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from the United States District Court", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "for the District of Columbia", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "(No. 1:23-cv-01159)", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "Anand Vijay Ramana argued the cause for appellant. With", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "him on the briefs was Lyndsey Marie Wajert.", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "Kenneth E. Chase argued the cause and filed the brief for", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "appellee.", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "Before: PILLARD and WALKER, Circuit Judges, and", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "GINSBURG, Senior Circuit Judge.", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge WALKER.", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "2", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "WALKER, Circuit Judge: Advocacy Holdings sued its", "paragraph_id": "para_23", "court_paragraph": 2 }, { "text": "former CEO for breach of a noncompete agreement. The", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "district court partially denied Advocacy’s motion for a", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "preliminary injunction, holding that Advocacy had not", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "established a likelihood of irreparable harm. We affirm.", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "I. Background", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "Advocacy Holdings helps clients influence public policy.", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "Among its tools is an online platform called", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "OneClickPolitics. The platform connects a client’s supporters", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "to legislators and other policymakers through emails, social", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "media, and telephone calls. Who We Are,", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "OneClickPolitics, https://perma.cc/D6CS-ALE6; Testimoni-", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "als, OneClickPolitics, https://perma.cc/AV4A-W7WR.", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "In 2016, Advocacy made Chazz Clevinger its Vice", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "President. Later, it promoted him to CEO. After that,", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "Clevinger signed an employment agreement, which includes a", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "noncompete provision. It provides that when Clevinger’s", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "employment ends, he cannot compete with Advocacy for one", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "year, cannot solicit its customers for one year, and cannot use", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "its confidential information for five years. The agreement also", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "contains a stipulation that Advocacy will suffer “irreparable", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "harm” if Clevinger “violates any of the restrictions or", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "obligations set forth.” JA 74.", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "In 2023, Clevinger resigned and — according to", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "Advocacy — flagrantly violated the noncompete agreement.", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "He allegedly stole Advocacy’s customer list, started two", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "competing businesses, solicited Advocacy’s customers, falsely", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "told them Advocacy was closing its lobbying services, and", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "created a near duplicate of a soon-to-be-released version of", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "Advocacy’s OneClickPolitics platform. Advocacy says that", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "3", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "Clevinger even replicated OneClickPolitics’ typos on his new", "paragraph_id": "para_54", "court_paragraph": 3 }, { "text": "platform.", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "Advocacy sued Clevinger for breach of the noncompete", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "agreement. It moved to preliminarily enjoin Clevinger’s", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "alleged conduct. But the district court denied the motion,", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "holding that Advocacy had not established that it