I thought I would break from my regular content and use the Trinidad Chambliss versus the NCAA lawsuit as an excuse to talk about interlocutory orders and appellate jurisdiction and practice. Note: I am not involved in that legal action and I have no information about it other than what is publicly available. Each case turns on its own facts. Nothing below should be construed as legal advice, but only general information about the rules applicable to appealing interlocutory orders. If you need to know how these rules apply to your case, I would love to speak with you about it.
As has been widely discussed, after getting no relief from the NCAA in its own arena, Trinidad Chambliss took his eligibility dispute to court. Specifically, Trinidad sued the NCAA in the Chancery Court of Lafayette County, Mississippi, of which Oxford is the county seat. Through his attorneys, Trinidad filed a Petition for Preliminary and Permanent Injunctive Relief and Declaratory Judgment on January 16, 2026, asking the court to enjoin the NCAA from prohibiting him from playing for the 2026-2027 season and to enter a declaratory judgment that he is eligible for the 2026-2027 season.
The wheels of justice do turn slowly, but there are some ways to make some of the wheels turn a little bit faster. To that end, Trinidad’s attorneys filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction on January 28, 2026. Both sides filed briefs and a lengthy hearing was held on February 12, 2026, in Pittsboro, Mississippi (population 202, according to the 2010 census). Why Pittsboro? Because Pittsboro is the county seat of Calhoun County, which is in the same chancery court district as Lafayette County. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Robert Whitwell announced a ruling from the bench granting Trinidad the preliminary injunction he sought. A written order was entered the following day.
I will leave it to others to write about what this means for the 2026 football season, the grounds for the preliminary injunction, the court’s ruling, and the NCAA’s attorneys’ ill-advised decision to leave court before the hearing concluded. But in light of some bad information floating around about a potential appeal of the court’s order (does the NCAA have 30 days to appeal?), I thought I would talk about something much more interesting than football: appellate jurisdiction and procedure.
So, you Lost a preliminary injunction, what happens next?
Can you appeal? The answer to this question is the classic lawyer response: it depends. But there is no right to immediately appeal a preliminary injunction.
In general, Mississippi law only allows the appeal of final judgments. See Brown v. Collections, Inc., 188 So. 3d 1171, 1174 (Miss. 2016). A preliminary injunction is a temporary order that stands until the case can be fully resolved on the merits. See Sec’y of State v. Gunn, 75 So. 3d 1015, 1021 (Miss. 2011) (citations omitted). Because they are entered before a case has been fully resolved, preliminary injunctions are interlocutory orders that are not final and appealable. Carr v. Miss. Lottery Comm’n, 314 So. 3d 108, 112 (Miss. 2021). In short, there is no right to appeal a preliminary injunction. But that’s not the end of the line.
- Petition for Interlocutory Appeal
Although preliminary injunctions are not automatically, immediately appealable, a litigant can petition the Mississippi Supreme Court to allow an appeal by filing a petition for interlocutory appeal. See, e.g., United Healthcare of Miss. Inc. v. Mississippi’s Cmty. Mental Health Comm’ns, 335 So. 3d 1055, 1060 (Miss. 2022). This is the procedure to ask the Court to allow you to appeal any order that does not resolve all claims asserted. The grounds and procedure for a petition for interlocutory appeal are established by Rule 5 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. Under that rule, an appeal of an interlocutory order may be allowed “if a substantial basis exists for a difference of opinion on a question of law” and appellate resolution “may (1) Materially advance the termination of the litigation and avoid exceptional expense to the parties; or (2) Protect a party from substantial and irreparable injury; or (3) Resolve an issue of general importance in the administration of justice.” M.R.A.P. 5(a). Under this rule, a petition for interlocutory appeal has to be filed within 21 days of the entry of the order you want to appeal. The effect of this rule is that the Mississippi Supreme Court has discretion to grant or deny a petition for interlocutory appeal.
These petitions are specialized pleadings and must contain certain information required by Rule 5. This includes a brief, but it is not a full appellate brief. When I write a petition for interlocutory appeal, I am trying to persuade the Court to take the case more than I am trying to convince the Court that I should win the case. (That comes later, hopefully.) If I am responding, I am trying to convince the Court that there is nothing to see here.
Once a petition for interlocutory appeal is filed, the other side gets to file a response. The rules do not provide for a reply or rebuttal by the petitioner. The Supreme Court typically grants or denies a petition for interlocutory appeal with a one-page order. That order does not decide who wins the appeal. If it is denied, you carry on in the court below. If it is granted, it punches your ticket to the show and an appeal commences. Issues are designated, the record is designated, the record is reviewed, a briefing schedule is entered, etc. On rare occasions the Supreme Court will decide the merits based on the petition and response rather than proceeding with a full-bore appeal.
Importantly, the case is not stayed in the trial court when a petition for interlocutory appeal is filed. It is not even automatically stayed if the Supreme Court grants interloc. A stay has to be requested in the petition and then granted by the Supreme Court. Unless that happens, the lower court proceedings continue apace.
- Rule 54(b) Final Judgment
Another way to appeal an order that resolves something less than all claims between all parties is to obtain an order from the lower court “certifying” it under Rule 54(b). That rule provides: “[T]he court may direct the entry of a final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of the claims or parties only upon an expressed determination that there is no just reason for delay and upon an expressed direction for the entry of the judgment.” M.R.C.P. 54(b). If this rule is not strictly complied with, Mississippi’s appellate courts will dismiss an appeal without hesitation. E.g., Williams v. Williams, 347 So. 3d 178 (Miss. 2022) (dismissing an appeal because the “final judgment” did not resolve all claims and did not contain the magic words from Rule 54(b)). If a proper 54(b) judgment is entered, your right to appeal is triggered and you have thirty days to file your notice per M.R.A.P. 4(a).
- My Take
As of the time publishing this post, the NCAA has not taken any steps toward an appeal on the record. I don’t expect them to try to appeal the preliminary injunction. I don’t expect our seven-member Supreme Court to be inclined to grant an interlocutory appeal in this case. And even if they did grant one, a successful interlocutory appeal would probably take a year or more which wouldn’t get the NCAA where it wants to go by the time it needs to get there. I also think it unlikely that the chancery court in this case would be amenable to certifying an appealable judgment under Rule 54(b). I could be wrong about all of this, of course.
As an appendix of sorts, here are a few of the key filings from the chancery court case:
Mississippi Appeals Blog 