American Express Financial Advisors Inc. v. Thorley

CALABRESI, Circuit Judge:

Must a district court, faced with a request for a preliminary injunction in a case whose underlying merits will ultimately be settled in arbitration, consider the merits of the injunction, or may it leave the question of temporary relief, like the ultimate resolution of the case, to the arbitrator? Plaintiff American Express, having begun arbitration proceedings against five of the defendants before us, sought a preliminary injunction pending the outcome of the arbitration. The district court declined to consider the petition on its merits and held that, in the…