would suffer", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "irreparable harm absent injunctive relief.", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "Advocacy moved for reconsideration, attaching additional", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "evidence that it says shows how Clevinger copied", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "OneClickPolitics. In response, the district court partially", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "granted Advocacy’s motion and enjoined Clevinger “from", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "using Advocacy Holdings’ platform design and interface.”", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "Clevinger v. Advocacy Holdings, Inc., Nos. 23-1159, 23-1176,", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "2023 WL 5220570, at *3 (D.D.C. Aug. 15, 2023). But the court", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "declined to enjoin Clevinger from operating his competing", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "businesses or from soliciting Advocacy’s customers.", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "Advocacy then appealed the district court’s partial denial", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "of the preliminary injunction.", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "We affirm.", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "II. Analysis", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "To obtain a preliminary injunction, a movant “must", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "establish that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "relief, that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and that an", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "injunction is in the public interest.” Winter v. Natural", "paragraph_id": "para_78" }, { "text": "Resources Defense Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008).", "paragraph_id": "para_79" }, { "text": "We review a district court’s legal conclusions de", "paragraph_id": "para_80" }, { "text": "novo — including its legal conclusion about the likelihood of", "paragraph_id": "para_81" }, { "text": "4", "paragraph_id": "para_82" }, { "text": "irreparable harm. Huisha-Huisha v. Mayorkas, 27 F.4th 718,", "paragraph_id": "para_83", "court_paragraph": 4 }, { "text": "726 (D.C. Cir. 2022). We review any weighing of the", "paragraph_id": "para_84" }, { "text": "preliminary injunction factors for abuse of discretion. Id. And", "paragraph_id": "para_85" }, { "text": "we accept a district court’s factual findings unless they are", "paragraph_id": "para_86" }, { "text": "clearly erroneous. Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_87" }, { "text": "A. Advocacy Has Not Shown Irreparable Harm", "paragraph_id": "para_88" }, { "text": "Advocacy Holdings says it will suffer two principal", "paragraph_id": "para_89" }, { "text": "injuries without a preliminary injunction: (1) loss of customers", "paragraph_id": "para_90" }, { "text": "(because Clevinger allegedly solicited its clients); and (2)", "paragraph_id": "para_91" }, { "text": "reputational harm (because Clevinger allegedly misrepresented", "paragraph_id": "para_92" }, { "text": "Advocacy’s future plans).1 We agree with the district court", "paragraph_id": "para_93" }, { "text": "that, in the context of this case, those injuries are not", "paragraph_id": "para_94" }, { "text": "irreparable.", "paragraph_id": "para_95" }, { "text": "1 Advocacy devotes two sentences to a third alleged injury, “loss of", "paragraph_id": "para_96" }, { "text": "customer trust and goodwill” from Clevinger’s alleged “misuse", "paragraph_id": "para_97" }, { "text": "of . . . confidential and or proprietary information.” Appellant’s Br.", "paragraph_id": "para_98" }, { "text": "34. To the extent this argument is preserved, it fails on the merits.", "paragraph_id": "para_99" }, { "text": "See Schneider v. Kissinger, 412 F.3d 190, 200 n.1 (D.C. Cir. 2005)", "paragraph_id": "para_100" }, { "text": "(“It is not enough merely to mention a possible argument in the most", "paragraph_id": "para_101" }, { "text": "skeletal way, leaving the court to do counsel’s work” (cleaned up)).", "paragraph_id": "para_102" }, { "text": "The only case Advocacy cites in support of this alleged injury dealt", "paragraph_id": "para_103" }, { "text": "with a far different situation. See Appellant’s Br. 34 (citing Morgan", "paragraph_id": "para_104" }, { "text": "Stanley DW Inc. v. Rothe, 150 F. Supp. 2d 67, 77 (D.D.C. 2001)).", "paragraph_id": "para_105" }, { "text": "There, a former employee took “extremely private and sensitive”", "paragraph_id": "para_106" }, { "text": "client financial information from his employer “without the clients’", "paragraph_id": "para_107" }, { "text": "permission,” risking “a loss of trust