Case: 22-50971 Document: 00516797326 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/23/2023 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED June 23, 2023 No. 22-50971 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Sachindra Kanna Koppula; Sindhu Penugonda, Plaintiffs—Appellants, versus Ur M. Jaddou, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Antony Blinken, Secretary, U.S. Department of State, Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 1:22-CV-844 ______________________________ Before Elrod, Ho, and Wilson, Circuit Judges. James C. Ho, Circuit Judge: This is an appeal from the denial of a preliminary injunction. Koppula v. Jaddou, No. 1:22-CV-844-RP, 2022 WL 18034367 (W.D. Tex. Nov. 2, 2022). While this appeal was pending, the district court subsequently dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims. Koppula v. Jaddou, No. 1:22-CV-844-RP, 2023 WL 3470904 (W.D. Tex. May 15, 2023). Accordingly, we must dismiss this appeal as moot. After all, there is no need for a preliminary injunction to preserve the status quo during the pendency of trial court proceedings that are now over. Case: 22-50971 Document: 00516797326 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/23/2023 No. 22-50971 A denial of permanent relief moots the appeal from a denial of preliminary relief. We have previously affirmed this principle in an unpublished opinion. See Wagner v. Campuzano, 548 F. App’x 133, 134 (5th Cir. 2013) (“[D]uring the pendency of [Plaintiff’s] appeal, the district court entered a final judgment dismissing [Plaintiff’s] . . . complaint . . . . Accordingly, the instant appeal, which challenges only the denial of preliminary injunctive relief, is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction as moot.”). Our sister circuit has likewise held “that an appeal from the denial of a preliminary injunction motion becomes moot when final judgment issues because the district court’s denial of the motion merges with the final judgment.” Capriole v. Uber Technologies, Inc., 991 F.3d 339, 343 (1st Cir. 2021). The Supreme Court reached this same conclusion over a century ago. It explained that, when a district court denies preliminary injunctive relief and then dismisses the case, the losing party can only appeal the dismissal: An application for an interlocutory injunction . . . was denied . . . . The decree . . . dismissed the action. Plaintiff . . . appealed . . . from the refusal of the temporary injunction. Shortly afterwards he took an appeal . . . from the . . . final decree dismissing the action. The latter appeal is in accord with correct practice, since the denial of the interlocutory application was merged in the final decree. The first appeal . . . will be dismissed. Shaffer v. Carter, 252 U.S. 37, 44 (1920). See also Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Kuykendall, 265 U.S. 196, 198, 205 (1924) (“After the denial of the temporary injunction, the District Judge heard the case on a motion to dismiss . . . and granted the motion . . . . [T]he appeal from the interlocutory decree . . . was merged …
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