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Federal court appeals court gives Granite State the “OK” to end motor vehicle inspections

A computer monitor indicates for an employee to increase the car's speed as he runs it on a dynamometer for an emissions test at a motor vehicle inspection station in Lawrence Township, N.J. Tuesday, July 10, 2001. The State Commission of Investigation opened two days of public hearings Tuesday to investigate New Jersey's failed $400 million enhanced auto inspection system and the awarding of the contract for its implementation to Parsons Infrastructure Group . The problem plagued system caused drivers to wait in line for hours for the mandatory inspections when it began operating in late 1999. Photo: Associated Press/AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer


CONCORD, N.H.- A federal appeals court has granted a request from New Hampshire officials that stays a previous order telling it to resume motor vehicle inspections.

On Thursday the First Circuit Court of Appeals in said State officials… “met their burden of making a “strong showing” that the district court likely erred in concluding that Gordon-Darby adequately alleged a violation based on conduct that was, at the time of the complaint, wholly prospective.” meaning the state is no longer obligated to comply with a previously issued injunction requiring it to begin efforts to reinstate motor vehicle inspections.

This latest victory comes after the state appealed Judge Landya McCafferty’s injunction saying it was “terminally flawed” in concluding the state was violating the Clean Air Act by ending its motor vehicle inspection program without federal approval.

This latest victory is the second in one week for New Hampshire, after a federal judge Wednesday denied a motion from Gordon-Darby Holdings asking that the state be heled in contempt and fined for not following McCafferty’s injunction, as the company originally brought the lawsuit after the state terminated its contract with Gordon-Darby after lawmakers passed a bill which puts an end to state inspections.

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