and goodwill” from clients who", "paragraph_id": "para_108" }, { "text": "may “feel that their personal information is not safe with the", "paragraph_id": "para_109" }, { "text": "plaintiff.” Rothe, 150 F. Supp. 2d at 77-78. Here, Advocacy alleges", "paragraph_id": "para_110" }, { "text": "only that Clevinger took customer “contacts” — information far less", "paragraph_id": "para_111" }, { "text": "likely to impair “customer trust and goodwill” than the sensitive", "paragraph_id": "para_112" }, { "text": "financial information at issue in Rothe. Id. at 77.", "paragraph_id": "para_113" }, { "text": "5", "paragraph_id": "para_114" }, { "text": "1. The Standard for Irreparable Harm", "paragraph_id": "para_115", "court_paragraph": 5 }, { "text": "We are mindful of the “high standard for irreparable", "paragraph_id": "para_116" }, { "text": "injury.” Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches v. England, 454", "paragraph_id": "para_117" }, { "text": "F.3d 290, 297 (D.C. Cir. 2006). Such an injury “must be both", "paragraph_id": "para_118" }, { "text": "certain and great.” Wisconsin Gas Co. v. FERC, 758 F.2d 669,", "paragraph_id": "para_119" }, { "text": "674 (D.C. Cir. 1985). “Mere injuries, however substantial, in", "paragraph_id": "para_120" }, { "text": "terms of money, time and energy necessarily expended in the", "paragraph_id": "para_121" }, { "text": "absence of a” preliminary injunction “are not", "paragraph_id": "para_122" }, { "text": "enough.” Virginia Petroleum Jobbers Association v. Federal", "paragraph_id": "para_123" }, { "text": "Power Commission, 259 F.2d 921, 925 (D.C. Cir. 1958).", "paragraph_id": "para_124" }, { "text": "We are also mindful that rigid rules and equity principles", "paragraph_id": "para_125" }, { "text": "mix like oil and water. So not surprisingly, no categorical rule", "paragraph_id": "para_126" }, { "text": "precludes preliminary injunctions that protect noncompete", "paragraph_id": "para_127" }, { "text": "agreements. In some cases, breaches of a noncompete must be", "paragraph_id": "para_128" }, { "text": "preliminarily enjoined because “economic losses from the", "paragraph_id": "para_129" }, { "text": "breach are either incalculable or so substantial as to threaten", "paragraph_id": "para_130" }, { "text": "the employer’s ability to stay in business.” Hospitality Staffing", "paragraph_id": "para_131" }, { "text": "Solutions, LLC v. Reyes, 736 F. Supp. 2d 192, 199 (D.D.C.", "paragraph_id": "para_132" }, { "text": "2010). But in other cases, courts can remedy the breach of a", "paragraph_id": "para_133" }, { "text": "noncompete agreement with compensatory relief. And the", "paragraph_id": "para_134" }, { "text": "“possibility that adequate compensatory or other corrective", "paragraph_id": "para_135" }, { "text": "relief will be available at a later date, in the ordinary course of", "paragraph_id": "para_136" }, { "text": "litigation, weighs heavily against a claim of irreparable", "paragraph_id": "para_137" }, { "text": "harm.” Virginia Petroleum, 259 F.2d at 925.", "paragraph_id": "para_138" }, { "text": "2. Loss-of-Customers Injury", "paragraph_id": "para_139" }, { "text": "Advocacy says that without a preliminary injunction, it", "paragraph_id": "para_140" }, { "text": "will lose customers. But Advocacy has failed to show that its", "paragraph_id": "para_141" }, { "text": "loss of customers will mean more than lost revenue — a", "paragraph_id": "para_142" }, { "text": "financial injury. And financial injuries are rarely irreparable", "paragraph_id": "para_143" }, { "text": "because they are presumptively remediable through monetary", "paragraph_id": "para_144" }, { "text": "damages. Wisconsin Gas, 758 F.2d at 674.", "paragraph_id": "para_145" }, { "text": "6", "paragraph_id": "para_146" }, { "text": "Advocacy asserts that it would be impossible “to even", "paragraph_id": "para_147", "court_paragraph": 6 }, { "text": "generally calculate the loss of future revenues from stolen", "paragraph_id": "para_148" }, { "text": "customers.” Appellant’s Br. 35. But Advocacy doesn’t", "paragraph_id": "para_149" }, { "text": "substantiate that claim. To the contrary, courts often find", "paragraph_id": "para_150" }, { "text": "damages from the loss of customers to be calculable. See,", "paragraph_id": "para_151" }, { "text": "e.g., Economic Research Services, Inc. v. Resolution", "paragraph_id": "para_152" }, { "text": "Economics, LLC, 140 F. Supp. 3d 47, 52-53 (D.D.C. 2015);", "paragraph_id": "para_153" }, { "text": "Reyes, 736 F. Supp. 2d at 200. Advocacy has provided no", "paragraph_id": "para_154" }, { "text": "persuasive reason why that isn’t true here.", "paragraph_id": "para_155" }, { "text": "Nor is Advocacy’s financial injury so great as to threaten", "paragraph_id": "para_156" }, { "text": "its continued existence. Indeed, Advocacy stated in its