Judge denies NASCAR's request to permanently lift Jeremy Mayfield's injunction
U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen has denied NASCAR’s request to permanently lift the injunction he issued July 1 that had allowed suspended driver Jeremy Mayfield to race.
Mullen released his decision Tuesday, a decision he made on procedural grounds because NASCAR had already filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals, which ordered a stay on the injunction July 24 until the appeal could be heard. A hearing on the appeal is not expected until at least October, and Mayfield is suspended until the appeal can be decided.
Because NASCAR had filed an appeal, Mullen said he has lost jurisdiction as far as the injunction.
NASCAR suspended Mayfield for a May 1 drug test that it says showed a positive result for methamphetamines. Mayfield claims the test resulted in a false positive reading created by the prescription drug Adderall, which is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and the allergy medication Claritin-D. Mayfield filed suit and obtained the injunction from Mullen on July 1 to keep NASCAR from enforcing the initial suspension.
While also appealing that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals, NASCAR asked Mullen to rescind the injunction based on a July 6 drug test of Mayfield that NASCAR says also shows a positive result for methamphetamines. Mayfield disputes that finding and says he has independent test results from another sample given July 6 that shows negative results for methamphetamines.
Mullen did state in the order issued Tuesday that because of new factual developments in the case and a new preliminary injunction standard recently introduced by the U.S. Court of Appeals, he would have been inclined to grant NASCAR’s request.
In Mullen’s court, the lawsuit is proceeding into the investigation and trial phase, with a trial scheduled to start no earlier than September 2010.
