A Latin adverbial phrase denoting action or status occurring in the meantime or on a temporary basis until a final determination or permanent arrangement takes effect.
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Common Examples
6
Interim Partnership Distribution
Alliance Holdings, a limited partnership, voted to distribute profits from a recent sale while still operating. Adrian Aguilar, a dissociated partner, demanded a share. The partnership refused because the distribution was interim and dissociation alone created no entitlement.
Interim General Partnership Payout
Aisha Ahmed and Alexandra Armstrong operated a general partnership. They decided on an interim cash distribution before any dissolution vote. Anika Anand, who had left the firm months earlier, received nothing because dissociation triggered no automatic right to payment.
Artemis Logistics faced a putative class action. The court appointed Amber Alonzo as interim counsel to handle urgent discovery and settlement talks before any certification ruling. Her role ended once permanent class counsel was selected.
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc.467 U.S. 837, 843, 104 S. Ct. 2778, 2781, 81 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1984)
In 1967 the Atomic Energy Commission granted Vermont Yankee a construction permit for a nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vermont, after the required adjudicatory hearing and reviews. Vermont Yankee later applied for an operating license; NRDC intervened and objected to exclusion of fuel-reprocessing and waste-disposal impacts from the hearing. In November 1972 the Commission opened a separate rulemaking proceeding on those fuel-cycle issues, noticed two alternative approaches based on its Environmental Survey, and conducted a February 1973 hearing at which more than forty participants submitted comments but no discovery or cross-examination occurred. In April 1974 the Commission adopted a rule assigning numerical values to fuel-cycle impacts and applied it prospectively.
In January 1969 Consumers Power applied for permits to build two nuclear reactors in Midland, Michigan. After staff and ACRS review, Saginaw and Mapleton intervened and raised 119 environmental contentions, including seventeen on energy conservation. The Licensing Board held hearings on radiological issues, the staff issued a final environmental impact statement in March 1972, and further hearings occurred in May and June 1972; Saginaw declined to participate in the later hearings or submit proposed findings. The Licensing Board granted the construction permit, the Appeal Board affirmed, and the Commission declined further review. In November 1973 the Commission ruled in another case that energy-conservation evidence meeting threshold tests could be considered, but it later refused Saginaw's motion to reopen the Consumers Power record.
NRDC appealed the Vermont Yankee license and rule to the D.C. Circuit; Saginaw and others appealed the Consumers Power permit. In 1976 the Court of Appeals remanded both matters, holding the fuel-cycle rulemaking procedures inadequate, the Consumers Power environmental impact statement defective for omitting energy conservation, and the ACRS report insufficiently explained. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in 1977.
The Commission is the successor agency to the Atomic Energy Commission under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. All licensing proceedings followed the two-stage process of construction permit followed by operating license under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, with NEPA environmental reviews added after 1969.
Arcadia Retail sought to block a newspaper story. The district court issued an ad interim order halting publication for ten days while the parties briefed the merits. The restraint dissolved automatically once the hearing concluded.
New York Times Co. v. United States403 U.S. 713 (1971)
The United States brought suit against the New York Times Company and the Washington Post Company seeking to enjoin publication of material from a classified government study on the history of United States decision-making regarding Vietnam policy.
The newspapers had come into possession of the classified documents and had already begun publishing excerpts from the study in their respective newspapers before the government filed for injunctive relief. The District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in the New York Times case that the government had not satisfied the requirements for imposing a prior restraint.
In the parallel Washington Post litigation, the District Court for the District of Columbia and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit both determined that the government had not met its burden. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the matters on an expedited schedule.
Stays had been entered by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on June 23, 1971, and by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on June 24, 1971.
Alice Atkins challenged termination of disability benefits. The agency continued payments on an ad interim basis throughout the administrative hearing process. The payments stopped only after a final adverse decision.
Matthews v. Eldridge424 U.S. 319 (1976)
George Eldridge was first awarded Social Security disability benefits in June 1968. In March 1972 he received a questionnaire from the state agency charged with monitoring his medical condition. He completed and returned the questionnaire, indicating that his condition had not improved and identifying recent medical sources. The state agency obtained reports from his physician and a psychiatric consultant.
After reviewing those reports and other information in his file, the agency sent Eldridge a letter stating that it had made a tentative determination that his disability had ceased in May 1972. The letter included a statement of reasons for the proposed termination and advised Eldridge that he could request time to submit additional information. Eldridge responded in writing, disputing one characterization of his medical condition and asserting that the agency already possessed sufficient evidence of his disability.
The state agency then made a final determination that Eldridge had ceased to be disabled in May 1972; the Social Security Administration accepted that determination. In July 1972 Eldridge received written notice that his benefits would terminate after that month and that he could seek reconsideration by the state agency within six months.
Instead of requesting reconsideration, Eldridge filed suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. He challenged the constitutionality of the Secretary's termination procedures and sought an injunction barring termination of benefits until a pretermination evidentiary hearing was provided, together with immediate reinstatement of benefits. The District Court held that the existing procedures violated the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, ordered the Secretary to provide Eldridge a pretermination hearing, and directed reinstatement of benefits pending that hearing. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction and heard the case.
Ashford Manufacturing challenged a trademark refusal. The PTO placed the application in ad interim status pending further evidence. The mark remained unregistered until the agency issued a final determination.
Matal v. Tam582 U.S. 218 (2017)
Simon Tam serves as the lead singer of the rock group The Slants, whose members are Asian-Americans. He chose the name in an effort to reclaim the term and drain its denigrating force as a derogatory reference to Asian persons. The group has incorporated childhood slurs into its lyrics and titled albums including The Yellow Album and Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts. Tam filed an application with the Patent and Trademark Office seeking registration of THE SLANTS as a trademark.
The PTO examining attorney rejected the application after applying a two-part analysis and concluding that a substantial composite of persons of Asian descent would find the mark offensive. The attorney cited dictionary definitions labeling the term as derogatory and evidence that the band's name had prompted cancellation of a performance along with negative comments from online readers. Tam appealed the denial first to the examining attorney and then to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which upheld the refusal.
Tam then brought the case before the Federal Circuit. Sitting en banc, that court reversed the Board. The Government petitioned for certiorari, and the Supreme Court granted review.
Does dissociation from a partnership automatically trigger a right to an interim distribution?
No. Under the uniform acts, a person's dissociation does not entitle the person to any distribution before dissolution and winding up. Only a partnership decision to make an interim distribution creates such a right.
When may a court appoint interim class counsel?
A court may designate interim counsel to act on behalf of a putative class before determining whether to certify the action as a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(g)(3).
Can an interim allocation of master fees be changed later?
Yes. An interim allocation of payment among the parties for a master's fees may be amended to reflect a decision on the merits after the court considers the nature of the controversy and the parties' means.
410 U.S. 113 (1973)
…have regarded that event with less interest and have tended to focus either upon conception, upon live birth, or upon the interim point at which the fetus becomes "viable," that is, potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. Viability is usually placed at about seven…