opening", "paragraph_id": "para_157" }, { "text": "brief that it is “performing better than ever.” Appellant’s Br.", "paragraph_id": "para_158" }, { "text": "36. And it told the district court that it is “roughly cash flow", "paragraph_id": "para_159" }, { "text": "break even” and “not going out of business any time soon.”", "paragraph_id": "para_160" }, { "text": "JA 692. Accordingly, the district court did not clearly err in", "paragraph_id": "para_161" }, { "text": "finding that Advocacy is not going out of business. Clevinger", "paragraph_id": "para_162" }, { "text": "v. Advocacy Holdings, Inc., Nos. 23-1159, 23-1176, 2023 WL", "paragraph_id": "para_163" }, { "text": "4560839, at *6 (D.D.C. July 15, 2023).", "paragraph_id": "para_164" }, { "text": "In short, Advocacy has failed to show that its loss of", "paragraph_id": "para_165" }, { "text": "customers cannot be remedied through monetary damages", "paragraph_id": "para_166" }, { "text": "should it prevail at the close of litigation.", "paragraph_id": "para_167" }, { "text": "3. Reputational Injury", "paragraph_id": "para_168" }, { "text": "Next up is Advocacy’s reputational injury. It stems from", "paragraph_id": "para_169" }, { "text": "alleged misrepresentations Clevinger made to Advocacy’s", "paragraph_id": "para_170" }, { "text": "customers while soliciting them. Clevinger allegedly led", "paragraph_id": "para_171" }, { "text": "customers to believe that (1) Advocacy was “closing,” (2) there", "paragraph_id": "para_172" }, { "text": "were “major changes underway,” and (3) Advocacy was", "paragraph_id": "para_173" }, { "text": "“transitioning to another platform.” Appellant’s Br. 36.", "paragraph_id": "para_174" }, { "text": "7", "paragraph_id": "para_175" }, { "text": "The problem for Advocacy is that there’s “nothing in the", "paragraph_id": "para_176", "court_paragraph": 7 }, { "text": "record to suggest” that Clevinger directed the claimed", "paragraph_id": "para_177" }, { "text": "misrepresentations to anyone besides the Advocacy customers", "paragraph_id": "para_178" }, { "text": "he solicited. Oral Arg. Tr. 21. Nor has Advocacy demonstrated", "paragraph_id": "para_179" }, { "text": "that those customers passed along those misrepresentations to", "paragraph_id": "para_180" }, { "text": "anyone else. So Clevinger’s alleged misrepresentations led, at", "paragraph_id": "para_181" }, { "text": "worst, to a loss of Advocacy’s customers. And that returns us", "paragraph_id": "para_182" }, { "text": "to a loss-of-customers injury that is remediable with monetary", "paragraph_id": "para_183" }, { "text": "damages. See supra Section II.A.2.", "paragraph_id": "para_184" }, { "text": "4. The Stipulation of Irreparable Harm", "paragraph_id": "para_185" }, { "text": "Finally, Advocacy points to a stipulation of irreparable", "paragraph_id": "para_186" }, { "text": "harm in the noncompete agreement. But Advocacy", "paragraph_id": "para_187" }, { "text": "acknowledges that it “didn’t make any explicit arguments”", "paragraph_id": "para_188" }, { "text": "about the stipulation “in the initial preliminary injunction", "paragraph_id": "para_189" }, { "text": "motion,” and it has no excuse for not doing so when the", "paragraph_id": "para_190" }, { "text": "stipulation was fully available to Advocacy before it filed its", "paragraph_id": "para_191" }, { "text": "initial motion for a preliminary injunction. Oral Arg. Tr.", "paragraph_id": "para_192" }, { "text": "5. Because Advocacy forfeited reliance on the stipulation, we", "paragraph_id": "para_193" }, { "text": "decline to consider it. See GSS Group Ltd. v. National Port", "paragraph_id": "para_194" }, { "text": "Authority, 680 F.3d 805, 812 (D.C. Cir. 2012).", "paragraph_id": "para_195" }, { "text": "B. Advocacy Cannot Obtain a Preliminary Injunction", "paragraph_id": "para_196" }, { "text": "Without Showing Irreparable Harm", "paragraph_id": "para_197" }, { "text": "Advocacy also argues that the district court erred by not", "paragraph_id": "para_198" }, { "text": "evaluating all four preliminary injunction factors under a", "paragraph_id": "para_199" }, { "text": "“holistic, sliding-scale analysis.” Appellant’s Reply Br. 6.", "paragraph_id": "para_200" }, { "text": "Under that approach, a movant’s failure to establish one of the", "paragraph_id": "para_201" }, { "text": "four factors does not always doom its motion for a preliminary", "paragraph_id": "para_202" }, { "text": "injunction. On the sliding scale, at least sometimes, “a strong", "paragraph_id": "para_203" }, { "text": "showing on one factor could make up for a weaker showing on", "paragraph_id": "para_204" }, { "text": "another.” Sherley v. Sebelius, 644 F.3d 388, 392 (D.C. Cir.", "paragraph_id": "para_205" }, { "text": "2011).", "paragraph_id": "para_206" }, { "text": "8", "paragraph_id": "para_207" }, { "text": "It is questionable that the sliding scale approach remains", "paragraph_id": "para_208", "court_paragraph": 8 }, { "text": "good law after 2008, when the Supreme Court decided Winter", "paragraph_id": "para_209" }, { "text": "v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. That opinion can", "paragraph_id": "para_210" }, { "text": "be read to require movants to establish each preliminary", "paragraph_id": "para_211" }, { "text": "injunction factor independently. 