Fair Labor Standards Act and obtained an injunction restricting related state-court litigation. Lear challenged the district court’s authority to issue the injunction and the scope of the relief. The Eleventh Circuit held that the statute authorized the Secretary to seek injunctive relief, so the district court had jurisdiction to consider the action. The court nevertheless vacated the injunction because its terms were broader than the statutory authority and could prohibit future state-court suits without requiring a finding that those suits were baseless or retaliatory. The appellate court declined to rewrite the injunction itself or determine the precise terms that would be lawful. It remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. The published decision therefore preserved the Secretary’s ability to seek an injunction while requiring the district court to tailor any order to the statute and the governing limits on injunctions affecting state litigation.
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