555 U.S. 7, 20-22 (2008).", "paragraph_id": "para_212" }, { "text": "But we have (somehow) gone seventeen years without needing", "paragraph_id": "para_213" }, { "text": "to say if Winter really meant what it can be read to have said.2", "paragraph_id": "para_214" }, { "text": "One day, we will need to answer that question. But not", "paragraph_id": "para_215" }, { "text": "today. Advocacy forfeited its sliding-scale argument by not", "paragraph_id": "para_216" }, { "text": "raising that argument until its reply brief. See McBride v.", "paragraph_id": "para_217" }, { "text": "Merrell Dow & Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 800 F.2d 1208, 1210-", "paragraph_id": "para_218" }, { "text": "11 (D.C. Cir. 1986). And in any event, even under the sliding-", "paragraph_id": "para_219" }, { "text": "scale approach, a “movant’s failure to show any irreparable", "paragraph_id": "para_220" }, { "text": "harm is . . . grounds for refusing to issue a preliminary", "paragraph_id": "para_221" }, { "text": "injunction, even if the other three factors . . . merit such", "paragraph_id": "para_222" }, { "text": "relief.” Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 297; see also CityFed", "paragraph_id": "para_223" }, { "text": "Financial Corp. v. Office of Thrift Supervision, 58 F.3d 738,", "paragraph_id": "para_224" }, { "text": "747 (D.C. Cir. 1995); cf. Labrador v. Poe ex rel. Poe, 144 S.", "paragraph_id": "para_225" }, { "text": "Ct. 921, 929 (2024) (Kavanaugh, J., concurring) (“If the", "paragraph_id": "para_226" }, { "text": "moving party has not demonstrated irreparable harm, then this", "paragraph_id": "para_227" }, { "text": "Court can avoid delving into the merits.”).3 So the district court", "paragraph_id": "para_228" }, { "text": "2 See, e.g., Davis v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., 571 F.3d 1288,", "paragraph_id": "para_229" }, { "text": "1292 (D.C. Cir. 2009); Sherley, 644 F.3d at 393; Aamer v. Obama,", "paragraph_id": "para_230" }, { "text": "742 F.3d 1023, 1043 (D.C. Cir. 2014); League of Women Voters of", "paragraph_id": "para_231" }, { "text": "United States v. Newby, 838 F.3d 1, 7 (D.C. Cir. 2016); Archdiocese", "paragraph_id": "para_232" }, { "text": "of Washington v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority,", "paragraph_id": "para_233" }, { "text": "897 F.3d 314, 334 (D.C. Cir. 2018); Changji Esquel Textile Co. v.", "paragraph_id": "para_234" }, { "text": "Raimondo, 40 F.4th 716, 726 (D.C. Cir. 2022); cf. Starbucks Corp.", "paragraph_id": "para_235" }, { "text": "v. McKinney, 144 S. Ct. 1570, 1574 (2024) (“the traditional four-", "paragraph_id": "para_236" }, { "text": "factor test”); see also id. at 1579 (four “equitable factors”).", "paragraph_id": "para_237" }, { "text": "3 We have also declined to “proceed to review the other three", "paragraph_id": "para_238" }, { "text": "preliminary injunction factors” when the movant has “shown no", "paragraph_id": "para_239" }, { "text": "9", "paragraph_id": "para_240" }, { "text": "did not err in declining to evaluate the remaining preliminary", "paragraph_id": "para_241", "court_paragraph": 9 }, { "text": "injunction factors.", "paragraph_id": "para_242" }, { "text": "III. Conclusion", "paragraph_id": "para_243" }, { "text": "We understand the contempt for Clevinger’s alleged", "paragraph_id": "para_244" }, { "text": "conduct expressed in Advocacy’s briefs. But Advocacy has not", "paragraph_id": "para_245" }, { "text": "demonstrated that it needs a preliminary injunction to fix the", "paragraph_id": "para_246" }, { "text": "injuries at issue in this appeal. If Advocacy can prove what it", "paragraph_id": "para_247" }, { "text": "alleges, the district court can order Clevinger to compensate", "paragraph_id": "para_248" }, { "text": "Advocacy for its injuries with monetary damages.", "paragraph_id": "para_249" }, { "text": "For that reason, we affirm the order of the district court.", "paragraph_id": "para_250" }, { "text": "So ordered.", "paragraph_id": "para_251" }, { "text": "likelihood of success on the merits.” Arkansas Dairy Cooperative", "paragraph_id": "para_252" }, { "text": "Association, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 573 F.3d 815,", "paragraph_id": "para_253" }, { "text": "832 (D.C. Cir. 2009); see also Apotex, Inc. v. FDA, 449 F.3d 1249,", "paragraph_id": "para_254" }, { "text": "1253-54 (D.C. 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